What made you a Survivalist?

**Winnie** · 12-17-2009, 03:27 PM

2 weeks of being snowed in last february. I realised I should be more prepared.

**Rick** · 12-17-2009, 03:31 PM

I happened to wander in here and saw some of the stuff Trax had posted and I said, "Hey, I want to be just like him when I grow up." except old, of course.

**TucsonMax** · 12-17-2009, 07:04 PM

9/11 .

**Batch** · 12-17-2009, 10:49 PM

We was talking about the government and secret prisons. While I don't by into that to much, the thought of bugging out for real stuck with me. I was in the woods quit a bit more than most folks I know. Me and my brother were doing about 26 weekends a year. Some times just day trips and some times extended stays like 10 days.

I wondered could I make my own ammo from whats available down here? My own fuel?

So my journey begins...

Its funny though. I always find myself either hiking with a gun or doing something else than practicing my hobby. I have said I am not getting bothered with game while hunting anymore. I am just going to explore the outdoors and if anything is stupid enough to walk in front of me...whack....

**klkak** · 12-17-2009, 11:06 PM

I just don't like surprises. Grandpa always told me it was "better to have and not need then to need and not have".

**Batch** · 12-17-2009, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by klkak

I just don't like surprises. Grandpa always told me it was "better to have and not need then to need and not have".

I say that atleast once a day. LOL

**Sarge47** · 12-17-2009, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by your_comforting_company

can you pull a rabbit out of your hat?

Yes, I can.

**Sarge47** · 12-17-2009, 11:23 PM

Originally Posted by trax

I happened to wander in here, posted a couple of opinions and Sarge told me to "man up" so I ran off into the bush and learned all this hunting and tracking and trapping stuff. That guy's a magician I tells ya.

That's right folks; this big 'ole scary guy used to be a real wimp! A real "girlie-man" if ya know what I mean. But a steady regiman of push-ups, an occaisional arse-beatin'.......from Nell,(he actually seemed to enjoy that for some odd reason.) and presto! From Pee-Wee Herman to Arnold Swartzenager! So step right up ya wimps! Old Sarge can do the same for you!

**oly** · 12-17-2009, 11:34 PM

Originally Posted by Pal334

Frankly, I like to be prepared. also am a bit of a "tinkerer", so like to find and learn alternate ways of doing things.

I totally agree with that and I love the outdoors. Tinkeritous is addictive.

**NightShade** · 12-18-2009, 12:01 AM

I've always been a major outdoorsman and outdoors enthusiast... Grew up on a small supplemental farm , learned plants, gardening, livestock raising, hunting, tracking growing up. I was just kinda raised this way.
There were 2 stone age civilizations that lived in the area I grew up in and still live very close to. ( artifacts have been on display in the library of the high school I went to for a long time). As well as a rich native american tradition in the area.
As kids , me and my brother used to follow my Dad in the tractor, tossing rocks outta the field. Multiple times we found quartz arrowheads.. There were also colonial era gold adcopper mines we hiked to and explored. The town I grew up in is one of the oldest in the nation.
All of that gave me an interest, that I've studied and practiced since I was a kid, in more primitive and "simple" ways.

**rwc1969** · 12-18-2009, 09:11 PM

I'm not a survivalist or prepper, but I've aways had an interest in homesteading, gardening, raising animals, hunting, fishing, primitive skills and such. My family and myself have always tried to live as independant as possible. I won't turn down help like I used to, but try my best to get by on my own.

I think it was my Dad, mom and grandparents that, by practice, instilled that in me at an age before 5.

Up here in Michigan I recall my dad working hard as a welder, woopin' me, picking morels, huntin coon and ringin chickens necks. My mom making elderberry wine and such, sewing, crocheting, gathering fresh eggs, cooking fresh unadulterated chickens, wild game and saying "I'm telling your dad when he gets home", and she would too. Seems like my gramma, my mom's mom, was always rocking in the rocking chair sewing a quilt. My Grammpa passed away before I can remember. He was the one with all the true skills and I wish I'd a had a chance to get to know him and possibly learn from him. A true do it yourselfer.

We had a small "homestead" with a few farm animals, garden and lotsa chickens. Our place backed right up to a huge cornfield and large woodlots. We also had a fox and a coon as pets. The fox was wild, but the coon was tame and would tease Dad's dogs. It knew just how long their chain was and would sit just outta reach antagonizing them until they'd burst off after it and get their neck rung by the collar within inches of reaching the coon. LOL!

Much later, after we'd moved, my uncle took the place over and did homesteading too. He raised everything from pigs to rare pheasants. His wife would churn butter and stuff. I hung out with my cousin there alot and we did lotsa hunting and I helped with the chores and such. After all those years the place was still heated with one small woodburner stove. Sometimes you'd wake up in the mornin' and see your breath.

I also recall my grandparents and parents telling stories of times before, during and after the depression using things found in nature for medicinal purposes, food, tools and such. Times before refrigeration, pumped gas and electricity.

