No topic has proved as divisive on prepper and survival forums as the choice to bug in or bug out. The reality is that the choice is not always clean cut, and whether you bug in or bug out may actually be forced upon you based on changing environmental factors.
Personally, I find the ability to adapt to be one of the key denominators in determining how well a prepper or survivalist does in bad situations. It’s ridiculous to get hung up on using a specific plan, as the future may not turn out how we imagine. Sometimes life throws a curveball in your direction, and in cases like those, you should be ready to change plans to whatever’s now best in a heartbeat.
With the understanding that both options are completely viable in their own ways, here is a quick overview illustrating the main differences between between bugging in and bugging out, also including each of the approaches’ pros and cons.
Bugging In
Bugging in is typically the most favourable options to those who have large stockpiles, underground bunkers, and self-sufficient food and water options in their own homes. You lose out on all those preps if you choose to bug out, which is why many who have a well built up home base feel it’s foolish to leave it.
But what happens if you come home one day and find looters have raided your house? They could even come back later if they feel there’s more to be had (ex, from a self-sufficient garden or livestock prep). Always weigh the benefits with any disadvantages when trying to decide what to do next. You may find it’s actually better to change your plans after all.
Considerations
- Is your home adequately safe against environmental factors that could leave you trapped? Take floods, wildfires, etc. into account.
- Can you defend your home against desperate opportunists (looters)?
- Is your home off the grid and/or can you survive for an extended period of time without having to restock or using outside help?
Pros: Advantages of Bugging In
- Familiarity of your surroundings makes staging a defense easier, as its on your own turf. You’re already aware of your surroundings.
- Familiar environment reduces panic and fear.
- Can pre-emptively work on defensive structures, stockpiling, and self-sufficiency techniques (water collection, garden, livestock, renewable energy, etc).
- How prepared you are is ultimately up to you, not your environment.
- The elderly, children, those physically injured, and other family members who may not have the physical strength to handle bugging out can be kept safe.
- Avoiding the panicked rush as people clog the main highways to get away.
- Way more storage space for all types of preps.
Cons: Disadvantages of Bugging In
- Neighbors may come asking for help, especially if they remember you as being the “prepared” type.
- Limited opportunity to restock/gather more resources as the situation deteriorates.
- Hygiene is a major concern with staying put in a post-collapse environment; your home better have adequate sanitation in place or you’re likely to get sick.
- Once you’re bugged in, evasion will become much harder, as the remainder of society may be hostile to well-prepped people traveling through a city.
Bugging Out
Bugging out is often the most preferable option to survivalists who feel they can make it out in the wilderness on their own. Yet the natural environment prevents many dangers and threats that would not exist until much later if a person bugged in. What if clean water becomes difficult to ascertain? What about wild animals? What if looters stumble upon your camp and steal what little gear you were carrying on your back?
You may want to reconsider bugging out until you’re absolutely sure you have to. It’s always beneficial to have wilderness survival skills, as even those bugging in may have to bug out if certain circumstances arise, but getting back home to a stockpile of food, medicine, and clean water is difficult if you’ve already jumped the gun and bugged out.
Considerations
- Is your vehicle reliable enough to allow you to bug out? Do you have a plan B should your primary mode of transportation fail?
- Are you and your family/unit in sufficient physical health to go mobile should the need arise?
- Have you tried living in your bug out location to make sure you can actually survive there for a reasonable amount of time?
- Is your bug out location sufficiently stocked with supplies to warrant the risk of moving away from your home base?
- Is your area heavily populated, and as such, will you be able to bug out without getting stuck in a stampede of panic?
- If you’re planning on a specific bug out location, what guarantees do you have that no one else will be there?
Pros: Advantages of Bugging Out
- Opportunity to find superior environment in terms of safety and/or resources.
- There’s always the option to keep moving; you’re unlikely to be trapped.
- Dynamic structure of wilderness bug out locations allows you to respond to events/environmental factors faster.
- Away from urban environments and their associated risks (health concerns, looters, etc.)
- Your assets are with you, and you are always moving, which makes you a harder target for looters.
- More places to hide in the outbacks, thereby making you more difficult to find and be looted.
- If skill level is sufficient, can be self-sustaining/live off wilderness.
Cons: Disadvantages of Bugging Out
- Mobile aspect of your plan limits amount of resources you can have with you. You can’t carry everything in your house on your back.
