This article has been contributed by The Prepper Journal.
I wanted to address a few common misconceptions that I think some people have with how they plan to address a SHTF event in their lives. There are some that are more dangerous than others granted, but all of these prepping myths give us an opportunity to dissect various topics in the prepping community to better understand the risks and rewards of various approaches. In this article, I want to discuss the myth that some preppers have that if the SHTF they are simply going to don their brand new Bug Out Bags and quietly walk into the national forest. This is the bug out to the woods strategy that I read about often in comments or on forums.
This weekend I was walking with my dog on a new trail we had discovered and as often happens, I began to look around at the trees and water sources and soak in the apparent solitude. I think about how remote we are when we get into the woods and the sounds from roads, picnic areas or nearby neighborhoods falls away and you are left with the feeling that you are in the middle of nowhere. I think about this even though I know full well that I am just a short walk back to the parking lot where myself and dozens of others have pulled in temporarily to enjoy the outdoors and a relatively undisturbed spot of nature that our tax dollars are funding.
I was walking down trails, crossing small creeks and envisioning how someone could think that if a disaster happened how they could run out here and survive for a while at least. I was even thinking this myself for a while, but the idea that many people could survive a SHTF event simply by walking into the woods and making a shelter is foolhardy. If this is your plan, you might want to consider a few things first before you leave it all behind and step into the woods for what could be the last time.
What do you think you are running to?
As with any conversation on topics common to the prepping community, it helps to set a framework for discussion. For the purposes of this article, we will assume that you and your family must leave your home. This could be for a whole host of reasons, but we will go on the assumption that you are running from a bad situation (riots, war, plague, and zombies) and your hope is to find peace, safety and perhaps a new life hidden in the woods of a nearby forest. This could be a large national forest or simply a few thousand acres in your town that hasn’t been developed.
It sounds logical at first doesn’t it? You have the gear you need in your bug out bag, you have been camping before so living in the woods on its face doesn’t seem like a bad idea. There is no place else to go and if you simply walk into the forest, you can find a place next to a stream or a lake, set up camp and begin hunting for wild game and frying some freshly caught fish. Maybe you even have a location that you have been to before that you know is perfect and you think that you will be safe in this remote space in the woods and that somehow you will be able to avoid whatever it was you were running from.
Now, I will admit that there are people who can walk into the wild and survive, even thrive. The number of people who can do this with only what they carry on their back is a miniscule number though and the people I have witnessed (usually on TV if I’m honest) have a tremendous amount of skills, experience and luck. Is this a group you consider yourself a member of?
Most of us, even the crustiest through-hiker on the Appalachian trail needs supplies to live. Can we go out for brief times and survive? Of course, but if you plan to walk into the forest for the rest of your life with nothing more than some snares you have never used, your trusty .22 rifle , and some dehydrated food I think you need to revisit your strategy.
What are the downsides?
The downsides to this approach are numerous but I think the main two are that most of us do not live in the middle of nowhere. If a societal collapse were to happen, there would be a lot of other people with bug out bags hiking into the woods right along with you. That wild game you are depending on catching just like they do on the survival shows, won’t stand up to an onslaught of weekend warriors with their expensive sleeping pads and high powered rifles. In this scenario, it isn’t like you can walk back to Walmart and get some groceries and go back to your tent in the woods.
Where I live we have a homeless population that disappears every night. I know that in warmer months, a good number of them live in a wooded area between two interstates, but my assumption is that area isn’t the safest place in the world. These homeless people have a stable society they can walk to for shelter or a handout on most days. What if the stable society collapsed and started moving in with them? What if nobody could eat and there were no shelters to go when the temperature gets cold? Maybe you could find a reasonably remote place to stay where you wouldn’t have other people around you, but you would still find the issues of acquiring food a major obstacle.
If that isn’t enough, safety would be a huge consideration in the woods. Your tent offers zero protection from a sharp stick, much less bullets. Additionally, have you tried to live in them for weeks at a time? Even the best tents start breaking down and hand-made shelters would need to be constantly worked on to maintain their weather proofing. If you are surrounded by forest, it will be harder to see people approaching you and it would be easy for them to spy on you from a distance without being seen. If the SHTF and times are desperate, anything you have could become something that unscrupulous people want to take from you. What about if you wanted to leave camp? You couldn’t lock anything up could you so it could easily be stolen while you were away. Leave someone behind and they could be overwhelmed by larger numbers. Would you leave a woman alone in this situation?
Is there a better plan?
I have said numerous times that my first plan is to bug in at almost all costs. Does that mean I will never leave my house regardless of the reason? No, but I would have to be under extreme pressure before I would take my family into the woods. If I was making my way somewhere and only needed to stop in the woods for the night – that would be one thing. I would not plan on packing all our stuff on our backs and hiking into the forest though and expect to survive for very long.
What if you know how to forage off the land and you can eat nuts and berries? That’s great but all the other issues are still there. Other people are going to be with you in the forest, and you can’t defend a tent as well as you can your house. If you believe that your bug out plan is to hike into the National Forest that connects to your property and you haven’t considered some of these points, maybe it’s worth a second thought. I myself will know when it’s time to retreat and run away, but I will be very slow to leave my home and although I love walking, hiking and even backpacking in the woods I don’t think it is a valid plan to try and live there if the grid-goes down. Give me my home and zero electricity or water over the nakedness of the forest any day.
This article has been contributed by The Prepper Journal.
My prepping plan is to be as flexible in my thinking as I can be and not get locked into anything which will get my family hurt/killed.
One of our fallback positions is an area a national forest here is an area where we have sighted. Next month we will move three 20 foot containers (think container ship) out to the area. We will be placing them against a hill in a dry ravine and burring them with a concealed entrance. Then many ferns and black berries will be planted. This is in a very, very low traveled area. Our biggest challenge will be moving the units in under OPSEC. Two of our folks have this issue worked out and we trust them. Once in place they will be left (for years hopefully) with some cached supplies . Many folks in the middle east did this with great success. It also worked very well in Vietnam. If things start to devolve we will then move more supplies in and seal them up. Most of us here on this sight and others can see trouble before it arrives. Kind of seeing the forest through the trees (sorry just had to). Heading into the “woods” unless you go high and real remote is a death sentence. You can increase your odds if this is your plan by caching. In order to do this OPSEC and knowing your team is very important. Going it alone “in the woods” is foolish. This can be done at any income level. Use large schedule 40 or 80 pipes caped at each end. Burry them in dry areas well off trail. Think “stick then move” strategy. Have multiple sites. Do this even if you plan to “Bug In”. You may need to leave for a short time and having caches will help you succeed and thrive. Most importantly YOU MUST HAVE A GOOD RELIABLE TEAM. This is critical. Don’t go it alone and go with a plan. PRAY, PLAN, PREP, FORM TEAMS.
True, true. The biggest misconception I can think of is those people that think that they can take a stand in a large urban area and survive after mega disasters occur. At least in the woods people usually have fresh water and some source of food, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, they are away from competetion and others that will make them their next meal. In the big city that is nothing but a concrete enclave that is almost always totally dependent on outside aid coming in to survive. The big city is a big cement tomb for most people.
Many people think that they can survive easily out in the woods. Bad thinking, it is tough. Of course the alternative to battling cannibals, rampant out of control disease, toxic everything, lack of water, lack of food, etc., etc. would be at least a better choice than the metropolitian area. IT IS AN ODDS GAME, NEVER CHOOSE THE SURVIVAL PLAN WITH THE WORST ODDS FOR SURVIVAL.
In survival you want to choice the best survival plan, then the least dangerous right down the line to next to certain death pathway. To me the absolute worst choice is the big city. If trying to make it in some national forest with limited amount of wisdom and survival supplies is a choice between the metro areas, your odds are almost always better after a mega disaster to try to live on nature. Manmade cities of asphalt offer nothing but a grave. At least in the wild there is food and water, and you can make shelter out of the raw materials. You might not last that long in the wild, but a hell of a lot longer than the urban hellhole that offers little or no chance at all.
Bought more silver and gold today. Rob Kirby thinks they’ll spike soon.
You’re an idiot. Who are you going to sell it to? They buy the shit back at pennies on the dollar. Don’t believe me? Try it out. Do you stupid old people ever think this stuff through?
Acid: Take your meds…..
PK
Acid, have I offended you in some way?
He sounds jealous to me….
Yup, this stupid old shit bought Gold at $165 and $211 and $612 and $958. And still has it. I’ve made more than you are worth, but anything above $1.98; that’s true. Why don’t you just live quietly in your mothers basement and let the adults get on with their business.
Again, who are you going to sell it to? You have no wealth only metal in your hand.
Do you have even a rudimentary understanding of how the economy works?
measuring your gold in “fiat dollars” is asinine
you can’t “eat” gold.
I saw a bumper sticker that said :
“keep your gold/silver, I’m buying LEAD”
@notjam –
I have plenty of lead, plus I have lots of gold/silver. When SHTF, all you’ll have is lead. That gives me the prepping advantage over you.
You’re only half a prepper.
Good luck.
You have made nothing until you sell it. lot’s of people have ridden gold up and down several times. Problem you will face is how will it be valued? The silver eagle may well be worth forty bucks but the front says one dollar. Think you will get more? Think you will not be followed home and have your metals taken?
Acid, quit calling my people here old people. You obviously never learned any respect for your elders.
Ok, first off, respect is earned, not given away to people because of age, and second, understanding the economy, or at least the version we are presently in has nothing to do with a shtf situation. While acid is a tad harsh, he only proved, by your comments that you viciously guard the belief about gold in a shtf situation. Which will probably be your downfall. And should you run out of bullets because you bought all that gold, hey man, you can throw it at them.
And too all, by the way, the shit has already hit the fan.
Brave drunk. He is wrong. Old people are cool. Drink old guys are annoying. Kind of like your lucid vs chaotic comments. Some are harmless stupid and some are vile stupid.
respect must be “earned”.
Sounds like old asshole EisenCrux or what ever the turds screen name was is back. That was his favorite put down. Calling someone old.
Acid is one of those who attack then leave Offering nothing but criticism. An abusive ad hom attack with name calling…speaks for itself…
you can’t eat gold.
I saw a bumper sticker that said :
“keep your gold/silver, I’m buying LEAD”
can’t eat gold
can’t start a fire with gold
can’t keep warm with gold
can’t cook with gold
can’t hunt with gold
can’t protect yourself with gold
can’t boil water with gold
sell gold and buy: food, matches/lighters, warm clothing, rain gear, guns, cast iron cookware, seeds, gardening tools, chickens ect.
@notjam –
I’m prepped up. Plus I have gold/silver. After SHTF, you’ll be working for someone like me.
You know what the smartest bumper sticker of them all is? None. With all the cameras around and a paranoid government looking for reasons to harass it’s citizens, why give them more reason to screw with you? You are much better off saying nothing with your car than saying something like that. It can either cause bad situations during traffic stops or advertize to less than scrupulous members of the public that you own lots of guns and lots of ammo. Either way you’re unnecessarily making yourself a target. Staying away from stickers and tee shirts that make statements like this is just good opsec.
Off the subject, but it seems Putin is getting fed up with the lies and BS from the west… see RT news for details. 🙂
I love RT. Why? Not because I believe that it too is not full of lies and propaganda (it’s seed money came from the Kremlin), but because it lets the average person hear what the other side is saying, without the filter of the US press corps. Because they are looking for stories that would embarrass the US government it lifts the veil, if only a little bit, from our own state controlled media.
Very realistically and well put, “Be informed”. ANYONE who attempts to impose on or take from another will be in the GRAVEST danger from whomever they attempt to take or impose on. THAT is the rule that will prevail when this nanny state and its Big Business Hamiltonian Federalist Constitution are gone.
Those who intend to live freely but, will NECESSARILY LET all others equally freely live will be in harmony with others. ANYONE who intends to monopolize on what others equally need by attempting to deny others’ access to what’s not in their immediate, low-tech sight will also be in grave danger of being considered an imperialist enemy of all others.
It will be as it was with the Indians before the European states were established here in these Indies. The Indians had their territories (countries) but, much land was considered common hunting and foraging land. The families, bands, clans, tribes or nations foreign to each other moved through those lands as do ships on the high seas. Just as flags identify what nation a ship belongs to, and banners and other heraldry did in the European middle ages before the luxury of modern states existed, so it will be for those who have a clue about how to live in the new state of Nature in which their recognition of God (the Personality of Nature)and His Providence for them there will become all-to necessary for them.
I use to do a lot of preseason scouting for archery hunting. I would find elk or bucks and pattern them. I’d spend a lot of time glassing and hiking around finding beds, wallows, rubs, trails and tracks. Come opening morning the woods would be crawling with other people. The animals would be so scattered and well hid that all the preseason scouting went for nothing. I changed tactics and began to pattern people and I now try to figure out where the animals will be pushed to. I set up a blind and wait for them to come to me.
If you think going into the forest is going to be solitude, think again. Here in the PNW, wet side of the state there’s very little ancient forest left. It’s all second and third growth, there’s almost not a foot of forest that hasn’t been traveled on, a tree that hasn’t been cut, a stream that hasn’t been pissed in.
Any place that you can drive to on public land has been scouted by hunters, mushroomers, foragers, loggers, campers, tree huggers, teenaged partiers, plinkers, meth cookers, pot growers, local trash dumpers, city murderer body dumpers, forest rangers, firewood cutters, sight seers, campers and probably me.
You can find a hole to hold up into for a short time, long term prospects are slim to none and making it through a winter in a cold and wet environment will be even worst.
My opinion is base upon where I live and hunt, your area may be different.
I live 100 miles south of Oregon, it’s the same here. There are a few of what we call 4 hour dirt roads,come bear season they are well traveled. As a wood cutter I’ve been on most of them in the fall and this is what I see, the more remote they are…The less water,game and places that are worth being at.Dredging/gold mining on the rivers I’ve seen tent cities in the middle of nowhere. What that going to look like when SHTF?
Forty million people in California half of them illegal. It will be fun when everyone bags it at once. I used to work with a guy who every year he and his wife would be dropped off at a trailhead in the Sierras and two weeks later however far away they would be picked up at a prearranged point. Someone like that has a good chance of surviving. The typical out of shape never been in the woods further than a half mile person has no chance. For one thing it is very lonely. They will seek out others and get killed.
Agree, BI. One of the scariest times we had in “normal” times was a camping trip to Colorado with all of our kids and a three room tent. The second night, a group of drunk hunters were celebrating on the river and started firing. There were probably 11-12 tents on the bluff over the river and we all had canvas or polyester or nylon tents. The next morning, we had two holes near the roof of the tent and packed up and left. My husband and I were sleeping almost on top of the kids, which made it uncomfortable for everyone. There’s nothing like the whiz of bullets flying when you know there is only nylon between you and lead and you have your kids to protect. The Rangers showed up before we left and said they had caught the drunks, but they had all bailed out. We went on to New Mexico which had better fishing, anyway.
We are buggin in since we have food, well water, medicines, a garden, an orchard and first-aide supplies. I can’t possibly carry all that out. My greatest concern is how do we fortify our doors. We have French doors to the deck, French doors to the patio on ground level, a thick wood door to the main entrance, but with two dinky skylights next to it at lock level, and 12 Long and Tall triple pane windows lining the walk-out basement. Great for starting plants, but hell to defend. Any ideas? You all have been so good to us with helpful advice and I try to act on it just as soon as possible. Blessings to everyone!
Be there to get there; but know where you are going and the terrain well if you must bug out. I could go in ANY direction from where I am at and know THAT location that could provide shelter, food, and water for an extended, if less than luxurious stay. You should too.
Unfortunately for them, a very small percentage of people in Arizona can do that. Without their RV, satellite dish, and a toilet at a local Wal Mart, these “campers” are lost.
But fortunately, Motel 6 will leave the light on for them, ….. until the lights go out. 🙁
I hear a lot about the inability of Preppers to Bug In, in a major metro area; and I believe that to a point because I understand the mentality of inner city residents and the general lack of preparation of suburban families.
Still, I must say that the Lord has a place for each of US and for some of US that will be in a City or town, or Gated Community surrounded by like-minded family and individuals, who are well trained and well prepped.
While there will be a general breakdown of law and order, martial law will be declared and law breakers will soon be subdued. That’s what the military is prepping for, that’s what the FEMA Camps are for, and this will be acutely obvious to even the most ardent conspiracy theorist around important military installations.
Access to gasoline will be halted and limited to what you own so those ICR are not going anywhere. Those of you believing in a Mad Max environment will be greatly disappointed; unless WE are looking at the aftermath of nuclear war.
Until that day, engage your employees because those in power will surely attempt to use that chaos to supplant the American Ideal of government with a UN mandate. 🙂
Here in Florida, I have 3/4″ presure treated plywood cut to fit all windows and doors. I drilled a few holes in them to look out at the storms. The next time I get them out, I will drill a few extra viewing and shooting holes. Make sure you drill the holes for shooting below the open window line.
You can do the same thing. Or you could buy expensive shutters, but that will make you look flush or rich.
The wood shutters block in light and out. That does not let anybody know you are in there. It also gives the appearance of being abandonded.
If you can, forget about the garden for the first couple of months. That would be the best place to lye and wait for the owner to come and collect that days bounty.
Bug in means BUG IN, at least for the first couple of months, unless you are already in the middle of nowhere. No cooking great smelling foods either. They will be able to be smelled for a couple of miles by very hungry people.
No camp fires, also smelled for miles. Cooking and heating will have to be something with no smell like propane or alcohol. Boil water and pour the food in it. No smells.
Good luck and keep preparing.
You can Bug-In and face Martial Law, Gun Confiscation and be hauled off to the local FEMA CAMP, as well ad shot and looted by the hungry masses, or you can Bug-Out and remain FREE MAN. I choose the later. As I choose not to be a victim nor anybodys slave.
would you really want to live with all that going on? i mean after you’ve had the best and have it taken would you really want to even try to survive , i say that because If all these things do come to pass ….no matter what happens afterwards its NEVER going to be the same. Once it’s all gon e down it will NOT be restored to anything like we have been enjoying for years. IN Fact it will make USSR look like a great place to be.
I did not say that I was or was not bugging in or out. Up above, Vicky asked how to fortify her house. I was trying to help. The real problem is that no matter what your plan is, somebody will pick it apart, and somebody always has a better one. Some folks can only afford to do what they can do. Others might have the money, but not the ability to do.
