HomePosts Tagged "Survival Bag"

One of the wisest things you can do with any aspect of prepping is to have direct first-hand knowledge of how to use whatever skill, tool or gear you are counting on to save your life. This applies to so many things, but it bears repeating. If you purchase a generator to keep the lights on for your family, you should start that puppy up once a year at least. Make sure you know that it works first of all, that you have the proper fuels and lubricants and know how to make it run. If you don’t know all of that, your generator might be worthless.

Its similar with food and long-term food storage. If you are like so many others that have purchased large bags of Hard Red Winter wheat, have you ever eaten any of this? Do you have a grain grinder? Have you ever taken a turn at grinding enough grain to make a single loaf of bread? If not, it is so much better to do this while the grocery stores are still open. Better to find out now that you don’t have something vital to your food preparations than after the world has collapsed around your ears. It is so much more advantageous to know what works and what doesn’t while you still have options to make changes.

I found myself with the same opportunity a couple of weeks ago with what I plan to use as my Bug Out Bag.

Our family decided to go on a backpacking trip for a few days into the wilderness. For this trip we would be staying overnight in the woods obviously and had to carry almost everything to keep us alive for a couple of days, possibly more on our backs. This scenario mirrors almost identically a bug out situation where you are forced to evacuate your home with nothing but what you can carry. A traditional Bug Out Bag is designed to contain enough supplies (food, shelter) to keep you alive for 72 hours. As it so happened, that was about the length of time we were in the woods.

My pack weighed about 45-50 pounds and some of that was due to my taking on weight that my wife couldn’t carry. This could happen to you if someone becomes injured or unable to continue. Even at my initial load it would have been about 40 pounds. That is fine, but not ideal for me I don’t think. Can I carry more weight? Of course. Do I want to be carrying more weight if I am running and potentially hiding for my life? No. What did I have in my pack? Here’s my list below:

I am sure there were other little knickknacks but the point is that I wasn’t bringing what I would consider to be a lot of useless stuff. I also had a .45 strapped to my side.

I have discussed this topic before in our post “Is your Bug Out Bag Going to Get You Killed?” where I cautioned anyone who thinks that they can strap on 50 pounds let alone hauling a load like the Sherpa in the picture above of gear and run out into the woods . This trip gave me some additional ideas as I reflected on my pack for the duration of our hiking. I started to think about this weight on my back being both all I could depend on as well as something that could easily be my downfall.

Weight A Minute!

Now, there are a lot of people out there who reacted pretty strongly to my post and thought that weight = security. The most important thing they said was to take everything you need and if it got to be too heavy, or if you had to abandon anything that was a choice you could make on the road. I agree with that concept as a last resort to some extent, but I don’t think that should guide your initial load out decisions. Weight is probably the single most dangerous aspect about any bug out bag for a couple of reasons.

Too much weight can hurt.
Real World Bug Out Bag

First off, weight over time can slow you down. This isn’t anything surprising to most people I know but you would not believe how many of you out there (I was like this too) will fall for the trap that says if I am in a serious enough situation, I can carry more weight because my life will depend on it. That sounds good as you sit in your house and read this post on your computer or your smart phone. 50 pounds doesn’t sound like much does it? When is the last time you strapped 50 pounds on your back and tried hiking up a mountain? It is different from walking out your driveway.

The “conventional” hiker/backpacker wisdom I hear all of the time is that the average person should not plan on carrying more than 25% of your overall body weight. Let’s assume for the sake of this discussion that you weigh 200 lbs. 25% of 200 is 50 lbs, right? Ta Da! There is that magic number! So, according to conventional wisdom, anyone who weighs 200 pounds or more should be able easily lug around 50 pounds on their back. While this is technically possible (I know because I have done it on many occasions) that doesn’t make it the wisest thing you can do.

I have also heard the argument that a military load out is heavier than that and this is certainly true however; do you want to start out carrying the most weight you possibly can? Now that we mention it, are you in the same physical shape as a 19 or 20-year-old soldier? I know there are 60-year-old men who do this all of the time, but the average person isn’t like that.

Weight in your pack slows you down and wears you out. Can you physically handle the weight? Maybe, but should you? Do you need to? Will that weight be on your back when you are trying to run? Will your bug out route take you up hills or mountainous terrain?

Take a look at professional hikers. For instance, the people who hike the Appalachian trail or the Pacific Crest trail in one long stretch are called thru hikers. They have taken hiking to a new level because if you’re expecting to put your body through that kind of stress (2,160 miles), you seriously have to consider each and every piece of gear. Their average pack load for the essentials, not counting food is around 14-16 pounds. Do you think you could hike further, faster and more comfortably if you lost 30 pounds from your bug out bag? I know that I certainly could have. Does that mean you make sacrifices? I am certain you do and a 16 pound pack is made with the goal of arriving at a resupply point many times along your route. It does consider fatigue and injury though which are two other factors you will have to address at some point with a larger pack unless you are a super hero.

Can you dance with that thing?