- Fuel, food, and other necessities will eventually run out unless you have a way of gathering resources.
- There are risks associated with being on the road: you can be a very visible target, especially if armed or heavily encumbered by gear.
- Fall of society can bring out the worst in people; being around “the masses” as you’re bugging out can be hazardous (for instance, traffic jams where people panic could lead to physical altercations).
- Bugging out can be dangerous for many reasons. Accidents stemming from falls to panicked mobs are all a threat to your safety and well-being.
- No established defensive structures as you’re moving puts you in a temporarily weaker position against threats.
- Lack of professional/advanced health care, as well as a lack of a sterile or safe environment for medical care, should you or someone in your unit become injured.
- Difficult to go back “home” in case bugging out isn’t working out so well.
This is not an exhaustive list and I wrote this primarily to make you think about the risks and benefits associated with bugging in and bugging out. In our community, many get stuck with the mindset that once they have an established plan, they’ll have to stick with it to the very end, regardless of consequences. Yet this is no healthy way for a survivalist to think.
You should be ready and willing to adapt to any situation that may come your way. Stick to your plan only in so far as it is the most beneficial option to you. It’d be nice if life always worked out the way we hoped and planned for it to, but we preppers know better than anyone that that isn’t always going to be the case.
In a country of 350,000,000 souls of which only 2% produce food for the other 98%, there will be no place to ‘bug out’ to that is significantly more secure than your home turf unless you are doing it with a team large enough to pull it off and most homesteaders simply will not be able to form that type of community. Think about it, you are part of a young armed thug legion who see no resources left in your city but know where farms, homesteads with crops, animals, more security than that of the city can be found and you know it can be easily taken from just a few individuals with rifles who can be picked off from 800 meters away while they check on their little corner of paradise. The best solution is to start planning to defend the place where you spend the most time now unless there is a serious epidemic or nuke attack that absolutely requires a bug out. If you put the same effort into finding like minded people in your community that you do into your SHTF preparations you’ll quickly find yourself drawing the maps and picking the strategic look out points, designing the security shifts, picking out the best yards to use for different crops, etc…. Be proactive about where you live now because wherever you bug out to will have marauders too.
Agreed. People are straight up delusional about this idea of being able to roam the plains if the world gets dicey.
Yep, it’s a “pipe dream”!
As a relatively new-comer to this site, I find almost every article by Thomas and Elise, and reader response/replies, to contain excellent advise from knowledgeable individuals… and not a lot of hype about ‘wishing’ for a societal demise.
After reading this article and the numerous replies, a few quick thoughts come to mind.
Living in/off of the wilderness, or out of the back trunk of your car, will be nearly impossible, due in part to the numbers of people fleeing a serious situation and our reliance on commercial food-stuffs… yes, even our stockpiles of dehydrated supplies. There are not going to be enough ‘critters’ to feed everyone. The same goes for bugging-in, if you are too close to the epicenter of the event, you may never get out, or people just go literally insane, looting anything an everything in sight. So with this in mind, or mind set, here are a few of my ideas to contribute.
First thin that comes to mind is that old saying… ‘Loose lips sink ships’. Minimize the number of people you tell about your SHTF plans, stockpiles. place of safety, etc. You and your family’s immediate safety is paramount. Not that I have bad neighbors, I just don’t have the wherewithal to care of them. If you’re not home, they are not going to politely knock n your door to request your provisions.
Have a plan A. B and a C. ‘Get the Hell out of Dodge’ within hours of the SHTF event. If you and family members are separated, have a set meeting point(s). You may want to purchase GMRS or similar radios, to keep in contact with your group. Have roadmaps of the area you are in, as well as to your destination… in the event there are roadblocks, or hazards, because you will need to use the less travelled side-roads. But, here comes the B and C… if you cannot get to your pre-selected destination, for whatever serious/dangerous reasons, you may have to consider another completely different route, or even geographic location.
Gasoline will become a problem/scarce. Plan on a radius of 3/4 of your fuel capacity, unless your place of safety is basically a non-stop and safe route. Avoid major highways, cities and towns, for there will certainly be roadblocks, vigilantes and the such. States and even counties may close their borders, especially near bridgeheads of natural barriers.