My personal plan would hope to bug in until I have to leave. I do not have the money to own another place, and I disagree about building something out in the woods, waste my time, energy, and money, and not own the land it sits on. My luck, the s**t will not hit the fan until the week after somebody just bought that plot of land where I had my stash buried.
I personnaly could make it in the woods, but every Tom, Dick, and Harry is going to be out their too. Their is not a big enough piece of land left where you are never going to see other people.
A sticky bomb made from tar soaked with gas and lit on fire thrown on your 3/4 plywood will be all it takes. you need a trap door in the floor and a excape tunnel.
Nice to see you bring this issue up, Old Guy.
Never underestimate the destructive nature of “fire” as a low-tech weapon of war. In any SHTF scenario, it can and will be used against you, regardless of your location.
I am working on that one. My house sits off the ground just enough to do that.
down here in the everglades ,is not the same as walking into a national forest and having to concern yourself with running into like minded people ,the whole of the everglades is harsh and unforgiving ,so unless you grew up around it your whole life youll think long and hard before you venture in ,but if you lived around it and have no problem with the alligators ,mosqitoes ,rattlers and you know where to look for the high ground you will never go hungry or run out of water ,i have no plans to to leave my home ever ,but, like they say never say never ,so if its go or die ,ill walk into the glades and find myself a cabbage hammock and wiat for some of the ugly to pass
I was born down there and that is probably where I will be heading back to.
@fishnmud
alot of people dismiss Fl as being a viable place to be in a SHTF ,to hot ,to humid ,thats just fine with me ,gives me more elbow room
@ lower 40.
I agree about they right off Florida. I am more than happy with that. I AM A CRACKER and can handle the bugs, heat, and humidity. You can garden almost year round. More fruit and nut trees can be grown here than anybody can imagine.
I was using 3/4 inch pressure treated plywood to test my 22lr for penetration, blew right through the wood. Not sure I would use the plywood for ballistic anything except practice…
Serious reply here, have you ever pondered applying multiply coats of truck bed liner on both sides of the plywood and shooting it again. That stuff is applied with rollers and dries to a very tough durable finish. I’ve always wondered how well it would hold up, if my memory serves me right mythbusters had an episode on it that tested it with a bomb and dog bite, but no bullet test.
Here’s some interesting reading material too, maybe you find something to help you.
This site does test on all types of materials, new ammo, hope this helps people out or at least gives them something fun to do 🙂
htt p://www.theboxotruth.c om/
good post f&m
I know how you feel to have that happen . Myself and six friends were camping and a group of armed idots thought it would be funny to start shooting at the camp fire ant night they never hit the fire but the they did hit the log I was sitting on we hit the ground and returned fire they learned fast that huntings no fun when the rabbit has a gun.
Stupidity has no territory lines it is far reaching and wide spread .
At the rate the country is going within the next five years or less everyones fears will be reality. If you bug out to the woods your dead in two weeks or less bug in three months depending on the rate of decline.
I have seen site where preppers are asking if they need to get permits to build shelters that would be the second thing they look for when it happenswhen they check permits and see shelter they will swarm the place and the permit will be a death warrent. build the shelter next to your house the roof could be your back patio for all anyone knows. Make large enough to live in with ample storage hidden door to enter the house exit tunnel far from house never leave or return o that entrance the same way twice in a three day period that makes a trail. have a weel put in and just pay extra to keep it of the books.
Hi Vicky, 3/4in plywood precut for the windows and french doors. Some thing everybody should consider is sand and sand bags. They run about .50ea and a few yards of sand. In an emergency you can just screw the plywood to the window and door frames,they won’t stop bullets but it will slow break ins and block the view of intruders. Sandbags will stop bullets.
Find some sheets of Kevlar and line the plywood with that. It is available especially if there is a DMRO in your area or a shipyard that sells off surplus.
You have some sheets of 3/4 inch plywood on hand and the mounting supports to put them up. Not much else you can do.
joenobody has great info on low tech defenses
Hey Man, you might want to rethink the buried container idea. I have seen first hand a man that buried a container and the next spring it had 3 feet of water in it. They are anything BUT waterproof! You will waste a lot of money and labor if you think it will seal your stuff. A better idea is to bury a few (or a lot) of the biggest plastic septic tanks with good lid seals, they are not as roomy but way way better sealed and rustproof and a hell of a lot easier to haul to your location and bury. If you buried oversea containers where would you get rid of all the excess dirt, how would you hide that? A 2000 gallon septic tank is big enough for 4 people and quite a few supplies. You also need to think about a powered ventilation system, I use 12 volt computer fans with 3 inch pvc pipe, a sealed 12 volt battery, a 20 watt solar panel and a small charge controller. get 2 batteries and a 50 watt panel and you can run your radio and charge small things and have light (led). Please think again before you waste your precious resources on buried containers, you will thank me later 🙂
Thank we will look at that…… We have sealed up the containers and we have spent three years checking the area a a regular bassis for water table. Tha is why we will place them against the hill (with 4 inches of gravel undernieth) and cover them. Burry was probably a bad discription. Like the septic tank Idea though. We could get smaller ones for caches. Great post.
Thanks Man, just food for thought. But do NOT forget you will have to get rid of all the dirt (which will be a lot) or you will give away all you have done.
Yep… That is why we will be planting many frens and black berries……
plant also thorn bushes to discourage people from entering an area. A good briar patch will make someone change course and walk in a different direction.
also small pine trees, that way when the leaves fall they cant see your set up from 100 yards away.
a combination is ideal
who will fight thier way thru a briar thorn patch when behind it is pine trees so they dont know if the effort is worth it.
again, they will take an easier trail somewhere else.
What happens if some one has the smae idea about a hidden camp and sets the camp insie the pine for cover thinking the thorns will make others leave the area? Just a thought.
Man on the inside. Please learn to spell. Underneath, bury, basis, description, along with added letters between words. Man on the inside of what? A group home for retards? You do not have any more knowledge or inside information than a circus monkey.
What makes you think that moving that much dirt will go un observed? Most likely drones overfly the area looking for dope growers and other things the feds don’t like. What makes you think you will even be able to get to them?
Yeah, careful is exactly right with containers. What we did was drill an air adapter into the unit and pressurized it. Then we had to go around the entire unit with a fine tooth comb of soapy water to find leaks. Each leak was welded off. We were not satisfied until we could get 80PSi to hold for 24 hours.
After that, the entire unit was reinforced with additional steel buttresses, ports cut in, ingress and egress as well. Then the whole unit was coated with Bitumastic, as that won over Polyurea layering for many reasons. The end result is a sealed and watertight steel housing far superior to most other materials short of using Gunite with rebar reinforcements.
The method we used is NOT for most. We have 2 large scale commercial GCs and a former Navy man that worked several dry dock retrofits of carriers. However, if you have the skill, time and finance pool, this way is a lot less expensive than building a concrete sub-basement in the middle of nowhere.
I have two 1,000 gallon water tanks and they are huge! About eight feet tall with a eight foot diameter. Moving them was a bitch.
I can’t imagine the difficultly of man-handling a 2,000 gallon capacity tank. 🙁
Take the time to properly reinforce those containers for burial, or it probably won’t turn out well. Maybe a sacrificial anode or two might be a good idea, as well?
Precast concrete would probably hold up better.
One more thing,a septic tank well buried will help protect your electronics from emp! Also you can put out a small cctv camera to monitor the outside with a small video monitor inside the tank. Something else you will definately want is a good porta potty down there. If worse comes to worse you can cut a hole in the bottom of it and dig a pit for waste just be sure to keep the circular piece you cut out and some duct tape to cover it when not in use. Use your imagination and the cover is easily concealable and closeable from the inside. Put them in a few different locations since they are not expensive and it will afford you the luxury of being able to move out if the area becomes too dangerous. Don’t keep all your eggs in one area! Hell you could put one in your backyard if you wanted too if things were so bad you couldnt leave. Good advice from the genius lol 🙂
OK 1 more thing lol, DO NOT have any vehicles etc. parked nearby! It’s best to bury it in an area with lots of rocks that you can walk over so you don’t leave tracks that even an idiot could follow right to your door! You could camo it to the hilt BUT if you leave tracks to your entrance all will be for not. Do not leave any trail whatsoever (crushed grass, brush,twigs, etc.) Genius out 😛
This is exactly the area… no vehichles and a “cleaned” area…
Electronics and ALL other modern contrivances will be things of the past–as will those who insist on relying on them, come SHTF! Those who waste their abilities on attempting to preserve or revive those things will be the ones who will be dangerous to all others who use their abilities to realistically make best use of what God (the Personality of Nature) has provided them, since the modernists will be desperate to preserve or re-instate their Big Business-dependent and enslaved economy–replete with their attempt to enslave others as their workers– so they can have all those modern contrivances.
Well Libertarian, do you think having some 2 way radios protected with battery chargers etc. is a bad idea? Nothing will give you an advantage like some good comm’s! What about a laptop loaded with 100’s of books on how to info? And what about a good security system to monitor your area? Ham radio gear anyone? So you think these things are just crap? Not a return to Big Biz but just very smart and prudent items to have and great force multipliers! Better think that statement over again Bud…
Genius, excellent points about comms and laptop with how-to books, etc. I’m preserving 1 netbook with some how-to books and other types of books along with some LED flashlights and lanterns and 2 shortwave radios. Ham would be nice but that’s priced out of my reach. I’ve got them inside a metal trash can [Home Depot for $25] and using packing bubbles for insulation [UPS Store for another $20]. And of course, BATTERIES, a shitload of those. NEVER forget the batteries!
braveheart or bravenerd?
sounds like when women go camping:
gotta bring an electric toothbrush, blow dryer, curling iron, electric blanket, alarm clock…
maybe an EMP will put some hair on your chest.
Genius, excellent points about the comms, books, etc. I might also add board games, playing cards, etc., ANYTHING to help you cope with the tremendous boredom you’ll most likely encounter in any post-SHTF scenario. I’mholding on to some how-to books, other types of books, 1 netbook with some e-books on it, 2 SW radios, some LED flashlights and lanterns,plus I do have a shitload of batteries for everything. I’m looking into a solar charger for running the netbook, etc. All my electronics I’m preserving are in a metal trash can {Home Depot for $25} with packaging bubbles for insulation {another $20 at the UPS Store}.
I’m sorry about the double post. the first one didn’t go through but now it comes through after I made the second post.
Oh ya one more thing, how well do you think your smoke signal comms will worl lol? Maybe I can start my own small radio station and broadcast propaganda 🙂
Be careful with your venture. If you have to do this, bury the container upside down. The floor is a lot stronger than the roof. The roof will not hold much dirt without buckling. Also, the walls cannot withstand the lateral pressure of full height dirt on them forever. Best to put a layer of foam and rubber on top of the container before covering. And as they get older you don’t want condensation to weaken it more.
molon labe
You can spray that tar they use for waterproofing basements. Most importantly, you cover it with screenings, not foam. Sheese. The foam would HOLD water up against it. Screenings is fine clean gravel, fairly cheap.Want several inches of a layer. 3-4″ This will let the water flow away quickly. Same way you bury pipes and cables. Bigger stuff shifts over time and cuts through.
I would like to know how to put a 15-20 foot container in the woods without someone hearing or seeing the operation. How do you clear a path for a truck pulling a trailer with a cargo container on it into deep woods without being seen? I have a lot of acres and I can’t even put a trailer full of junk down in the lower 40 without someone asking a question about what I’m doing.
Well Old, you could have a nieghborhood party and get the people next to you all drunked up then when they go to bed just bring your stuff in then 🙂
The best plan would have been putting something in twenty years ago. By now most people will have forgotten about it. For now one might consider installing a small underground shelter and building a small building on top of it with a hidden space for the hatch. Could possibly pawn off the shelter as a septic tank to those who see it in transit.
http://www.atlassurvivalshelters.com
Another possibility that is a little cheaper is resealable 35 gallon drums inside resealable 55 gallon drums buried in the back yard or a wooded area. One pickup truck, shovel, and time. Nothing is certain this late in the game except resilience.Good luck.
Unless reinforced with steel on the sides, shipping containers will collapse from the weight of soil pussing on the sides.
Because they are engineered to withstand more vertical force than horizontal…
There’s a big misconception right there. Ship containers collapse if you bury them.
Do your research before burying sea containers. They are made to support the weight of other sea containers at the corners. The sides and top are not strong enough to resist the pressure of soil packed against them, not to mention the added weight/pressure of ground water soaking that soil. The sides and top will need to be significantly reinforced. and drainage of ground water away from the containers will need to be considered and implemented.
The steel containers will also rust from the water in the soil being in constant contact without drying, so waterproofing them before burial is another important consideration.
Funny, I couldn’t view any other replies to the sea container burial post from MOTI until after I posted my own reply.
I want to see them bury them on federal land. Just how will they be moved into place? Better go buy some land an put in a basement under a utility shed. Little notice will be paid to a shed or coop.
Well, now we know we can get three containers of preps at the next Government seized property auction in your area.
Seriously, trying to cache a large amount of stuff in a National Forest is not going to work. If you have access to it, so does everyone else.
everything is seen from the satelites orbiting the planet. a shipping container would stick out like a sore thumb. any spot where the is bare of vegitation is visible. a natural cave is the best place. around here they remain a constant 60 degrees. hidden in one even thermal imaging cant even locate you. that cave needsto be remote and only accessible by foot. one where you must rappel to gain entrance would be better.
Caves are good but most locals know about them and may head there as well . Heres a thought us eand old tanker truck and no one thinks anything about it its large and if it looks old no one pays attention to it and if they do check it you cam place a pipe under th hole and it comes up dry they walk away. Best to hide in plain sight.
Your placing 3 20 foot containers on National Forest Land? Good luck with that and don’t let BLM or the USFS find out.
You may want to check the usage regulations for your national forest…they aren’t going to like having containers installed without their knowledge. Check before you do it.
I believe more than one plan should be thought through and worked out. While I don’t think one should leave your home immediately and cart your ass off into the woods, that still may be the only answer if you live in suburbia and brigade of those blue helmet clowns come marching through your neighborhood, that may be the only choice.
It would be my last resort, do-or-die choice.
I agree. Try to think through every possible situation ahead of time. Some potential bug out scenarios I’ve realized are:
1. If a gang of criminals are trying to get into your house, and have thrown molotov cocktails on your roof. If you have to leave on foot, and neighbors are in total self-preservation mode and won’t let you in, you may end up in the woods temporarily.
2. If the red list roundups have begun and you get word of or see them coming. If you’re on the list, they may check with your neighbors and relatives. The woods may be the only safe place temporarily.
in both those senarios you wouldn’t need the woods, you would need an AK-47 with lot’s of rounds.
Quite frankly the author is correct in some respects, but understand this as well , if you stay in your house there are many negatives as well . #1.If surrounded by a large group hoping to get heir hands on the food, etc that they know you have, you are virtually a prisoner in your own home, you can’t get out for water, food, or wood for heat. They can wait you out if they wish, this is called siege. It is much easier to defend from without , then it is from within, however this is similar to being out in the woods to survive. You must be mobile, concealed, and observant …always two sides to an argument…This is just a couple of points to be considered……….Semper Fi
I had thought of taking my kids and running for the woods when SHTF. ..but now? Im not sure. Its correct that lots LOTS of people will do just that. I live in Ohio between Dayton and Cincinnati , so maybe ill just stay home unless I have to leave. But reading peoples comments on this….im hearing, the woods is good, home is good, we can do it better, im not helping on one, and on and on. How sad. I think survival depends on the individual…whether city born or country bumpkin…people from all walks of life will survive. After all, when it gets down to one facing death, a person can and will do unthinkable things. Just a thought. I hope we all survive. Im a city girl, lived in the country a little (hated it), never been camping in my life, but im resourceful and id like to hope if faced with any situation, I can adapt.
Good day and good luck to each and every one of you. Peace.
Best strategy is living in a small to medium sized town a good half hour from any large city and not on a major road. When where everyone knows each other and help each other out. Large lots but no so large or tree covered that everyone cannot keep and eye on others homes. Wells and gardens in season and most people also can. A lot of ex grunts as neighbors cannot hurt.
Just think about all the humans that you can hunt and cannibalize when they everyone goes into the woods.
Mmm tasty humans
Stay out of the woods, there’s bears and things there.
Scat
There are also lots of mosquitoes in the woods…
The Chikungunya Virus is Starting to Spread in America
“Cases of the chikungunya virus are appearing in the United States at a level that is far higher than anything health officials have seen in recent years, and now there are two confirmed cases of people that have not even traveled out of the country getting the virus.
That means that the chikungunya virus is starting to spread in America, and once it starts spreading it is really hard to stop.
Instead of spreading human to human, this virus actually spreads “person-to-mosquito-to-person”.
“A CHIKV epidemic has already been declared in Puerto Rico, and some experts are now saying that it is only a matter of time before we see one in the United States.”
“Now 30 states that have confirmed cases.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-21/possible-epidemic-chikungunya-virus-starting-spread-america
Chikungunya Virus
Symptoms – “With illness onset, the person develops high fever, chills, and joint pain, followed in some by a rash on the trunk, limbs and face lasting 3-4 days.
Muscle and joint pain last about one week. JOINT PAIN IS OFTEN SEVERE and in some people lasts longer, up to SEVERAL MONTHS. CHIKV is usually not fatal. There is no vaccine available to prevent CHIKV infection.”
Protective steps – Wear long sleeves and pants; install secure screens to windows and doors to keep mosquitoes out; sleep under mosquito nets; stay indoors with air conditioning; wear permethrin-treated clothing and use an insect repellent.
For a full list of approved insect repellents visit link: http://www.cdc.gov/westnile/faq/repellent.html
“To reduce the breeding of mosquitoes:
Keep water barrels, cisterns and water tanks covered with a lid; empty standing water in old tires, tin cans, bottles, trays, etc.; clean out clogged gutters and flat roofs where water may have settled; change water frequently in pet water dishes, bird baths and plant trays; as well as trim weeds and tall grasses, where mosquitoes seek shade on hot days.”
http://www.state-journal.com/spectrum/2014/07/19/health-mosquito-borne-virus-potentially-in-kentucky
CAUTION!
