Thread: Bug In or Bug Out??

Who's staying home when SHTF and who's going to another location or hitting the woods??

I live out in the country, but by a highway. 60 miles from any city with more than 1,000 people. If SHTF in the winter, I'm staying here. The zombies will freeze to death before they get here from the city. In summer/fall, I might have all kinds of freaks showing up looking for food...we do live on hill with no trees right by the house, so it would be fairly easy to pick them off if I had to...

If you are going to another location, how are you planning to travel if vehicles are caput due to a EMP attack?? I do have maps & my trusty glock in my vehicle in case I'm away from home and something happens and we have to walk a fair distance.

Most likely scenarios where I live are wildfires. This would be the only reason I would leave my home.

I don't believe you are allowed to determine whether to bug-in, or bug-out.

If a Nuke hits your house..............you are bugging-out.

If a Nuke hits California............You are bugging-in.............with a nice glass of Merlot.

Depends on the crisis. Bug-in didn't work well for Katrina.
Zombies, it would work (maybe)

Prepare for bugging-out, so you don't die when you bug-in plans fail.
Plan on them failing also.
Bugging in is easy to prep for. Just like bugging out (Just don't unpack the backpacks)

Originally Posted by DakotaMom

... The zombies will freeze to death before they get here from the city.

Zombies are already dead... Is it possible for them to get deader?

In a SHTF scenario, one should look to consolidate and coordinate with like minded individuals and form a "community". In a way this could be seen as a "bug in" if you're already all living in very close proximity. It's best to have land you can garden or farm on to provide food and a well for water. In the event that the "zombies" start raiding your area you can resist them, but if the "zeds" are particularly organized, a "bug out" might be the option.

The militia's in the Middle East chose the "bug out" option but get lots of support from villages and they have hide outs. That's how they are able to escape most detection. They also utilize hit and run tactics which is ideal against larger forces. These are the same tactics that enabled the Picts of southern Germany to thwart and defeat the Roman Empire.

I thought I would immediately bug-out when danger would happen, but where you going to go? I have been transitioning to a bug-in scenario, because the likely of a nuke attack is slim, but a major earthquake is very likely in Portland. Another likely scenario would be a loss of a job. Bug-in readiness will still help in a loss of job situation. 1 year of food and supplies mean you don’t have to go shopping for a year.

Originally Posted by coctailer

If a Nuke hits California............You are bugging-in.............with a nice glass of Merlot.:thumbup

And a rifle pointed south with a clear field of fire.

Originally Posted by Cougfan2

And a rifle pointed south with a clear field of fire.

Thanks guys. Way to make me feel better about the impending move to Northern California.

Originally Posted by SargentMac

Thanks guys. Way to make me feel better about the impending move to Northern California.

We'll give you a border pass if you want to come back, but we will have to quarintine you for six months to make sure you weren't infected with SanFranciscoitis.

Originally Posted by tonyspdx

I thought I would immediately bug-out when danger would happen, but where you going to go? I have been transitioning to a bug-in scenario, because the likely of a nuke attack is slim, but a major earthquake is very likely in Portland. Another likely scenario would be a loss of a job. Bug-in readiness will still help in a loss of job situation. 1 year of food and supplies mean you don’t have to go shopping for a year.

I agree that natural disasters are always an option. Portland is at risk for an earthquake and there's always the chance of one our awesome windstorms knocking some things out for awhile. I disagree, however, at the possibility of a nuclear attack. I think it's very likely that Portland would get hit if the nations decided to start lobbing nukes around. Portland is a major West coast port and a high value target. Also, the normal plots are usually NY or DC. Nothing major has happened out here yet. (That's a good thing). I could see them plotting something out here to make up for that difference. Spread the terror around. Especially if it were staged by our government. Now, more than likely they'd hit LA or San Fran possibly even Seattle before us but I still count it as a likely possibility. Even more so if you consider how porous our borders are and how eager our government is to protect them. Any jackwagon with a little support from our durka durka buddies overseas could walk across the border with a "suitcase" nuke and set it off wherever was easiest.

Anyway,
Bug out or bug in? I agree with others in that it depends on the scenario. In a natural disaster or something like that where we're pretty much assured a return to normalcy in the not too distant future...then I'd be buggin' in. Foreign invasion, Gov is rounding up people and putting them in camps, zombies are pissed, etc....I'd be getting the heck out of town.
Fortunately for me I live in a small town where I could at least see something evil coming and have an amount of response time to get the heck out. Unfortunately for me, I live in a small town where I don't have room to farm much. So for a long-term situation I'd have to find somewhere else to go. At least my folks have 10 acres just over an hour from where I live. I'd want to meet up with them and figure it out from there. The bad side to that is, they live in a rural area but on a well used highway. You could only hideout there so long before they got out to those areas and find you. But it probably would buy alot of time to get to the next step.

