Aug252010
Bugging out to the wilderness: Is it a smart option?
By now you have probably guessed that I’m a huge sucker for survival related TV shows, movies, and books. “Survival porn”, I call it. Well, I spotted a TV series on Netflix that had somehow escaped me and spent the better part of my weekend watching all eight episodes. “Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment” details the experiences of nine ordinary people as they try to live off the land in Alaska. Their experiences caused me to wonder if bugging out to the wilderness is a good survival option.
bugging out, image by Jagger
A common perception of Alaska is that it’s teeming with wildlife. It is, but this group of people nearly starved to death over the course of 30 days or so because hunting down much more than a ground squirrel or a mouse was far more difficult than they ever anticipated. In fact, a professional bear hunter was brought in, and in spite of three separate outings, even he could not help them bag a bear! Incredibly, even basic fishing resulted in empty hooks week after week! One character, a police officer, lost more than 20 pounds in less than three weeks.
Many preppers have the idea that they will just head to the hills and camp out in a National Park or National Forest and live off the land. After all, the cities are going to be hell holes. Right? Well, if reality is anything like the experiences faced in “Out of the Wild”, maybe I’m better off taking my chances in the suburbs. Very, very few of us have even the most basic survival skills, and as this TV series makes evident, daily survival becomes a 24-hour job. All too often, hunters and fishermen come home empty handed. If the larder is empty, starvation becomes more and more likely.
image by Sugar Pond
One book, Bug Out: The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastrophic Disaster Before it’s Too Late was reviewed by Leon Pantenburg, and although Leon thinks the book is a good resource, he points out some advice given by the author, Scott B. Williams, that might not be the wisest course to take.
A great portion of the book lists public wilderness areas, and suggests parks, national forests and natural areas where you might get away from the crowds and off the beaten path. While applauding all attempts to be prepared for potential disasters, I am lukewarm, at best, about the concept of heading out into the wilderness to survive a catastrophe.
I’ve hunted, fished, backpacked and canoed in many of the areas Williams mentions, and I would caution: Beware. Just because you go to an isolated area with abundant fish and wildlife, that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to live off the land. Just because there is the potential for foraging, doesn’t mean you’ll be able to survive doing it.
I have hunted weeks in some of these recommended areas without getting a shot at a big game animal. And if you’ve never been skunked fishing, then you don’t get out on the water much.
Another caution about these suggested locations: If you read this book and decided to head for a published wilderness area, probably a lot of other people will, too. The traffic jams around some of these areas may be incredible!
Scott has an outstanding blog, Bug-Out Survival, so perhaps he elaborates a bit on when bugging out to the wilderness is the best course of action and when it isn’t. I’ve learned a lot from his experiences.
Have you considered bugging out to the wilderness in a SHTF scenario? I admit, the idea is tempting, but I fear the reality would be deadly. What are your thoughts on this?
© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.
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Kristina
I think that survival means being able to adapt. You must have food storage, which will make the difference when you're hunting/fishing and coming up with nothing. I'm not saying that the wilderness is the best option. I think the outskirts would probably be better. I think that people would be dying pretty quickly, and what was once the suburbs will quickly become ghost towns, with only a few prepared/skilled people left. Personally, my ideal place would be an area of a couple hundred acres, co-owned by prepared friends, with several families living on it. It would provide hunting, tilling, and fishing, as well as camaraderie and shared defense. But, I would also like that now.
The wilderness is attractive, and my family has been trained to live off of it, thanks to my husband's job, but no matter where you are living in the event of a bug out situation, living will be hard, especially if you don't have food storage to hold you over. Oh, and that food storage must be such that it can continue. We must be able to store food after a disaster. You need to have access to food even on bad days/years.
TheSurvivalMom
Kristina, something that was mentioned every so often in the videos was how many calories they needed per day. With all their hiking through rugged country, they needed between 3,000 and 4,000 calories every day! Their daily requirements fell short every single day. One gal, who was a hunting expert, quit within the first couple of days, and just two days later, a fishing guide made the choice to go home. That amazed me.
You make a good point about having sustainable food sources that will produce season after season. Eventually, all those buckets of rice and wheat will run dry, and then what? I love your idea of having a large amount of land suitable for hunting and farming and with a good supply of water. Like you, I would love to be living somewhere like that right now!