BE CAREFUL WITH PERMETHRIN — IT IS FATAL TO CATS EVEN IN SMALL AMOUNTS. You can get the same protection against biting insects with either PYRETHRINS or CITRONELLA. None of the three are harmful to most dogs.
Sixpack, when I sit outside on my front porch, I use citronella candles to keep the mosquitoes away. works every time.
Porch;
Would that be the running board? Just kidding BH
It’s the cheap booze and BO. You are wasting your money on candles. Brave drunk out
I plant marigolds around our front porch and in the garden to keep out Mosquitos. Insects don’t like the smell of the marigold leaves.
I add a couple teaspoons of cooking oil to my rain barrels. This prevents insect larvae from growing.
Yeah, isn’t that a kicker! That will bring bugging out to a complete standstill while everyone recovers, if they do. I don’t want to be out in the cold or heat without lots of clean water and no protection with a serious illness. Better to be at home with the kids in their beds and my playing doctor with the materials I’ve stored.
Bear hunter, I hope there are a lot of them and big ones. I can hardly wait, 7 more days until archery season opens. A nice bear roast, it makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Trekker Out. Semper Paratus!
We see lots of weekend warriors here that
always seem to come out of the woods empty
handed. It’s not about fancy equipment.
I’ve never considered running off to live in the woods. I have, however, considered running off through the woods to get to a destination that may be more than a few hours away.
There are potential natural and man-made disasters within an hour or two of my house (earthquake, fire, nuclear reactor melt-down, and close proximity to a major military base that would absolutely be a first target to be nuked).
If I need to beat feet out of here there are several places I could go that I can drive to in a few hours. But if I have to hoof it or bicycle it I might end up staying in the woods for a few days or more.
Foraging berries and snaring rodents can absolutely keep you going for weeks, so I think it’s counterproductive to discourage people from wanting to learn to survive in the woods… even if they say “I’m going to live in the woods blah blah blah”, the odds of them surviving long enough to get to a safe place is much better.
Just sayin’.
Spot on Billy,
The woods are a means to an end…as in temporary…
Couldn’t agree more!
Not one in a thousand would thrive…me…big maybe…
Depends on where and what I started with.
So long it’s not a swamp…I hate swamps… 🙂
…Most truthfully put, OutWest! Those who can go INTO the woods EMPTY-HANDED and yet thrive on what’s there are the ones who can live there!
Ain’t it fun to fantasize.I Probably won’t bugout to the woods but do have a plan if necessary. First off its like many things in life, one of the most important things being, Location, Location, Location. If you live in the East or much of the MidWest it’s hard to get over a half-mile from a traveled road. That being said, where I live it is very low population which is a plus right off the get-go. Now if you don’t have any hands-on- experience, forget it, you won’t stand a chance. I have a red-neck camper, which is a horse trailer that I enclosed, roll out some old carpet on the floor set up my cot and put in a wall tent or sheepherder stove and it quite comfy, also has a padlock on the door for when I’m away. I pull this into the Mountains and leave it for a legal 15 days at a time and when I use it, many times you won’t see 1 truck or 4 wheeler in a day. Now if you drop a tree or two across the road a couple of miles behind where you camp, you will hear anyone trying to clear the road. I have also done quite a lot of off trail hiking and know where and how to get to many old Cow Camps and National Forest Guard Stations, most are rarely used but still quite comfortable and off the beaten path. Better take plenty of canned veggies cause nuts and berries are very seasonal. I like my big guns, but a 22 pistol is most handy for taking squirrels, snowshoe hares, pine martins and grouse which is what you would kill more of than deer, elk or bear. So, watching Survivorman is great, but get out there and start doing your own survivor stuff, while you can do it just for fun. Sorry for dragging out my Fantacy but just couldn’t help myself. Trekker Out. I Will Survive!
If you have people around when you hunt hunt smart hunting near people using a 22 still makes a noise using a nipple from a baby bottle give you one maybe two silent shots.just saying. one unfixed shot and they know your there the second tells them where you are. `
Wolf, did you hear about the two pollocks that were lost in the woods, and the one said to the other shoot into the air three times, So he shot up in the air three times and nothing happened, so he said shoot three more times and they waited and still no help, so he said shoot three more times, and he said I can’t, I’m out of arrows. Trekker Out. I heard this was a true story!
As a Prepared Lone Wolf, I don’t have to worry about any family. And Bugging out to the woods is only a temporary situation, say 90 to 120 days till the mass death and destruction is over in the inner cities. Then cache your goodies, and slowly work your way back in to collect more resources. No doubt it will be a challenge of a life time, but the alternative by bugging in will be a sure death sentence. I go hiking in the woods low lands, swamp areas, all the time here in FL. Loads of animals. I had a small raccoon walk up 5 feet from me on Sunday. I could have clubbed it. The more I go the more comfortable I am. Don’t let nature be a stranger, embrace it and take lots of skeeter repellent and netting.
Well said.
I don’t pretend to be an expert, but I love to go out for a few days or even a 1-2 week hike into the middle of nowhere with a light pack (I usually sleep in a hammock) a 22 and some fishing gear. I always take freeze dried foods, to be fair, but I don’t always use them. I spend most of my time reading, staring at the river, or trying to figure out which plants are edible or which scat belongs to which animal. All you can do is try it out and learn as much as you can. This is not an activity I would ever discourage folks from trying, its much too enjoyable.
There won’t be any store-bought “skeeter repellant”, “netting” or anything else to have or get, come SHTF! The better you are at MAKING what you’ll need from what God (the Personality of Nature) has given you in His Creation (Whom the infidels, of course, may have brainwashed you into thinking doesn’t exist–and neither would anything else if they were right about that). The cities are very likely to be radioactively obliterated or, so plagued that they’ll be no-man’s-lands. THAT’s what SHTF will most likely look like! Whatever MIGHT be left in them is not to be coveted–for those who truly intend to survive. Defending oneself and one’s loved ones who haven’t “turned back” towards Sodom and Gomorrah, against those who are hell-bent on preserving and monopolizing what’s left of, or who intend to re-create the destroyed modern, Big Business-dependent and enslaved world, will be the MOST dangerous ones against those who live in accordance with what God provides in His natural Creation will have to defend themselves.
“There won’t be any store-bought “skeeter repellant”, “netting” or anything else to have or get, come SHTF!”
That’s why we PREPARE by having it beforehand. A smart prepper already has some, and then a little more for good measure.
Sixpack, my philosophy exactly. I go get everything I need beforehand and yes, a little extra for good measure never hurts anyone or anything.
The cannibals may be on the menu too then, for the “bigger fish”–or even the little ones who are better at defending themselves from them if they expect to eat them! Maybe ditching modern, video-game notions of morality will work better for those who intend to survive at all.
I like this article. It scares everyone from going
into the woods and leaves it all for me who was born
and raised there.
Like you Outwest I like this article.. keeps people who don’t belong from getting out here and getting in my way…possibly starving and causing problems. I’m sure that there will be some that try but most not having any experience won’t make it. I think if you have the skills and the mental fortitude to cope out in the wilderness there are things you can do to improve your chance of survival.. learning to trap and snare will be most valuable also knowing what are wild edibles in your area.. knowing that initially that it will be best to stay nocturnal in your activities…. have your sleeping quarters up high and out of the way… difficult to approach with a good view of the area. Try not to follow the same path back each time.. try not to leave and indication your in the area… of course you have to have access to water but preferably some distance away..
I do believe long tern survival would be very very difficult but doable for a few… but not for most.. like someone else said above just to survive the first wave ..
I guess I should add as far as most people are concerned I’m already bugged out.. but if needs be I can still bug out further 🙂
It’s true that those who can’t or won’t learn how to live in the woods on what the woods (by God, the Personality thereof) provides will be the ones against whom those who CAN live in the woods will have to defend themselves, their loved ones who’ve not turned back towards “Sodom and Gomorrah”, and what’s theirs.
The best place to be is the place you trained to be in.
IF that place still even exists, come SHTF! CITIES and states WON’T still exist then. Those who are dependent on and enslaved to them won’t be able to exist then either–UNLESS they can change abruptly and learn to live harmoniously in the real world, that of Nature.
Bugging out is for the movies!
If you live in a densely populated area you need to GET THE HELL OUT NOW!!!!!!! That’s the worst of all locations to be.
If your rural, hang in there and stock up on water, food, lead and lead disseminators (smile).
all depends on the scenario. as always… I live in the suburbs, 20 miles from a major city. my plan STILL is to bug in.
ww3? bugging in(unless nukes fly near me)
pandemic? bugging in
race war? bugging in
economic collapse? bugging in
board the windows. food, water, ammo. im OK.
after a few weeks or months of this, if I make it, il start venturing out.
Outstanding article that analizes the biggest pros and coins of bugging out. I hear many talking about b-o when the shtf, but to do so without a concrete plan and the extreme skills you will need to simply survive is a death wish.
Example: for grid down EMP- The actual bug out will be a breeze compared, to all the crappy hellish ghetto areas of town I would need to go through to get to the outskirts of the city. Therefore Bugging out early via bicycle & bike trailer which I could travel at least 10-mph or more would be crucial.
Non EMP and vehicle still running, load it all up and go to no mans land on the paper map, where the road turns to dirt, hide the vehicle with a camo parachute. Unload my supplies and cache some and pack the rest out into the woods. Stay mobile and watch my vehicle from a distance heavily armed of course. Or rent a parking spot on a farmers land, and help him protect his property and livestock. Use creativity, as there will be a lot of new opportunities every where to explore or exploit.
Why would a farmer trust a “heavily armed” stranger that wants to patrol his land ?
Sorry , but no chance of that happening.
when the shit hits the fan, and the farmer has to protect him and his, he would take help, course there is a chance that that person may try and take their stuff, except one thing…hes a farmer, has guns of his own, and well, there is at least a 2 man firing team between the man and his ife if they have one, if there is a single person at that farm, he would answer the door tactically ensuring his chances of survival. we are going to have to trust in each other against the common enemy, so yes…this is entirely possible. i live in a state where the guns to people ratio is 12-1…tight knit communities will last a while, as there is already a force there to be reckoned with. the lone wolves in the woods, (or those with families) who know how to survive, probably will. there will be those that get their bugout bag and think that they can make it and freeze to death the first night it drops to 20 below zero. im a realist, and without some faith in your fellow human (by all means keep your guard up, whether you be the farmer or the “heavily armed” person offering to help protect your farm against brigands and wild animals in return for discretion and a place to sleep doesnt seem such a bad idea.
It would be best if you develop that relationship with your food producing farmer NOW rather than later. Do you know how many people have told me that they will just come “live off from me” when the SHTF???? More than I can support. Heavily armed people I don’t know? Are you kidding me????
Wake up and smell the coffee Enemyofthefed….it will be hard enough to help the people I already know who live nearby but total strangers who just show up under such difficult circumstances I think not. Not on my farm….
That IS what HAPPENED in the Middle Ages after SHTF in Rome! We call it “feudalism”. THAT’s where our modern idea of “rent” came from! Though, tribalism (various sizes of family societies) may be the better form of society–since feudalism is but an artificial, preferably temporary form of adoption into a family.
@Hammer, Lets say more and more people are coming by this guy farm and he feels more and more threatened. I would easily bet he would take on a few more trusted hands and eyeballs and rifles to help him. Ever have a down to earth talk with anybody, or are you paranoid?
you must be thinking of “Old McDonald’s Farm”.
grow up.
no farmer is gonna want your “help”.
Thats sad. When SHTF and we dont stand together, help those who are good people well…just sad. I would hope someone cares enough to help me if I was stranded.
Living In the woods, I remember during the Y2K period the folks out here figuring how to deal with the rustlers and trespassers that might show up. Hords of People who have no idea if they are on private or public land are going to be in trouble.
he’s talking about “Ol McDonald”.
the farmer in the nursery rhyme 😛
There’s no way I’ll bugout into any woods. I’ve got my arrangements at a relative’s BOL in north GA when the time comes. Half of my supplies are already there and I’m planning another trip in Aug. to move more supplies there.
Huge national forest is close by, Renagade. (cherokee national forest). I’ve seen pictures, and actually been in the area once- absolutely beautiful! Also, my daughter lives in northern Georgia (beautiful girl in her 30’s, never married). Sure wish you could help her out when TSHTF! (she’s totally unprepared– trying to get her degree). 😉
you must be thinking of “Old McDonald’s Farm”.
So……you actually did mean coins, not cons?
What to do with a spouse who is in such denial… *sigh* What am I to do? I am so bummed out…I bring it up about once a month. I tried to tell him about the cashless society almost 30 years ago and he laughed at me. Even in marriages everybody’s reality is different. I know at any time it could come crashing down and am as spiritually and mentally ready as one can be. Physically, not so much. But he will freak out when it actually happens and there is no plan in place. He thinks he can go up to his childhood friend’s parent’s place and I told him there has been no invitation…you just can’t do that to others….that’s for their families (big family too)
Start a hobby…canning is a great hobby, start a nice garden, and then talk the man into getting a couple of rabbits (male and female) breed them and can the babies when mature and rotate the stock yearly.
Cook him some Rabbit stew with Carrots and Potatoes. And lay down the groundwork for a garden and Rabbits like Stewpedaso mentions.
Can’t have rabbits where we live now…on a golf course.
Used to have a good sized garden where we used to live…no place to put one here…the house takes up most of the lot.
Cabinfever- I suggest you just keep on prepping for yourself, with a Full bug out-bag water filter purification, food, tarp, wool blanket etc. Then when SHTF, you say your goodbyes, and off you go. Wish him luck. Find a good like minded Girlfriend who will be your buddy. Have your hubby watch the “LA riot video,” “Day After Armageddon” “The Road” “The Walking Dead” series coming up this fall. Ask him if he wants to go bugout, or just sit there and die?
We have watched “The Walking Dead” together. I have watched “The Road” …he has not. He was raised differently and does not truly see we are on the edge of a cliff. I have a 89 year old Dad (widower) that lives 2 hours away from me (having to travel through heavy metro traffic) that has a garden and a wood-burning fireplace. The thought has crossed my mind to leave when I feel the red flags starting…and stay with my Dad. Have two brothers with their wives in the same town. But he lives in a bigger city than I do…I live on the very outer rim of the metro area in this state (MN) and he lives in Southern MN in a town of 100,000
I don’t have any like-minded girlfriends.
Cabin Fever:
I hear that! No matter the reference, obvious signs, or what I do in preps., it’s all for naught according to my spouse and grown children. I still think “It’s a matter of insurance.” If not, better we be, if so, someone thought of at least something to help get us through. Stick through…….I am.
You shouldn’t feel bad, cabinfever… my daughter actually attacks me when I mention it.
“Stop believing everything you read on the Internet! Almost everything on the Internet is false (her professor told her so). There is no NDAA bill, it would be against the Constitution!”
Then she found out there was an NDAA bill. “well, even if there is a bill, Obama will never sign it! Its against the Constitution! You get upset about nothing!” Then she found out he did sign it.
“Mom! Listen to yourself! there are no drones! If there were drones, don’t you think I would have heard about them?!” Then, she found out there were drones.
It seems at one point, she would realize that I am right and she is wrong.
As Morpheus said (“The Matrix”), “you have to realize, Neo, that some people don’t want to become unplugged… they are so utterly dependent on the system, they will fight to the death to protect it”. (And their illusions).
Anon, Actually the NDAA is a signed Executive Order by the President Obummer.
Wasn’t the NDAA enacted under Bush?
who would think it,, I remember seeing a video of Obummer saying (as he sighned it), ” I realy don’t want to do this but…” (implying Republicans had him cornered).
Hugs to you Anonymous…my kids and I don’t discuss it very much. Pregnant daughter is due any day now and she does get it though…just isn’t a hard-core prepper. I asked college-age son what he would do if TSHTF and his response is he could probably not cross the Mississippi River to get back to us…This is probably true. He has a girlfriend so he would probably stay with her family. You are so right – some people don’t want to become unplugged. This is my husband’s family. They don’t have a clue. When I heard my SIL talk about someone once (unrelated to shtf) her Dad (my FIL) replied that you can’t believe the internet. You certainly can’t be gullible but…anyone who believes the power can’t go off and never returns…is truly living in a fantasy world and in denial.
Tishie and Cabinfever,
My husband actually yells at me or storms out of the room when he finds out I’ve purchased preps. I have been forced to become a very sneaky person and get as many preps as I can covertly. And I will personally kick the ass of anyone who tells me that God wants me to obey my husband. Screw that. I’ve got two kids to feed and protect.
Thats how my wife was about a year ago, but I just started smuggling a dollar here and there and bought bags of rice or oatmeal and put them in buckets in the shed or under the house when she was sleeping. She is forever getting me beef jerky so I would save the silicon packs that absorb Oxygen and throw 5 or 6 per bucket.
Thats how my wife was about a year ago, but I just started smuggling a dollar here and there and bought bags of rice or oatmeal and put them in buckets in the shed or under the house when she was sleeping. She is forever getting me beef jerky so I would save the silicon packs that absorb Oxygen and throw 5 or 6 per bucket.
My husband doesn’t get like that CG (I sympathize) but there are things I’d like to get, like a Berkley that he would probably never agree to, so I just got a few LifeStraws instead last year. I’d also like to order some rice in a big bucket but I think that would send him over the edge too.
It took a good number of years before my husband woke up. I woke up first… but he remained on the fence and skeptical. It was really frustrating. I felt like I had no one to talk to about prepping and stuff. But he eventually came around and when he woke up… boy did he wake up! He’s on board with everything now…. and on top of what’s going on around him. It took some patience for him to see what I was trying to do by my preps. I have a rule. Every time I go to the store I buy a prep. Either food, batteries, herbal remedies, etc. He thought it was a waste of money at first.
The thing that gets to me is that I have told him stuff…which he poo-pood’d…then his boss was over to our house last year and HE GETS IT. If someone else says it – like the boss, he listens. The Boss knows I get it. But my husband is still not on board. We have the money to get a spot of land and build a little something…he’s indifferent. He just does not get it. I cannot get him to wake up and I feel vulnerable.
no offense, but if shtf, the last person i would want to be around, is someone like your hubby. a guy like that would freak the hell out because hes too comfortable living with what just gets him by with what society gives him, that he would probably sell his soul, or worse, just to survive because its the easiest method.
if hes unwilling to even be prepared or give survival a thought, just in case something happens, its a clear indication that struggling, isnt something he will be able to adapt to…people like that can be a destructive burden. especially if they are not willing to try.
