Posted on 01/19/2013 3:23:13 PM PST by blam
Bugging Out vs. Hunkering Down
M.D. Creekmore
January 19th, 2013
The Survivalist Blog
This article has been contributed by M.D. Creekmore of The Survivalist Blog.
The very idea of leaving the security of your home to “bug out” to the woods has never sat well with me – In nearly every instance it’s better to hunker down or “bug in” than to bug out. I mean, why leave the safety and familiar surroundings of your home, for the open and unforgiving wilderness.
For many people this is their first line of preparation against disaster, unfortunately, most will end up joining the multitude of other refugees freezing in a cave and eventually end up dead or wards of whatever government is still functioning.
I live in a fairly safe area and have prepared to survive at home and can conceive of only a few scenarios that would force me to leave. Even then, I would go to an out-of-state relatives house with whom, I have a pre-arranged agreement, where if need be he can come to my place or I to his after a disaster.
I know what you’re thinking “what about an end of the world as we know it” type event, well if such an event were to take place, there would be no 100% safe place for most of us, and really do you think you would be better of making a go of it in the open wilderness as opposed to hunkering down at home.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should never bug out to the wilderness; we should indeed keep all our options open, what I am saying is that there are better ways to survive most disasters than heading into the bush.
You need to weigh the risks of bugging out vs. hunkering down and make your final decision based on logic and type of threat. That’s the way decisions should be made, unfortunately many people when making plans for survival side with emotion (that emotion being to run and hide) instead of the more tried and true form of decision-making known as logic.
Relying on emotion instead of logic can make for some interesting adventures; however without sound planning beforehand those adventures are likely to be sort lived. For example, I recently asked a fellow in his late 30’s what he would do if disaster struck his area.
He thought for a moment and said he would gather his family and all the food, guns and ammunition he could find and head for the mountains that lay some seventy-five miles to the north of his home.
Depending on the type of disaster, his “plan” might work short term for a lone survivor or a small group of individuals in good physical condition with proper gear and mind-set. But he is a new father and his wife is one of those that think missing an appointment at the nail-salon is the end of the world as she knows it.
Making matters worse he has no outdoor survival training or skills other than watching reruns of Less Stroud’s “Survivorman” and camping at a national park campground with all the utilities and hookups. Why he thinks he can survive off the wilderness while dragging his family along, I don’t know. He isn’t thinking logically.
His decision was based on emotion and as a result if he ever has to put his plan to the test in the real world his family will likely suffer or die because of his decision and “Red Dawn” thinking. Unfortunately, this batman in the boondocks mentality is and will continue to be the chosen survival plan for many who haven’t thought it through.
When making survival plans for your family you have to honestly weigh the risks of your decision based on logic. In almost every disaster scenario, it is better to stay put (bugging in) or head to a pre-arranged safe place at an out-of-town relatives or friends house than it is to head to the woods to eat twigs and pine bark.
For most people an evacuation bag is a better choice than a bug out bag. An evacuation bag should contain the gear necessary to get you from point A to point B, whereas a bug out bag (in most cases) is geared more toward wilderness survival. I have both, but admittedly my bug out bag is an option of last resort.
Knowing when to go is much more important than the contents of your survival pack or even where you will go. You don’t want to jump and run before you need too, but you don’t want to wait too long or you may never reach your destination.
If you wait for the authorities to give the order to evacuate it may already be too late. The roads leading to safety could be blocked and impassable by motor vehicle and walking to your destination may be impossible or too dangerous to attempt.
On the other hand if you jump and run in response to every potential disaster you’ll soon deplete your resources and the patience of your family, school and employers.For example, say you live in an area prone to tornadoes like Texas and you evacuate to Arkansas every time the clouds turn dark or the wind shakes the leaves. You would literally stay on the road. But waiting until the twister is at your door will put you at an unnecessary risk.
There are no easy answers; all you can do is weigh the dangers of bugging out vs. hunkering down depending on the situation and logic. You have to consider the nature of the threat and ask yourself which gives the best chance of survival with regards to the type of disaster you are facing.
Then, there are times when evacuation is a no brainer, say you live on the Florida coast and a category 5 hurricane has been predicted to hit that coast within twenty-four hours, in that case you would be stupid not to go now, even if you have no prearranged bug out location…
On the other hand let’s say there is snow storm heading your way and you have food, water, heat and a way to cook even if the power goes out for an extended amount of time then you are probably better off to hunker down where you are.
In my opinion the bugging out vs. hunkering down debate is moot because it all comes down to the type of threat, your personal situation and preparedness level – in the end you’ll have to make that decision based on that knowledge and common sense.
When I lived in WY I did a lot of hiking/hunting and minimalist camping. Living in the woods can be done, but you need practice.
Try camping with a tarp, some cord, a wool blanket, a decent knife and a light firearm for a few days first. You might be miserable, but you’ll learn more about what to do with less and making do.
As far as food, it depends where you are. I camped minimalist for most of the summer in 1998? 99? in the Tetons, took a salami and tortillas and lived in the Granite Peaks area for about three months. There were so many of these grouse type birds to be had, I never needed other game except for a change. They were also eating some ground berries I couldn’t identify, I figured, good for the grouse...and added them to my diet.
I didn’t lose much weight, but the nights were cold above 9.000ft and whetever I went I stopped early to get plenty of firewood because even in summer nights were frosty. I would try to find either fallen poles to wrap my tarp around or living young trees I could trim some branches and bend together to make a 2/3 tipi with a fire in front. I brought a crank radio, and the funny thing was the only station that came in clear was one on the Crow (I believe) reservation nearby, so it was quite an atmosphere when they were playing traditional music.