95 scenarios out of 100 I bug in. Even following a devastating earthquake, I'd stay on my property. I'd pitch a tent in the backyard before I'd vacate, even if my house was pancaked.

I've thought a bunch on this, and the worst scenario is that of "the golden horde". The specific disaster matters little, because thousands of fliptards could be limping towards your location, looking for food and supplies following SHTF.

If things are so bad that I must bug out or die, chances are a few other folks are doing the same. That means hundreds of idiots competing for the same resources.

For me it really depends on the situation. Sense i live in an apartment it depends on the SHTF situation. I'm on the road most weekends or else i am at my shop. Too many situations that can happen to plan for but i am working on plans and gear whether i am out of town, at my apartment or at the shop for if i head back to my apartment or out of town to my parents location where they are more rural.

gonna DRH when I run out of things to fight with.

jj

Bugging out is the last possible option unless you have a prepped location you are going to. Otherwise it makes no sense. Really, I mean how much stuff are you going to be able to take with you. I just look at what it takes for our family to go camping and I just laugh at the people that think that they will just run to the woods, shoot up the deer and live indefinitely. I would say that 1/10 of 1% of the population have the skills and mindset needed to accomplish that with out a major supply chain involved.

For example, we went camping last week. We took all the necessary stuff to go camping for a week, except food (it was a family campout and the wife's folks do all the cooking). We had our 4runner stuffed to the gills and it still wasn't enough. I can't imagine trying to bug out unless every other option had been exhausted.

If we aren't bugging in at our place we will be bugging in at someone else in the family's place. I am not too keen on camping out indefinitely. A week was more than enough for me.

Originally Posted by smurf hunter

95 scenarios out of 100 I bug in. Even following a devastating earthquake, I'd stay on my property. I'd pitch a tent in the backyard before I'd vacate, even if my house was pancaked.

I've thought a bunch on this, and the worst scenario is that of "the golden horde". The specific disaster matters little, because thousands of fliptards could be limping towards your location, looking for food and supplies following SHTF.

If things are so bad that I must bug out or die, chances are a few other folks are doing the same. That means hundreds of idiots competing for the same resources.

Originally Posted by The Cheese

Bugging out is the last possible option unless you have a prepped location you are going to. Otherwise it makes no sense. Really, I mean how much stuff are you going to be able to take with you. I just look at what it takes for our family to go camping and I just laugh at the people that think that they will just run to the woods, shoot up the deer and live indefinitely. I would say that 1/10 of 1% of the population have the skills and mindset needed to accomplish that with out a major supply chain involved.

For example, we went camping last week. We took all the necessary stuff to go camping for a week, except food (it was a family campout and the wife's folks do all the cooking). We had our 4runner stuffed to the gills and it still wasn't enough. I can't imagine trying to bug out unless every other option had been exhausted.

If we aren't bugging in at our place we will be bugging in at someone else in the family's place. I am not too keen on camping out indefinitely. A week was more than enough for me.

What they said. "Fliptards"??

The problem that I see with Buggin out is that you will never know what is just around every corner in your journey. One senero is that there are 5 guys that are all armed with assult rifles waiting to snag the next poor sap driving/walking down the road. P.S. they want everything that you have and are gonna take it wheather you like it or not.

Bugging in. In the event of a full blown SHTF Mad Max scenario I would rather be shot at home by looters (comfortable bed to bleed out on) than be shot by wannabe Rambo's running around the woods shooting at everything that moves.

Hopefully if I saw Mad Max developing we would see it in time to move north of the border (or overseas).

btw... Folks who bugged out during the Dust Bowl were prevented from entering California (and neighboring states). They were turned back at the borders.

Originally Posted by EZLivin

Hopefully if I saw Mad Max developing we would see it in time to move north of the border (or overseas).

Don't forget to bring your feral boy! They can be useful in a Mad Max bug out scenario.

Originally Posted by Cougfan2

Don't forget to bring your feral boy! They can be useful in a Mad Max bug out scenario.

Feral boy will be left home, on a long chain hitched to a tree. He will have to guard the property because the dogs will come with us. (Where do you get those feral boys, anyway? None on EBay, none on Craigslist.)

Originally Posted by EZLivin

(Where do you get those feral boys, anyway? None on EBay, none on Craigslist.)

Neverland.