That’s a tough one. I would just start overstocking your pantry when you grocery shop. If you need one buy two, need two buy four. Stock up during sales to save money. Maybe he would listen as you explain how ground beef is now $4.99 a lb vs $2 this time last year. Bring up the west Virginia issue earlier this year concerning the chemical spill contaminating their water sources. If you wait for him, it could be too late for your family. If there are children involved, you CANNOT wait.
Cabin, Ca girl, trust me, they will thank you later for your preparations.
Show them this video and ask them if they want to be this woman someday, begging on a corner for help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yliFvv4i4sc
Major Ed Dames has a suggestion in “The Killshot: Approaching the Moment” about sneering spouses. You be prepared and know what you are going to do in various situations, including the nearest location(s) you can bug out to if you have to.
When the disaster hits, s/he will be only too happy to have something wise to do.
I sure you are willing to fight to keep those woods all to your self. .might get crowded. woods is our last resort.. if we have to do that wont be anyplace permanent will move every couple days if possible. if you want my place might be a few surprises like elephant traps all over,,,,,,, ,but anyway good luck to everyone
snake
Bud, your better off staying at home. If you go to the woods to hike from a parking lot, you aint hardcore and you wont make it in the forest. So bug in and stay safe inside the walls of your homeplace.
When youve been a hunter most your life, you learn how to read the forests and the wildlife. If you know the area, you know what your dangers are. And you know how to protect yourself. Theres more out there to nibble on besides nuts and berries as you put it too. For those of us who have hunted in mountains, butchered and packed our meat for the trek home, we got what it takes. Some of us have bush skills we were taught as kids. We can snare and start fires the way it was done a century or more ago. We can survive and we can disappear. Just because you dont know how and dont see it on tv doesnt mean we dont exist. You try and come up to a hunters camp to spy as you said, you might be in for a shitpants surprise when theyve doubled back on you. Theres more of us than youll ever know.
Yes… there ARE more of you than I’ll ever know.
That’s… sort of the point isn’t it?
You know why we ahve so much food? Warehouses packed to bursting at the seams with livestock we breed and slaughter.
I’m sure you can hunt just fine. You and all other meh half a million of you at least. How long before you start running out of food?
the guy No you didnt get the point at all but I wasnt expectin everyone to. Probably half reading here are from the burbs or city and they dont think like rural folk do.
We dont expect well run out of food unless theres a geo catastrophe of some kind. We grow our own foods and have been doing it for a long time. This year we came up short on feeder pig but just scored a couple the other day. So w/ goats for milk and meat if were desperate, plus chickens, rabbits, and the pigs,well do okay. That doesnt include the food storage which is part of our own canned goods and the long term items in buckets.
When it gets hinky out there, I aint planning to head into the woods to hunt. Thatll come after the big die off. The city slickers and fat slobs wont get one mile into any wooded area much less hunt and then gut their kill. Id love to watch that though.
Really aint mentioned much but backwood areas have been rigged w/ tripwires and traps in some places. Aint just about trespassing, theres crops growing deep in the forest areas like ginseng. And moonshiners dont take well to nosey types. Loads of pot fields I hear too so it might be best to just stay put. Just sayin.
its ok, most people dont understand people like us. born and raised in the mountains, got pranked with my first deer, been tracked by wolves, jumped by mountain lions, treed by moose, caught thousands of fish, but there are a lot of us, yet, there arent enough. we have a HUGE wilderness in this state. if everyone in this state disappeared into the woods, you wouldnt see a person for miles and days. and i hate to say it, everyone from the cities are moving up here because they liek the view, but they have the comforts of a thermostat, dont know how to find dry wood regardless of weather conditions, orthey go to their fridge for food, and wouldnt know how to do anything for themselves to help them survive. these people will die, leaving the third of the state who have had families in the mountains for generations, these people will survive, and they wont be found unless they want to be. this is the sad truth of things, but if people want to be blind to the truth, they will adapt to their immediate surroundings (whether urban or rural) its going to happen so fast that you are going to have to have a place within fifteen miles of where you are at currently. those in the cities, probably going to have to figure out a way to hide underground and come up for supplies whenever possible. however their survival percentage will still be lower than that of the people in the woods, for an invading force or federal force taking over will not have a base in the woods unless they were deploying a special forces, and if they do that yer fucked without equal or better training anyway. hunters have a great chance of survival for their ability to blend in and chill out for days, and im not talking the fat slobs on national television that use stock footage and four wheeling out to location on a ranch. im talking up a mountain, shoot the fucker, you didnt hit it perfect and the fucker runs up and down the other side hunting, dragging that bitch back for a day and a half while you listen to the wolves and coyotes in the distance hunting. and yes, most of us have the food stores that we need so that we can survive the first three months or so. then we venture out, regroup, and retake the country, thats how it ultimately has to work. we cant just run and hide permanently, but run away to FIGHT another day….
Enemyofthefed
I catch big rainbow trout with my bare hand
under the logs in the stream. Carefully put
your hand down and as lightly as you can, run
your fingers and thumb slowly along it’s sides
(seems to have a soothing effect on them) and
when you are near the head and it’s gills are
open, clamp real hard and haul it out. Works
just as well with river run salmon. No BS.
I have found bee trees by putting some honey
on a stump, When the bees are partaking, I put
a small noose on the end of a short piece of
colored thread and when they step over it, draw
it up. It slows the flight of the bee and the
thread makes it easier to follow.
I know you are probably ROTFLYFAO, but again
no BS. Just the ways of a country boy.
You are welcome at my wickiup anytime, Calgagus.
I can roast porcupine over an open fire that’s so
tasty it will make your mouth water.
…Good hospitality there, OutWest! Salutations to you! I’d bring you, as a replacement, whatever game or vittles God would give me from His natural bounty as a gift for your hospitality.
Oh well, growing it is a totally different story.
Given what the article was about, I assumed you meant “going into the woods with a hunting rifle”. Place would be hunted out within one season.
Well… that’s what I get for assuming. Sorry ’bout that 🙂
Truly put, Calgagus! Though, there’s LOTS more than just the game out there. You DO have to know what to look for. Those ANNOUNCING their peaceful presence–if wanting to visit–are the ones who stand the better chance of living than those who think they can sneak up, camouflaged, to spy on or take what’s others’.
We’re bugging in….out here in the woods!! 3 bedroom cabin.
PREPPER TIP!! ¼ tsp. Coconut oil rubbed under arms for deodorant!!
IT WORKS.
Another cheap and VERY effective deodorant is 60% baking soda and 40% homemade colloidial silver. Make a paste and apply with a cotton pad, this works extremely well!
Deodorant is a useless modern American hangup. In actuality, God put underarm musk there to PROTECT us from beasts who don’t want to come near us when they smell it! It’s almost identical to skunk musk. Learn to like it, if people are liked at all.
Mix both mine and yours together ….TOOTHPASTE!!
I’ve heard baking soda works too… ain’t tried it yet.
Even the best Seer trained soldier will tell you that survival skills are crap if you don’t have practical application.
The only reason I can think of to bug out is if my residence became absolutely unlivable.
At my home all my SHTF preps are in place –
Food Storage
Water Supply & Filtration
Alternate Energy
Fireplace & Wood
Arms & Ammo
In addition, my neighbors are like-minded and we can count on each other to watch and defend our community.
If I was forced to bug out (assuming my vehicles were non-operational), I’d have to leave behind weapons, ammo, most of my food/water, tools, etc. and basically go on an extended camping trip. As the author points out, tents aren’t that durable and you’re going to be in the woods with thousands of other people.
I’d only do it if there were zero other options.
@OK Graf- At your homestead, how many hungry people can you keep at bay and away from you 24/7 and weeks at a time? Wondering?
No way to say because I’ve never done it before and there’s no way of knowing what kind of situation we’ll be in.
I like my location though. I’m thirty-five miles from a major city, and the hundreds of thousands of hungry refugees have to go through a lot of territory before they get to me.
If you’re just talking looters, though, I think it’s fair to say that a neighborhood my size, properly organized, could hold off a group of thirty or so. Lots of armed rednecks in my subdivision. The problem will be in organizing them. I may be the only one with military experience, and some of these guys will be too proud to take orders. So who knows?
“Genius” makes a good point above – communications will be a definite advantage – if you have them. I’d like to keep a watch posted about a mile from our neighborhood in each direction, and if any organized looters are spotted, we’d have time to get there and meet them before they get close. Also, I hope to count on the other neighborhoods around to help keep such groups away.
Obviously, not everyone in our area will have prepped. Those who can’t hunt will pull weeds. Those who can’t fish will tote water. Those with nothing to barter will dig sanitation pits. Everyone else will cut firewood, sharpen axes/knives, set up a clinic, make soap, etc.
It’ll be interesting to watch the first few days after everything goes dark. I wonder who in my neighborhood will strike out for another location. I wonder whether anyone besides myself will go around the subdivision and get all the men out into the street for a general meeting. I wonder how many of them will tell me to go to hell if I try to institute a schedule for standing watches. I really hope that most will see the need for cooperation.
A house had better be fortified with artillery-resistant boulders to be safer from attack. Modern houses are nothing but expensive (and lucrative to the building-suppliers) plywood-and-drywall tents that we’ve been brainwashed into thinking are indispensable. They’re NOT bullet- (or artillery or incendiary) resistant–unless they’re fortified with heavy rock and heavy timbers,,, castles.
most houses are tinder boxes. Without the firemen & fire trucks in subdivisons or any place where the homes are close together once one home catches fire the rest will go up in flames also.
ho hum lost thru the cracks again
snake
Oh come on… Mother Nature Loves Us ™ ^^
This is why we have spent the last 10,000 years finding new and better ways to give Mother Nature the finger. Because WE are all a bunch of ingrates *cough… yeah right…*
How long could you live in this scenario? Worst case (health condition) a month or two. Best case two years if you’re the most incredible person in the world. You’ll be wishing you were dead at the end of two years…
Oh yeah some guy in Siberia did it. Yeah… sort of. They looked pretty beat down at the end there as I recall.
Let me put it this way. If you became unemployed with no savings tomorrow, would you walk into the woods?
Because that’s how this all starts, really. It’s not going to be a bunch of Russian paratroopers like Red Dawn or something.
As a “boy” I spent a lot of time in the Everglades and would feel comfortable bugging out there as opposed to say the South Side of Chicago, Detroit, or North Minneapolis.
Lots of fresh water in a swamp, tasty fish/birds/gators/hogs/deer to eat, not to mention “swamp cabbage”.
As I wrote in a previous post, stay flexible, be prepared, and count on The Father’s Grace.
@Sinner, Just got to watch out for those 12 foot Pythons now that crawling all over the Everglades. You got it though its a huge food buffet in the swamp. I was told by a Ranger than he is seeing fewer and fewer small animal road kills on Hwy 41 South Tamiami Trail, and he said most likely the cause if from the increased Pythons population which he believes is thinning the small animal population out there. For skeeters, you need to get your clothes nice and smokey and the skeeters hate that. You would also need a nice kayak to navigate around. Otherwise trench foot will get ya too.
MERS may be airborne. just thought id inform you all
we’ve already had this discussion
and I haven’t changed my mind about it
those that were paying attention , know
just go back in SHTF history and you’ll find another story pretty much the same , there you will find my comment
How cocky are you!? Who the hell thinks your opinion is so important they are gonna go to a history of related stories to find your piece of shit opinion. Post something of relevance asshole! Yeah, we have had this discussion but as always, new people are waking up everyday. Maybe, just fucking maybe, somebody hasn’t read this take on bugging out. Or how bout this, read the story, if you didnt get anything out of it or dont have anything to add, FUCKING DON’T post! Simple… I dont have anything to add but I had to say that! HAHA!! GOOD DAY SIR!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!
pretty cocky thank you very much
if they came here often enough they wouldnt have to “go looking”
my opinion means just as much as yours , especially this one
ever just get tired of the bullshit?
well that was my moment ..sorry but if you dont like it
YOU CAN FUCKING GO READ A DIFFERENT POST!
Well, I agree with this article. I will bug-in.
But the woods start at my backdoor and go to the top of the mountain. I plan on using them to supply us with meat…same as usual.
Only then I won’t be worrying about any “badges” or “seasons”. The wardens will be taking their lives in their hands in a time like that. They better put their badge in their sock drawer and stay the f–k off my grass.
@JRS – You and hundreds of other people will be using them same woods too for food. And anytime you step out your backdoor you will get a bullet coming at ya.
Saw this article the other day and agree 100%.
Many think they will ‘head for the hills!”
Yeah….you about 25 million other hungry, scared armed people. Should work out alright, huh? 😉
The people that sit tight and hold the fort will have an advantage until they can’t hold the fort any longer. You play the game with the cards you are given, no re-deals- sorry.
PREPPER TIP OF THE DAY-(for those who don’t already know)
How to skin a rabbit (and cook it in part 2).
h t tp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4DYOeRn9tY
Good points, people don’t realize how quick game can be decimated. Wisconsin, which kills a couple hundred thousand deer a year, had every other year deer seasons in the thirties because of lack of deer. What coincides with those years? Depression and hungry unemployed people. And a lot less than now. Best place to be is a rural farm with other people, good land, water. Far away from larger cities. Nothing is guaranteed, but that is a good chance of lasting for a couple of years.
In 1900 there were ZERO deer in Pennsylvania. Farmers had hunted them to extinction, and there were a lot smaller population back then. With our current population, it’ll only take one winter of SHTF to extinguish the deer again.
Two hundred years ago it was normal for blue-water sailors to extinguish the rat population in their ships when times got tough.
“What are millers?”
“Rats, saving your presence, but we call ’em millers to make ’em eat better”.
I wonder if that’ll happen in NYC?
Yes in the fifties we never seen any deer in Arkansas. It was rare to even see a deer track. Then Folks got work and where able to buy groceries and the wildlife rebounded . however it took more than 50 years. five years ago we had a severe ice storm in the spring. And that caused the squirrel to starve out. and they haven’t rebounded back yet. Quail are very rarely seen. The rivers & lakes are fished out already. If the state game & fish didn’t operate fish hatcherys and couninually restock there wouldn’t be any tourist fishing industry.
There are millions of Refugees in Iraq right now, who had to flee for their lives, living in the hills or anywhere they will not be shot at. You can sure bet, what they would give right now, for a well stocked Bug-Out Bag and some MRE’s.
To me, and this is only my opinion, I would bug out or in to where-ever I am most comfortable with , and the easiest to defend.
As such, I already have these areas laid out in order, if I need to move.
Here is the problem with the woods and the mountains in my view. Everyone in the city who has ever been there once has the same plan. To head to the mountains or the woods. Anybody from the country who has hunted has stories of city people getting themselves in trouble on their annual hunting vacation. But those are the people that will share the woods/mountains with you.
For people living in rural areas, best case scenario would be a collapse in the winter months to restrict such travel and aid food preservation.
My hope is that small towns come together to form their own “outposts” that provide security, commerce and flow of information. I feel that increases survival odds from small groups of 6-10 and even more so with lone wolf types. But that will take time.
Yeah, consider this: It is January in Illinois 10 degs and snowing, and an EMP hits and the hoards are filtering out of Chicago because there is no more heat or food left, and uncontrollable riots everywhere. They know there are lot of part time vacation cabins up in Wisconsin, they could hunker down in. You can bet many will flee north seeking refuge. Even if their cars are running, you want to be at least a full Gas tank away from any major city.
I live in Florida and will survive any winter here, and can go fishing 365 days a year. My Vehicle has a 22 gal tank that gets an average of 20 miles per gallon. That takes me 440 miles. However I am a Prepper and have 6 more 5 Gallon Jerry cans filled and ready to go also. So I will have 52 Gallons of gas at my disposal, times 20 miles per gallon = 1,144 miles I could travel in a best case situation, without having to stop for any gas. I keep this gas handy in case of a Hurricane and I may need to evacuate out of the State, while all the gas stations are out of gas on the highway, and the unprepared masses are lined up for miles on the highway and exit ramps in line for gas. I will drive by them shaking my head. They should have prepared.
I will drive by them shaking my head? And In a real meltdown someone else will want your vehicle. your head might be shaking from your death rattle?
You wont be driving anywhere ” shaking your head ” ! As soon as your moving vehicle attracts attention, every puffed-up office holder up n down the ladder will try to requisition your vehicle for “official business”.
Dog Catcher, Police Officer, School Crossing Guard . . . everyone will be desperate.
And act accordingly.
Here is why you Prep with extra Gasoline:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEfMDtuVW9c
I will too shake my head with my firearm in my hand, as I drive by those waiting in line for hours or days for a few gallons of gasoline.
I am expierenced and have know how. and I would really hate to leave my place and try to bug out in the woods. and I have thousands of acres of national forest near by. especially during the winter. I enjoy the comforts of my home. I could tolerate living without electricity. Just today I butchered 12 tame rabbits and picked green beans. Tonite Ill have goat milk, rabbit, beans and new potatoes. All grown & processed by us no taxes or middle men involved. If I forced to leave and Bug out in the woods the luxury of producing my own food is gone. even with my skills it would take a lot of luck to keep a full belly.
Bugging in with like minded PREPARED people, equals safety in numbers. More prepared folks, better massed firepower to bring to bear, in case it’s ever needed.
Even in the “good ol’ days”, pre-Revolutionary War, the settlers(original bug-outers) still relied heavily on the relative “safety” of the local fort.
We need to have our own”forts”, and that won’t come in “the wilderness” without significant pre-planning and a lot of incredibly hard work.
We will bug in, and expand our “sphere of influence”.
Most of those “woods” are owned by somebody and they won’t be too happy to see you. State and Federal woods will be crowded as the cities.
You hit the nail on the head.
Most people JUST DON’T GET THIS:
90% of Federal Forest Land, is located BEYOND/bordered by privately owned land. Do you actually think that you will just drive or walk into these forested lands to get to the National Forests? Not bloody freaking likely. You will be met by heavily armed, no nonsense land owners, who have a much bigger stake in keeping you wanna bee city dwellers out.
Do you really think you can make it past multiple armed sentries? Do you actually think that we bought this land for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, just so we could drive up and ‘enjoy the view’? Do you really think that our summer and fall months have not been spent up there, war gaming ingress and egress scenarios?
