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Essential Bug-Out Resources

October 30, 2019

Essential Bug-Out Resources

Solutions that have proved surprisingly essential during California’s wildfires

In my post yesterday Survival Learnings From A California Fire Evacuee, I promised to share the specific resources that have proved especially valuable during my family’s emergency evacuation due to the Kincade fire. So I’d better get to it…

Gas & Cash

Having now been surprised by two massive fires within the past two years, in both instances, the preparation I was most immediately grateful for — hands down — was having sufficient on-property stores of gasoline and cash.

The moment your community realizes that flight may be necessary, forget going to the gas station. In my area, the lines were 20+ cars deep.

Waiting in those kind of lines (when there’s no guarantee there will be gas left when your turn finally comes) can easily cause you to miss your window of safety. As I mentioned yesterday, my friends who tried to evacuate just 45 minutes after I did eventually had to turn back home because the roads out of town had become hopelessly gridlocked.

So get in the habit of keeping your cars’ fuel tanks topped off, especially during times of seasonal risk (fire season, hurricane season, flood season, etc). Make it a point never to return home with the gauge below half-full.

Also, keep at least a tank’s-worth of gasoline stored on your property. In my case, I have four 5-gallon gas cans. This ensures I can get to safety even if I’ve forgotten to keep the car tank full. And if I’ve remembered, I can throw the cans in the car for an extra 300+ miles of range.

Similarly, once the electricity goes out, the ATMs stop working. Having $500-$3,000 of emergency cash on hand to take with you makes a huge difference.

 …click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

SELCO: The Myth of the Perfect EDC and Bug Out Bag

June 19, 2018

SELCO: The Myth of the Perfect EDC and Bug Out Bag

In the survival-prepper world, it is very important what you carry with you and just as much so, how you carry it. But it is a giant myth that there is just one right way to do this. Despite what many people want to say, there is no perfect and universal everyday carry, perfect and universal bug out bag, car kit, or other gear.

There might be some items or universal rules that every kit should have, but everything else is based on the specific situation.

It is often misunderstood, You can see that actually when someone post his EDC for example on a social media post that you are gonna have probably many comments with specific suggestions what is right or wrong in that kit. But the problem is that lot of those suggestions (or objections) are based on the specific needs or scenarios of the commenter. The suggestions may not work for the person who has that EDC.

As a general rule, we can say that you may take advice about some item in your kit, but you should always keep in mind that you are building kit based on YOUR settings and needs.

Take, bug out bags, for example.

No matter how much we write (or read) about bug out bags there are gonna be more endless discussion about it, reasons are simply because BOBs are about having cool things (that are cool to discuss) and also because by having a good BOB we are trying to cover many problems that are gonna emerge when SHTF.

Over the time we set up our own BOB with tools and equipment that we hope are gonna work for us.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How to Build a Dollar Store Dental Kit for Your Bug Out Bag

February 7, 2018

How to Build a Dollar Store Dental Kit for Your Bug Out Bag

Do you have a dental kit for your bug out bag? I’ve seen a lot of great bug out bags loaded up with all manner of tacticool gear, tiny first aid kits stuffed into Altoid tins, and ultralight camping supplies. That’s wonderful and all, but where’s the dental kit?

What’s a Bug Out Bag?

For new preppers, a bug out bag (BOB) holds the supplies you need to evacuate from your primary location to your (presumably safe) secondary location, aka your bug out location (BOL). Your bag is intended to get you from Point A to Point B.

BOBs are sometimes called 72-hour bags, a 96-hour bag, emergency bag, go bag, or get-out-of-Dodge (GOOD) bag. Whatever you call it, your bag holds your needed supplies for a limited period of time, just long enough to get to your BOL.

Your Bug Out Bag Needs a Dental Kit

Since you aren’t living long term out of your BOB, you may not think that dental supplies are as important as other supplies, like a good knife or paracord. After all, what’re a few days without brushing your teeth going to hurt, right?

Mouth pain is no joke. Imagine you ended up with some food stuck between your teeth. I find that wildly irritating and have to get it out. Otherwise, the gum swells, becomes tender and sometimes bleeds. Food can stay stuck there, rotting, causing bacteria to breed like rabbits. Next thing you know, you have an infection.

If you think mouth pain is miserable now, imagine it post-SHTF, with no access to a local pharmacy and no local dentist. Why deal with that, when simple brushing and flossing can dislodge that bit of beef jerky from your teeth?

