Monday, December 2, 2013

How difficult is it to survive in the Canadian wilderness?

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Mike


I'm looking into spending 3-5 months in Canada, probably late summer to late fall/early winter. I'm 21 and I do have some camping experience. I wouldn't be going alone, I'd have a buddy of mine come with me. Also I would be able to afford top quality gear for this, I would have to upgrade my stuff to higher grade weather resistant materials, tent sleeping bag and such. I would also be bringing a small rifle for hunting small game. We're both quite knowledgeable about nutrition and would bring anything we wouldn't likely find to eat. However both of our camping experiences have always been under 1 week on any given trip.

Does anyone have any experience living outside for over 1 month+ ?
Any words of warning or advice?



Answer
I live in the most-urbanized region of Canada's most-populated Province. (Ontario).
We have freeways that are 24 lanes wide and cities with more skyscrapers than anywhere on the continent except New York City.

Yet even here, people still freeze to death in their own driveways just a few feet from safety.
And drivers still need rescuing, practically spittin' distance from the US border:
Link - http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/14/military-and-police-rescue-150-canadians-trapped-in-blizzard/

Forget the gun unless you're willing to undergo all the cost and hassle of just getting a firearm over the border.
Some examples of what I mean by this:
Link - http://gssafaris.hubpages.com/hub/gssafaris
Link - http://www.sportsafield.com/content/head-north-without-hassle
Canadian guns laws are far stricter than America's and Canadians generally aren't too thrilled with the notion of armed foreigners running around loose unsupervised.
There's also strictly-enforced hunting seasons:
Link - http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/FW/2ColumnSubPage/291144.html

If you plan to do any fishing, that's licensed & regulated too.
But Canada's Provinces & Territories each regulate that themselves so you'll need to get your licences from the government of whichever one you'll be visiting.

As others pointed out: This is a big place.
Canada is the world's 2nd largest nation in geographical size. Only Russia's bigger.
But our entire population is barely 35 million, one of the 10 lowest population densities on Earth.
What that means is that Canada is mostly wilderness filled with wildlife that has no natural fear of humans.
So instead of a gun, grab yourself some bear bangers.
If you don't know what they are, look it up. Here's a link that explains the basics:
Link - http://kananaskisblog.com/bear-bangers/2009/
Just don't be an idiot and start a forest fire or something.

Like others said, Canada's also comprised of a variety of different terrains and regions.
Unless you have the survival skills specific to whatever region you plan to experience, forget it.

Best advice on that subject is to take a trip before the trip to get the skills you'll need for the specific challenges you'll face in the specific region you plan to visit:
Link - http://canadiansurvival.info/
Link - http://boreal.net/

And make sure each of you has a satellite phone and GPS unit.
That way, if you run into trouble, Canadian authorities can send out a rescue team.
There's no guarantee they'll make it to you in time, but at least they'd be able to recover your bodies to ship home to your next of kin.
Because this is Canada, kid. And it's no place for amateurs.

What is a good cheap tent brand? Greatland,Ozark Trail or Field and stream?




bridget36


Looking to buy a big enough tent for a family of 5. I don't want to spend to much money because I am not sure if I will even like camping.So I will like to buy a store brand. I am not sure what kmarts brand is. Anyway out of the brands I listed above our any of them good?


Answer
All very good advice above. I will give my two-cents worth. I have two, four-man (9'x7') Ozark Trail tents from Wal-Mart. For a family camping trip, these work great, they are easy to set up, pretty good bang for the buck and over-all have been pretty good tents that have lasted several years and are still holding up. Would I climb Everest or go on an extended backpacking or climbing trip with them, absolutely NOT! I have a quality, one-man backpacking tent for my more serious backpacking trips that I bought from REI. As somebody else said, a tent for the kids and a tent for you guys is the way to go, it's what I do. Two smaller tents are cheaper than one large tent and two small tents are easier to set up than one large tent. I tend to be very organized when I camp. My wife and kids scatter their "crap" all over the tent. Having two tents helps this a lot. The other plus to this is if something happens to one of the tents, it gets a tear, catches on fire, whatever, you have a back-up. Everybody has opinions based upon personal experience, and this is my personal experience. I hope your family develops a love of camping and the outdoors, it's a fantastic family experience.




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