What is your concept of Bugging Out?

[Patglazz]

OK I'm pretty sure we all know that if SHTF a few million people are going to bug out to the countryside, so what I'm asking is - What is your concept of Bugging out?

Me? OK - HIDE - If SHTF I reckon to start with the towns and cities will be overrun by gangs of thugs taking what they want from whoever they can - followed soon after by the average Joe desperate to do what he can to get food for his family. So to me Bugging Out means getting my family as far from danger as possible, digging in with our supplies and staying hidden, somewhere we can defend ourselves should the need arise possibly somewhere we can hunt and fish to supplement our stores once things start to calm down. Millions of people will be scouring the countryside looking for food so growing food (which will be raided and stolen) will probably be pointless for quite a while. I reckon that within a few weeks there will be no petrol to fuel cars so anyone well off the beaten track will only have to contend with small groups of roaming people - not enough wild food in this country to support large gangs travelling through the countryside on foot.

[jansman]

Well... I already live in the countryside. For me, Bug Out means becoming a REFUGEE. which is what anyone who leaves their home with rucksack on back WILL be.

[soutie]

i agree , hide for first few weeks , windows and doors locked and down into the basement. showing no outward signs of habitation , lights etc . eating from our preps , if things take longer to settle down and food becomes a problem IE meat a 3am hunting trip to a local farm should secure plenty of lamb to supplement the basic pasta/ rice etc rations (sorry if there are any farmers among us , i wouldn't normally do such a thing ) the first 4-6 weeks will probably be the worst . i wouldn't leave the house and head for the hills unless i already had something set up (i'd love to buy a bit of woodland and get a log cabin , just a dream i fear)there are plenty woodland and wildlife in and around towns at least initially

[Arzosah]

Yep, bugging out immediately in a total collapse will just get you to chaos and confusion and either a hungry death or cannibalism ... my concept of bugging out if, say, I got burned out of my house, would be to get to my sister's place. I don't think the classic concept of "get out of town, head for the wilderness" quite works in the south east of England!

[TonyAge]

I really can't see there will be "millions of people running off to hide in the countryside".

My only bug out plan at present, covers local events such as Fire, Gas Leak, Dangerous Chemical leak and similar. In which case I'll be off to family/friends the other side of town - at worse, I'll end up in a communal village hall or somesuch, for a few days.

[Plymtom]

The answers in the thread really do highlight the senselessness of bug out in the UK, unless it is total collapse we're either refugees, poachers, or at worst the very pillaging robbing mob we ourselves profess to be running from, unless you have a self sustaining place to go already stocked and defendable, bugging out is an ex special forces/Ray Mears experienced persons option and even for them surely not their first one?
I concede I could be driven out (not without a fight if it was that sort of scenario) but bugging out particularly on foot is a no go, there's 15 miles of A roads to get past before it starts getting rural, and by car we could get there quicker traffic permitting but we could not carry as Much as we could with decent hand carts, it's unworkable to bug out for us and cloud cuckooland for the vast majority of those who think they could, the only hope for many is that they would be greeted as refugees by country folk.

[piglet]

cannibalism

If that is going to be the case...I so need to lose a lotta weight quickly.

Or if I cannot beat them join them, and fit a drop trap door in front of my own front door.... Yes, I watched the movie the other night.

Checking.........

[Moony]

bugging out is an ex special forces/Ray Mears experienced persons option and even for them surely not their first one?

If the number of people who say they'd bug out "to the woods" actually came true then even Ray Mears couldn't survive in the wilds in the UK. Game would be hunted / scared off very quickly, people would trample over / steal from your traps + snares, water sources would get contaminated by people's waste, etc. You might be great at bushcraft and (possibly) be able to survive out there when you are practicing in the 'good' times, but add hundreds of others into the mix and your chances of survival are pretty much 0. I see images of the beautiful woodlands of Britain littered with the corpses of wanna-be Bear Grylls who find out too late it's not quite like it seems on telly who've screwed it up for those few people who actually have the skills needed to make a go of it.

Bugging out for more than a week and without your own supplies in a true SHTF time is just suicidal, you need a back-up plan of some sort or skills you can trade for shelter with a organised group who have succeeded in setting up a stable, stationary place of refuge.

[Plymtom]

I think we're on the same page Moony bugging out for real is open ended, not a bushcraft weekend.

[Arzosah]

Of course, bugging out is what people in the US need to do all the time, when a hurricane comes calling - didn't a million or so people drive out of New Orleans in the days before Katrina hit? I wonder what would happen here if another hurricane was forecast? Would people evacuate? It'd be half the country, tho, thats the problem.