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The plan seems simple, doesn’t it? All you need for the best chance of survival for your family is a well-stocked bug out bag, a keen attention to your surroundings and careful monitoring of what is happening in the news. With these bases covered you will be a very informed prepper and will be able to get the jump on all of the clueless sheeple if something bad happens. You will load your family up with your bags and hike off into the sunset way ahead of the approaching death and destruction. You have a plan to bug out.
It sounds perfect, but in this article, I am going to try and convince you how that might not be the best and first option you should consider. There are many reasons and situations I can think of why you do not want to bug out from your home. You may be asking yourself, how can I even say those words on a prepper blog such as this without getting struck by lightning? It’s true that hunkering down is not the option that gets the most press, but in my opinion, during most (but not all) scenarios, it is the better choice. That is unless you are a combat-trained Navy Seal. If you are like me, just an average guy with a family and a giant subterranean monster unleashed by nuclear experiments are not headed your way, you might want to stay put. Here are a few reasons why:
1. You live where your stuff is.
I’ll be the first to admit that a lot of these reasons are going to seem incredibly simple and obvious, but I think sometimes that is the best way to approach a problem. As a prepper you have probably started collecting some supplies to help you get through short and long-term emergencies. Some of you have stored a TON of supplies because you have been doing this for a long time or else you are independently wealthy and you just blew up the Black Friday sales.
Even if you only have a week’s worth of food and water, that is nothing to sneeze at. Everything you have is stored probably in nicely organized bins for easy retrieval. You don’t have to carry it and the supplies aren’t subject to the elements. Leaving your home will make you potentially have to leave most, or all of your survival supplies at home. You could put them all in your best bug out vehicle, the diesel Ford F-250 with the trailer, right? Sure you could, but are you sure that truck will always be in your possession? It’s just better to stay at your home base because there are tons of advantages like…
2. Even your kitchen floor is more comfortable than sleeping in the woods.
Yes, I know that some people sleep perfectly well in the woods and I can too, once I am exhausted from hiking all day. Honestly, you would have to agree that your old lumpy Serta Posturpedic mattress would be preferable to sleeping in the woods or an abandoned building or even a hammock. Why is that important?
Getting plenty of good sleep has a huge impact on our health. It not only affects your moods but alertness and even immune system. In a disaster, you will be stressed in ways you haven’t even considered. You may be working like a dog and having a comfortable and relatively safe place to rest your head, even if that is the living room floor will be an advantage that the people who think they can just bug out into the woods won’t have.
3. Built-in Community whether you know it or not.
In times of crisis, you can almost guarantee that communities will band together in some ways. You probably don’t consider your small neighborhood or dead-end street a community but let some disaster happen and you will see humans come together for support, safety and to help each other out. Being around even just a few neighbors who know you can give you advantages if you need assistance for things like a neighborhood security plan.
Even neighbors you don’t get along with will probably overcome grudges if the disaster is severe enough. Of course, there is the potential that your neighbors could turn on you for being the lone prepper but I think in most cases, things won’t go Mad Max for a little while. If it does you will have to adjust, but I believe that most people would benefit by banding with their neighbors for support. You could have an opportunity for leadership here or compassion by helping out others who haven’t prepared. It is much better to strive for this kind of relationship with people than head out the door and face the world with only what is on your back.
4. Being Cold Sucks and it can kill you.
I bet that most of you like to keep the thermostat somewhere in the upper 60’s to low 70’s during the winter. There might be some play in that range, but there are no thermostats outside. Whatever the temperature is outdoors is what you are going to be living with. Can you start a fire or wear warm layers to regulate your body temperature? Of course, but the last place I want to be on a cold winter night is huddled up in my sleeping bag under a tarp even if I did have a nice roasting fire beside me.
There are some situations where you wouldn’t be able to start a fire. Maybe if it was raining and you couldn’t find any dry wood or tinder, or there were people that didn’t look so friendly following you. Staying in your home, even without power can give you advantages of shelter that you won’t easily find outdoors. You can seal off rooms and even your body heat will generate a little warmth. You can black out your curtains with heavy gauge plastic sheeting and even the heat from a lantern or a couple of candles can put out an amazing amount of heat.