Have good reliable roadmaps available, not the Rand-McNally 112-page tourist guidebook. Many state maps are free for the asking. In my case, knowing my travel limitations, I have maps of all the bordering states. I never let my gas tank get below 3/4… a ‘just in case mind set’, since Hurricane Katrina. (Yup, I’m here to help you… I’m from the government)… boy, that worked out really well, didn’t it?
I will agree that unless your destination is a place of safety, like your summer cabin/shelter, etc., stay in-place for a few hours to learn/listen to broadcasts of events as they occur… knowing which ways are best to utilize for travel/escape. If you are retreating to your cabin/shelter and arrive intact, do not immediately approach by pulling into the driveway and walking up to the front door, Park your vehicle a ‘few blocks away’. Approach it as stealthily as possible, on foot… armed… cautiously, like the police looking for a burglar… because someone else may already be there, looting your supplies, or willing to take your life in exchange for your place of safety.
Bugging-in versus bugging-out is a personal matter that needs to be well thought out. Always have a plan A and B, but keep an open mind to a plan C… adapt, improvise and overcome… have situational awareness of what is transpiring around you all the time, even at 110 miles per hour, as you flee the area.
Hope these comments help a bit, just as your suggestion did for me.
Some great advice, I am sure many people will learn from it. I recently picked up a “proper” map for my own locale and I agree its invaluable, if you can get your hands on topographic maps- those are also very useful.
Thanks for sharing your experience, hope to see you on other posts!
Just a general thought/rambling on the whole “living in the woods” ting: Remember that the society we have today, with the high population numbers, are only possible (i did not say sustainable) because of industrial scale production of food ++ Now, if you live in a medium to small rural place like me, just look at all the people you meet/see on a daily basis. Be it in a grocery shop, on your way to work or whatever… Then, imagine that TSHTF, and all theese people need food, water, shelter, and all the things we take for granted today. Most of them (thousands litteraly) knows “a place” to bug out. They know where to find the fishing waters, rivers, cabins, and viable locations in the forrest… My point to all this is, that even in a very low populatet country like Norway, which also have vast natural resources, the food will run out very fast. Most of the huntable game will be down the first months, and there is no way that you won`t run into people (with or without bad intentions for you) when moving around… Like mentioned above, “living in the woods” is for the VERY FEW of us, and you`ll have to go deep. This is just my own ramblings though. Personaly i don`t think the suciety will go down like that. If you look at even the worst 3`rd world countrys, with civil wars, no resourses, lots of crime/violence and so on. It seems that they still manages to keep a bit of their sanity, humanity and even a form of society tied together… After all; the human race didn`t get this far by beeing weak and unadaptable. I mean; stored resources and stuff is what you survive on. Knowledge, humanity and spirit is what you keep LIVING on.
I agree 100%. I also don’t see absolute off grid living as a viable scenario for our current population/demographic.
People who think they will live in the woods will eventually die. They will have stuff that someone else wants. People will be willing to kill for a can of soup if things get that bad. Bugging in is the best plan. You should only bug out if you have a place to bug out to. It is fantasy to believe you will live in the woods with your family with everything you will need to survive and not come across another group that wants your stuff. That means having the proper weapons and skill to repel others. A slingshot will not save you. Nor will a bow and arrows. Rifles, shotguns and pistols are the only items im referring to here. And then, how much ammo can you carry?! Along with all of your other stuff. If your goin to bug out you better have a structure with supplies youre bugging out to, because the bugging out to the woods thing is a bad idea.
Aye, I understand the appeal of running off to the woods and going back to the land but I think a lot of people don’t realize how tough such a lifestyle is- and that is not even taking into account the risk of violent assault from looters and opportunists (as you said). Thanks for sharing JD.
Kudos to the Wiseman. Well thought out plan. I wouldn’t be going anywhere either.
For some of us the options are limited. My bug out location is 60 miles away on 12 acres of mixed open meadow and forest in the foothills of the Olympic mountains with a small salmon stream running along the back of the property.
A great place to bug out, if I can get there. If I can just throw everything in the truck and hit the road; no problem, if I have to get there on Shanks Mare, then I’ll probably opt for bugging in.
Twenty years ago it wasn’t a problem but the days when I could hump 80 to a hundred pounds of gear and weapons is behind me. At 68 and not as healthy as I was at 50 my bug out bag has been downsized several times over the intervening years. If I have to hit the road I will but my chances of long term survival out there are not as assured as they once were.