Good luck city folk, you’re gonna need it.
My first plan is it B-in. Unfortunately, I Live in Santa Fe, NM, which is heavily populated with liberal minded folks who think whatever their spiritual leader, Obama, says is the rule of law and the land. I have lots of neighbors who don’t know a thing about the coming collapse, and in some cases just done care….yeah, amazing thought process. Either way, it should be interesting….
At first blush, in your scenario, I would say have your water, food, ammo and guns at the ready. If you get a rush from your liberal neighbors, take as many out as you can and quite possibly the rest will leave you alone. Good luck!
I trust you’ll have a generous supply of Hatch green chili.
Yep, watch em all bug out into the state forest land at the end of my dead end road .
Where do you think they will be in a week ?
AT MY DAMN DOOR!
I see it every weekend , folks “roughing it ” for a day or two and there are the militias that head out there to train bush skills, etc .
Even though i live where most people would call nowhere , i will have to contend with boneheads buggin out thinkin they are grizzly adams and shooting my cows.
Stay home , bug in , please .
Hammerhead: I think you’re correct. Even in the case of some preppers. I think people will not recognize the warnings until they have little to no time to leave cities. In that case all that food they have shelved so they can rotate, it will stay there and they will grab only a BOB and guns. When they get out to rural areas they will be hungry, and desperate.
He ain’t making that up about the cows. Many years ago I lived in upstate NY, and during deer season the idiots would kill half a dozen in my area alone.
Plan A: bugging in.
Plan B: bugging out — 5 minute walk.
Plan C: really bugging out — cached hidey hole with a natural spring.
I counted 16 dove feasting on bugs in the front yard this morning. When they get a little bigger, gonna show the missus how to trap ’em. I taught her how to trap quail last year[yum]. In the fall, you have to wade through quail just to get to your car. I’m doin’ them a favor…..really.
Quail is the state bird out here in cali, guess that’s why the people around here act like them.
On a cooler note, saw my first mountain lion of the summer this last Sunday. She was about 250 yards shy of the fence line, sunning herself on a white slab of concrete. I’m guessing that she had come down from the hills looking for an easy snack, and water.
Quiet here today….think I’ll take a nap.
….be safe…..stay the course….BA.
Doves can be easily trapped with a simple rat trap and some corn. Smaller birds with a mousetrap. Or rodents if yer hungry enough lol.
@Genius:
Yep. Rat trap, with a metal coat hanger attached to whack any others close by, lol.
I figure, come November, the yard will sound like castanets.
…..eat well………BA.
I agree that the best plan for me and most folks is to “bug in” No way could I take all my preps with me if I decided to leave. I lived in the mountains up North for years. How long do you think there would be game to shoot if everyone headed there. Not long. There is only so many deer, bear, squirrel, raccoons, possums, turkeys, etc. It may sound like a lot but if you have a couple hundred people trying to shoot game it will be gone in weeks. Then what?
“There is only so many deer, bear, squirrel, raccoons, possums, turkeys, etc. It may sound like a lot but if you have a couple hundred people trying to shoot game it will be gone in weeks. Then what?”
You really want to know?
Read the novel ‘The Road’ or watch the movie. Pretty brutal that people turn to cannibalism that fast, but it has happened several times throughout history. Why should this time be any different?
I can’t speak for your area, but from where I live it’s over 200 hundred miles to a town with a population of atleast 50,000 and when things get as bad as the articles on this site relate we sure ain’t going to worry about whose livestock people kill. And where I live there is a ranch that has probably atleast one cow for every 3 people in town, so I doubt that all of the game animals will be killed around here anytime soon. I’m not condoning stealing someones cattle, but when people start starving, do you really think they will be walking past some Out-of-State wealthy ranchers cows looking for a deer. I don’t think so! Maybe some small town BBQ’s going on. I know this won’t work in LA or the Windy City, but such is life. Out here their are millions of acres of National Forest. Trekker Out.
We are bugging in unless there is no other option. If we do have to leave we will meet at my aunts. They are older with skills we are learning, we are young enough to do the heavy work. We have had this plan in place for quite sometime. Moving my supplies would be the hardest part if we can’t drive.
4-wheelers are your friend 😉
I guess you must evaluate the situation before you make your decision. Once you leave the safety of your home, it may be impossible to return. Best to have multiple stashes and locations to increase your chances.
Greetings Its been a long time since I’ve left a comment, a combination of roaming and having a sick then dead pc anyway I remember it could have been about 10 years or more ago the most wanted man in the USA was caught by a patrol officer while he was dumpster diving. I remember a big debate ensued about whether the fugitive had been able to survive about 5 years in the local forest or whether he was spending more time under the down feather covers of friends and family and this particular guy was meant to be someone who was no stranger to the woods. I am not trying to debate what he did or didn’t do, but rather use his ability to evade being caught as a case study, the answers are often right under our noses when we study how people from shipwrecks, plane crashes or simply lost in the wilderness make it through their ordeal.
I think you mean Eric Rudolph. It was rumored by the locals that he may have had some help with food. He did have an extensive area knowledge. A young policeman picked him up near a dumpster. Seems he was tired of life on the lam.
depends on the time of year.
for instance, if its summer and you live in texas, louisianna, oklahoma or any other state in the south; you might want to consider ponying up for a secondary spot you can get to where you might not have to make it a month straight in 100 degrees.
Very good write up. I guess its safe to say a lot of people would not make it in the woods. We as a society have are to dependent on our I-pods, computers , and other electronic stuff. We have lost all sense of realism.
For those who remember see the movie ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK on you tube You will get the idea.
Also my favorite I also found on you tube THE LAST OF US.
now that will get your attention.
When the SHTF it is not going to be pretty.
Unless you are the ELITE or SOMEONE that has money that will live in some remote place OFF the GRID set up with Food, Medical Supplies, Sanitation, Clothing, Security, Guns and Ammo and good Survival Skills.
You all need to talk to some of the people left from our great depression. I am sure they will tell you that how fast all the GAME was shot out of there area.
By the way any of you YUPPIES know what a cut round is? or how to make one???? go to you tube while the grid is still up before the big bad E.M.P. hits………
If the SHTF I am going to stay in my house and try to help people cope and try to get the Neighborhood and Community back on its feet. I would rather (HELP) then (HURT) but do not take this a a sign of weakness if my life and my FAMILY and FRIENDS are in harms way I will deal with it Swift Silent and Deadly.
It it good to do a little prepping I agree 100% how far you want to go its up to you, but I am not going to go overboard because the more you have the more you got to defend it.
And if people know what you have? well use your imagination.
If you do decide to bug out you know others are going to be out there and you are more open for attack unless you can organize into TRIBES again to much T.V. in our brains, take note of the WALKING DEAD SHOW.
Pray that it does not happen but if it does I hope people will pull together and (NOT) go into some kind of SHARIA LAW type bull shit.
On a religious note and I am not much of a religious person BUT!!!! THERE IS GOING TO BE A CLEANSING and its coming real some………..
Good Luck Everyone.
I have a question for those of you who plan to ride this out in your log cabin in the woods with a fireplace and woodstove and lots of firewood piled up nearby.
Have you though about what you would do in a forest fire?
Central Washington State has several large fires currently burning. I believe most were caused by lightning. The largest one is called the Carlton Complex, and as of yesterday it was 244,000 acres, or 381 square miles. One article said that is 4 times the size of Seattle.
Search for the video of this fire and see how fast and hot it is. Then imagine you are in your cabin with pine trees all around and no way to call the fire department and no planes or helicopters to drop water and fire retardant on the blaze. No way to find out what roads are still open. Are you going to haul water in a bucket from your creek or stream?
Of course, fire in a city under SHTF will be just as bad. I’ve read that when Spokane had the big fire in the late 1800’s, people went to the islands in the middle of the river. But now there are buildings and trees and bridges so I don’t know if that would work. I can’t even imagine how people survived the Chicago fire or the one in San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake.
No kidding. I am acquainted with one OTG couple, friends of a family member living in southern Idaho, whose place was obliterated by a wildfire last summer. No chance – they were a 500 yard walk from the nearest vehicular access point. Saved the dogs, all the other animals perished. Another reason not to be in the fire-prone West. Which I ain’t, and won’t ever be.
Got a call from that family member out there just today. She’s surrounded by heavily irrigated farm fields, slim chance of being burned out herself, but there are fires as close as 15 miles and the smoke is so bad she can’t open the windows at night. Same as last year. Same as the year before. Same as the year before that.
RE: The Great Chicago Fire. Oct 8th 1871 burned for 3 days, destroyed 3.3 square miles of buildings, killed 300 people and left 100,000 homeless. A lot of the people took up camping in Grant Park. aka: Refugee Camp. There was a lot of lawlessness, and a company of soldiers were called in and declared Martial law to calm the mass chaos. It was lifted a few days later. They were lucky it was not in the dead of winter. After that, there was a big economic boom with all the new re-building took off.
Interesting/horrifying thought just came to me….since they spray aluminum (among other things) in the chemtrails and we know that it makes the fires burn way hotter (firefighters are say that these fires are crazy strong and not behaving like normal fires)….why wouldn’t they intentionally start fires in remote places when SHTF to flush out prepper/survival groups?
TPTB are evil after all….
PKLL
R-U-N-N-O-F-T to the woods if you want to or stay home. Six in one, half dozen in the other. Either one might be good today, the other tomorrow. It all boils down to fate. I’m gonna do my best when I can or fly the “marble kite” when best ain’t no longer good enough. Either way, I’m not gonna tussle with this in my mind. I got more important things to occupy me.
I have a loose group of people that are in different stages of prepping. When it hits we’ll bug in and protect our community. we have a lake for water,game,provisions and weapons to defend. Most people bugging out are a gas tank away from running out with the highways littered with cars full of stuff. Most won’t make it far and have no skills except begging. Have a group,loners have less of a chance of making it. Get varied skills to help the group(first aid,hunting,farming,engine repair,etc.)If you’re going to bug out have a place and beat the crowd to get there and have more than one way to get there.
You better have a stash of fuel and fuel stabilizer. Gas only lasts for a month before going stale. Better get an ATV.
Gasoline does not go stale in a month. If you have some “old” gasoline, I’ll take it. I keep gasoline for the mower and lawn tractor from season to season. I try to buy it when it’s cheaper.
I bought a Honda generator back in 1996. I have never needed to use it. I start it once every month or two and run it a few minutes. Since I don’t plan to rely on it, I have been running a test. I filled it up with gas in 1996 and haven’t added any since then. I’ll probably fill it up again someday. But the generator still starts easy and runs fine, even though the gas in it is 18 years old.
I’d like to know how my generator keeps working perfectly after 18 years with 18 year old gasoline. Is gasoline formulated differently now? Does my generator work different from newer ones?
Inquiring minds.
Bullshit.
Acid Etch is BS.
The BEST Gas Stabilizer is PRI-G for Gas; or PRI-D for Diesel. Will keep gas good for years. Even works for old gas to bring it back to life.
Seriously a red thumb down for a gas stabilizer tip? There is a Troll amongst us folks. Smoke em out of his hole!!
my neighbor left stale gas in his 1940,s farmall tractor all winter. then it did start this spring ran it about a hour. next day it woldnt start. the gas had put varnish on the intake valve guides causing them to stick. four bent pushrods. I managed to get them unstuck with solvent without pulling the cyl head. the gas sold in my area is all 10% corn gas and it goes bad very quickly.
You know a million dollars is nothing to a liar. Because they can have as many millions as they wish. Im here to tell you and everyone else gasoline doesn’t keep for 18 years. Now the generator on my motor home runs on LP and I suppose it might last indefinitely. any untreated pump gas will go bad in a few months. ive had diesel go flat and lose its cetaine in 6 months.
I do not ever lie.
I bought my generator right after Hurricane Bertha in 1996 because I lost electricity for a week. When Hurricane Fran came through, the electricity came back on before I got a chance to use the generator. I have not replaced the gasoline in the tank. The generator still starts and runs fine.
I have never used Sta-Bil. I buy gas for the mowers only once every year or two. The push mower is maybe 8 or 10 years old and works well. The lawn tractor is about 7 or 8 years old and runs as good as new. I keep both in the garage so they both look new as well.
I have a Ford Ranger that I don’t drive much. It mostly sits around. It went about 5 years between fillups, and the gas was never replaced. I finally had to fill it up when it got almost empty. It has been months since I’ve driven it anywhere, but it’s ready to go.
I have always heard that gas eventually goes bad. But it hasn’t happened to me yet. The gas I’m currently using in my mowers was bought last year, and both mowers work fine. That’s a fact.
The first sentence of your rebuttal post is a lie. You state I do not ever lie. ???? Does anyone here believe there is even a single solitary person with all their faculity,s that never lies. I find its a necessity to lie on occasion. We lie in order to not hurt other feelings. A example is when someone shows you their baby and that child is very ugly. and the ask isn’t he beautiful? You dont correct them and honestly state that’s the ugliest child I ever seen!!! You don’t do a KRAMER and jump back horrified. Of course not You agree that’s he is cute or adorable ect. We also sometimes lie by omission not telling something when it can cause harm. gasoline does not last 18 years. My gas generator holds enough gas to run about 4 hours. maby yours will run twice as long as mine. your trying to state you have only ran your generator 8 hours or less in 18 years? I don’t believe it. Ive been a mechanic for 50 years. and ive had to clean and replace lot of fuel systems ,Replace fuel pumps filters and rebuild or replace carbs & injectors ect. Because of old stale gas or diesel. The truck Im currently driving was a Zombie that set with a half tank of gas for 12 years. you could smell the stench of stale gas from 20feet away. I had to replace the gas tank. Did you now you can purchase a brand new 1966 chev Pk gas tank from LMC truck. the gas tank fuel pump and fuel lines where replaced with new items. and the carburetor was rebuilt with a new kit that contains ethanol compatable componets. New rubber gas hoses &new filters. and a New gas tank sending unit Fuel pickup combo. I bought it with the stale fuel. Now Ive got many gas & diesel engine tractors & other equipt. When I park them I drain the tanks and run the engine until its completely dry of fuel. Pull the spark plugs and squirt some oil into each cyl. Ive started up equipt that set for twenty years that was dry of fuel with no problems. now my 1944 M farmall is LP. The engine has never been apart. the carb & regulator hhave never needed work. It has a magneto ignition. I can let it set for long periods . I can come and using a hand crank quickly start it up. some times I have to file the points if its not making spark. however ive never had any fuel related problems. Maybe in a different climate than here in north Arkansas Gas wont go bad as quickly. however in 18 years a generator that will have a vented gas cap would evaporate the complete tank of gas and leave a tarry varnish like residue. the rubber lines would be brittle weather cracked and carb stopped up. the diagrapham in the carb would be stiff and shrunk. Ok why am I on your case so hard. Because your misinformation can cause others trouble that can be easily avoided.
ok now ive got one more point to make about gasoline. The refiners make several different types & blends blends. There are three different types of aviation fuel. some gas has winter or summer additives. there are sometimes fuel stabilizers ect. there is farm fuel and highway fuel. All gas is not equal. Use the internet and research what has been discussed here and make up your own mind. Form you own opinion.
I don’t lie. I don’t have that “ugly baby filter.” I will say the baby looks like his father or some such, or I won’t comment at all. White lies are lies.
I bought the generator in 1996, filled it up with gas, and have never replaced the gas. The generator still starts and runs. Those are absolute facts.
I too use the same gas from season to season for my lawn equipment. Never a problem. I don’t drain tanks or dispose of leftover fuel in the gas cans. I still drive a Ford Explorer that sat for two years under a tarp, untouched. replaced the battery, started it up. The old gas had no ill-effects. My father had a Sears tractor that recently died. We were looking at the engine and he started laughing. I asked him what was up. He pulled out the dipstick and said “I just realized that I never changed the oil in the 32 years we’ve had this!”. He was right. We never had. While I suppose gas can go bad, it sure hasn’t been an issue in my world (WA state)
Forty years ago gas would go stale in 2-3 months. I was running a motorcycle shop in the mid ’70s. We made a killing in the service dept every spring, cleaning out stale gas and replacing batteries. Not no more. I’ve got an old box van that I use for a workshop. Drove it to the BOL in 2010. In 2102 it would still run on the gas I put in it on the trip.
Call you BS. Was out of the country for 2 months. Car started just fine. Lawn mower works AFTER ALL WINTER.
I disagree with the statement loners have less chance. The first men to venture into the wilderness where loners. never more than two. Trappers like Jediah Johnson , Kit Carson ect. They ventured into the heart of indian country and survived outnumbered by the natives = crafty folks who killed for a living! A large group attracts attention.
Selco already said so. Pioneering is not SHTF, numbskull.
They were the survivors. Dozens if not hundreds of trappers went into the mountains in those days and never came out.
I stated that they didn’t have less chance. I believe loners had & will have just as good of odds as a group. the wagon trains where large groups and dozens if not hundreds of them didn’t survive also. one wagon train was massacred and everyone killed by Mormons dressed like Indians. I think Gen Custer & the 7th was a large group. The native americans where all tribes of large groups. the rich Jews where large groups who lived in gated fortresses places called Judafeds and they perished by the thousands.
@OLD Guy – You are right about loners being more safe than a group. When I am out in the woods hiking I can hear people yappin away with each other 50 to 75 yards away. They don’t see me until we walk by each other. Meanwhile I could ditch off a trail and hide, and let them go by if I wanted, then get back to my trail. And if you have kids, compound that Yapping noise by 10X. Lone Wolf’s are more stealthy, a plus in a Bugout.
WWTI, short story. I was hiking up a well used trail to a Waterfall and it started to rain, so I ducked under a small rock overhang no more than two yards off of the trail, very exposed but out of the rain, and then I heard people coming up the trail and I thought, boy am I going to look stupid laying here, but thats not unusual for me, anywho there was 6 or 7 people in that group and they walked right by and never even saw me and then I could hear some more people coming from the other direction, was 4 people in that bunch and they strolled right on by. It’s truly unbelieveable how unaware people are. Trekker Out.
Ive thought about it quite a lot. If Im forced to leave my place. and ill only leave as a last resort ill burn it as I leave. Ill not leve anything for some potential enemy or trespasser to use. And after ive moved my loved ones to a safer remote place. Then that happens for me its the trigger of when the revolution starts. I will embark on one person crusade to cause mayhem & misery on those whom I feel to be responsible for the destruction of out once great nation. vandalism to the best of my ability on the supporters& enforcers of the NWO. that is exactly what won our freedoms back in the beginnings of this nation. Imagine if just a thousand Old Guy,s decided to go on a one person revolt.no one to rat them out. they could be very effective.