LizLong
We live in the exurbs (exurbs are to suburbs what suburbs are to cities) and we will try to avoid bugging out if humanly possible. There is no realistic way to carry large enough amounts of stuff with you if you run into the wilderness. Can you imagine carrying the Stovetec Rocket Stove long periods? Maybe it's just the model I have, but there is NO WAY I would be carrying that a truly long distance.
One thing I have concentrated on in my food storage is sauces and spices. They are cheap and plentiful now. If we're in a situation where we have food but it isn't very GOOD food (taste or quality), then good sauce can make it much more palatable. No one in my home knows how to hunt, but we know people who do and should be able to trade for their help learning. (It's a pretty common skill in this area.) The chocolate and strawberry syrup for milk will also help make the dry milk taste better if the kids need to drink that.
My feeling, in short, is becoming a refugee (and if you aren't in your own home, that's pretty much what you've become) is to be avoided if humanly possible. While learning the SKILLS to live off the land is great, actually PLANNING to live off the land as your go-to strategy does not strike me as the best choice anymore than stocking up on guns and ammo and nothing else does.
Personally, I would like to get our house to the point that we could hide in the basement to avoid detection if at all possible. We need to get a woodstove, among other things, but that would make me feel better.
rightwingmom
The idea of thousands of desperate people flooding a state park, national park, or national forest is really quite terrifying! The scene described in the article, coupled w/ large numbers of ill-prepared refugees, makes this one of the last places I'd want to find myself. Just b/c you can camp for 1 – 2 weeks doesn't mean that same campsite will provide you with the same comfortable accommodations in a SHTF scenario. The few people equipped for wilderness survival would be overwhelmed by the clueless fools and novice outdoors men who have NO business being there!
I count myself as a novice outdoors men!!!
Leon Pantenburg
Leon here – I've seen all sorts of road traffic, hunting in remote areas on opening day of deer season! And these were people who had drawn a tag that year. I can't imagine how crowded the roads will be with panicked, ill-prepared people. As Williams mentions in his excellent book, the best idea If you're going to "Bug-Out' is leave early.
Emily
I loved "The Alaska Experiment". Bugging out in the wilderness would be our last resort. I have zero camping, hunting or fishing skills. Neither does my husband. We will probably work on improving that over time, but hopefully we will not have to bug out at all. Thankfully we live in a rural area, off the beaten track, and on 5 acres. We're working now to learn the skills that would enable us to live off our land. I'd rather camp out in my own home!
Harold
This one really makes me smile. I found my self nodding my head as I read the post and the subsequent comments. Lots of ill prepared folk running about in the woods is a recipe for disaster. Fortunately our neighbors are the cows but even the thought of walking to the back of our property and spending the night is met with zero enthusiasm. We lived off the grid when I was child, [ actually I don't think there was a grid back then ] I can tell you I have no desire to go back to that anytime soon. I doubt very many people are mentally prepared to live that way.
Of course my parents had all those pioneer skills, I'm brushing up on those but hope I don't have to use them. Also something I've not heard mentioned is if you're bugging out over hill and dale, you might be going through someone else's property. That could prove dangerous in some cases. If you stick to the roads you might be stopped or worse… Surviving during a meltdown situation will be a lot more complicated than having a well stocked backpack and some MREs.
TheSurvivalMom
Harold, when you think about human history, we have made our biggest strides in technology in all areas during the past 60 years or so. Why? Because in the Western world, we don't have to give survival a second thought. That frees us up to create, invent, tinker and come up with amazing inventions, medical breakthroughs, and advancements in every other area. It would be interesting to see where Argentina now ranks in terms of technology, patents, and the like.
Harold
Very true, It's a delicate balance and requires a lot of cooperation to make it work. Something we all have taken for granted but is being brought back into view as we eye the current world situation. What concerns me is that many are not waking up to the task at hand. We have learned to not be diligent because we didn't HAVE TO. Someone always there to take up the slack but it a real dire situation these people will suffer for lack of any kind of preparation. Even if you have to money to stock up on food, you can at least go to the library and educate yourself and that would/could save your life.
Barbara
If a starvation level disaster hits, every 12 yr old with a stick will be out after anything that moves. 400 million people will have the idea that the city is becoming toxic and over run with gangs, and there is food in the woods.