The good news is that both my sons and their family’s including my 15 year old grandson spend every free weekend and most of their summer vacations improving the property and honing their wilderness skills. They don’t consider themselves preppers, they just love spending time in the wilderness and being prepared for any emergency, their words, not mine. They also understand that if the worst happens; getting themselves and their families to a secure location outweighs worrying about the old man.
Depending on the circumstances, what works for one person may not work for everyone else.
In these crazy times I wish you all they best and keep your powder dry.
So in genera I agree with your main premise that being overly attached to one plan or the other is silly. Environmental and situational considerations can change EVERYTHING. Adaptability therefore is the KEY to survival! But there are a couple of issues I take with your article.
First of all you say both bug in and bug out are completely viable, that might be true for some, and for you personally, but is not true for everyone. Say you live on an Island with one viable source of water unless it is pumped or trucked in from the main land? In my case, there is a short term possibility of bug in, but in a long term SHTF I do not think bugging is is viable. I live near one of the many nuclear reactors in the US that would be susceptible to meltdown if the grid goes down… not to mention that the population density in the area I live in is WAY TOO HIGH to be sustainable. Some bug-ins are not viable, even without environmental consideration, period.
Secondly, I have never understood why people assume bugging out means camping out in the woods. I suppose this is an option for bugging out, but for those of us who worry about the long term viability of bugging in, bugging out often means bugging out to a pre-prepared home or cabin in a more viable area.
In my case I have supplies on hand at my home for a few weeks of bug-in, but beyond that, or if I I see a long term situation coming down the line, I am out of there…bugged out…but to another home that is almost as comfy as my regular home, but off the grid and away from the masses.
Howdy Padre, some excellent points raised- of course your specific environment will dictate how you approach your survival. With regards to surviving in the woods it really depends on your skill set and environment but I agree that its much better to have a specific bug out location in mind.
Bugging in can work….and being a refuge is stupid. Also, most won’t survive in the woods especially those of you who don’t spend90+ days a year in the woods. You will be easy pickings for the likes of me
Let’s keep it civil here ok, please, we are not in the woods to kill other preppers. My family and I spend probably close to 120 days a year in the woods, and me alone sometimes more. But you are right, most people wouldn’t make it simply because they never practice it. Also a lot of people confuse the scattered trees at the end of the pasture with the real deep woods where there are lots of things going ‘eek and bumping in the night’. Could you share some good info and experiences you’ve had that would help us survive in the darkness under the canopy, please. One thing I am having a heck of time with is getting family to maintain light and noise discipline. Another is making them leave the electronic gadgets at home. But I have put my foot down and straightened a lot of it out. Love to hear from you, thanks.
I guess the best option remains bugging in with a plan to bug out if things go south.
Seems like the best plan to me, but everyone has their own way of doing things!
Buggin n is not a plan, it’s suicide. Did you see the news where the woman in Moore, OK. was beheaded. Horrible as it is if she had headed for the door and not made contact with the guy she would be alive. Contact equals death, unless the soon to be dead victim can neutralize the contact immediately and permanently. God bless that woman and her family.
Wiseman, there is something more we need to discuss here, please do not even give consideration that it will take 3 days for the nerdogooders to start coming through your windows. There is a name for you after teotwawki, it’s called “open season’, with no restraints on time of day to hunt, methods of killing, or bag limit. All of us preppers are in the same boat so get out of Dodge, and New York as soon as possible. Whatever you decision may Christ bless you.
