Where Do You Bug Out To?

Dear Fellow Survivalist;

I’m a firm believer that unless you have the proverbial cabin in the woods, all stocked and prepared as a survival retreat, you’re better off bugging in, rather than bugging out. Of course, if you have that cabin in the woods, I’d much rather bug out. Getting away from people and the danger of two-legged predators is well worth doing, especially in the aftermath of a disaster, when they’ll be on the prowl.

But most of us don’t have that cabin, even though we’d like to. So where does that leave us? Well, it doesn’t leave us with a lot of good options, that’s for sure. Hence, my earlier declaration that it’s better to bug in. But what if you can’t? What if it has become dangerous to stay in your home; then what do you do?

The government would like you to go to a FEMA shelter and allow them to take care of you. I don’t know about you, but I’d have to be pretty desperate before I was willing to take up the government’s hospitality. To start with, you’d have to give up your guns and who knows what else after that.

Most preppers think of just heading off into the woods. But unless you’re really good at living off the land, that’s probably not all that great an idea. Chances are you won’t make it out there on your own, especially on what you can carry in a bug out bag.

However, there are other options, I’ve found two really good ones, either of which I think would be a good option in the case of being forced to bug out.

The first of these is to go to a small, rural town somewhere. I’m not talking about that from the viewpoint that they will have an abundance of resources, that’s a false idea. They’re probably going to be just as bad off as anyone else in that regard. But one thing they will have is a sense of community. That will make it much more likely that they will help each other out, rather than turning against one another, like in the cities.

If you can make some sort of connection with that town beforehand, you will be much more likely to be accepted. Take some time to visit the town; get to know people; even more importantly, let them get to know you, so that you’re not just another strange face. Try to make some friends there. If you can, invest in something, even if it’s just an empty lot on the edge of town. That, more than anything, will give you legitimacy there when the time comes.

Of course, if you have some property there, you could always store some supplies, even if you don’t have anything more than a small shed to store them in. When the time comes, those supplies would be priceless.

The other option I like is heading for a campground somewhere. I’m not talking about a KOA or other commercial campground, but rather a state or federal park campground. Of the two, state park campgrounds might be easier to get into. The feds may shut down the national parks.

I suspect those campgrounds will fill up with people who have bugged out, and very few of them will be preppers or survivalists. But they will have one huge advantage over the rest of the people out there; they will be people who had enough backwoods knowledge and experience to have camping gear and use it in a time of emergency. That alone puts them heads and shoulders above the rest of the people in a survival situation.

While this wouldn’t be an ideal situation and there would always be a chance that there would be some two-legged predators around, it has its advantages too. First of all, there will probably be water and bathrooms available, even if there isn’t any electricity. Many of these are built beside natural sources of water, so if the piped in water quits, you’ll still have water. They are also in areas that should be ripe with game. While they probably won’t be right there in the campground, they should be close enough to hunt.

But there’s something more important you’re going to find in that campground, that’s the people. Oh, I realize that the likelihood of finding other preppers there is minimal, but you’re going to find the next best thing; you’re going to find people who are convinced that they need to do something, even if it is a bit late. Not only will they be convinced, but they will probably have some useful skills.

The thing to do is organize those people or at least some of those people, turning them into a survival team. That’s going to be your big task. Starting with those who are willing to join you, put people to work for the common good, splitting up survival tasks based on their ability. Train them in the skills they are missing, turning them into true survivalists who can work together to live off the land.

There will be others who will challenge your authority, ignore them. If they don’t want to join you, they don’t have to. But they won’t get any of the benefit of the group’s efforts either. Your group may end up looking like it’s socialistic, but it won’t be. There won’t be any government there taking from the working and giving to the lazy; that is, unless you let it.

Remember, you always have the option of leaving if they won’t work with you. But I’d be willing to bet that you could find enough people in any campground who would be willing to be trained and willing to work together for mutual survival. Those are the ones you want.

So, scout out the campgrounds that are within driving distance and see where you should go. That way, when the time comes, you’ll have an option you can use. Until then, keep your powder dry and your survival gear close at hand.

Dr. Rich

p.s. I wrote to you a couple of weeks ago about drones, mentioning a man who got arrested for shooting down a drone that was spying on his sun-bathing daughter. Just thought you’d like to know that he’s been vindicated. The judge threw out the case, saying that his privacy had clearly been violated.