A foraging life takes every moment of your time hunting and gathering food. That's why most human civilizations decided to sit down in one place and invent agriculture. The woods are dangerous now for the city slickers, just imagine when lots of frustrated, starving and angry city slickers are all out after the dwindling wildlife.
TheSurvivalMom
One thing I remember from that History channel movie about a pandemic wiping out the population is that, when hungry, kids will become the most ruthless of all. Not a happy thought.
Bryan
National parks are probably the LAST place I'd want to be. There will be all those clueless people running around trying to steal each other's fish and deer. Eventually, they'd simply eat each other. It's best to own some rural land that you can bug out to and raise chickens and plant a garden, and since you own the land, you don't have to worry about anybody else trying to set up shop-if they do, shoot them.
Can you imagine the traffic jams after an economic collapse as people all try to head to the same few locations at once, all because of these so-called survival writers? Look at the 100 mile traffic jam that occurred before Hurricane Rita in 2005. The entire city of Houston was told to save itself, so everybody went to the same interstate and traffic just stopped. Now imagine all of California trying to pile into the mountains after SHTF.
TheSurvivalMom
You paint quite an ugly picture there, Bryan, and I'm sure it would prove to be pretty darn accurate. I'm glad you're the typical observant prepper/survivalist who remembers events like Katrina, Ike, and Rita. Every once in a while I post photos from those disasters, among others, just to keep our memories fresh of what can be expected in the event of the mother of all disasters.
Barbara
Even on your own land I'm afraid you'll end up chasing off poachers and squatters. In other countries that recently had war and economic melt-down land owners have told tales of waking up to find someone had killed and taken a single haunch off their milk cow, etc.
Even now, in this country, small scale rustling is in a big swing. My uncle in Missouri had to put spike strips anywhere you could reach the fence of his pasture from the road. Fortunately, most of it was already bounded by a deep drainage ditch. As many as several hundred cows a month are stolen in county alone.
Lace
One Second After, while fictional, gave me a lot of food for thought in terms of "survival". In the book (and I'm not trying to ruin it for anyone who hasnt read it yet but plans to) the town quickly hunts out all of the game at one point and there is nothing left to be found in terms of game. Even if you had the skills, that many people out there searching for the same thing will quickly decimate any animal populations available.
LizLong
In many survival-scenario books, including One Second After (again, not giving away plot points) and the tv show Jericho, within a day of losing electricity, they have a big bbq to eat up all the meat that will go bad. I'm all for not wasting it, but they *never* seem to smoke or salt it for long-term storage – and Jericho has a salt mine. Just one of those small things that bugs the bajeezus out of me.
Midge
A lot of things not up to our knowledge point with that show. These are farmers, and none of those wives know how to can all that freezer food? Ha! The incident happened just before time to harvest the corn. Small rural farming towns would have been so busy setting in for the winter, the streets would have been deserted.
rightwingmom
Jericho is one of my favs, but I never thought about the massive cookout vs. the salt mine.
Well, that's Hollyweird for you!
Le Loup
Bugging out as it is termed in the US is fine, so long as you are familier with the environment you are escaping to. I live in this environment, and so am aware of what is available and what is not. I am also aware of my short falls and my strengths and capabilities and use that to my advantage.
Dustin
Williams' book, "Bug Out" does a GREAT job immediately dispelling the fantasy of "heading for the hills and living off the land" up-front and early.
In the sacred order:
Shelter
Water
Fire
Food
(understanding that sometimes fire adjusts to prepare/provide shelter or water)
Food is last because it's the hardest to procure – 80% of your waking time will be spent foraging and processing food in a survival situation. It's a calorie game.
Bryan
http://www.terraincognitafilms.com/wild/call_debu…
This page describes how Christopher McCandless of "Into the Wild" fame starved to death in the Alaskan wilds. If you're not familiar with the entire story, just read point 2. McCandless was eager to "live off the land", yet his BMI went steadily downward once he entered "the wilds", and it eventually reached a point where he could no longer live. He weighed 67 lbs when found. I have every reason to believe that a person of similar preparation to his (meaning virtually none) who tried to live off the land would face the same fate. And then, after SHTF, there would be the problem of all those people doing the same thing, so the "wilds" would be pretty crowded.