Hi Plowboy,
Good to have you aboard! I enjoy your contributions. As an ex-Marine I know how to defend a position; I have laid out all possible fields of fire from all windows and doors; the property is 2 acres wooded. Both my wife and I have had “carry” permits for over twenty years. Plenty of ammo. Brick house 12 miles from the Interstate on a paved back road that is well off the local highways. All the windows have been fitted with burglar-resistant safety glass ($1,500/window) – my special-order front-room picture window is so heavy that it took six large men to carry it in and seat it ($8,000). Front & back door frames have been steel-reinforced by a master carpenter and heavy steel doors – each with a double “Medico” lock master-keyed to match all my locks – are in place. All of them are equiped with mechanical braces that I set every evening. Automatic lights go on all around the house and under my deck whenever anything approaches. Driveway alarms are concealed from sight by camo. Blackout blinds on every window and door. House is well set back from street and I have worked out all fields of fire. Nearest neighbor 2+ acres away. 12 GA. magazine-fed semiautomatic shotguns are my main defense with .45 1911 backups; I have multiple sets of weapons and many loaded magazines stashed at all critical points. Septic is entirely underground and undetectable. Water is 220′ well with water level at 30′ from ground, water table is established and stabilized by near-by lake. I have standard electric pump installed @ 200′ and hand-powered “SimplePump” (Google this) installed at 150′. Wellhead 10′ from house is concealed by what appears to be a cute little potting shed (built of 4″x4″ treated wood; triple-locked door; hinged roof to allow either pump to be pulled if necessary). When electricity is out my wife and I hand pump by night to avoid being seen by neighbors; one hour of hand pumping fills my pressurized tanks in the house with all the water I need for the next day. Toilets work, all faucets; hot water can be made by boiling on propane camp stoves. Emergency 310 gallon standby water tank in basement. I have 1,000 gallons fuel oil aboard in basement; when electricity is out I switch these tanks from my standard hot water furnace to an oil-fired, gravity-fed “Alaska stove” which gives me 85,000 Btu’s 24/7. I store 200 16 oz. propane bottles in a solid triple-locked locker under deck for cooking; Lighting is by a dozen battery-powered electric lanterns augmented with several propane-powered mantle-type camp lamps. I have hundreds of “D” batteries stockpiled.
My plan when TSHTF is to hunker down in the house with all blinds drawn, showing no light (the Alaska stove shows no smoke). Wanna-be looters are free to creep about but nothing is available (except an old lawnmower chained under the rear deck). Should they attempt to force a door, I will not interfere unless they appear about to do real damage – at that time I will open that door and I will do real damage. Should a mob appear, there is a danger that they could burn me out (the garage door would be the likely target). I will go outside fully armed with multiple magazines and take one of a number of prepared firing positions, carrying an automatic shotgun and two 1911’s; wife will cover me from whichever window has a field of fire toward the mob. Note this: many, many studies have shown that almost all attacking forces will crumble when 10% of their number have fallen while in attack. You don’t need to take all of them out to make them break and run! I plan to resist the mob with overwhelming firepower backed up by my wife with a semiauto Ruger .22LR; between the two of us I bet I can convince your normal mob to leave my home alone. I have a plan – what’s yours?
Dang Wiseman, you don’t have a home, you have a fortress. Wiseman and wife for Secretary of Defense! Your plan is light years ahead of anything we’ve heard about and that’s great. Unfortunately we do not have a field of fire where we live. Our houses are very close to each other, maybe six feet apart, and if one house on this street burns then thay all burn. That is just the situation we have. The only viable plan we can use is to get out of dodge to precache locations, hunker down for a day and get some rest and keep moving. I am glad, very glad, to see someone besides myself that still has faith in the good old 12ga. because that is my main weapon of defense. The 270 will take care of the long range targets, and after that it’s my Judge 410/45 cal. pistol, backed up by a .45 cal black powder. The wife has her share of comparble weapons also. The main thing here is we have got to absolutely get out of south Texas when teotwawki hits. We have more Mexican flags flying in south Texas than we do Stars and Stripes. The situation on the border is already out of control and getting worse everyday. It doesn’t seem that things are much better north of us with the beheading in Moore, OK. today. Anyway it was definitely good to hear from you and yours because it was very motivating to hear about a family that has covered their bases so well. God’s speed and good luck.
Got a question for you Wiseman, if you don’t mind answering, that being, how much food as in months do you have stored up. Just wanted to know if you will please. Well it’s getting late and maybe we talk some more tomorrow. Thanks
Hi Plowboy,
Eighteen-months of food, 3/4 carefully-selected freeze-dried balanced stuff from Emergency Preparedness and Nitro; 30 years shelf life. 1/4 supermarket canned food, dried beans, etc.
$25,000 worth. (Been prepared since Y2K).
It would be so truly great if every home in America was fortified and prepared to the extent you and yours have gone too. Truly outstanding. A foreign invader wouldn’t have a chance with the interlocking fire homes like your could give. Remarkable achievement. We will talk more if ok with you. thanks
You are a true inspiration. We live on a boat so we have limited room. My dream is to someday get a bigger boat than what we have ( it is about 20 meters) about 30 to 40 meters and that would set us up just fine! It is only the two of us and the cat so we don’t have a family to feed so we don’t need as much.
