Are you a fan of the popular TV show, ‘Doomsday Preppers”? Do you have a ‘bug-out’ bag ready to toss into your car or put on your bag when you decide to run like hell from the zombies? Well, you need to give this business a whole lot of thought. While preparedness is a virtue, poor planning is not. Preparing for a pandemic from Ebola is a different proposition from preparing for displaced mobs hungry for your goodies. Many ‘Preppers’ spend thousands for bomb shelters and stock them with everything imaginable, not realizing that if their shelter is discovered, it WILL be penetrated; especially if the invaders have RPG rocket launchers, poisonous gas cartridges to discharge into exposed air vents or earth-moving equipment running on the last of the available fossil fuels.
So, bomb shelters are only a temporary and problematic solution. And, living in fear in the meantime may trigger long-term mental illness. I read an article this morning that touched on this subject, and revealed that some extremists actually spend all of their savings on prepping instead of saving for retirement. This is a very bad choice and actually diminishes their prospects for long term survival. Here is on company’s idea of a bug-out bag contents:
While many of these items are dandy to have, some become dead weight such as guns without ammo. I would call this a ‘Feel Good’ kit good for the first few miles.
So what should you do to protect you and your family for many hard years ahead?
Let’s consider self-sufficient living on a farm for a moment. You may have all the seeds you need to get you going. But agriculture is a group enterprise. Someone needs to guard the crops against all comers— a village of like minded souls that you can trust, and it also requires that you remain stationary throughout the year. So, this option will follow the same path as human took when they first evolved a culture to support villages and agriculture in the Levant. This could take centuries to come back after a collapse of civilization. You need to focus on the here and now. This means living in absolute secrecy in a hand-to-mouth existence. You must become a hunter/gatherer, moving around to places that are seasonally rich in the plants you want for food. You don’t have the luxury of attending the US Air Force Survival School at Fairchild AFB, Washington. The next best thing is to purchase the Air Force Survival Training Manual reprint available on Amazon.com and other websites.
Then you need four additional books.
The first is a Pocket Field Guide to edible plants in your region. Illustrations and photos, please. The one I have is ‘Nature Bound’ ISBN: 0-9609776-7-8. It also includes info on general survival and poisonous plant identification. The second book would be on Emergency War Surgery. A free PDF version is available at: http://www.pdfebooks.mobi/emergency-war-surgery-PDF–1941039/
Shop around for a compact version you can put in your bug-out bag.
The third is a guide to tracking animals. This is extremely important for hunting, avoiding predators, and identifying those you can kill and eat. The one I have is A Field Guide to Animal Tracks by Olas J. Murie. ISBN 0-395-18323; It is compact, lightweight, and comprehensive in content. I also recommend a pocketbook titled, ‘The Tracker-a true story of Tom Brown Jr. as told to Jon Watkins. ISBN: 0-42504222-7 If you get good at this you can identify the animal, know what it was doing at the time, and how old the tracks are.
The last is a book on the primitive inhabitants and their lifestyle for the region you live in or are going to. Nothing beats the knowledge obtain by people of the distant past through bitter experience. The one I have is ‘Survival Arts of the Primitive Paiutes’ by Margret M. Wheat’ ISBN: 0-87417-048-6. If you live in the American Southwest (particularly Utah & Nevada’s ‘Great Basin’ region) this book is worth its weight in gold. These books in the aggregate weight very little and are easy to justify for use in your bug-out bag.
Finally, practice doing the things you need to learn with your family. Do it on vacations, weekends, and any free time you can spare. Your lives may depend on it. The goal is to become invisible to all of the Rambos and nutcases roaming the forest, mountains, or desert. Learn how to set traps and kill silently. Learn how to hideout and hide your tracks. And bide your time. Stay out of cities, travel at night if possible and don’t join groups unless you absolutely have to. And, if you do, you will be bringing needed skills to the group so that they don’t enslave or eat you anytime soon.
Hunter Gatherer shelter and dugout canoe
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
