More on Bugging Out


If you have been reading my articles ( Is Bugging Out A Good Idea?) you already know that I do not recommend bugging out as an emergency plan unless you have no other options left. There seems to be a lot of controversy about the idea of bugging out so I will give some of the reasons why I arrived at this conclusion.

  • Timing; unless you have forewarning of an event, you are going to find out at the same time everybody else does. This means that you are going to be part of a herd of panicked and desperate people trying to evacuate the area. The roads will be clogged with traffic and broken down vehicles making travel difficult if not impossible. Police will be overwhelmed. Fueling stations will be closed or so clogged that it will be next to impossible to get fuel. Price gouging for fuel and other supplies (groceries, for instance) are almost a certainty. A few hours into the ensuing panic fuel and supplies will be unavailable for any price.

  • Bug Out Retreat; If you are one of the folks that have spent a lot of time and resources providing yourself with a retreat you are probably not going to get there. Unless you are already in your retreat (recommended) when the emergency occurs, you have probably wasted your time and money. Somebody will probably appreciate it, though.

  • Bug Out Vehicle; I have seen pictures of some impressive heavy duty 4WD vehicles different people have prepared with the idea that these vehicles will make it possible to travel to their bug out destinations carrying all their supplies. Good luck! These things use a lot of fuel and even if you carry enough fuel to make it to your destination, you still are not likely to get there due to clogged roads, highwaymen, and impassable terrain. Try fording a river or even a good sized ditch with one of them because the bridges are blocked.

  • Travel; As I mentioned before the roads and bridges will be blocked and impassible so travel will only be possible on foot. The average American lives a sedentary lifestyle and is overweight. How far can you travel on foot while carrying your supplies? How about your family? This will also leave you vulnerable to highwaymen and others that will want your supplies because they have none of their own. They probably are not going to ask nicely.

  • Armament; Traveling during an emergency unarmed is a fools errand. If you are not armed and skilled in the use of those arms you had better stay at home. Have an expensive assault rifle, fine pistol, or nice back pack? It will probably wind up in the hands of some 12 year old country boy who temple shot you from hiding with his single shot .22 as you trudged along the road.

I assume all of my readers are intelligent enough to realize they are not going to bug out to the woods and live off the land. Foraging, fishing, and hunting require knowledge and skills which are the result of years of training and experience which very few if any have. Those that are knowledgeable in these skills would not even try it. There will be enough dead bodies smelling up the woods without adding yours to them.

These are only some of the things you will have to deal with if you should decide to bug out. In the event of an emergency serious enough to shut things down where you are at things will get serious real quick. This is not a movie or game it is life and those that make the wrong decisions will not live long.



It seems that everywhere I look lately, I see articles and hear people talking about “bugging out”. Is it really such a good idea?

 While there are circumstances in which you would have no choice such as fire, flooding, chemical spill, leaving your home is rarely necessary nor is it a good emergency preparedness plan.

OK. So you are one of the thoughtful ones that have planned ahead and prepared a bug out location away from the city and stocked it with sufficient supplies. Are you sure you can get there? Are you sure that someone else has not arrived there before you and taken it over?

 If you have not prepared and stocked a bug out location, where are you going to go? What will you use for supplies? What will you use for shelter? Do you really expect folks that already live in the countryside to be glad to welcome you and care for you?

 Let’s face facts. By the time most people realize something serious is going on or has already happened, it will be too late to travel. During the evacuation away from New Orleans as a result of Hurricane Katrina, the roads were impassable. Cars were packed bumper to bumper, accidents and cars out of fuel and broken down blocked every road. Travel was on foot and refugees were turned back at bridges at gunpoint and prevented from even fleeing on foot. Hurricane Katrina is only one example. There are many more.

 Fleeing refugees were accosted by roving gangs of armed people and robbed, molested, and otherwise harassed. Can you protect yourself? Are you in good enough shape to travel far on foot, is every member of your party or family?

 I suspect the idea of “bugging out” has been pushed beyond reasonable limits by people selling bug out supplies. Bug out bags, books to tell you how to build your own bug out bag, books telling you how to sneak out of Dodge, articles and books about the best survival gun, knife, or backpack cookware and stoves abound on the internet and media. All in the name of trying to make a buck.

 I am not saying you should not have a bug out bag in case you have to grab and run, heck I have one. I am also not saying that people should not try to make an honest living. What I am saying is that someone needs to interject a little common sense into the situation.

 Once you leave your home you become an instant refugee. The only supplies you will have are what you can carry. The only shelter is what you can find along the way unless it is already occupied by someone else that just may relieve you of the burden of your supplies before they turn you away, that is if your supplies have not been taken from you by force before you got there. Even if you do manage to make it to your bug out location safely, there is no guarantee that someone else hasn’t gotten there first and moved in.

Your best chance for survival is in most cases to stay in your home if possible. Home is where your supplies are. It is where you know your surroundings, and neighbors. Home is also where you are the safest unless it has been made unlivable due to fire or other means. Is not safety what this is all about?

Bugging out should only be considered as an extreme last resort. It means abandoning everything you own and becoming a refugee. .