Hi Patty, I presume you have read “Sailing the Farm” ?
Excellent Book.
Bob
Spent some time last night thinking about your fortress and here are some questions. It’s the middle o the night, teotwawki plus 30 days, and I put three flaming arrors into your roof. Is it shingle, metal or what. What will you do to stop the fire. I am very much concerned my friend that even the most well guarded homes, as yours certainly is, will still become a death trap. Just some thots. thx
One of the most difficult things to handle in a “Bug In” situation is “what do we do with the garbage?”
Every Wednesday morning at 7:00 am the wife and I put out two 55-gallon garbage cans chock full of cans, boxes, leftovers, paper towels etc. If the local bear does not find it first, our local garbage hauler will pick it up about 8:00 am. He’s not going to be there when TSHTF, believe me. So, what am I going to do with 110 gallons of garbage every week of TSHTF- some of it smelly?
What I’ve done is purchase eight used 55 gallon drums w/lids (hopefully, “bear-proof”. I’ve set them up away from the house, half-hidden on a side hill, heavy-duty 55 gallon plastic inserts inside, lids on, a green tarp over them. First, I will try to compact my kitchen garbage as much as possible, after first cutting off both top and bottom of all cans, and washing them out to prevent smell (I have tons of running water here in the house). Also have tons of 30 gallon garbage bags. Cut up cardboard, flatten boxes, etc. pack them down with a 25 lb. posthole tamp. When the bag is full, out it goes and into one of the 55-gallon drums, with a splash of gasoline to kill the food smell. Now, pack it down in the drum. Put on the lid. Replace the tarp. Do this at night with minimal light so the distant neighbors don’t see.
First thing to do after TSHTF is to strive to reduce your garbage load. No electricity, no refrigerator. Use up the cold & frozen stuff within 3 days; when it starts to spoil, put it out for the racoons, foxes, stray cats, etc. (you shouldn’t have beggars this early) Do not put it it the drums! I’m hoping this plan will take us through the worst of the city-evacuation phase (we are 120 miles from NYC); most will be past us or dead by the time my drums become full. I’ll figure what’s next at that time.
Howdy Wiseman, your raise an excellent point that many haven’t really thought about. Hygiene and basic sanitation will be a huge issue and with no civil services this will for sure be a huge issue. Your plan seems well thought out!
Wiseman, please allow some advise here. Stew your garbage all over your yard, your porches, the top of your house, and anywhere else it will be seen by the looters. This will lower the chances that they will stop at your location because it looks as if it has already been “trashed”, pardon the pun. It will greatly increase you and your families chances of survival. Here is a little shock therapy, please forgive me, but it is better to smell the garbage than to smell the rotting corpses of your loved ones, so please give this advise some consideration.
I am kind of new to all of this, but doesn’t that create an environment for mice, rats and other pest? You would run the risk of your food stores being infested with this plan of action. Animals have a far keener sense of smell than we humans do, so cleaning your cans will only go so far. Also animals use trash for nest.
Hey Patty! I don’t think Plowboy (Plz correct me if I’m wrong, Plowboy) intends for Wiseman to pile up trash to the extent that rodents & other problem animals will use it for nesting. What he’s trying to accomplish is to give Wiseman’s home the look of a place that’s already been looted…and then deserted. You STRATEGICALLY scatter & place the trash (but probably NOT any food leftovers, etc) when you are working for this look. I live in a VERY rural area in the deep South on 25 acres that are paid for & have a pond stocked with fish. I do NOT have a manicured lawn. In fact, my place can look downright weedy & overgrown. I have plans to let it look even more neglected if/when things start to go sideways. Welcome to the prepper life! I’ve been at it for about 5 yrs now and it becomes a borderline obsession with some of us but we are all nutty in the best way possible. This website is one of the better ones out here. Stay tuned for more.
Patty, Selene, Thomas and others,
I believe that rats and mice will provide MOST of the protein for both the unprepared and for us preppers. Eventually, all foodstuffs either get eaten or expire.
For example, the locals ate rats and snakes while I toured Vietnam in 1969…they ate puppies, too, but I digress.
