Admit it, we all have fantasized about bugging out into the woods after the “Stuff Hits The Fan” (SHTF).
We’ve also read about it in countless prepper stories and novels, and many of us have practiced a few basic woodsman skills.
Unfortunately, far too many people think that “bugging out into the woods” in a SHTF situation is a reasonable plan. For most people out there, it’s closer to being a death sentence than a plan in a collapse scenario. There are, of course, exceptions, and I recognize this… but I think these are RARE exceptions.
Here’s a podcast we did talking about this, you can listen along as you read the article:
What could possibly go wrong bugging out into the woods?
Here are just a few of the problems with the idea of “Bugging out into the woods”:
- Unless you actually OWN the woods you are bugging out into, you will either be trespassing (which will likely get you shot by the owner of those woods in a collapse situation) or going heading to public lands (which will likely be full of a whole lot of people who have no idea how to survive in the woods).
- You will need to have everything you need to survive with you, including food, water purification, clothing and shelter for all weather, medical supplies, etc. A “bug out bag” isn’t going to be enough.
- You may be Bear Grylls, Cody Lundin or David Canterbury, but I guarantee you your three year old daughter isn’t. Not only will YOU need to be able to survive in the woods, but so will your spouse and every other member of the group
- Speaking of groups, how many people can pull their weight?
- What about animals? Are you taking Fido along? Domesticated animals don’t generally hunt and kill their own food, and if they do, the tend to make a lot of noise doing it.
- The closer “the woods” are to a city, the more people there will be. The further “the woods” are from the city, the harder it will be for you to get there.
- There frankly isn’t much to eat in “the woods”. Unless “the woods” you are planning on going to are in southern Florida, most edible plants go dormant in the winter, and game will be quickly hunted out. In the podcast, we were in “Tate’s Hell” in northern Florida, and even in Florida everything was dormant for the winter.
Honestly, I could go on and on. We give other ideas in the podcast so give it a listen.
Can bugging out into the woods be done successfully? Yes, but…
There are ways to bug out into “the woods” but they take a LOT more planning and resources than just a bug out bag and a can-do attitude. We have a bug out location in “the woods”, but we’ve already supplied it with shelter, good water and all kinds of provisions. It’s not by accident, it’s been done by lots of resources and hard work.
It’s not “impossible” to bug out into “the woods” but anybody considering it needs to have a detailed plan, and needs to test that plan for weeks at a time by actually bugging out into the woods and living there off the land.
Here’s the simple truth, though. Native Americans knew nothing other than a lifestyle living off the land, and they often starved to death in the winter. European settlers? Needed outside supplies to survive.
Again, were there exceptions? Yes, there were some… but these exceptions still depended on trade for what they needed, and there were very few of them that had immigrant families with them to support, virtually all of the “mountain men” who were married had Native American wives who were raised to the lifestyle.
That lifestyle is long gone.
I’m pretty good with woodsy stuff, and I couldn’t survive that way. Spice is better than I am, and she couldn’t survive that way, not long-term.
It’s time to rethink the whole “bug out to the woods” idea.
Well said. Most people’s concept of “roughing-it” is a four star hotel with menus, waiters. and a Jacuzzi, where all you have to do is sign the tab. Two things you left off your list:
– You will be bone tired from constant physical exertion most of the time.
– You will smell so bad that a bear could locate you from a mile away.
I was born and raised in the Appalachian mountains in Pennsylvania. If one was never in those mountains and hunting for food like my dad and I did, they will never make it. Those were the best of my days. I hate living in the cities!
doesn’t matter what you have in your BOB or INCH bag – if you are bugging out without a prepared BOL – you’re just a step above the average sheeple refugee – maybe not even above some of them …..
If things became too dangerous where I live, I would definitely bug out to “the woods”. It wouldn’t be permanent, but yeah, I could go camping for a month or two until things stabilize. Then, if feasible, I would return home.
I wouldn’t bugout to the plains, there’s nothing out there. I wouldn’t want to stay in the city. Eventually it would be filled with cannibals.
So, I would have 3 options. City, plains, or woods (in the Rockies). Yep, camping in the woods.
I’ve heard of guys who plan to bug out to the woods — forever — but have never actually met one. If I did, I would ask him how he planned to deal with the reality of there not being all that much “wild” food. It took thousands of square miles of woods to support a small band of Indians, back in the day.
Of the guys I do know, the “woods” plan is Plan C or D, not A, and as Jerry mentioned, not intended to be forever. I could see someone in a crowded city/suburb thinking that some extended camping would get them out of harm’s way long enough for things to blow over. Or, at least, settle down to where some other arrangements present themselves.
I’ve actually met several people who propose to do it, one of whom I know pretty well. He’s convinced he can, even though he has two kids under the age of 10 and a wife who thinks that “going to the country” means walking the dog on a leash so it can poop on the grass while at a rest stop on I-80 is “camping in the country”.
Yeah, not really thinking that’s much of a plan.
Ouch. That guy will be in for some rude awakening if the S ever hits the fan. The lone-wolf Grizzly Adams image is enticing, but Grizzly Adams with two needy kids and a citified wife — and a dog? Well, he won’t be contentedly gnawing a roast rabbit leg in his debris hut. He’ll be doing people-issues damage control most of the time. Maybe next time you’re chatting with him, see if he imagines the woods as permanent home, or temporary refuge?
I have to wonder, do lone-wolf fantasizers indulge in the bug-out-to-woods-plan as an imagined escape from their citified wives, children and suburban lives as much as a means to escape SHTF?
(mostly a rhetorical question)
Very well said . When younger I made my living hunting and trapping . I still had a house with electricity , water, and refrigeration to go home to and it still wasn’t easy . The woods will be a good place to go and scavenge supplies from the rookies that don’t survive .
Read about Christopher McCandless if you are thinking about bugging out into the wilderness. My personal estimate would be only 30 days for a single man with some savy about living in the wilderness. Kids and a wife …no way.
I’ve done a lot of backpacking and some winter camping. Anyone planning on living in the bush north of the 40th parallel better be highly skilled at it. It gets mighty cold out there.
And the burnables spend half of the year wet, so the whole fire thing is harder than it sounds. Sure, you can get it started with your nice vaseline-soaked cotton or whatever, but it always wants to die back down.