Go read the book “On killing” by David Grossman. People have equally stupid fantasies about killing to defend their families during SHTF. 85% of people won’t kill.
Acid, how do you know that?
My biggest concern is that a couple of hundred thousand scared, hungry people leaving the city are going to come my way. It would take the entire community working together to repel that horde of locusts.
That horde of locust = impossible odds = the time to decide to bug out. and burn everything when you leave.possibly leave poisoned food in your wake.
The only thing I’m going to use the wood for is to bring the bad guy in and take him/her out.
I do have an escape plan that uses the wood but only to escape and to attack.
You have to use the wood to get to my place/s. There will be a lot of nasty stuff there.
A.S.M.S.
Sgt.
Other people, scarcity of game and the elements. Those are the easy problems.
Consider all the critters that already live there. Spiders, snakes and insects.
How many know how to deal with the necrotizing flesh from a brown recluse bite? Recognize a black widow spider web, or how to treat it’s bite. Have the antibiotics to deal with Lyme’s disease. How many even know what Tularimea is. Hint: you can get it from rabbits, but also from ticks and deer flies. Without anti venom, how do you deal with a rattlesnake or coral snake bite? (Sucking the venom out is a movie myth.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tularemia
Not to mention living with chiggers (red bugs), swarms of mosquitos, black flies and gnats.
Insect repellant and insecticides only work for so long, and you will run out. Antibiotics will be a precious commodity for numerous reasons, and lack of resupply will only be one of them.
No thanks. I’ll stay home with a solid structure and screens on the windows.
Unless, of course, I can’t. Then I’ll have to suffer with living outdoors. But it certainly isn’t Plan A or B or C.
Good luck to all, and keep working on flexibility in your plans.
Good one Old Dude.
Know what you are talking about. How about bears, alligators, wild Hogs, Bobcats, wild dogs. Rabid raccoons, skunks, opossum’s, fox.
A forest is like a desert with trees. Light doesn’t reach the ground and very few plants grow there. Plants grow in clearings. Depending on where you go, there might be few plants.
I found a guide online where it gave the calorie count for various plants, berries, roots, and small animals. It’s pretty sobering. Even if other people never went where you were, it’s very difficult to get enough calories to survive if you can’t hunt big game.
Maybe you already know this, but if you were to live on only rabbits for 6 months, you would starve to death as they don’t contain enough fat/fat soluble vitamins for the brain to function.
I like your point of view in this article. My thinking is your brain and flexibility will be very important simply because we really do not know how conditions will evolve.
I like my house and where I live. Cash is important because we are using American dollars to pay for everything as we have for some time. If for some reason the dollar becomes worthless then there will be hell to pay.
Social security benefits, Medicare benefits, retirement benefits, pension plans, United States treasury notes, the American banking system are all very much sustained by the world reserve currency. I am not ruling out that something besides core and pass through inflation could destroy the dollar but I believe that our great country will not go down without a great fight to save its fiat currency.
Investing in hard assets like real estate, precious metals (I buy silver when it’s under twenty an ounce)even share prices of what you know of enough to invest in, will hold and increase value over time as the dollar loses its buying power and requires more dollars for purchase.
You all have noticed the gigantic rise in food prices at the market. We are still using dollars but we need more of them to buy things.
I speak from my heart as you can see. I really believe in our great United States of America. I was born here over sixty-one years ago and I have met a lot of solid Americans in my lifetime. Something tells me that we can pull our country together but yes, I am discouraged by what I read. Things are changing and things are not what they used to be.
I majored in Spanish in college and continued in graduate school and earned a Masters degree in Spanish literature. Then I lived in Spain and studied there until I wanted to come back home and live my life. I have written our President of this great country and I have offered a plan to get this immigration disaster under control. The plan is intricate however it can work but America needs more gross product for a tax base.
I have suggested a plan to federally legalize cannabis so that each state of the union can decide whether their state wants to have it legalized or not in that state. At least at the federal level all restrictions can be removed. There will be extensive federal oversight and each state that wishes to legalize sales of cannabis to adults will have to follow rigorous federal guidance to ensure the safety and welfare of all American citizens.
Purity and distribution standards will be regulated at the federal level and each state that approves the legal sale of cannabis to adults will adhere to these federal guidelines.
Each state will have a cannabis control board to ensure that this federal guidance is met. Federal and state tax will be charged in each transaction and this tax will be collected at the point of sale. Regular audits of each registered product distributor (retailer) will be conducted by each state’s cannabis control board. Minors will be excluded from being able to purchase product and public consumption of cannabis will be prohibited. Consenting adults will be able to use cannabis in the privacy of their home or they may be able to consume cannabis in private clubs or associations that are approved by each state’s control board which must correspond to federal guidance.
The tax rate of the sale of cannabis will be set by each state that approves the sale of legal cannabis to adults. The federal tax rate will be set by the federal government.
The proceeds from the federal tax will fund immigration reform as we need this now. You all know that immigrants have been crossing our southern border for some years now and recently immigration from Central America has been problematic.
The economy in El Salvador, Los Honduras and Guatemala is really bad. Our border control measures have not been able to deter immigrants from seeking a better way of life for themselves and their families. Lately, our government has had no choice but to transport these immigrants to regions within our American borders so that smaller populations can be well managed.
Mobile healthcare units have been established in these regions with qualified healthcare personnel to ensure the health and welfare of these immigrants. This is important to protect the American people who already live here from any potential environmental dangers from these populations. Proper nutrition as well as lodging and resources for daily hygiene measures are also in place.
With the new federal tax on cannabis, a new employment system will be available for everyone who wishes employment. Skill level testing and job screening will be available at various locations with education available to reach these goals and each employer will be able to contact these employment centers for qualified applicants where someone who wants a job will not have to go out and search for employment anymore.
Commercial van pools can be purchased that will transport immigrants to and from jobs. These same opportunities will be available to anyone who needs or wants transportation. For those Americans who have a home or who rent, they may partake of the free transportation system if they are at the location of departure. This will work pretty much like a bus schedule that will take you to work and take you back to the drop off location. For those who have transportation, then they may drive to and from their jobs.
All hiring will be at the discretion of the employers. The federal government will partner with all employers who wish to participate in this program for hire where Uncle Sam will pay a significant portion of all federal employment tax for each person who is hired under this new program.
For those who need additional education to further their access to gainful employment, education will be supplied at no cost to the student. Also, at disclosed locations, immigrants who reside in these immigrant deployment regions will be required to learn English and classes will be held at different times to ensure that these people will be able to speak, understand, read and write English.
In these same classes, English speakers will be able to learn Spanish. These classes will be free. The class times will be short and the classes will meet very often. Speaking and understanding will be the priority with reading and writing given as homework assignments.
America has always been a great country and America has always been a melting pot of people from all over the world. Americans are winners.
Walker: While I really don’t care if pot is legal, I think there are some strong arguments to be made for legalization. But I think the argument for legalization for tax revenue is wrong. If that is a valid argument for legalization why not legalize everything and tax that as well.
All your other solutions to me just sound like bigger gov’t. And that is a premise that I just disagree with.
Legalizing psychotropic drugs is not the answer. Colorado and the other permissive states are going to have major regrets about their liberal decisions.
Don’t tell me how harmless marijuana is. I spent a good portion of my life addicted to pot.
Do what you want with yo life old man, don’t dictate if I can smoke fucking asshole grandpa.
“If” you can smoke? Why do you say “if”?
I can tell by your vicious, demonic attitude that you’re hopelessly addicted.
Actually no you cannot. You can tell he’s a bully and an A-hole.
Actually I can. And he’s not doing very well with it.
Acid, are you Eisenturd by chance under a different name?
BH: I’d bet on it….
PKLL
No doubt about it….ACID ETCH = Eisencrap
Time to start just red thumbing his comments and otherwise ignoring him.
The best way to deal with a spoiled rotten child is to not give them what they want.
Eisencap wants attention. So stop giving it to him.
Some day, he’ll meet up with the wrong person and say the wrong thing and there will be no more Eisencrap.
That’s how nature purifies the gene pool.
Eisenturd (Eisenkrautz)!! Brave, you crack me up 🙂
Aussie
Drugs are for losers. Marijuana turns people into lazy, apathetic losers who don’t care about anything except getting high. It’s the perfect drug for sociopaths because it quiets the conscience. Some of the worst people I’ve ever known are potheads. How else do you beat your wife, neglect your kids, and still feel good about yourself?
Sounds like every alcoholic I’ve ever met. Some of the most physically active, intelligent people I’ve known partake in the occasional (some more than others) puff. I would never let a drunk touch my belay rope in a thousand years.
Graph,you obviously used pot to the point that it caused you some issues,same thing happens when people over eat/over drink/over extreme sports ect.I still say all drugs should be legal but fuck the tax part,just save the taxpayers money on a lost so called war and help break the back of drug/cop/court/prison cartels.I am trying to stay sober(3 months now)but would never blame/outlaw/prohibit alcohol.
WD
Three Months. Way to go!
War: Prayers for your sobriety….
PKLL
What?
Maybe I’m off base, but I believe that instead of running endless articles on economic collapse, bugging out, and the other “bread & butter” issues if prepping. This site, and the others like it, should be stressing getting organized for a counter revolution against Obamarxism before it becomes too late.
In my opinion, being a lone Prepper, either bugged in/out, will either get you killed as enslaved to the State. The Obama surge of Illegals is part of a much bigger plan.
I learned today that any City which took HUD money, is now required by law to accept Illegals from the Feds.
I know that there are some well meaning Patriots here, so my question is; “What are we waiting for?”.
While I partly agree, it only takes one poster saying things the wrong way, with be wrong words and we would all be rounded up in the middle of the night or going out in blazes of glory. Fed gov will look for any excuse to shut up those who do not free.
Sinner, I agree 100%. Been gone awhile doing some extreme prepping. Extreme prepping was an idea we got from a local add placed here: “preppers wanted for a local prepping group, no extreme preppers”. What the fuck is an extreme prepper. Fucking hippies are now attempting to fuck up prepping. They need to know its their 50 years of fucked up ideas and actions that have caused the need for preeping in the first place. Yes they are hippies, we checked it out, silver pony tails and all. We have gone Gault due to the extreme armchair rebels that squawk a lot but do absolutely nothing except complain about how bad others are at fighting back. Like Nopittypartyhere indicates there is always an excuse to do even less. Based on posts like Walker Richardson I suppose my time will be best spent going back to my extreme prepping. If your serious about the counter revolution thing and plan on putting in some effort, look me up in Northern Nevada. Good luck fellow patriot.
I have said for years bugging IN is the only way to go.
All your tools are there, you can store water, food etc. and I would only leave if I was chased out and absolutely had to go.
You can make your own power and live off 12 volt, (I do now). I live in an all electric home with 3 teenagers who all have TV’s, DVD’s Game consoles etc. and my grid power bill has been as low as $67.00
Normally it runs about $100 per month and I have a pool, a chest freezer and EVERYTHING is electric.
But I run ALL my lights 12 volt, I run a 12 volt swamp cooler and I use 12 volt electric blankets to keep us warm on cold winter nights.
You can see more of how I do this at: http://www.iplantosurvive.info
TPI: If you don’t mind me asking, what did your system cost you? Or how long to your break even point?
A friend and I have been kicking around inexpensive ideas for wind power.
Bugging out… It sounds so “romantic”. I think people are in love with the term. I hear all the time if a collapse happens that everybody will be doing that. Really? Talk to some people. 99% of the people would not even think the first thing about it.
Its like the “golden horde” migrating from the cities. Not going to happen. 99.9% of city dwellers will NEVER leave the city limits. They’ll firt think of the grocery store. Second they’ll ask churches and neighbors. Third, they’ll loot. Fourth, they’ll outright rob and steal. Fifth, they’ll die.
Bugging out is a foreign idea to everyone except us that plan on it. I’m bugging in, as the author above says, unless a super serious situation comes about. I’ve got my fairly hidden house in the middle of 30 acres. I’ve got LP/OP positions staked out. I’ve got range cards. I’ve created booby trap type warning devices, disabled them and stored them. Why in the world would I need to leave all this? There are a few conditions but very few. Were those conditions to occur, I would have to be the unluckiest individual on the planet.
But, regardless, I still have my BOBs, just in case. What I also have is an 18ft travel trailer and a place about an hour away that is even more remote than mine to park it. Load up the fuel, the food, the PMs and the guns and ammo and skee-daddle.
Its important to think about it and make a few arrangements. Havine a total cohesive, practiced plan is pointless. What is it the military says? Something like: “All your plans go out the window as soon as the first shot is fired.”
Don’t make plans as much as give yourself options. Can I grab a BOB and a tent and a couple rifles and walk off in the woods and survive? Yeah, for a while, but, why would I? I know 10 abandoned houses, bars and sheds in my area that would offer much better shelter and security, some of them hidden.
Nah, some people just can’t get the TV out of their heads. Train yourself to think. Invest in tools and supplies that give you options. Cemented and practiced plans might be good for simulation but when the real rubber meets the real road, you just need to know how to steer or you’ll get run over, preps, plans or not.
YOU CLEARLY DON’T KNOW STREET PEOPLE.
Net Ranger If theres power lines and a driveway Your house is not hidden from anyone. get on google earth and take a look at what can be readily seen.
Personally, I have plans A-E. Various situations. Just have to be realistic to the situation is all.
Too old, too brittle, too frail to bug out. Ima gonna bug in and stay there till the crisis is over or Ima long gone.
Jack out!
That reminds me a quote I read regarding why people carry a gun. “Because I am too old to take a serious beating and too young to die.”
M, same here. Anybody else who comes along ifn I aint already miles away will get the same. Badge or no.
Nope. the reason to carry a gun is, a cop is to heavy.
I’m young, but I have a heart condition. Running is not my strong suit. I’m just going to do what I can to get my family secure, and if I become a dead weight then… you know what I mean. Sounds awful but it’s something I think we have to face when it comes down to it. I’ve been over it in my mind and made my decisions and my husband knows it.
God bless you
Best piece of kit for $20 – Sawyer Mini Water Filter. Bugging in or bugging out you are dead without clean water. Super small and compact, weighs 2 oz. Perfect gifts. I’ve probably bought over 10 of these for gifts and backups for myself.
Chilton,I agree and like em,but can definitely be bought for less,do your price research folks.I would also as I did recommend trying em on questionable water while initially at home(i.e. bathroom close if needed!).
People believe they have little to lose, they’re eager to hang those they believe responsible for their problems, and they’ll listen to radical or violent proposals. We’re now just entering what will likely be the worst economic trough since the Industrial Revolution. A rioter is typically an angry person looking for vengeance because he blames someone else for his problem. So far, rioters seem to be directing their attention at governments. Correct target, of course, but they don’t have the rationale quite right. They’re not angry because governments inflated the currency, promoted fractional reserve banking, and nurtured all the cockamamie socialist programs that caused this crisis. Not at all; they rather liked all that. They’re angry only because their governments haven’t adequately protected them from the consequences of what they did. So as conditions worsen, we can expect governments worldwide to pull out absolutely all the stops to show they’re “doing something.” And round up scapegoats to satisfy the mob and divert anger from themselves. I fully expect civil unrest to spread everywhere, simply because the depression will spread everywhere. It will be worst in places that have been most overextended, most debt leveraged, most urban, and have the largest numbers of unemployed workers — the U.S., Europe, and China.
Doug Casey
River Rat at the ready!!! NOMI///MOLON LABE!
Its probably true, 90%+ don’t even prep, therefore they will Bug-In with the masses in the city and die a miserable death. Many of these Bug-In’ers are greedy and will not want to leave their best stuff, their comfi couch, Comfi bed and TV and refrigerator. People need to learn to not be so materialized in their lives. Some who choose to Bug-In do have some legitimate reason like being too old or medical reasons, and try to stick it out. But many are too fat and lazy to even go for a hike in the woods or a park, therefore rationalize they will bug-in. Winners do the things loser are afraid or lazy to do. Many have families and kids, and what the heck will you do with your tribe trapsing around in the woods, while the wife complains, and the kids are crying and you the father will look like an idiot unprepared and no way to feed them. Where I live, I see entire families go for daily walks in my neighborhood, even at night walking their dogs, and I know they are a well maintained organized group with everyone on board. If you are the father or the mother you need to take charge of your family, be the leader, and get the kids out for family time daily if possible and build up your physical conditioning and your cohesiveness will come together as a tribe to take on the world as a group. There is a lot to being prepared. Having the proper mindset with the whole tribe on board is the key. Being prepared to Bug out if necessary, or as another option may save your entire families lives. Failing to plan at all, is a plan to fail.
This is what we’ll see a lot of.
“We’re gonna die. We got 90 year old people”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yliFvv4i4sc
But next time, there will be no camera crews, news teams or people to even bother about coming to speak to the beggars. Once these people start to witness others dying, and can’t fend for themselves, then they will lose their minds. The woman in this video does not act stable, and has absolutely no idea how to survive. All she can do is stand there and beg. That will never be me or my children. I don’t mean to put this woman down, but I am using her as the example of the thousands upon thousands who will wait for fema to come and get them.
ever tried throwing hundreds of rocks and stones: 1st day adrenaline and excitement got them lawless rioters jumping around like jack rabbits. 2nd day the throwing arm is tired & heavy so the rioter takes the position of standing off against police shouting abuse with incremental stone throwing. 3rd day arm is limp & body is exhausted by this stage rioters generally resort to looting and burning. by the 3rd day all those who are intent on rioting have joined the unrest so by day 4 and 5 no new stone throwers have joined the civil unrest, this is a dangerous phase because if no real law and order has been restored rape gangs will take the opportunity to roam about neighbourhood’s doing their thang and they always follow the path of least resistance. So keep armed, also handy to have lots of pepper spray and other close quarter (corridor) fighting weapons having a flame retardant boiler suit/coverall to put on when things get dirty is helpful (type used by technician’s working in petrochemical plants) and keeping a fold out ladder indoors might come handy if you live in a multi story building.
hello, there is no air conditioning in the woods. I’ve started prepping a/c. I have bags of cold air, right out of the register, gallon bags full of cold air down stairs. I’m buggin in with my a/c. lol
Tony,don’t forget all the electricity you have stored in the walls,don’t let it get stale!