Large animals will require intensive efforts to smoke/preserve the meat (think: no electricity = no refrigeration) and that activity will attract hungry ‘others’ be they humans or animals.
Most rodents are a ‘single’ meal; I think I’d encourage them in the right scenario (anyone remember the movie “King Rat”?).
Here’s a thought…how about researching the food values of various insects and bugs? After all, in many primitive societies bugs are eaten on a daily basis. Determine which ones are ‘safe’ to eat. Instead of poisoning bugs, why not farm them? Start with the worms and maggots…they’ll be plentiful in and around corpses. Let no good food go to waste.
We need to start thinking “outside the box” and look to history to see how peeps survived in them good old days.
Good points — thanks
You mentioned something more or less in passing, so to speak, that has to be the core of every prepper whether bugging in or out. That being, what’s best in a heartbeat. The best laid plans can fail unexpectedly without a moments notice. Flexibility, as you stated, equals survival. In the military we had three ‘Cs’, communications, command, and control. Well, that all works fine because we had the best equipment in the world and the taxpayers were footing the bill. Makes things rather simple, doesn’t it? But out here in the real world of civilian survival those three Cs become CONSTANTLY CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES, and if we cannot react quickly to them we are dead, that too is pretty simple isn’t it? Therefore our plan, in this family, is to bug out immediately after teotwawki. We have food buried in pvc at many locations along our route. If we are caught we only lose the food we have with us, and we escape with our lives then we know where the next cache is. We also dig up and replace one pvc pipe each month, as a sort of ‘fifo’, first in, first out. This keeps us with fresh food in the ground, while we eat at home what we dug up while times ares still good. It is our opinion that no one will be able to survive by bugging in, expecially in a city of any size. Smaller cities won’t last much longer either. The prepping, in its entirety, that we see people doing is tantamount to taking your money and throwing it on the floor in the lobby of the bank instead of putting it in your account. Your food and other provisions are only going to feed other people if you do not secure it in known to yourself locations. We do not even tell our children where the food is hidden simply because children talk, expecially at school, and once the secret is out, then it’s all over. Back to pvc. It’s expensive. Ten, ten feet sections cut into five feett sections, rendering twenty, five feet sections naturally, with caps on both ends, equalling 40 caps is about $500.00 yankee dollars, but it is the absolute best way, no exceptions. We use a hand auger and bury the pipe vertically eight feet deep. That leave 3 feet on top to keep out the critters. So far it has worked well and no loses have occurred. Please give this some thought and God bless all of you.
Howdy Plowboy, how many of those PVC caches do you have? I’ll look into them, great comment!
Thanks Thomas for the good reply. To answer your question we have buried 12 so far at six different locations along a 250 mile route. They are filled mostly with dehydrated food inside mason jars with oxygen obsorbers. They also have medical supplies, life straws, toiletries, an extra pair of glasses, matches, ammunition, and lots of other items we will need. We even have a small bag of dog food stored in pvc at each location. This is kind of silly but it’s very difficult to let go of our dog. We just hope he can make it. Make sure your items will fit inside whatever size pvc you choose to use. Some one quart mason jars will fit inside 4″ pvc and some won’t. Lot’s of canned items such as tuna, chicken, soup, etc. will fit nicely. Remember please, that pvc is measured and sold as per outside diameter. Measure the inside diameter to determine what size you will purchase, so plan and choose accordingly. Actually anything larger than 4″ is out of range of my budget. 4″ schedule 40 pvc has an inside diameter of 3.5″ and that has worked well for us. Please remember to bury vertically with at least 3 feet of dirt on top.My email is almostadog77@gmail.com. if you want to discuss more. We are located south of Interstate 10 in Texas.May Christ bless you in all that you do.
I am with you when it comes to prepping for your pets, we have a cat that we rescued and we just don’t see ourselves being able to leave him behind!
Besides, pets can be emergency rations when needed… ;)
Well thought out and indicates what options I have to research in more depth …..
Thanks for sharing this. Great comments from plowboy too!
I knew it was a city in the Middle East, just the wrong one!
Well that’s pretty close! What was your guess?
I was thinking of one of the overpasses in downtown Jeddah.
Never been. I googled it, though. Looks like a very pretty city.
Where was the second photo taken? It looks familiar.
I’d be surprised if you’ve been there! Taken in Beirut, Lebanon.
I guess a lot of cities look pretty similar, huh?