On our trip I was hiking up and down mountains on very narrow trails gaining over 1000 feet in elevation each way. We frequently encountered downed trees that we either had to go over or under. This same pack I was wearing wasn’t only heavy but it threw off my balance and added to my silhouette. When I tried to scramble over logs, I had to make sure I had a good hand-hold or else the pack weight might pull me back down the mountain. Simply ducking under a tree wasn’t so simple anymore and frequently I had to get down on my hands and knees to just clear a log. Normally, I wouldn’t have broken stride because I could just dip, go under and back out. My big pack added almost two additional feet of clearance obstacles at points behind me and would catch on a lot more than I normally would.

Getting back to the injury topic, with the extra weight and loss of balance I was less sure-footed so I had to go much slower to prevent getting hurt. The nimble hoping over rocks was replaced with carefully treading and watching each foot fall. If we are out day hiking I keep a steady pace, but with the big bag my kids were lapping me. All things to consider.

Walk the walk

It is so important that you get out somewhere and try out your bug out bag for 72 hours. This is a simple weekend camping trip and will show you so much about your pack that you simply don’t consider when you are throwing stuff in there. My mistake when I first started to pack my bug out bag was to list all of the gear I could possibly use, find the gear I could afford and throw it into a pack that was reasonably priced. This led me to a pack I didn’t really want to lug around and if I had to in a high-stress environment I can see bad things happening.

Remember, this hiking trip you are taking to practice with your bug out bag should be fun. You won’t be running for your life, fleeing your home and weighed down with guns and ammo. Making informed decisions about your bug out bag now will save you when you truly do have to Bug out. Could I work out more, get stronger and carry that bag more easily? Absolutely and that would help, but the average person has the grab and go plan for their bug out bag. Are you able to grab what you have and thrive or will you be dragging butt quickly after you walk out the door with your world on your back?

Our family decided to go on a backpacking trip for a few days into the wilderness. For this trip we would be staying overnight in the woods obviously and had

I am frequently asked questions around the subject of Bug Out Bags. There is certainly a lot of interest and for good reason. Seeing as how we are in the middle of Hurricane season (regardless of whether we have seen a significant one yet) it makes sense especially for those living near coastal areas to have a plan to evacuate. That plan will undoubtedly require packing supplies that you may be forced to live on of for an extended amount of time. Even if you live in the middle of the country and the closest coast is a thousand miles away, some emergency event might require that you pack up and leave with very little advance warning. This is when having a bug out bag will come in handy.

To those who are new to the concept of a Bug Out Bag, or Survival Bag it is simply a bag with food, water, clothing and shelter enough to last 72 hours on average. This bag is almost always in the form of a backpack because that is designed to be worn easily if you need to walk on foot. Also, this configuration is best for holding weight that all of that food clothing and shelter is going to incur on your back. Additionally, the bag is going to hold your entire bug out gear to accompany the rest of your supplies. There are a myriad of resources online and YouTube for bug out bag lists or you can read our post on the subject for more detailed information on what to pack in your bug out bag. A bug out bag is different from a Get Home Bag, but they serve similar needs. A Get Home Bag should give you what you need to make it home from wherever you are, usually work or school.

Do you need to worry about a Bug Out Bag? That’s a great question but it really comes down to the individual and the situation you are faced with. Do you live in a big city or in the country near a chemical plant? Do you have a place to go if you had to trek on foot away from everything you own? Is your health good enough that if you strapped 50 pounds of gear to your back, could you walk 3 days if needed? Do you know how to use anything you have spread out on the floor for your bag?

I talk about the reasons for and against the actual act of Bugging Out in the face of most scenarios but I like to say that reality always gets a vote. Regardless of whether you have any intention of leaving the safety of your home, circumstances you haven’t even thought about might compel you to ditch your plans and strap on that bug out bag to walk into the sunset. If that event happens, it is wise to be prepared.

Identify what you need the bag for

tetonsportscout

A great bag is easy to find for under $80

When I first started officially prepping back at the end of 2008 I was like so many other people and the overwhelming need to get a bug out bag packed and ready to go was an all-consuming thought. I researched a ton of blogs and forums, read books and watched dozens of videos until I knew or thought I knew everything about a bug out bag. I had my first bag all packed up and ready to go and then I tried it on. It was very shortly after that my plan started changing and it is with the hindsight of a few more instances like that that I want to share with you some of my mistakes so that it may help you avoid making them yourself.

I was overly focused on “the stuff” I needed to go into my Bug Out Bag and didn’t give as much thought as to what I needed the bag for in the first place. Knowing where you are going and what you are going to do is packing 101 stuff, right? If you want to pack for a business trip let’s say; you lay out everything if you are like me according to what you are going to do on the trip to make sure you are covered for every contingency. This makes packing anything easier.

I didn’t do that with my personal bug out bag. What I did do was make a list of everything I needed to have and then I went out and bought it or consolidated it into my bug out pile. My pile was larger than the pack I had chosen and when it came time to put everything into the bag I realized I needed to rethink some things.

Most of you are building a bug out bag as something you can grab and go out the door never to return again and this would be consistent with what the general consensus is for having a bag like this in the first place. However, we are almost never in any situation, flying out the door blindly running down alleys. That is unless you are Jason Bourne and well, that’s the movies.