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Emergency SHTF Packing: How To Efficiently Pack a Bug-Out Bag

December 16, 2017

Emergency SHTF Packing: How To Efficiently Pack a Bug-Out Bag

This article is a continuation and the second part of the load management series written at the request of Mr. Brent Westbrook, a ReadyNutrition Reader.  In the first part, we covered how to stagger a load by weight and pack it according to function for a vehicle.  Guess what?  Many of the basics used to emplace that load are followed here, in how to pack a rucksack (another word for a backpack).  Let’s get right down to it!

Packing a Bug-Out Bag + Gear Suggestions

For those who have been reading my articles for a while, you know that my personal preference is the large-frame Army Rucksack (also called a Large “Alice” pack) …the one from the turn of the century and thirty years before.  It has an aluminum frame, it’s made of nylon, and it can take a lot of punishment.  That being said, the mechanics and reasoning for packing it are still the same.

You must ensure with a ruck that the load is balanced, as high as possible to keep pressure and weight off your back and that you can get to your equipment in a hurry.

Items on the bottom are those rarely used

I pack at the bottom of mine stuff that I do not intend to use at all or very seldom, such as extra clothes and extra food.  Pack your clothes in a wet-weather bag ( the military issue is preferable to me, although I’m aware there are many civilian firms that follow the premise of waterproof bags).  In the middle of the ruck, you want some ammo, more clothes, and some specialty equipment that doesn’t see immediate use.  You be the judge of that.  Toward the top, I keep Gore-Tex pants and jacket, as well as an issue sleeping bag with a Gore-Tex cover in a compression bag and then in a wet-weather bag.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How To Put Together Your Own Bug Out Bag Perimeter Alarm Kit… Or How To Sleep Better At Night When The “Zombies” Are On The Move.

February 1, 2016

How To Put Together Your Own Bug Out Bag Perimeter Alarm Kit… Or How To Sleep Better At Night When The “Zombies” Are On The Move.

In my bug out bag, or my get home bag, since I keep it in my vehicle at all times, I keep a little perimeter alarm kit. The whole kit is relatively small, lightweight and fits in a MOLLE mag pouch. I feel this kit is necessary should the SHTF. I figure that if this happens, I might have to be able to get home all by myself, over a long distance, possibly on foot.

Well, what if I have to spend the night who knows where? Maybe in an abandoned building. Or in a makeshift campsite in a clump of trees. Or maybe an old tractor-trailer. And if I have to sleep, I wouldn’t want to wake up with who knows standing over me or all my stuff gone. My trusty firearm won’t do me any good if I’m sleeping. So I put together a little perimeter alarm kit with the following features in mind.

  1. To be able to put up an alarm around a campsite.
  2. To be able to alarm doors and windows in a building.
  3. To be able to lock or secure doors in a building. This includes single doors, double doors, and doors that swing outward.
  4. To be able to black out windows preventing people from seeing in.
    The following is what I keep in my kit.
  5. door/window alarms. You can get them on eBay, home centers or Dollar General. I got mine at Dollar General, by Bell & Howell, 7 for 10 bucks.
  6. homemade alarm bases. These are just 3 ½ X 3 ½ pieces of ¾ in plywood.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Get Back Home Urban Survival Kit

October 22, 2015

The Get Back Home Urban Survival Kit

city URBAN SURVIVALMost of you probably have a bug out bag – having a bug out bag is good insurance in the event you are forced to evacuate your home or retreat for some unforeseen reason. It seems most of us are ready to bug out,  but few of us have considered the need to find our way back home if caught away during an emergency.

No doubt, many of you spend a lot of time away from home, with work, school and business sometimes taking you hundreds of miles away from home. Most of the time this isn’t an issue for me, but recently, I’ve had to make several business trips that have taken me out of state and far from home.

What would I do if disaster struck while I was several hundred miles from home? What would I do in the event of a terrorist attack, riot, earthquake or similar disaster. Could I get back home? What would I do if forced to stay in the area for several days or even weeks?

With any luck I’ll be able to drive out, but you never know – the roads could be blocked or impassable because of damage, the area could be quarantined or it could be too dangerous to move for several days.

As with anything related to survival, there are no guarantees and I doubt her father could make it under anything but the best of conditions considering his health. I just hope nothing bad happens with him in tow.