Jack Brandt
Personally, I think bugging out to the wild, as a destination is a dangerous thing to do for those without the proper preps, skills, and semi permanent shelter to utilize. There is a real difference, to me if bugging out and having a cabin destination versus having a wilderness destination. Unless you know exactly where you are going and have cached supplies, and know how to use a personal GPS to get you back to your cache and semi permanent BOL, it is tough. I posted on my blog a couple weeks ago about a BOL, having preps, and how much stuff should you have there. Weather is a real consideration in this. If you bug out in the fall and live in the northeast US, a garden is not a consideration until late summer the next year. You are stuck hunting and storing with what tools you have today… I only know a few people that can do this, and hunting in the winter is tough as well.
My advise, always have a destination. Even if it is a hotel 200 miles away. At least you know you might get one warn night in a bed.
hth
I reccomend everyone take a field test of their BOB if they can.
About six months ago I left everything but my gun, twelve, a hundred feet of paracord, my knife, a case of matches, and a katadyn water filter.
This was to simulate having as little as possible and making due. Could I have lived without the water filter? Yeah, probably. But dieing of dirty water while testing your survival skills would be lulzy.
I came back home two weeks later, no worse for wear. But tired as heck, gathering roots and setting snares takes a bit, reason I didnt shoot a deer? I saw enough of them, heck, even saw a Moose. Poaching, post SHTF I will poach some domestic cattle or native deer but pre-shtf, that woulda been a BAAAAD charge.
Without practicing your skills, they are useless, and will be even more so post SHTF
L P
I want nothing to do with bugging out into the wilderness. I've not acquired the skills required to survive out there, though I've done quite a bit of reading, and interviewing those who have. It is HARD. It is somewhat easier if you have the skills.
Read this: You do NOT HAVE THE SKILLS if you've never done it. And by doing it, I would have to say that, unless you have done it for more than a month, you haven't done it.
People that can, just might. With a couple pre-positioned stashes of food and supplies, they can wait out a die-off, or a return to the cities, and get on with what they know how to do when the city dwellers disappear. Practiced wilderness survivors have the advantage of:
skills
planning
patience
supplies
The city boy has not much more than his gun, backpack of food and bravado.
No, bugging out to the boonies is a dangerous proposition for most. The best bug out plan for most is that which includes a stocked location, with reliable friends in tow, and the skills needed to run a homestead and farm. (The usual security and secret handshakes and blah blah blah included…..)
Go into the woods for 4 days, with no tools other than a knife and a firearm, and see if you can stand it. Most of you are already thinking about how you could eat enough before trying it, or about getting better gear to survive it…. 4 days. It's all I challenge you to. Try it and get back to us….
Nick
My wife is disabled, so bugging-out is not an option for us. We're doing everything possible to become as self-sufficient as possible where we're at. We just bought our homestead a few months ago and we're planning to plant a fruit tree or two in the spring and start our attempts at gardening with planting root vegetables–carrots, parsnips and possibly sweet potatoes. Bugging-out for us would make us refugees, and we don't plan to let that happen.
Holly
Our family just watched a movie called "Defiance"…based on a true story of the Bielski brothers, simple jewish farmers who turned an ever growing group of war refugees into freedom fighters against the Nazi regime. Most of the movie takes place in the deep forest and you see first hand the struggles they have for food and shelter and community. Heads up on the R rating for language and violence, but it was a great movie to make you ponder many of the points above and see how they dealt with living in the elements. Very inspiring. Definitely a heads up to get out there and learn how to survive, if that's your plan… then test your knowledge and equipment in the wild before you're forced to hang your life on your learning curve.
Alaska watchmen
Alaska Survival:
The problem with the television show that you are reffering to "The Alaska Experiment", is that the producers refused to allow anyone from Alaska to participate in this show. Nearly everyone that I know in Alaska is highly-pissed because of that.
Alaska is a very tough place to survive, but the native tribes have been doing this for 25,000 years–so it can be done.
I operate a smlall 20 man survival group here in Alaska. It's all about prepping, training, and getting into the right mindset. Going out into the bush with little or no gear–will get you dead real quick.
http://www.alaskawatchmen.com