I could probably have survived quite a while, except winter was coming. I did a lot of experiments building shelters and I suppose surviving up there was possible. I would rather have had more food, flour, oil, coffee, etc. ...and the thing I missed most was hot water. If there had been a hot springs to soak my bod in, then I could very well have said “screw civilization” for a year or more. Bathing in a creek that was melting snow five minutes ago is doable but it ain’t fun.
Anyway, go ahead and go camping “survivalist” style for a few days. You’ll learn something, regardless. Or, you could do like I did. I bought a fixer-upper cruising sailboat and moved aboard...live in a tropical climate...and when I “bug out” my home is my escape shuttle. Best survival platform I know of for the few thousand I invested in it, and the cheap living served me well in this economy.
But if the ocean’s not for you, I’ve lived in ID, MT, CO, and WY and while there are similar attributes I think Wyoming has certain advantages for either a home redoubt, or, if you truly want to disappear, and you can survive in the mountains, if you stay on the move you can pretty much stay ahead of any govt. agency that tries to find you. There are fugitives living in the Rockies that the FBI has been after for decades, and tbey know they’re alive, because they pop up in mountain towns here or there for supplies and then disappear again.
Anyway...I like the sailboat platform. I’m in a river now where wild pigs show up on the shoreline, ducks come right up to the boat and dizzy geese have actually collided with my mast stays flying at night. And there’s always the “escape to the South Pacific” fantasy lurking in the back of my mind. Keeps me buying extra beans and rice at the store and stashing it away, just in case.
Yep, the book 'One Second After' did a good job of describing that, communities and towns will be ushering you on to something farther down the road, something past their own struggling community, a place that isn't "here", or now.
However, if the next hurricane takes the roof off my house or throws one or two big trees into the house and I can't stay here, I'll take my two bug out bags, other things I have prepared and go to the nearest place I can stay.
Tornados come here and there is no place to go to miss one as no one knows when one will come to your particular location. I have a safe bathroom to wait out a tornado warning - which means one on the ground. If the house falls down around me, I've got the two bug out bags in that bathroom. That is everything one would need for six days.
I am safer in this house than anywhere else because I made it this way. But, I can leave if my individual house is destroyed but in that case all of humanity won't be on the roads. As long as my house is standing, I'm not leaving and I'm fine.
From your keyboard to God’s ear/eye.
Well written....well said. Thank you.
“...but I’m not sure about the naked part. Seems kind of vulnerable.”
We don’t discuss “naked” around JRandom - he normally can’t find his pants.
What you are forgetting are the urban feral youths and inner city tribal parasites that will form gangs in order to rape, murder and pillage the cities.
I’m staying put. In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny (A Hare Grows in Brooklyn) “Their victory will be costly”.
I could probably have survived quite a while, except winter was coming. I did a lot of experiments building shelters and I suppose surviving up there was possible. I would rather have had more food, flour, oil, coffee, etc. ...and the thing I missed most was hot water. If there had been a hot springs to soak my bod in, then I could very well have said “screw civilization” for a year or more. Bathing in a creek that was melting snow five minutes ago is doable but it ain’t fun.
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If anything nasty happens here like an attack from the outside or CWII I expect it will happen in winter for the greatest casualties.
I didn't forget them at all.
I thought that was what we were talking about on this thread, the reason for the question in the first place, am I wrong?
Ping.
“You want to do whatever puts the most distance between you and the cops”
Really not too much of a problem in many types of events. The cops will be protecting the city, county people, banks, hospitals, and the refugee centers.
After hurricanes here in Florida you’ll see looters but you wont see cops in the neighborhoods.
You are an example.
(That was a comprehensive compliment: I’m tired and short of Quality Adjectives right now.)
later
Here in America too many people are buggering out. That’s even worse.
You might be surprised at how well I can do. I have urban and mountain survival skill sets. I sure wouldn't want to get married again, though. ;)
/johnny
IMO they won’t be a big problem. Organizing isn’t a strong suit for the uneducated and they’ll wait for govt handouts until its too late. Now if you live downtown there could be trouble. But 10-15 miles is more than any of them will walk.
IMO the greater danger is the small group of 4-10 ‘professionals’ who start early and take advantage of others.
Every federal agency had directed their employees to get out of the downtown area and go home ~ which is what everybody was doing.
So there we were refugees on our way to our homes.
It took hours but that's where there was food, water, our stuff ~
I understand that AF plane was being piloted by an Air Reserve lady pilot who took it up not knowing what it might be armed with ~ and she found out quickly enough there was nothing on the plane but her ~ and if she had to stop something, she'd have to do it with the aircraft itself. She kept on flying. We kept on fleeing.
Actually we were all pretty cool headed that day ~ things need to be done so you do them.
BTW, before leaving work I downloaded a complete copy of 100% of everything we needed to work with if we needed to set up our shop again after any further disaster. Our counterparts in New York saw the two planes crash into the WTC ~ so that wasn't out of the picture, and there was that burning Pentagon just over the way.
Once home we prepared for further action ~ still, after 12 years of history, I can conjure up every every feeling that day right down to the texture of the seat in that car ~ and the taste of the pastries I'd grabbed from a table in the top end executive meeting room ~ they weren't going to be eating them that day and I had no idea when my next meal would be. They were a rather plain sweet bun studded with big, ripe Bing cherries then glazed lightly with sugar. Couple of my buddies had taken a crate of orange juice bottles with them to a conference room and had tape and plastic sheet ready to seal off a large room should there be a gas attack.
i have more than 2 years living on Portland street.
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