Possible flashpoints are:
Israel attacks Iran nuclear facilities.
Pakistan government collapses and conflict with India and/or Afghanistan erupts.
Russia attempts to reacquire its former territory the Ukraine.
China attempts to reign in its former province Taiwan.
North Korea attacks South Korea.
Anyone of these could= W.W. III!
River Rat at the ready!!! NOMI///MOLON LABE!
Excellent article ! Bug in , make your location look like an smelly trash filled toilet not worth the trouble to enter. Black out your windows ect
Throw clothes and other junk a bit around the property,make the place look like it has been ransacked,things get that bad may be if possible time to leave at that point.
I would not bug out unless a natural disaster forced me to or my residence was destroyed by fighting.
I still say a community effort in where there is protection in numbers.
I don’t believe some people understand that if they run to the woods, they need to understand they are prey. Prey for those who have far more experience in the woods. Subject to ticks, ants, mites, snakes and other wood type varmints.
Another point, I would want to defend homes from the outside in a joint community effort. yes, require the building of protected fighting positions at a sufficient distance with interlocking fire zones.
Sound crazy? If the SHTF as some think, what may be considered
stupid, silly could become practical. Our lives will do a 180 from what it was the day before.
just my opinion……Our world is about to change……
Lol, I like how I’m reading about people “leaving into the woods and foraging nuts and berries and I’ll be fine for a week or so”. Hey there survivorman, nuts and berries arent in season just any day of the year, in fact, ALL food you will find in the wild is SEASONAL. Your not gonna eat Jeruselum Artichokes just any day of the year, or want to eat them during summer at that. You wont find hardly any starchy tubers in summer time either, fall-spring only. Mullberries are in season well before cherries, raspberries/blackberries, and blueberries, but the season is only about 3 weeks and it’s done-sir-done. Day lily tubers will suck the moisture out of your mouth, but they’re plentiful… Mayapples have 2 seasons up here, but eat them too unripe or too ripe and you’ll be very ill, chew the seeds and you’ll kill over. And which berries that grow in PAIRS can you eat now? Just any red ones right? How bout some lovely red berries from a vine-plant who’s leaves resemble a spear-tip! Grows all over the place, literally. Is that plant a wild carrot? Lets eat some carrot greens that plant is huge!……
It’s the little nuances that I’m reading that just make me roll my eyes, I cant help it.
If you have ANY intention of “going into the woods” and “foraging off nuts and berries” even for just 2 days, you need to learn the foods of your area, then surrounding area, what season they’re in, etc… Pay attention to the poisonous ones too, never know when you need to poison something :).
Or don’t learn any “wild edibles” and leave more food for me, making people like me more valuable than even a skilled huntsman. Not only do I “Know” the “wild edibles” in my area, I eat them regularly, know the medicinal plants and their uses as well. I’m one of these “miniscule in number” people that could actually thrive in the wild… I’m sooo waiting for the collapse :).
Sorry if I come off like an arrogant a$$hole, but no one is just gonna walk in the woods casually eating any “nuts and berries” they find without knowing $hit, just not gonna happen.
You kinda do sound arrogant and I don’t know where you’re from, but yes there are starchy tubers all year long. You forgot cattails. If you have cattails, you have everything you need to survive. Water, food, shelter and a source of fuel. People, look cattails up if you don’t know what to do with them. We all know there will be people who starve to death right next to their next meal.
molon labe
Humans have been living off the land and in the woods for millions of years, its just this last few generations that have been so disabled and Pussyified with modern conveniences they can’t make it unless they get their Daily fix of Starbucks. If any person back into the 1800’s could read these wossie posts about bugging in, and afraid of the woods because of bugs or critters, they would be laughing their britches off. They would be asking, “What happened to the human race?” “As they have become a weak pack useless sniveling eaters.”
Ya, our ancestors/distant relatives from the 1800’s would look at us all as pretty freaking worthless. I imagine we’d be seen in such disgust, it’d be sickeningly funny if such a far fall from their standards were laughable at all. I know I’d have some learning to do; I also have faith in my abilities to learn. I’d be a farmer because I love growing plants 🙂 I have an avocado growing inside up here in Indiana (too cold outside, but I’m growing it!).
Personally, I’d love to go back to the 1800’s, but I’d want to live and learn with the Native American Indians, even fight with/for them. I wish history was more kind to them, but the Europeans were too set in their ways to accept anything “less” than what they knew as their standard.
You can even make cordage and cloth out of cattail fibers.
I’d opt for stinging nettle for cordage/twine, and a great tea or salad green to boot. IDK bout cloth tho.
No I didn’t forget about cattails, just didn’t list them. Sure they’re available year round, so are day lilies, lotus root, great solomon’s, carrot/queen anne’s, etc… it’s just during the summer, they’ve spent their nutrients & calories producing flowers and then on to seed. For a filling meal you’d want to pick ’em before too much vegetative growth.
But I suppose one could always pick more. Problem is if 10 people or so do this in one area, the plants would likely be wiped out. I simply dont believe or see enough actual hard resources for each and every person in America. Currently 90% of people eat nothing but artificial filler rather actual food.
Currency collapse -> Economy Collapse -> Trucks stop moving -> Stores = Empty -> You literally have the food immediately around you and thats it….. Thats the dark reality. If anyone want’s to have a chance at living through collapse, they gotta get back to basics.
Now if everyone started cultivating Amaranth, Lambs Quarters, and Black Nightshade, it might be a different story.
Cornbread. Red meats are complete proteins containing all of the essential amino acids needed by the body to build and maintain muscle and other tissues. Most vegetables don’t contain all of the necessary amino acids (although soybeans contain most) and are referred to as incomplete proteins. The Confederate army marched and fought on a staple diet of cornbread and beans, combining incomplete proteins to provide good nutrition.
Johnny Cake or Journey Cake
1 cup cornmeal
1 tbsp. salt
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
Stir cornmeal and salt into boiling water. Cook until thick. Remove from heat and add milk. Mix well. Drop from large spoon on greased hot griddle or skillet. Turn to brown both sides.
Campfire Cornbread
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Mix dry ingredients. Stir in liquids. Spoon into a well-greased, heated 10 or 12 inch skillet. Cover tightly. Cover over a low flame for 20 to 30 minutes, or until firm in the center. When pan baking over hot coals place the pan on a low grill, on a three rock stand in the coals or directly on coals. Place coals on top of the lid (like a dutch oven) to distribute heat more evenly. Baked foods are more likely to burn on the bottom than the top. To prevent burning, check the temperature of your coals before placing a pan on them. Hold your hand about six inches above the coals; it should be hot, but you should be able to keep your hand in place for eight seconds.
Trench Beans
1 lb. dry pinto beans, cooked
1 tbsp. seasoned salt
1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. A-1 Steak Sauce
1/8 tsp. Tabasco
1 tsp. lemon pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
Soak and cook beans. When tender, add seasonings and simmer an additional 30 minutes.
Battalion Baked Beans
1 large can pork and beans
1/2 cup tomato catsup
6 small onions (or 1 jar small onions)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. molasses
1 tsp. dry prepared mustard
bacon strips
Combine all ingredients except bacon and spoon into a casserole dish. Cover with strips of bacon. Bake at 300 degrees to 350 degrees for 1 hour or until the bacon is done and the beans are bubbly.
River Rat at the ready!!! NOMI///MOLON LABE!
Hey River Rat:
Have to say that I whipped up a batch of your “survival” bars (I call them “energy” bars) and they turned out great.
I substituted two .3 oz. packets of sugar-free Jello (peach flavor) for your 1/2 cup of regular Jello, I added unsalted peanuts, I used the oatmeal option, I added about a tablespoon or less of cinnamon, and I cut back the sugar to about 1/2 cup. Otherwise, I used your recipe to the letter. I baked/dried them at 200 degrees in the oven for 3 1/2 hours.
They’re more on the chewy side than on the crunchy side and they’re a hit.
I wrapped each bar in plastic wrap and put them in a cookie jar with a tight lid — will keep one uneaten as an experiment to see how long they last before going bad.
Thanks!
Here is what the ultimate SHTF event that the U.S. government is pushing at Russia’s borders and what will cause WW3 and true need to get isolated and know as much about fallout and safeguarding from it:
http://www.rt.com/news/174768-putin-security-nato-ukraine/
Nato on Russian borders or even the threat of NATO on Russia’s borders means WW3. AND WW3 means nuclear.
Yep
update on that situation:
US State Department “Confident” MH17 “Mistakenly” Downed By Separatists, Finds No Direct Link To Russia
US Intelligence officials identify Rostov as Russian military installation providing support to separatists… offers more evidence-less proof – Senior U.S. intelligence officials cited sensors that traced the path of the missile, shrapnel markings on the downed aircraft, voiceprint analysis of separatists claiming credit for the strike, and a flood of photos and other data from social media sites. With a somewhat shocking lack of evidence, AP reports that US officials (on condition of anonymity) have stated that intelligence suggests Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was mistakenly shot down by separatists and can find no link to Russia. However, the unnamed non-proof-providing officials believed Russia “created the conditions” for the downing of MH17. For now there is not even a YouTube clip to confirm this… as officials do not make the new technical evidence public…
Your suggestive propaganda is ridiculous.
It seems that your ONLY goal/purpose is to destroy people’s faith in the last remaining vestiges of credible U.S. government functioning. There ARE still a few — just enough — U.S. government entities and people who are doing the right thing and who have this country’s best interests at heart. There ARE still some left who are not traitors.
So do you have your very own flat at the Kremlin? With or without room service?
CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS says in an interview dated July 22, 2014 that the U.S. government is concealing from the American people the fact that the government is using the illegal alien children for asymmetrical warfare operations to assist in the downfall of America.
See link on Drudge Report.
THIS CRAP IS SERIOUS, PEOPLE. IT STILL HASN’T BEEN STOPPED. THE BORDER IS WIDE OPEN.
See also the article about what the Texas Attorney General says about the illegals pouring into Texas: they are killing, raping and robbing Texans.
Do not make the mistake of under-estimating these illegals when/if you encounter them in public, either on the roadways or in stores or wherever they appear/work. They are extremely aggressive, extremely defiant, extremely ready to take you on, and extremely dangerous. Every one of them thinks that Obama will protect them, regardless of what they do, so they are prepared and willing to do anything they want to do.
THEY ARE FUNDAMENTALLY AND INHERENTLY LAWLESS, AND THEY HAVE BEEN LAWLESS SINCE THE MOMENT THEY STEPPED ACROSS OUR BORDER WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION. THEY DO NOT CARE WHAT YOU THINK, THEY DO NOT CARE WHAT YOU SAY — THEY KNOW ONLY SURVIVAL AND TO FIGHT. NEVER FORGET THAT!!!!!!!!!!!
Can’t emphasize it enough: read the article on Drudge about the interview with the former Border Patrol agent. If that doesn’t scare the bats out of you, nothing will.
Forget the Middle East fighting. Forget the Communist Chinese aggression. Forget the ISIL problem in Iraq. Forget the Ukraine fighting. THIS is here and now, and IT will directly affect your life if it hasn’t already.
Makes me glad i dont live stateside,,,
I got a lot of rabbits in my yard when the sun sinks low come evening. I told my daughter when she was at the house once for a few days, that I would fix her a fine dinner of rabbit from the back yard. Her response was that she would eat a “woods rabbit” but not a “yard rabbit”. I just looked at her speechless with all I had in me not to palm slap her up side her noggin’ to clear the fog in her head. I thought I taught her better but I guess college rubbed it all out. Like ‘ol Ricky Skaggs used to sing… “Don’t get above your raisin’, stay down to earth with me.”
Old man,
More like she was the one rubbin it out for ’em in college.
BWAHAHAHHAHA in SHTF I’ll have her chained to my basement wall.
Acid, so you admit you live in a basement? Hey, everyone, it sounds like eisenturd is back. [sarcasm]
And I’ll peel your hide and hair, nail it to the barn door to let my dogs tug on. The rest of you will fill the hogs. One things for sure, I won’t be wasting a bag of garden lime on you.
Just remember, if it’s a live wild rabbit, it’s got FLEAS.
After 24 to 48 hours of no food and the stomach is hurting, there will be no special love for the yard rabbit lol
PatMom, I had a friend when I lived in Missourah that owned some land and he told me to come on out and squirrel hunt, and he said just don’t shoot my yard squirrels. So I ask him which ones were the yard squirrels and he said anything over a 100yds from the house was fair game. Trekker Out. Free Men Own Guns, Slaves Don’t!
Has anyone heard from Jay Jay lately?
I do hope her Gene is okay.
Later, that’s a good question. I hope she and her gene are both OK. I miss her posts.
This is absolutely hysterical……. You will never need to bug out anywhere unless you haven’t noticed the past6 years !!!
Yes maybe in the next 100 years you may need to get out of your house for some reason , probably weather related !!!
Over the years I’ve said on this site at least 20 times, when the SHTF it isn’t going to be like a camping trip. Everything will be severe and serious! Just think of how you will keep up with security 24/7 if your group is smaller than 10? You will be exhausted in 7 to 10 days. Fatigue makes people crazy. Mix that with hungry, dehydration, angry, cold or hot, wet and anxious and you have a serious problem.
But hey if your plan is to just walk into the woods be ready for a lot of company. Here is another bullet of truth; without commercial farming and ranching the game in the wood will disappear in a matter of months. It’s my opinion that if you can’t start producing food within 90 days, you will just die when your food runs out.
Get ready!!! We are looking at extreme full contact camping. Hey that might be a good reality show….
Living by hunting/fishing is FOOL’S ERRAND in most parts of the country. Those who think they are gonna “hunt for my food” are among the STUPIDEST people on EARTH!
the wildlife will be hunted into EXTINCTION in the south, southwest, and the entire west, within a year.
fish populations will be completely decimated. As we stand right now, fish populations are plummeting and that is in the current re-stocking and breeding programs.
imagine when EVERYONE right now who hunts goes hunting on the SAME DAY. everyday!
The woods are not my bug out location. The woods are my home. The only home I’ve ever known.
I can track, hunt, fish. I can butcher and tan leather. I have a good knowledge of edible, medicinal, and poisonous plants.
I can flintknap and make my own arrows. I can make a bow. I can make and use an atlatl too. I can make snares and all kinds of nasty traps.
I know how to purify water and make shelter.
And I have firearms too. And plenty of ammo.
Bugging-in is my bugging out.
BIG DEAL! how long can you hunt when TENS of MILLIONS are hunting also?
consider there are gonna be GROUPS of people stealing from hunters that capture game.
much easier to hunt a hunter than hunt an animal.
Wherever you drag the carcass to there will be a crew killing you and taking your food.
Oh wait, i forgot, everyone is a Rambo.
Good for you Tomahawk. What are you going to do with everyone else who is headed to your woods??
After reading a few of these posts, I’m not so sure some of you can even come close to understanding how things would be should TSHTF. I’m still praying, for everyone.
Some of us have had a glimpse of small countries going bust. No one knows what a global systemic financial collapse will look like. During the initial 30, 60, 90 days I just want to stay out of everyone’s way. I have no clue where it will be safe and neither does anyone else. Safe haven is going to be a moving target for everyone even if you have a retreat.
I’m a first time poster here, regular reader… but the premise of this article I think is quite flawed. If your worried about all these people in the woods… what do you think its going to be like in the city? If you board up your windows you think that’s going to stop anybody?
There’s going to be a lot of fathers in the cities with some pretty hungry kids.
I do have a Location to get to fairly quickly, with a real good escape route…. I’ve been learning Wilderness survival skills for a few years, and still have a ways to go, but I know I can protect my family better through stealth and camouflage than I can fighting off mobs of people who want my wife and food. And I’m certainly no pushover either.
I’m in a much different scenario than most of you though, in Canada where Wilderness and natural resources outnumber our population by a fair margin. Our entire Country has less people in it than the state of California alone… Some of you guys should really try and get to know the land up here. Definitely spend some winter time in the woods, that’s critical
Canada is a MUCH better SHTF plan. Once you are past 200km from the border.
Problem is, Canada makes it harder for a US citizen to come there than some third worlder or Chinese.
a latin American gangster(or african/muslim savage) with multiple murders and history of driving drunk gets in WITH FULL govt funding. Yet a US citizen that had a DUI 15 years ago, stopped drinking and pays his own way is BANNED?? wtf?
Also, Animals and berries aren’t the only thing in the wilderness… Lots of yummy food out there that 95% of the worlds populaton doesn’t even know about
Unfortunately, I think a lot of the first runners out of the cities will head as far north as they can get. These people will be the ones who beat the gridlock traffic and know their back roads. Then there will be the straggling survivors who got out later after shtf there. The thing is, they are going to have to possess a knowledge of the wilds in order to make it. They will have to know how to stay warm in the mountains in winter, how to hunt and process their own food. How many people can do this?
Once these people get desperate and realize they cannot survive because they are ignorant, they’ll come out to places like mine. Really, to be honest, with my small kids in tow, that worries me more than anything else.
Just a year ago, we had two teenagers run away from their home in California and come up to the mountains in January. They thought they could hide there and be just fine. What ended up happening was after 3 days, they called for help because they were freezing and starving. They brought food with them but ate it all. It’s just an example of the ill preparedness that many will suffer from, but in shtf, they’ll die in the mountains because no one will come for them.
Christopher McCandless is a good example of that ignorance. He thought he’d go up to Alaska and just live in that bus and be fine. No knowledge on how to process meat, or what he was eating from the land. He died because of his ignorance. Had he understood where he was, he could have walked out of there while he was still well enough. We will see many of those Christopher McCandless’ types.
I also have small children and fear for there safety. I feel mostly for single moms who will have to go at it alone with their children. I can’t even imagine what that would be like.
Dumb question for a prep for EMP SHTF. Would it be a good idea to keep a spare ECU for your car/pickup around? I’m thinking spare ECU in a Faraday cage. I can pick one up on Xbay for $100 for the vehicle i have in mind. I’m thinking better to drive than walk if you have to bail out.
redneck101-
Unless you live way out yonder with a low population, having the only running vehicle for miles will make you an instant target.
