Posted on 06/16/2016 6:46:35 AM PDT by w1n1
There are many different tools and things that you can stow away in your bug out bag. There is no SHTF bag to rule them all. However, knowing that we need to provide for the big three: food, water and shelter. We can focus on the tools to help you survive. So here's a quick down and dirty list, but please add your list to this as well.
Cover the basics, but know WHY the gear covers it and tailor to your specific needs and skills.
LOL! I need some paracord.
I’d add some night vision,preferably a weapon scope.
Don’t have it as your only light in a shtf bag. Too bright for most uses and it will chew through batteries. I recommend an LED headlamp, the kind on a headband that you can get ant any hardware store.
Realistically, most adults couldn’t carry a fully backed backpack as far as the corner. Better to start with a school sized backpack left over from last school year.
Odds are you’ll be bugging in rather than out so prep your home first.
Having lived with extreemly little at various times in my life, I can say that there’s a few things which top all others. The very first is having some means of making drinkable water and a jug or jugs to carry it. Purification tablets work great but taste pretty bad, so a good filter is wonderful. Short of tablets or a filter, boiling a days worth of water in the morning or evening works just fine, but that leads me to this part of the list the author mentioned: “FIRE STARTER – Get a permanent match, flint or magnesium rod.” I get so tired of reading these lists that don’t mention having a LIGHTER! Get a few Bics or a Zippo and a can of fluid. All those fire starting gizmos are kinda cool, but why use them when lighters are available? Just look at any smoker and see what they use to light many fires throughout the day. The other thing I’ve found to be incredibly important to have is some kind of bedroll. Just see how well you do after spending multiple sleepless nights of shivering or stoking a fire all night long. There are so many compact sleeping bags out there that I cannot understand why someone would settle for not having one. A poncho and one of those Mylar emergency blankets are good if your bug out bag is the size of a fanny pack, but if it’s even the size of a small day pack, a compact sleeping bag will fit in there. Getting a good night’s sleep, as everyone knows, does wonders for moral and energy. So that’s, water, a sleeping bag, and lighters. Also carry a poncho to both stay dry while moving and to cover yourself while sleeping in that nice warm sleeping bag. A knife is a must. Some kind of cordage. Also some small lightweight cookpot to boil your water and cook food. I have lived for months at a time with little more than what I just mentioned. Sometimes it was done on the extreme cheap with the cookpot, knife and cordage being rolled up in some blankets with the tarp or poncho rolled around the blankets, and then tied together with some rope and slung over my shoulder. It works, and boy is that bedroll a nice thing to crawl into after walking all day!
A ball of cheap garden twine (jute) provides excellent cordage and also (when unraveled) works well as tinder. Something people seldom seem to mention is spare eyeglasses in a hard case for people who need them.
Thanks for all the survival fishing tips!
Depending on what you are considering spending, maybe a Kelty. Their MAP is a good pack and well built without the "tacticool" look. I'd avoid the Molle, and stay away from black. Black just doesn't blend in.
“What kind of carrying back pack does one recommend?”
Whatever you can afford. If money isn’t an issue, Dana has been making the best packs in the world for decades now. His latest business incarnation is called Mystery Ranch. I talked with him at the SHOT Show a few years ago and urged him to make packs designed for military applications. Evidently enough people made the same request, because he now does. Best made packs, bar none.
Save your money, buy 10 of these as they are great!!!
Thanks for the link! At that price I can “settle” for 400 lumens.
The guv’mint will probably send people around to houses to see how much food they’re horded and confiscate it for the better good of the community.
I have 4 and they are unbelievable. And only 1 AA battery! To tighten or widen the beam you push up or pull down on the front piece. I originally thought you just turn it:-)
With the savings you might want to consider one or more of these zoomable UV Cree flashights at the same price.
Thanks for the link to a new source.
Anytime. They have a varying inventory, so you might be surprised at what they stock from time to time.
Cheers!
I’ve already bugged out.
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