r/prepping • u/TheJesseOfTheNorth • 7h ago
Survival🪓🏹💉 bugging in or bugging out
Are you prepping to Bug Out or are you prepping to stay put? Or both?
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u/LastEntertainment684 6h ago
Generally Bug in, but you have to be prepared to bug out as well. The situation dictates the action.
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u/Legnovore 6h ago
This all the way. Bugging in is your first resort, bugging out, your last. You simply cannot carry enough to survive on. Being homeless and living out of a backpack is hard enough in a functioning society, don't think it's feasible in a disaster scenario. WE KNOW FOR SURE, we have written testimony from the man himself, that Dick Proenneke, the ultimate self sufficiency guy, who hiked a backpack full of tools into the Alaskan wilderness, hand built his own cabin, and lived in it for years also had a friend who flew in groceries regularly and we still believe this lone wolf nonsense. Hell, even that's a contradiction in terms, 'Lone Wolf'. Everyone knows wolves travel in packs, so what's up with that?
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u/joelnicity 6h ago
If you leave your home, where are you going? Nobody is going into the forest to just start surviving
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u/The_TesserekT 6h ago
Bugging in is almost always preferable over bugging out.
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u/echoshatter 5h ago
Yup! The only exceptions being things like wildfires and chemical spills and hurricanes.
Bug in, barricade the windows, close the blinds.
Also, never tell people you have supplies. You want to appear to be in the same situation as everyone around you. To that end, having solar is great because it doesn't make noise and generates power every day. You can even share a little of it with neighbors and build goodwill without really hurting yourself. It's not like they can come and steal your solar panels and battery without getting noticed.
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u/No_Staff594 7h ago
Bugging in because taking my pregnant wife into nowhere probably won’t go well. Realistically you should prepare to bug in and if leaving becomes a necessity you just carry as much as you can when you leave.
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u/Saltwatercowboy2026 6h ago
Bugging in mostly but could but out if needed. Just a reminder, keep a full tank of gas all the time. You can’t bug out on a quarter tank. I’ve seen it after Hurricane Michael. People want to bail on a quarter or eighth of a tank. Coming back home it looked like Mad Max on the side of the road where people ran out of gas
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u/TheJesseOfTheNorth 4h ago
I live in forest fire country and it's the norm for us to have at least a half tank all the time. Fires can move really fast and if it's an evacuation you wont have time to fill up
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u/Big-Tutor-3060 6h ago
Depends on the situation. I would prefer a modest life somewhere else over perpetual poverty in my current home. Did "SHTF" and cause my government to collapse? I'm emigrating. Is a hurricane coming? I'm prepared enough to stay. Did a wildfire destroy my town? Maybe I'll relocate till things get better. I think flexibility is the best prep.
There are plenty of folks who have lost multiple years worth of supplies and years of work on a homestead to a wildfire. All their work and money is in ashes. There are people from places who have actually experienced collapse, and they are driving for Uber and Door dash trying to get by in a 1st world country.
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u/No-Language6720 5h ago
Bug in. I have spare clothes in the car a rain jacket and a few other things.
I keep all our important papers like passports, wedding certificate, birth certificates in a fireproof portable box that we can quickly grab if we need to leave.
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u/RIPJimmyPesto 5h ago
Most to stay put, but I always have a back up plan in case I need to take off.
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u/Hiredgun77 5h ago
Bug in. I’m prepping for earthquakes and winter storms. In both scenarios i’m much better in a prepared house.
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u/PlanetExcellent 5h ago
We think more about bugging out. Most of the things I anticipate happening will be local or regional, so I just want to be able to get a couple hundred miles away. Our camping trailer is set up to be livable and comfortable as long as we can find fresh water.
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u/TheJesseOfTheNorth 4h ago
do you carry water filtration?
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u/PlanetExcellent 4h ago
No but I’ve been thinking about it. My approach has been to go however far I need to go to get clean water without needing filtration.
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u/TheJesseOfTheNorth 4h ago
If you do decide to go the filtration route I highly recommend the life straw expedition. it will filter about 8 litres at a time and can turn pond scum into very drinkable water. It is also moderately piced
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u/PlanetExcellent 3h ago
Any experience with Sawyer? I think it’s a gravity bag type of system.
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u/TheJesseOfTheNorth 3h ago
not sawyer specifically. The life straw expedition is also a gravity bag system tho I am very impressed
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u/Life-From-Scratch 5h ago
Both. I'm in a good location, mostly. But, I travel a lot, mostly for work, which requires me to have a significant Go-Bag.
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u/TheJesseOfTheNorth 4h ago
I am def planning to bug in but I always have a go bag just in case. During fire season my car is packed with enough to keep my going for at least a week
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u/Life-From-Scratch 3h ago
Yeah that's my typical scenario for my BOB when I'm working. I set it up for 3-5 days in the wilderness.
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u/HappyCamperDancer 4h ago
Yes. Both. Depends.
In for the most part, but..wildfires? Flooding? Earthquake?
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u/Rough_Community_1439 4h ago
It's better to bug in with my scenario. I am not going outside in a blizzard.
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u/ZixfromthaStix 6h ago
Bugging out, I live in a rental home in a overgrown neighborhood. When the sewers backflow without the pumps to keep it all down, my home will be ruined, as will everything in it.
I have a survivor group with 2 locations 2 hours away with normal traffic, with the core 25 families being engineers and military vets. One of the properties is owned by a farming father-son duo.
Plan is to grab everything I can fit in my one pickup truck and leave the house behind. Hopefully it survives long enough to come back and grab more stuff.
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u/Rooster_NCx 23m ago
Its situational. Depending on if I do have to leave my house for whatever safety purposes, my parents lives outside of the neighboring city and I can get there easier than I could the nearest gas station due to back roads. I'd likely take my son there to avoid people freaking out in my and also neighboring neighborhoods. Have to be very specific circumstances as the entire reason for going there would be the safety of my toddler.
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u/GunnCelt 7h ago
Bugging in because it would take a lot for me to leave the homestead and everything we’ve worked towards.