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Every Survivalist is a Prepper, but not every Prepper is a Survivalist!

10K views 67 replies 55 participants last post by  bighanded 
#1 ·
Let's face it. Like it or not we are all known as Preppers these days. Survivalist have been demonized by the news media any time a nut job with a little bit of outdoor skills goes off, and shoots some one or conspires to. With that being said here are my definitions of the 2.

To me a Prepper is some one who has a family, and a home to protect. All of their preps are usually in their home. Therefore a Prepper is stationary. Only preppers who bug-out and band together have a real chance at survival. Preppers will require hi-capacity semi auto weapons to protect themselves.

Now a real survivalist to me is a man with a lot of wilderness skills who probably isn't tied down by wife and kids. A survivalist does prepp, but probably relies on well placed caches to survive. A real survivalist will stay in the hills and avoid conflict or contact. To be more mobile the survivalist probably owns and prefers a bolt action or 22lr rifle.

So do you think you are a Prepper or Survivalist?
 
#8 ·
i have a nice bug out bag with everything ill need to live off and with the land for a while till i run out of ammo for my 30-6 rifle. but 1 shot 1 kill,so ill last a while. i have a Fox tactical - Rio grande back pack..its great,water proof and holds lots of things..i use my ghillie suit for paint ball but as you know if the world takes a turn for the bad ill use the suit to stay hidden from you probably.who knows..i also use a fly fishing rod,4peice so ill have fish to eat when i feel like it
 
#12 ·
In my teens through early 30s I was more of a survivalist. I used to go in the woods in northern Maine with only what I could carry in pockets and stay out for a week to ten days at a time. I could disappear into the woods and not be found if I didn't want to be.

Now I'm more of a prepper. I'm older and my body doesn't recover the way it used to. I'm married and have kids. My wife is definitely on board with being prepared, but if we have to "bug out", I'd rather use some of the fly dope or one of the bug jackets I stashed with our gear and at camp than have to tell my wife to coat herself in thick bog muck. :D:


Holy run-on sentence Batman!! :eek:
 
#13 ·
I was much more of a survivalist, in the most classic sense of the word, when I was young. Two things happened to change that.

I was balls to the wall, head to the wilds survivalist. All about bugging out when TEOTWAWKI comes. I am talking the lone wolf, gun totting, me against the world from my bunker in the hills, Capital "S" survivalist.

First, I gained more experience and that let me get a better and more realistic view of my goal.

Second, I read "Life After Doomsday" by Bruce Clayton. I have mentioned this book before, because even today I feel its information and lessons are valuable (if a bit dated in some places). His section of defending a position is a strong one, for example. One of the main things he said that stuck with me is the whole argument over what people in the preparedness field like to be called. Back then, before the term "prepper" it was things like "survivalist" and "retreatist" (as in, head to a retreat...a BOL for you youngsters). That section helped me to decide what sort of preparedness person I was...and redefined prep for me forever.

I HIGHLY recommend the book. Check it out if you have not read it already.
 
#20 ·
Well, now that you're here you're on your way to not be one.

I am kinda both, I prep for whatever may come up, but I can also head into the woods and survive on what i can find. I have studied wild edibles for years and am pretty good at it.

I also have a family though, that's why I'm in the middle.
 
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#19 ·
Labels... Been a boy scout a survivalist a retreatest a prepper and an a hole but who i am is someone who knows what i do learns what i dont takes care of my family and teaches them the stuff to live without anything but there brains like my dad taught me and hope like hell we never need to. If i must have a label i'd say i'm a guy who always is ready and has a lot to learn a father and husband protecting my family.
 
#23 · (Edited)
It was the prominence of firearms, and the requirement of a remote "retreat" location that facilitated shunning most of society, that earned "survivalists" the villification of the liberal media.

Given that many "preppers" have these things nowadays, I have pretty much considered the terms interchangeable.

Personally, I prefer "survivalist"; it upsets more liberals. ;)
 
#26 ·
Let's face it. Like it or not we are all known as Preppers these days. Survivalist have been demonized by the news media any time a nut job with a little bit of outdoor skills goes off, and shoots some one or conspires to. With that being said here are my definitions of the 2.

To me a Prepper is some one who has a family, and a home to protect. All of their preps are usually in their home. Therefore a Prepper is stationary. Only preppers who bug-out and band together have a real chance at survival. Preppers will require hi-capacity semi auto weapons to protect themselves.

Now a real survivalist to me is a man with a lot of wilderness skills who probably isn't tied down by wife and kids. A survivalist does prepp, but probably relies on well placed caches to survive. A real survivalist will stay in the hills and avoid conflict or contact. To be more mobile the survivalist probably owns and prefers a bolt action or 22lr rifle.

So do you think you are a Prepper or Survivalist?
i think your picture of a survivalist comes more from the mainstream media and Hollywood than from real life.liveing off of caches is surviveing which makes them survivors not survivalist.at best your version of a survivalist is a prepper takening it to the extreme by hideing caches of preps.which there is nothing wrong with doing caches... ppl just do what they can it takes alot of time and money to become a true survivalist.

survivalist can and do have familes and can/do live in houses, own farms, or a ranch...ect

A REAL survivalist are more country folk who live off the grid as much as they can. yes most do have wilderness skills but dont most country folk? its MUCH more than that. they can plow a field all day long, catch catfish from dusk till dawn.they will have a shotgun,a rifle and a 45,along with their 4 wheeldrive thats how a survivalist survives :thumb:

truethfully I believe there are several different types of survivalist and some ppl can be more than just one type. example; we all know the hollywood stereotype of the WILDERNESS SURVIVALIST which hollywood has romanticized this type of survivalist,BUT in that you got several types you got desserts survivalist,woodland survivalist,swamp survivalist,artic survivialist...ect. if anyone has lived homeless for over 2yrs in a LARGE city I would say they are an URBAN SURVIVALIST.but these are short term survivalist.they usually are alone for the most part and dont usually work as a team.

True longterm survivalist are COUNTRY SURVIVALIST they are Farmers who can live off of what they produce on their land . being a survivalist doesn't mean your totally cut off from the world it just means if you ever do get cut off from the world you can survive possably even thrive. survivalism is a way of life not a hobby,or skill set. and NO survivalist can make it alone longterm. inorder to truely survive longterm they have to form grps/tribes inorder to survive.
 
#29 ·
At 49 years old I'm a "prepper". I've done my time as a survivalist and can revert back to that in a quinstant (3 times quicker than an instant), but I don't want to. I foresee bad times coming our way, and I just want to survive. I've raised my kids the best I could and am just a pawn, a surviving one, in this so called society. So whatever that makes us, we'll make it.
 
#30 ·
I've a different view on the terms as Prepper came in later to describe an aspect of survivalism.

A prepper obviously prepares for a potential loss of resources and security, and that practice can be extremely comprehensive but it mostly refers to the pre event or collapse phase. A survivalist is the same, but extends beyond preparedness. There wasn't an indication of a survivalist being the specific sort of individual who necessarily spends time on wilderness survival any more than any other sort who prepares as back in the 1970's and 1980's the practice ranged from totally self reliant folks, to shoe box preppers, to the sort who are wannabe refugees with bug out bags just as now. Perhaps a good way of looking at it is to view a prepper as someone who will become a survivalist once something happens and the preps are being used and the term survivalists covers all phases.

A prepper is getting ready, the term survivalist covers it through any phase.


As for survival training, that's great, but proper preparedness and survivalism mindset eliminates the possibility of winding up having to rub two sticks together and it follows rules like not unnecessarily placing oneself in bad positions.
 
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