To increase our odds of making it back or surviving in the city if needed, I’ve put together a “Get Home Kit” that I take on extended trips. Sure I could have just taken my bug out bag, but it really isn’t the best solution and the gear  for the most part, isn’t what I’d need in an urban setting.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Family survival: 5 tips for distributing gear

October 19, 2015

Family survival: 5 tips for distributing gear

Family survival: 5 tips on distributing gearEver since I posted my article on my personal bug out bag, I’ve gotten quite a few questions on how to pack gear and what people should choose but one of the most common is how to share gear with your partner/kids/wife etc so I figured I’d write something up.

Sorry that I haven’t written in quite a while but I’m knee-deep in planning/writing a novel. It’ll be about a year or two before it’s finished but I think a lot of you will like it. It’s kind of part Brave New World, part Jericho, and a whole lot of awesome. Also, I’ve been knee-deep in organizing my motorcycle for some extended camping trips and travel where I can do some reviews on some of the gear I’ve picked up lately, including a vintage 1960’s Hudson Bay 4-point wool blanket and several other things.

Let’s assume you’re married and have a kid so there are three of you, each with varying skills and abilities. Here are the key points:

1) Have redundant survival capabilities

Just as with the critical things in your individual survival/bug out bag, you need to make sure you have redundant capabilities (not necessarily redundant gear). I go into some detail on this in The ‘Two is one and one is none’ fallacy so you may want to read that one too. Essentially, each bag should be able to allow you to cover all your survival bases but not all gear works in every scenario, so having different ways to do the same thing just may come in handy.

For example, you may be carrying a Trangia alcohol stove in one pack. They’re super portable and pretty capable little stoves (I have one), but they require alcohol (the best I’ve found is Yellow Heet but Everclear can be used in inclosed spaces and for wounds etc – check out this post for more fuel ideas).

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How To Not Be Overwhelmed With Your Prepping – Tips, Advice and How-To For Putting Together the Perfect Bug Out Bag

September 26, 2015

How To Not Be Overwhelmed With Your Prepping – Tips, Advice and How-To For Putting Together the Perfect Bug Out Bag

If you are like me, you may find prepping for everything to be a little overwhelming. It can seem that no matter how much you have, there just is never enough. I have read hundreds of articles and watched endless videos on what to carry for EDC and how to make a BOB/INCH bag. I also seemed to focus on one aspect at a time and way overdo it while letting the rest slip by. So to keep me from having the most awesome arsenal in town and dying of thirst, or keeping me from caring an 80 lb. backpack everywhere I made a graph of what I might need in a survival situation vs. how long I need to survive.

My first concern in any emergency is can I breath, see, or am I bleeding? Next question is am I in immediate danger and what can I do to remove the threat? After that I need to ascertain what threats are likely to come from this situation and prepare my surroundings to deal with them. Once the threat is no longer my focus, it should turn to how can I sustain myself in this situation?

Now many of the answers may change depending on what type of emergency you are facing. I am bleeding but an EMT is currently coming through my door would be handled a lot different than I am bleeding and marauders are currently coming through my door. The two situations require both different responses from me as well as needing different gear.

To know what I need, I need to know how long the emergency will last. Here is where the problem comes in, I don’t know when, what, or how long.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

How to build the ultimate 25 pound bug out bag

November 9, 2014

How to build the ultimate 25 pound bug out bag.

This will be a first here on Graywolf Survival. I’ve never written a post before on my personal bug out bag gear. I have written about my go bag before, which is kind of a mini bug out bag but it’s not really what I’d bug out with if I had to leave for an extended period. I used it for short trips and as an addition tomy EDC kit. This post took a LOT more work but was well worth it.

Keep in mind this is my personal bug out bag list. I say it’s the ultimate bag because it’s better than anything I can come up with for my circumstances, that takes into consideration my budget, my skills (and lack thereof in some cases), my geographic area, my 25-pound dry weight limit, and what my most likely scenarios for using it are. There is no perfect or ultimate but out bag that will work for everyone. Also, some of this stuff I chose because I already had it and some of it I paid more than most people are willing to spend.

I’ve lived primarily out of a backpack on missions in Africa, Iraq, Thailand, Afghanistan, Central America, and now live in Phoenix, AZ where I take my backpack camping so I’m quite familiar with what items I’ve used over the years and what I haven’t. I still learn things every time I do this.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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