Bugging-out or Bugging-in, Which is Best?

Dear Fellow Survivalist;

Bug-out-bag-ultimate-810x566Greetings. One of the most basic parts of anyone’s survival planning has to be where one is going to go, when it’s time to change from normal life mode to survival mode. While there are times when we are forced into survival mode instantly and have to make due where we are, those aren’t the times I’m talking about. I’m talking about the times when we know a disaster is coming (such as a hurricane or being snowed-in), rather than the sudden events which leave us stranded (like breaking a leg while hunting solo in the mountains).

While we are by no means guaranteed advance notice of any pending disaster, many will actually give us at least some notice. That allows us the luxury of putting our survival plan into action and getting ourselves to a safe place where we can survive. Hopefully, one which we’ve prepared to use as a survival shelter.

The question is, where is that location? Should it be our home, a cabin in the woods, or should be plan on bugging out to a secluded location and build a shelter once we get there. The answer depends a lot on what we have available.

If you happen to be fortunate enough that you can afford to own a cabin in the woods somewhere, then by all means, turn it into your survival shelter. Put in a good stock of supplies, set things up so that you have long-term access to needs such as water and electricity and even fortify it somewhat, if you can. Your chances of survival away from two-legged predators is better than it would be in the concrete jungle.

But sadly, few of us can afford that cabin in the woods. So, we’re left with the option of bugging out, possibly to an unknown location or bugging in at home. But even then, there’s no clear-cut answer.

Ultimately, you have to determine where your chances of survival are the best. If you live in the center of a city, life could become very dangerous, very quickly. Available resources will dwindle quickly and few people will have any idea how to survive. Locking yourself in an apartment may not be all that safe, especially if neighbors figure out that you have the supplies that they so desperately need.

People in the suburbs will have it easier than people in the center city. While resources will still run out, the population density is lower. There’s also a much better chance that some resources, such as water, will be readily available in the open, where they are easy for everyone to access. If that’s the case, people may still be fighting over food, but at least they won’t be fighting over water.

There are numerous other advantages for those living in the suburbs, starting with a greater amount of space. The average stand-alone house is much larger than an apartment, often with basements, garages and attics, which can be used as storage space. So, it’s much easier for those who live in the suburbs to stockpile supplies, than it is for apartment dwellers. That both increases their chances of survival and makes it easier to lock themselves in and wait out the disaster.

If the recovery period from the disaster ends up being too long, people in the suburbs also have the capability to plant gardens, raise chickens and do other food-generating activities. While it’s not impossible to do that in an apartment, it is much more difficult. Few people have enough room in their apartment to turn it into an indoor garden, especially an indoor vegetable garden.

On the flip side of this coin, living in the wild is not easy. In fact, few of us have the necessary skills and physical strength, that it would take to carve a home out of the wilderness. We would most likely perish, surrounded by nature’s bounty.

So bugging out isn’t the romantic adventure we’d all like to think it is. It’s extremely difficult and fraught with dangers. Hunting for enough food to survive may have been possible in the early days of our country, but as time has worn on, game populations have diminished. While still healthy, they aren’t healthy enough to support 300-plus million people.

Ultimately, the advantages of bugging in outweigh the advantages of bugging out, unless you own that cabin in the woods we’d all like to have. While the city has dangers, they are known dangers; ones we are familiar with. Properly prepared, your chances of living through a disaster in an apartment is greater than taking your chances out in the wild.

Does this mean we should abandon the idea of bugging-out altogether? By no means. Regardless of what your ultimate survival plan is, you must maintain a bug-out plan. There is always the possibility that staying in your home, whether in an inner-city apartment or a house in suburbia, will become too dangerous.

More than anything, that danger will come from other people, although a lack of water is a grave danger as well. In either case, or even in the case of a general evacuation due to a pending natural disaster, you must remain ready to bug out at all times. That not only means having a bug-out bag, but a complete plan, with a destination where you have a good chance of surviving.

Personally, I like rural America for that. If I were forced to bug-out from my home, that would be my first choice. But like any other survival plan, bugging-out to rural America requires making the right preparations. Small towns may seem like a great place to survive, but the residents will not be happy to see people arriving to draw down on their limited resources. You can eliminate that problem, simply enough, by establishing a supply cache in that town, with everything you’ll need to survive.

So, put your plan together; be ready to bug-out when the time comes. But stay in place as long as it is safe. That way, you have the benefit of your home, and everything in it, to help you survive. Until then, keep your powder dry and your survival gear close at hand.

Dr. Rich

PS:  Use this to get prepped in one trip...

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