When I lived down south, KY, we backed right up to the hills, back tracks, and you could walk forever and see nothing but woods, hollers, criks and more hills. It was alot of fun as a kid. I grew watermelons, Coleus and sunflowers. My ma had a huge rock garden full of moss roses which drew lots of bees. My Dad planted a bunch of fruit trees, mined coal, built stills and raised coon dogs. We drew our drinking water from a mountain spring on the other side of the crik that ran thru our property. The groundwater below was toxic from all the strip mining and such. We had indoor plumbing but you couldn't drink that water. The neighbor had a huge melon patch and would sit all day on the front porch whittlin' stuff outta wood with his pocketknife. My papaw, my dad's dad, and his brother had mules and at one point in time actually used em. I think my Papaw farmed with his right up until the time he passed away. I don't think he was one to sit around much, even in old age. Many folks grew squash, beans, corn, taters, carrots, and 'maters, had pigs, cows, goats and chickens, and quite a few had fruit trees and beehives.

My mamaw was always tellin us stories and showing us how it used to be before all these modern conveniences. I know it was tough, but I think she overexaggerated at times. It all sounded real interesting to me and I'd just sit and listen to her show and tell. She was crazy though, man you did not want to piss her off. Crazy granny we called her when we got older. She wasn't really crazy, but...don't let her hear you call her that or you'd be goin' out and cuttin a switch.

We'd catch creek chubs, crawdads and stuff with our hands and cut cane poles for fishin'. It might sound stereotypical, but I don't think any of them folks, including us, had much, but we never went without and never cared or even knew that we were considered "poor ignorant flatfooted hillbillies" by many. There was a strong sense of community down south, something I truly miss up here. Although they'd never admit it there was sure some smart folks down there. The only thing lacking was professional, modern medical care.

The thing I liked most was the freedom of being able to hit the woods just by walking out my front door. The freedom of living in a place that didn't have cops, lawyers, busy highways, medicare, welfare, and such breathin' down your neck and bringing you down. There was a few who got foodstamps, but that's about it and they were folks that were retarded or crippled. Not like nowadays where people walk into the welfare office wearing a fur coat, gold rings and driving a Cadillac or Lexus. And then walk out to their side job with a fat gov't check in hand. LOL! Times were certainly different back then. You could get in a fistfight and not go to jail. If ya ever did it was just overnight and there was no long drawn out probation, counseling and such. Pay your fine and go! Too many rules these days! And too many loopholes too. People got along just fine without all that. People weren't running round killin' and backstabbin' each other the way most do these days. I guess that's why the laws are the way they are now. Or, maybe that's why the people are the way they are now.

But, I digress. Many movies have since kept the fire going. Although, I now realize most were just ficticious and romanticized the notion. Red Dawn, Alone in the Wilderness, Deliverance, Sourdough, Fishhawk, First Blood, Grizzly Adams, Jeremiah Johnson, Windwalker, Marty Stouffer, and a few others.

For me it's not so much a worry of times to come and being prepared for them, but an eagerness for when those times arrive and I can get back to living the way I'd like to be living. Free! But, we all know freedom ain't free and there's a price for everything. I'd like to be prepared to pay the price that nature charges to live, but am not prepared or inclined to pay the price that modern society charges.

The main thing I'm interested in now is true primitive "stone age" skills for basic living in the wilderness. I think those folks had/ have the right mindset and were/ are closer to nature than any others. I'd like to learn more about homesteading, because I consider that, if done right, a strong and sustainable part of true living, but ya gotta have a place to do that and I currently don't.

**Mtnman Mike** · 12-24-2009, 04:06 AM

I have been interested in the outdoors, camping and hiking since college in the late '70's. Also watched much tv from Grizzly Adams to Jeremiah Johnson to Red Dawn.

Also getting laid off from my first "real" job in 1982 woke me up and I learned about survivalism. I read everything I could find, which in 1982 when I first became a survivalist, there was Survive magazine and a few others.

I dreamed about getting some land, with many trees, water and wildlife and in the early 80's I traveled all over the West. Then in 1987 I found my mtn place in southern Wyoming and began to build a survival retreat,which pics can be seen on my homepage.

Survivalism is more than a hobby but is my lifestyle and way of Life.

**Jay** · 12-24-2009, 05:54 AM

I dont consider myself a survivalist. just a regular guy with some unusual hobies.

**Nativedude** · 12-29-2009, 06:27 PM

As I've said before, everyone, no matter whether you live in the city or woods, is a survivor/survivalist. As it says in my one footnote tagline,

"The animals in the city are far more dangerous than those in the woods"!

That being said, I've wanted to be in the outdoors ever since I can remember, but especially since I was 8 years old. I saw the Rocky Mountains of Colorado on TV. I pointed to the TV and said, "that's where I want to live".

Every day, since that time, I prepared myself for that inevitability. And now, here I am, living where I've always wanted to be!