It’s easy to frame a wilderness survival situation as “you vs. the world”.
Many people think of “survival” in those terms – living off the land… avoiding everyone… and generally staking out your territory while waiting for the collapse to blow over.
But thinking this way will drastically change your “threat matrix” in how you plan to survive depending on whether you’re in a wilderness vs. urban survival scenario.
Let’s talk about a couple of examples, okay?
Wilderness VS. Urban Survival

Here’s one:
Alone in the wilderness, a bright fire will keep you warm, keep bugs away, and deter 4-legged predators… in urban areas, it will attract “2-legged” predators to your location.
Shooting your firearm in the woods for food won’t likely attract attention… in urban areas, it can draw authorities and/or looters to confiscate or steal your weapons.
In remote areas, you can more easily be self-reliant, while in urban settings, you will be forced to deal with other people – both friend and foe.
In fact, one of the biggest factors that will determine your long-term survival in an urban survival scenario is how well you’re able to interact with other people.
- Do you know how to make “strategic friends” easily?
- Are you skilled at exchanging your goods and services with others?
- Can you do it so that you’ll get as good of a deal as possible and still be able to trade with that person again in the future?
- Have you acted in a way that will cause people to WANT to help you when you need help?
It’s trickier to pull these off than you may think – especially during times when the people around you are stressed, unprepared, and not always trustworthy.
You don’t want to be one of them… and you don’t have to be if you understand how survival gear SHOULD work.
Consider your “people plan” now.