Example- Tom Cruise in the War of the Worlds when they drive into the town and they have the only running vehicle. They lasted all of maybe 5 minutes.
Not a bad idea to have a spare ECU anyways, EMP or not. When it all falls apart, getting even a $100 ECU ain’t gonna happen.
I’m on the outskirts of the woods. I pretty much consider this my bug out location as of now. We’ve looked at some options but bugging out in the woods with small children and BEARS doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. We’re looking into another option and we’ll see where it goes. But for now, we’ll batten down the hatches here.
Your “bug-out to the woods” plan will fail almost immediately because someone already owns those “woods” and aren’t going to tolerate invaders from the cities.
I chose to build my home in the woods of Indiana because I was raised here. I have made a huge investment in my land as have all of my neighbors. You had best make a very good friend of someone who will allow you access to their property long before the SHTF. A note to all you other “suburban couch commandos” who believe a show of arms will intimidate landowners: the people in the countryside carry and employ their weapons has part of their daily routine. The continuous practice and improvement shooting skills can be heard on any weekend.Conciliation, respect and a rapprochment in advance of an emergency will keep you from being perforated.
Just watch episodes of Naked and Afraid on Discovery Channel that put the idiots in jungle or forest locations. That is what will happen without the naked angle – starvation followed by severe weakness/inability to function followed by death. Discovery went with 21 days because they should last that long as long as they have water. Push it another week and people would be dying on the show. Most people who bug out to the woods will last 4-8 weeks, less if the weather is below 50 degrees.
In keeping with the idea of bugging out, keep in mind a plague that could be in your region of country. Here’s a list of the 10 hitting the US now.
http://www.frontlineofdefense.com/semper-paratus
More into desert power here. Bug out location consists of a hunk of land, a pole barn to park the rig under, a couple of polyethylene water tanks piped to catch rainwater off of the pole barn, some solar panels, a couple of out buildings for storage and even a hard wired telephone. The telephone company got a federal grant years ago that paid them to lay underground cables all over the desert in certain areas. A few years worth of freeze dried and thousands of gallons of rainwater to live off of means you don’t have to make noise hunting.
The few people that live here year round like to call themselves “misfits, outcasts and just plain weirdos” but we call them neighbors.
When the going starts to get tough we really don’t think that masses of people will have what it takes to get deep into the desert let alone survive here in “the lake of burning fire”. Rattle snakes, scorpions, deadly spiders, coyotes, mountain lions, cactus, few paved roads and 110 degree heat defend the desert very well. Besides that, there isn’t a Walmart within 200 miles of here.
Very few people live in the remote desert for a reason. We watch any newcomers very closely until they have toughed it out for at least two summers. Most call it quits after six months. A few will make it a year. If they make it two summers we figure they must be some pretty tough hombres so we make an effort to get to know them.
The Mojave Desert (and I imagine this is common throughout the West) is spotted with old AT&T microwave facilities. While the microwave horns and wave guides are now gone from many, the concrete bunkers that contain diesel tanks and generators remain. These were intended to maintain communications after a nuclear strike by the Soviets, and designed accordingly. I explored one of these that had been broken into a few years ago. The copper wiring was gone, but otherwise the diesels were still intact (including the generator windings). A little research on the Web can net you a map of these facilities. I know of two located near year round springs. Unfortunately, one was on a bird hunting newsletter of chukar hotspots, and is also close to Victorville CA and it’s large meth-head population. The other I will give no clue regarding. Sited high for vistas across the desert, these would make easily defended redoubts with adjacent water.
When these things occur and shots are being fired…it maybe NWO…or MS13…or one of Us fighting them..military coup??? Occurring…local sheriff’s fighting mobs from the F.S.A…or just some dickhead shooting …it will be the saddest day of my life that our country has reached its tipping point and needs to throw off this current group of guards and install new guards…with the provision provided for We The People by the 2nd Amendment. Sad…because I know we are all going to anguish and find the courage and rage to battle on each of your own terms with certain personal loss…I am in deep thoughts about this for my wife as well as me..my cat “Map” …my box/lab “Bella”… All things must pass..behold all things become new. If I pass..my only hope is that the fight would go on till America becomes FREE again and New Guards are finally instituted… No more Socialist in the New Guard. Maybe ” Conservatarian ”
I’m in SoCal..so there’s a lot of ground to cover to get to any safe distance without running into road blocks of all kinds when it occurs..being in the open is more risk than staying put…but I know the disadvantages of where I am and cannot abruptly adjust to a hasty get-a-way… So Stand My Ground and try not get shot is all I got..I will not be merciful…
Live Free or Die
Talon1776
been homeless before for 17 months, lived in natl forest.
just takes planning, location and pre planning, its actually doable. and very easy.. cmon now. just because the wuthor would be uncomfortable in time living out a tent miles from nowhere, doesnt mean its not a good plan.
I just knewq the park, where water was etc. etc. and when I had to decide where to live safe and undesterbed while I slept at night…. I went to the forest I knew
It was also in the north east, and I survived 2 winters
My shelter was 2 20×20 tarps.. one for ground below tent one for wind snow falling debris from trees and rain deflection over tent using 550 cord between trees…
sorry, 2 20×20 tarps and a 7′ dome tent was shelter.
ALL fit in a backpack with the clothes I had, Kabar, pellet pistol for small game, and used bars of Zote soap for laundry and washing in the brooks bout 2 miles from where I slept
big baby
pat h is scared the big bad wolf getting him in the deep dark woods.
pussy.
Has anyone ever thought about the caverns that are throughout the country? I havent read anyone really mention them in forums.
Think about it. Some may make it for a while. Most will not. I recall watching the movie “The Pianist”. In this movie, based on a true story, Adrian Brody plays a successful Polish pianist who falls victim to the Nazi siege during World War II. Stark reality. It won’t matter what you have or how many friends and family you have. Even with assistance, look at how rapidly Brody and all around him have all they own taken by the military, how rapidly they are executed if they resist and how the populations are rapidly relocated and all egress from their towns and cities are cut off. WORSE, if you are not alone – if you have family and especially children, odds are they will not make it. Forget B.S. like “Survivorman” who is never alone, has a film crew and off camera probably eats steak instead of bugs. Go spend a few weeks, not at a campground, but trespassing in the woods ( It IS trespassing – ALL woods and forests are owned either privately or in most cases, by the government). See how long you can make it without going into town for supplies of any kind. Have you ever been in a forest during a severe storm where hundreds of trees are blowing down? Have you ever had to fend off wild animals? Have you seen the voracity of insects on hot days?
Again, I think “The Pianist” shows how military take-over will be swift and overpowering. How rapidly you have everything taken away. Even family and children. Who thinks that troops will not scour the woods by land and by air. Any equipment you have, they will have MORE. Can you stay in the wilderness, hidden away and know that loved ones are captured and are in peril? Can your conscience really handle that? Or, can you stay hidden knowing that an illness or injury that a family member sustained is escalating into a life-threatening situation? Does anyone realize the irony that other “preppers” will ultimately look at you, not as a fellow comrade, rather as someone to prey upon?
If you decide to return from the woods, odds are that what would happen to you will be far worse than if you just went along with it from the start. Watch Brody in “The Pianist” as he suffers, even when hidden in an apartment, from the elements and severe starvation and dehydration. How the one person he counted on as a friend to bring him food in his hide-out, kept the food and money for himself. Hunger and desperation make less than 1% of anyone you know even SORT of trustworthy. If that person’s family is in peril, who do you think they will look out for?
Finally, some states, as in NY, already have the push on to report people to DHS who are stocking up on things such as food, MREs ,ammunition, batteries, flashlights. Order them online and that paper trail is MORE obvious. Doctors routinely ask, even in pediatric visits if there is a gun in the house. They say it is for safety assessment – if that is so, then ask (as I have) why they don’t ask if I have a chainsaw or any other dangerous items? Doctors are asserting their rights, thanks to our new national healthcare laws, to have PRIVATE conversations with your children. WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY ARE ASKING? I doubt it is just about contraception. Imagine “Do your parents tell the truth? Do they have guns? Do they like the government? Do they stock up on things? Where do they keep things? Do they ever act irrationally?”
Finally, find something other than a gun to hunt with if you DO go to the woods. Ever shoot a gun in the woods? Anyone within appreciable distance is going to know your location. Worse, many cities already have the ability through sensors to detect the exact location where any gun is fired. Cook something and people and animals will be after you.
I am not saying that prepping is not a good idea. It is always a good idea to be prepared. I am not saying nobody who prepares, will be successful. Some will… Most, will not.
So how do you prepare for THAT?!
It is not trespassing for us to go into our forests “owned” by our government. We own the land. We own the trees. We own the animals.
It’s the same thing as with government publications. We own them, so we can reprint them as we please.
BTW, I’ve never had a doctor ask me if I own a gun. I would quickly tell him that’s not an allowable question.
I hope you are right about the forests, my friend. I was referring to the situation in a “SHTF” scenario. It happens even now. If the government decrees federal parks to be off limits, you would INDEED be trespassing. Look at what happened during the most recent government shutdown. Look what Yellowstone recently did when the roads melted. Of course, while you are at it, look at the Wildlands Project, relative to U.N. Agenda 21. Ask rancher Cliven Bundy if the government can attempt to restrict access to federal lands. Most assuredly, THEY CAN.
Doctors ARE asking that question about guns. Some veterans who were asked that question later had their guns taken away. I accompanied a family member to their pediatrician and the nurse who did all of the pre-exam screening asked that question. Of course, I was all over her about that.
Google the matter, as seeking research beyond a blog comment, including my own, is ALWAYS wise. It is likely that ObamaCare will introduce many more intrusive measures. I already know one doctor who retired because of his objections with the new laws and another who, during an urgent care visit where he was not even our primary physician, began speaking about all the very disturbing changes the health care laws are bringing to both the hospitals, as well as private practices. No doubt RIF chipping will be part of the national requirement. Biometric identification seemed far-fetched until recent years. As it is, a person can scarcely go out in public without cameras and scanners recording their faces, smartphones, license plates, etc. There is a reason for the huge NSA data storage facility in Utah. I’ll bet facilities such as that are WELL protected against EMPs and other “SHTF” incidents. Again, regarding the new health laws, most lawmakers will confess that they have not read the entire legislation. Google a picture of it. I saw the pages stacked in one picture as tall as a man.
Believe me, I WISH all of what I said was fiction. Those who DO believe it is fiction, need either research the facts, or reevaluate their purported status as “being prepared”.
Yes, sad to say, in a “SHTF” situation, a person WOULD likely be considered to be a trespasser on federal lands.
There are many ways to prepare for the things you have mentioned. For example, set up your “kitchen” a few hundred yards away from where you sleep.
I may get blasted for this but, I don’t even own a gun. I figure if I allow myself to be in a position where I have to use a gun, I’ve already failed my family. And Guns run out of Ammo anyway. I’ll eventually get a rifle and/or shotgun, but it will be strictly for defense.
Hunting Only with Crossbows and Recurve bows, I would add a pellet gun for small game as well. Because like you said, You can here a gun shot for miles. Another thing is transportation, ATV’s and the like are very easily heard out in the woods as well.
I would be very trap heavy anyway. You can trap, forage and get water all at once and save a ton of energy as an important bonus as well.
Ghillie suits can be very cheap, fairly easy to make and would really come in handy foraging and hunting outside of camp.
The answer is simple really, Don’t bug out in the woods unless you really know how, or else you will suffer and if you have people relying on you, their blood will be on your hands. It’s really critical to keep you and yours in good physical condition as well.
James your input is great. But sure wish you would tell us a little more about all that yummy food out there in the wilderness. And about some of your success of killing game with bows and such. And you may want to get a gun sooner rather than later, if only for defense. And once the SHTF it may be a little more difficult to obtain them, even in that bastion of conservatism know as Canada. If and when the SHTF it sure won’t only affect the good ole USA. As for running out of ammo, I would worry more about how to have enough arrows for my bow at 5 or 6 bucks apiece, they seem to get lost or bent or broken, believe me I know. I love archery hunting and even hate it when gun season starts, but when the Schumer Hits The Fan my first weapon of choice, be it man or beast it sure ain’t going to be a bow. Trekker Out. Si vis pacem, para bellum!
Are we allowed to post links only this site? I’ll try it out anyway, hopefully I’m not breaking any rules.
This is what I started on as far as wild edibles… It’s Canadian though, not sure where to point you for the south, because I definitely intend to stay as far away from the border as possible… I trained myself specifically for canada
http://northernbushcraft.com
Also, there’s a great survival school called sigma 3 survival school… They have a channel on YouTube to teach you how to thrive in the wilderness(notice how I didn’t say “survive”?)
It’s obviously not enough to read, watch and memorize everything they say, you have to get out and practice what you’ve learned.
Just type in sigma 3 survival school in YouTube and learn away.
Here is their official web site
http://www.survivalschool.us
Hope this is enough to get people started who are interested
For so many years I have lived in the city, I have seen so much shit and the way people look down at me and my co-workers for wearing a uniform, so several years ago we got together and we thought about the future and what it holds for us, and so we began to look into other opportunity’s and how we could better ourselves off of others since they don’t really matter anymore anyway. This is what we began to do. We’re buggin out in the city, just think, where is all the food? I live in a big city, made up of millions of people. I also know and have seen millions of different places to hide within the city. I know of garage parking lots that go 12 floors down below the ground. In case of a nuclear attack I have made a small enclosure along with several passageways that are underground a place for me to hide in. I have placed a gas mask, radiation suit and some climbing tools and other supplies, It’s into a separate room that sits next to another ventilation room 12 floors beneath the ground. I call it my bomb bunker. I have at least three different ways to crawl out of there that I have done successfully already. We have also stored other supplies in other hidden areas around the big buildings where we have worked in the past and also where we have been at before. We know of tunnels that can take us from one end of the city and get us out the other end with no one knowing that we were there. We know of buildings that we can get into during the night when no one is around by crawling into them by going underneath. We know office buildings that have cafeterias and where they store their food and how we can take it out unknown to anyone. If we wanted to we could take so many things and pretty much get into any building that we wanted to. We know all the ways and where everything is, including government. We have all the plans and structures in our heads and we know how to get into them. We know we could stay hidden from others for several years if we wanted to. We know of places that are warm, comfortable and dry and they are underneath the ground far from others and they are hidden. Some of these place we have outfitted with electricity and a few amenities. A small fridge and table and chairs,cots, and a few official stickers placed on the door to make it look like it is an official government office located beneath the ground and it actually belongs their. We have placed sensors and we are in the process of installing cameras and getting it all placed on a network so that we know if someone is poking their nose into our business so that we can see what is going on around us and notify us of anyone coming near these sites that we have designated as our own little bug out locations. We also have picked out the grocery stores that we will raid when it hits! We have plans set up and have made mock practice runs in the past to see where our weaknesses lie. We also know who has weapons and how we can take them away. We also know where their are hidden food banks that not too many people know about except for the truck drivers who are dropping off trailers of food and the guards that are protecting them. Do you think that we are that dumb? That we sit around and guard something and not know what is inside? Do you think that we have been working all these years after getting out of the Army or military service of any kind just for mere worthless dollars? Fuck that shit! It’s fucking survival. We also know of police officers who are doing the same and we are creating a network of guards and cops to protect ourselves and our family’s and fuck all the rest. So keep on storing shit and keep on piling shit up and have us guard that shit! Then we will fuck you up and take it from you after we kill you with your fucking guns that you gave us to protect your shit with! So sorry, but better you than us! It’s survival! That’s how it’s going down! Sincerely, USA guard fucked in the rear for the last time!
wow sounds like a lot of lazy americans…i only say that because you guys have like no forests whatsoever lol…your greedy leaders of the past took care of that…and who has to pay for that? the people.
since most of your forests have been taken away, what choice is there for the majority of people to not think about wilderness survival? ya’ll are dependent of your modern society that you could never imagine bugging out into the wild. especially in small patches of forests to share with the millions who want to evacuate.
sorry to say, but if shtf in the usa, most of you would be fvcked.
us canucks have a wilderness that can hide us in for ages, food o’plenty, endless fresh and untainted water…sure we may have immigration issues in cities, but none of them could ever last in the woods…since most of them come from lands that are just as bare and more so than the usa. hell, a lot, if not most immigrants are just used to sand and over-populated open spaces lol…
you want to survive shtf…learn to hunt, fish, forage and go somewhere where there are vast forests. otherwise, bugging-in your house will be nothing more than being inside your own coffin.
break away from the grips of dependency, and you will survive!
My primary plan is to bug in and defend my home. We have everything we need to last over a year, by our best calculations. I am medically trained and we have a “small pharmacy” in our house, if needed. So we shouldn’t even need to go out in desperate search of medical care. I believe the only thing that could drive us out is a fire or destruction of a tornado. If someone tries to get in, my husband and I will do what is necessary. When you have children, it would be hard to go on the run for many reasons.
As a last resort, our plan is to head a few miles north. Our family has a property up there with a lot of woods. We camp up there and there is a lot of firewood, a shed, and tools. We could enclose the shed. There is a steam up there and we have a Sawyer (I think that’s the name) water filter that filters one million gallons of water. There is plenty of hunting. Again….LAST RESORT.
I totally agree with staying in at almost all cost. We won’t even be stepping outside to cook after the first day or two because that’s probably when panic will start. That’s why we have a whole shelf of candles and a few sterno stoves. We don’t want people to know we have food.
On the surface, this article makes some valid points, but it is only applicable in certain situations, so…..let’s take the most extreme we can imagine and apply it, MARTIAL LAW. I would NOT ‘bug-in’ at home. That is where they will come looking for me AND my guns, and as long as I stay there, they can return numerous times to re-check me & my residence as they see fit! They can also burn your residence down around you if necessary. Bugging out to the woods would definitely require some advance preparation & planning, such as camouflaging everything to your surroundings. A determined tyrant or military force WILL find you, regardless, so you might as well make them work for it! Dogs can sniff you out, thermal imaging can give up your exact location as will any fire you start to cook food or keep warm. Best to be in possession of a ghillie suit as well as other camouflaged gear & weaponry. Bug out with a friend/partner or two to watch each others six. KNOW the area you’re bugging out to. The best place to be out of sight-out of mind is underground, such as a cave. If you leave your campsite on daily ‘missions’, bury/hide anything you can’t carry with you. Move your campsite as frequently as possible.