5. You may put yourself in a worse situation.
The problem with most bug out plans is that you don’t have a destination. Where are you bugging out to? Do you think the National Forest is going to be reserved solely for you and your family? Do you think you will just set up a tent and start hunting for small game? In a large regional disaster, there could be millions of people leaving the cities. The concept is called the Golden Horde and they will be competing with you for natural resources. With even a few dozen hunters in the same area game will be depleted in days if not sooner. Then you will be stuck near a bunch of other hungry people who blame you for catching the last squirrel.
6. Being on the road makes you an easier target.
One of the advantages of staying put at home is the home field or defenders advantage. When you go out, you do not know what you are walking or driving into. The best you can do is recon very deliberately which will only slow you down more. By staying put in your home, you can set up a neighborhood watch with your fellow neighbors and monitor who is coming in. This gives you the opportunity to set up defensive positions and plans that anyone walking in with thoughts of taking advantage of you, won’t be aware of.
7. If nobody knows you, you are a stranger.
Have you ever been walking your dog and seen someone strange walking through your neighborhood? This was someone you didn’t know so obviously they fell under suspicion. Had they been one of your neighbor’s kids you would have recognized them, but this new person stuck out. That is what you will be faced with if you leave your home and go wandering through other towns and cities. In your home neighborhood, you will be dealing with known people that you can grow a deeper relationship with. There is a built-in level of trust because they have lived near you for years. If you start walking into a strange town with your bug out bags and AR-15 slung over your bulletproof vest, you may not like the attention you receive.
8. Gear is heavy and a lot of gear is heavier.
Speaking of walking around in your bulletproof vest and gear, how many of you have walked for 3 days with your bug out bag? OK, now add a full complement of bullets and anything else you think you might need to defend yourself. It adds up quickly even when you try to reduce the weight of your bug out bag as much as possible. These weren’t meant to live for a long time out of. Your food will run out, possibly your ammo and that will help you with the weight, but in a disaster where you are walking out the door in full combat gear, do you think Walmart will be open when you run out of something?
9. In a grid down you won’t get to call AAA.
Maybe you are one of the lucky ones that have a place to go up in the mountains. If you don’t get out before everyone else starts leaving, you could be stuck on the road. What if your old bug out vehicle breaks down? All those supplies you stored in the back of that trailer are either going to feed a lot of other people on the highway or you will most likely die to defend them. If you aren’t already living at your retreat before the disaster happens, you will have to be incredibly fast to avoid getting stranded. Let’s say you are ready to go, do you know when you would actually leave? Do you know when the S has actually HTF and it’s time to leave or will you debate leaving with your wife and mother for two days because they think it will all blow over soon?
10. If you get hurt you want to be near a secure shelter not under a tarp.
I have a decent first aid supply kit. I don’t have IV’s and a ton of medicine but I can take care of garden-variety injuries pretty well. Imagine you somehow break your leg after the grid is down. Would you rather drag yourself into the house, or be stuck in the woods for weeks unable to move? Most hospitals don’t stick their patients out in the backyard for a reason so you will convalesce better with a good roof over your head that is hopefully providing some climate protections. If nothing else, it will be a relatively clean and safe place to get better than beats lying under a log.
So what does staying home mean?
I will write a post about reasons why you may have to bug out later, but staying home doesn’t guarantee you will be safe and secure either. I think each situation has to be taken into consideration as to what is the better option for you and your family. Naturally, if there is a fire heading your way staying at home is stupid. It is something to think about that and that may help you begin to form different plans for different scenarios. What are your plans?
By: Pat Henry
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most of these make sense to me , i really have no other place to go and i’m getting old and not able to hump a bunch of stuff around
Another reason bugging out can be bad, wherever your retreat is, it’s probably not where you live. That means, it’s not the place you are most familiar with, and most comfortable with. This can translate to problems as you adjust. Of course, this can be avoided, if you spend enough time at your retreat before you need it.
Not saying that bugging in is a great alternative. Just that, as with a lot of survival concerns, many think they will deal with whatever it is when it comes, not realizing that ‘when it comes’ may not give you enough time. Prepping only works, if you prepare. Buying this, or investing in that, isn’t enough. You have to intimately know how your preps work. That includes your retreat. Even if that retreat is home sweet home.
10 reasons why you want to bug out to your cottage in the woods/mountains.
1) Two homes is one, one home is none. When your city neighbor burns down his home trying to keep warm and it spreads to yours with no firemen or pressurized water to fight it, then where are you going to go? Sometimes bugging out might be the only choice you’ll have. Are you comfortable, preparedness-wise, having only one of anything else?