If you are forced to pack up, you should know where you are going. This may be to a friend’s house or an old college roommate in another state or Aunt Bunny who lives an hour away. What does this bag need to hold in it to make your life bearable at Aunty Bunnies house? Do you need that entrenching shovel, hiking poles and a camp axe? Maybe not. Do you need 2 gallons of water and your winter snowshoes? Maybe you do. Knowing where you are most likely going is going to help you with the next decisions.

Once you know what you need the bug out bag for, you will know what type of bag is right for your needs.

Identify what you are going to carry in the bag

bugoutpackinglist

Lay everything you will need to pack out so you can inventory easily.

If I am being honest, one of the shallow pleasures of prepping for anything is getting new gear. Yes, I will admit that I like buying gear and trying it out. This has nothing to do with vanity, I like to consider myself a gear geek only to the point that trying out new and interesting items that have multiple purposes and could save your life appeals to me. In the beginning as I was getting my pile of gear together that would save our lives I thought more about what I was acquiring that thinking about what I needed. I found all sorts of bug out bag checklists, some of them pages and pages long. Sometimes, I would sit there and listen to YouTube videos and write down everything was said. When it was all said and done, I had a huge pile of gear and my bank account was a lot lighter.

Going camping was a huge eye opener for me and it taught me more about what I needed to pack than any YouTube video could. Well, in truth it put the lists I had been compiling into perspective. It’s funny how life has a habit of doing that when you are packing almost 70 pounds of gear on your back. I recommend that anyone who has plans for a bug out bag take this camping for two nights in the woods. You don’t have to go 50 miles in the wilderness, but take this bag with all of your stuff and hike (so you are forced to carry the bag) into the woods and set up camp. You will be surprised at how quickly you realize the items you have but don’t need and the items you wish you had.

Once you have a better idea of what you need to put into your bag, lay all of those items out on a table because the size of your bag is going to need to fit all of that gear. Can you get by with a day backpack or do you need a larger 4,150 cu size pack to fit everything. It may be helpful to try out a friends backpack first if you don’t have one yourself or go to the store and try them on in person.

Identify your price range

72hour

Military surplus gear is a cheap and rugged option.

This may sound like it shouldn’t be important. I mean how can you put a price on your survival? Well, it should be because if you are like most preppers I know (including me), this will not be your last bag. Take time to shop around for bags and don’t necessarily believe all of the hype that surrounds the mil-spec types of bags. By that I mean the bags that look like they are ready to go to war on the back of some soldier in Afghanistan. These routinely come with price tags over $200 and I don’t think that is necessary for a bug out bag.

Remember, if this is truly going to be a bug out bag that is ready for you, you should have it packed at all times and ready for you to grab and walk out the door. Do you want to spend upwards of $500 and then shove it in the closet for a year?

The opposite is true also because my first bag was very cheap. I purchased a used army Alice pack from Ebay for around $20. These were just like I remembered and are roomy enough to hold anything you can probably need. They aren’t the most comfortable though and if you are trying to stay discrete, having a military style backpack isn’t usually the first thing that comes to mind. I chose this bag because the use is perfect and the price was incredible. In the end I didn’t use it though. Instead, I take my alice pack with me when I go hunting and it is perfect for that. I just don’t want to lug it around if I am bugging out.

OK, now what?

So you are asking yourself, when is he going to get to the part about how I can find the perfect bug out bag? OK, here are the steps I would take in order to help you select your bug out bag.

  1. Understand what you need the bag for. Is this to get to a neighbor’s house on the other side of town or family two states away? Are you going to be on the water with this bag? This will help you with size, features and function. Most bags simply hold varying amounts of stuff.
  2. Knowing that, figure out how much gear you need to carry. Backpacking trips are excellent practice. You may need to buy some camping gear, but this will teach you what works and what doesn’t. It will additionally let you know how much room and weight you should plan for.
  3. Choose your price range and shop within 20% plus or minus from that point. Craigslist and eBay have great deals, but you may end up spending more time (on Craigslist) or end up getting inferior product (eBay). I would stay away from higher end bags unless you find an unbelievable sale. LLBean for example makes great bags for very reasonable prices but you can find great closeout prices on last year’s models too.
  4. Go into a store with backpacks and try them on before you buy. It is also important to measure yourself to get the right pack for your body.
  5. Once you have your bag, pack it with all of your gear and go hike for a couple of miles. Doing this in the neighborhood might seem odd, although we have a lady here in our neighborhood who does much stranger stuff. If the neighborhood won’t work, take your pack to the closest hiking trail. Nobody will know you aren’t training for an extreme hiking trek and it will either show you that you need to lighten the pack or affirm that you have done this part correctly.
  6. Plan for a dry run. Cut the power to your house and live out of the pack for 3 days. If you do all of the above successfully, you have a perfect pack. Now lock it in the closet and start some other preps!

I am frequently asked questions around the subject of Bug Out Bags. There is certainly a lot of interest and for good reason. Seeing as how we are in the