Keep going or hunker down?
If it became necessary to head out to the wilderness.... would you keep moving around in it, hunker down once you found a good location? Would this choice be affected by if your solo or not? And would what you take with you be packed according to what your intentions were?
WW.
Depends on the scenario. For the things that I plan for, leaving the homestead is a temporary consideration. I'm sure there are situations where that may not be the case. What sort of situation did you have in mind?
This check list might help. http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...rio-Check-List
Why did it become necessary for me to head out to the wilderness? If you found a good place to hunker down, then, I would assume it is a good place to hunker down in the particular situation you are in. So, I would hunker down.Originally Posted by WoodsWoman
My gear is going to be dictated by the ecosystem. But, the basics are going to be observed. Shelter, water, fire...
I hunker.....just too old and tried for much moving around.
Not only that....If I have to be out there "because of something I didn't plan".....I'm not gonna be in a good mood.
Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
Evoking the 50 year old rule...
First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27
If I ever get the opportunity, I'll keep moving until I find solstice where I am at. I Love it here, but it doesn't mean my journey is over!
Keep in mind the problem may be extremely complicated, though the "Fix" is often simple...
"Teaching a child to fish is the "original" introduction to all that is wild." CS
"How can you tell a story that has no end?" Doc Carlson
I really don't plan on leaving, but there are a few things that would make me HAVE to head out. And with those in mind I wonder how I would pack. Light to grab and go ? And to where? Heavy and all bases covered to go to a particular spot to wait it out? I don't think I'd do well in a tent city...but would probably do well meeting like minded folks as a small group to work together to get through the crisis.
WW.
I have no intention to head to the woods. There are too many other alternatives.
Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.
Is that not a nudist camping colony?
Rick, Hunter and me are old. We don't do the 'bug out to the woods" thing!
We've been through fire, flood, hurricane, blizzard, long term power outages and long term marriages.
Nothing has run us out of the house as of yet and TEOTWAWKI doesn't have much of a chance of doing it either!
If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?
Bugging out to the woods is a young man's game. There's not many older people that can handle it, and there aren't a lot of younger people that can handle it either.
Actually bugging out to the woods in an EXPERIENCED mans game.. and with age comes experience!
I Wonder Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink what ever comes out?"
I too am of "bug in" mentality. There are a few scenarios that will cause me to "bug out" such as being in the path a cat 4 or 5 hurricane, but the woods wouldn't be my first choice. For those that live in remote locations I can see having plans in place for some woods living for something like a wild fire. Depending on the damage caused by an event like that, the stay in the woods could definitely be an extended one. In that sort of scenario I would still be in the hunker down category once I reached my safe location.
If you look at the major calamities that have happened in the last 25 years or so not many folks bugged out to the woods and if they did it was probably for a very short time. Things are generally of a small geographic nature. Even Katrina was a small area when you look at the continental U.S. I have family, friends and commercial lodging available that I would take advantage of well before I'd stay in the woods. Ask yourself this...how much food are you bugging out with? So how long do you really expect to live in the woods? A week's worth of food for a family is a lot of food to be humping on your back.
Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.
The only way I am bugging out is if hoards of mass murderin looters are headed my way and I am running low on ammo! Then I will attempt to find a place that gives a good defensive position, and as many resources as possible.
If you know of a place like that now, bury a cache there and make it a plan, it will cut down on the packing!
Or put up a kool-aid stand out front. Either way.
Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.
Hmm. Well, for me I think I would find a good area with lush vegetation, plenty of wildlife like rabbits and deer, a fresh water source that flows down from a mountain, and more than likely I would also try my best to locate an area that has good cover for winter type weather (mountain regions are good for cover, bad for temperature).
Really, there are alot of variables I would need to factor into where I stay. More than likely I would travel around a bit until I found the "right" spot, and I would also have to make sure it was an area that grows crops pretty well during the crop seasons. While I know how to hunt/gather and have some tribal knowledge of my national park areas thanks to working closely with native americans as part of my job, I dont really want to rely on just that type of lifestyle. Farming would be important in my decision of where I would settle down. I guess I kind of answered this question in reverse, but yeah after I have moved around some and found the right area I would hunker down and settle.
However, this is all assuming that the reason that Im having to do this, some end of society situation, hasnt affected the area in some bad way such as radiation. So I suppose it's all really situational (did I already say that? I forget).
Now, lets assume it's zombies that caused the end of modern life as we know it LOL. Yeah yeah I know its all good fiction, but its fun to think about isnt it? IF it WERE the walking dead I think that I would probably move around constantly and live a more scavenger-esque lifestyle, raiding outskirts of once-civilized areas. Settleing down would require a massive fortification, since you never know when a passing hoard is coming your way.
When ever I think of bugging out to the woods I think of a situation along those lines. It could be an army coming after insurgents or insurgents trying to take or defend the area. I do not kid myself that the training I have with my firearms is necessarily greater than any opponent I may encounter and am realistic in the fact that I will most probably be far out gunned.
You can look at any historical situation where insurgent or rioters uprising lead to military or police action and even to all out civil war. It doesn't require your participation with either side to make you a victim of either side. Historically, all over the world, people have been tortured, raped and murdered for just being handy at the time.
Civil war has at least twice broken out in this country itself. Once, resistance of a small band of rebels in Boston and once when the Union forces refused to leave a fort in the Confederate state of North Carolina. Throw in all of the smaller rebellions that didn't result in full on conflict and it is common enough to at least perceive of the possibility of it happening.
it is an extremely unlikely event. But, it has happened. In fact a lot of early American settlers to Florida came down as the threat of war reared its head and eventually erupted in the form of The War of Northern Aggression. Many more fled as Sherman's march to the sea. Men who were caught on their homestead by either side were forced into service. Leaving their family to fend for themselves in a time of lawlessness.
When I respond to a scenario like the one posted. It is unlikely events like these that I am thinking about and not a hurricane or flood or anything like that.
Is it ok to toss out a scenario on this site? I have one worry of one that could effect over half our nation... and its one that's very well possible to make life miserable for a few years for quite a few people including our farmlands. Its one that would make me give up and head out.. broke and homeless. Its one I think on a lot and wonder what to do with this scenario.
WW.
It's fine to post a scenario. Keep in mind though - regardless of the scenario and who posts it, some may not agree with the premise of it. That's not to say its a bad or implausible scenario, but rather some answers may be given that may not be as useful as the poster may like.
Ok. I understand. My scenario is Yellowstone blowing. I'm east and most likely would get a lot of ash fallout. My hunkering down on my own place is jeopardized, both land and livestock and water both for drinking and fishing. And depending on others just down the road is gone along with stores, farmlands ect. I know its possible to pull out from a scenario like this from past eruptions and they've shown that in time its livable again. But during those first few months... I worry about. Do I store bags of dirt to grow in? What will the Sunlight factor be? Will most head out to the Mountain ranges to live? Land here would be pretty much useless wouldn't it?
WW
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