2) Offgrid cottages are built for offgrid living, unlike homes in the city or ‘burbs that are built with the premise that any problem can be solved if you just throw enough BTUs and kilowatts at it.
3) Security. If the SHTF and you have your survival poop in a group, the biggest threat is from others that don’t. Less people, less danger.
4) Food, and unlike grocery stores and the JIT delivery system, it replenishes itself naturally. You know where to find it, how to get it home, and how to process and preserve it. Even if you subscribe to the theory that wildlife populations will quickly plummet from over hunting, it just means those that are better at it are going to get more than others who aren’t before it runs out.
5) You actually practice the skills you’ll need, not just read or write about them.
6) Prepositioned supplies and gear, and having years of preparations in place already at the 2nd home and property. Fruit trees, hunting blinds/platforms, the best trapping/fishing spots, defensive positions – these take time to grow, find, and build.
7) Family gathering and vacation spot where everyone is “at home”. Less stress, everyone knows the place and has their own space. The routine is familiar.
8) Second community where you also “belong”, full of folks that share your interests, and that had and solved some of the same problems you’re likely to face living there for an extended period.
9) You practice bugging-out regularly (it’s called going “up state”, “up north”, or “out west” for vacation), everyone knows what they need to take, where it belongs, and how to do it quickly. You know alternate routes and how to avoid traffic. You’ve considered breaking down or getting stuck along the way, so you bring alternate forms of transportation with you – bicycles, quads, motorcycles, or even just a wheeled cart and good hiking shoes.
10) You pass it all on to your children when you die. They’ve lived there, and you let them help design, build, or repair everything there. You’ve taught them the skills they’ll need, and given them and their family a better chance for surviving any disasters they may face after you’re gone.
While I understand the fear in the author of this article, the real truth is. . .you may not have a chance to Remain In Place. The disaster may be of such a nature that you are FORCED to leave your home. . .or even your retreat location. Natural disasters such as tornadoes, earthquakes, forest fires, etc. don’t really care if you are too bull-headed to move. They’ll destroy your home anyway. If you’re too stupid to move, well. . . you’ve just cleaned up a dirty portion of the gene pool, haven’t you?
Man-made disasters can also force you to move. Perhaps you like breathing in dangerous chemicals such as chlorine, ammonia, etc. . .but if you have a road or a railroad near your home, any tanker truck or train disaster could send a poisonous cloud wafting into your living room.
I’m sure you have enough protective gear to sit in your barkolounger wearing a full tyvek suit and protective mask to outlast it. . .but why? Grab your bag and head out of the area until it’s safe to return.
And, I do know that the author and many like him have fully fortified homes, a bazillion rounds of ammo and a full complement of bulletproof clothing (including jockstrap). They’re armed to the teeth with point- and area-weapons. But if a determined gang or force comes into your neighborhood or retreat location with overwhelming force, you may want to avoid dying like a martyr (chanting Remain-In-Place-Remain-In-Place (or RIP, for short)) all the while, watching as bullets rip into your spouse and flames lick at the hair and hide of your little ones (REMAIN-IN-PLACE!!!). But those who have a kit with the bare necessities may choose to live to fight another day.
A Bug Out Bag is simply an OPTION, preferably one of last resort. One doesn’t gleefully run to the closet, grab his most excellent set of cammies and toss on his ALICE pack every-freakin’-time the Emergency Alert System goes off in the middle of the day.
The choice to bug out must be made when Remaining In Place is a greater threat to your survival than relocating to a secondary location.
If you’re not ready to evacuate when the circumstances. . .then go ahead and Remain In Place. . .RIP.
i always hear folks saying, “i’m heading for the mountains if something happens” How many have hunted the mountains before? u can go for a week and never see game. Now what are u going to do with a half million people stomping around the area? Something will be for dinner before long and it won’t be Bambi. I can see not wanting to stay if u live in town. That is going to get nasty fast. Most don’t have the financial funds to buy a second home outside of town. Hopefully we never come to the situation, but unfortunately i think we are headed in that direction. I agree with the author though, better to stay where ur at if at all possible and u know ur surroundings, than to be out amongst the masses
Bugging out should be the last resort, not the first. But I live with wildfires being a real threat or flooding. So it is definitely a big part of my plan. Just simply because these are the most likely reasons I would have to leave my home.