Bugging in dangers?

[ukpreppergrrl]

In these worse cases we are contemplating on this thread I'd throw smells into the hat, the very smell of food wafting around a street could bring unwanted attention namely Andy's local scrotes.

As someone with almost no sense of smell this is one of the great unknowns for me. If I'm in my house with the ugly PVC double-glazing shut, cooking a nice risotto (love rice, have tens of kilos in my preps!) with onions and garlic (lots of dried in my preps), just how much "smell" gets out of the house? On a normal day, if you're normally nasally blessed, can you really smell what every single household is cooking as you walk by? I read that a seriously hungry scrote will have a sharpened sense of smell when it comes to food, but I am presuming that by the time we get to the point where the scrotes are starving and on the prowl, we'll also be at the point where folks haven't washed, sewerage isn't flowing away, and what food is left is rotting in piles on the pavement. Probably a few dead dogs lying around too. So there'll be a lot of competing smells. I guess if you wanted to be sure in such a post-apocolyptic world, this the the point at which you crack open your stores of Stinking Bishop and Durian and just blend in!

[Deeps]

I like this thread, Mrs Djorn and I choose our house as a bug in location, the fact that we are rural also helps. We have spent many years prepping and have come up with a few good ideas with bug out locations, still have a few ideas just in case our location is compromised. We have a huge stock pile of supplies, probably enough to see us through the first year if we didn't look at supplementing it with fishing/hunting etc. Living off the land in Scotland is hard out growing season is shorter than the rest of the UK and certain things don't grow well with help.

I have recently re-found my love of canning so come the end of the week if it is still edible and in the fridge i try and can it and put it up. Currently looking into a few good butchery books. I hate the idea of having to kill a sheep for example and only eating it for one or two meals because I can't preserve it or butcher it properly.

I think dependent on where you live will largely push you towards in or out. In a city then I think you need to get out asap unless you can band together with like minded people. The problem with is, as preppers we don't wear a badge, we walk past each other everyday not knowing if that person is a sheepdog a sheep or a wolf !!

I don't think it will matter if people are preppers or not, if they're 'good guys' that could be much more important than if they have a load of stores. People with certain skills (medical for example) might be much more useful than someone you don't get on with but has all the gucci gear. If you're in a faeces/ventilation interaction being able to get on and work together might be crucial but when it comes to it you might not have much choice who you're stuck with.

[grenfell]

I'll throw something else in too , which probably seems trivial and non life threatening but is a real issue that could easily have ramifications , and that is boredom.
I'm currently on jury service , not on a case I'm what is classed as a waiting jury and as such I and around 15 others have spent all week sat in a room with nothing to do. Time drags and it's clear to see that people get frustrated and that's only in a timeframe of around 10 o'clock to 3o'clockish when we are released. We can leave at 1 till 2 for dinner if we want and have access to a tv , books and magazines . There are also jigsaws which don't inspire confidence that things will get moving quickly and with perhaps a hint of the macabre someone has provided a board game of hangman. As it is we have chatted and looked at magazines and even tried a quiz on one guy's phone but the boredom is still palpable.
Now if that situation were to be extended for any length of time with no access to services I could foresee it becoming a serious problem . Alcoholism and drug abuse are common in depressed areas now and that in itself breeds a level of criminal activity as users steal to feed their habits. With nothing else to actually do it would be very easy to open a bottle "just to pass a bit of time".

[Mortblanc]

I fear that we all tend to look at our own situation and have a discourse based on what we see when we look out the door, then expand that and apply it to everyone.

Some situations present "bugging in" as an impossibility. Other people look out the door at the snow and rain or at their six week old baby and realize that "bugging out" is nothing but suicide and a death sentence for the family.

Other people look at their main threat as riot of social/financial breakdown which they wish to escape and others would only leave if threatened by toxic waste spill at a rail wreck or destruction of the dwelling during a storm.

I think the main difference is that between rural dweller that has been prepping for a long time and the urban or suburban dweller that has just started prepping and is in their 20s-30s with no children. One group will say if you leave the retreat you will die, the other says if we stay here we will die.

The truth is that death might result from either decision.

That brings up another thought, which is the constant belief that it is the other guy that is going to die and not me. Face it, preppers with good plans and provisions are going to die, and people with no sense at all are going to live. It is the way a disaster works.

I can not place my decision making criterion on another person. I live where I do because I am a long time prepper in his 3rd homestead, retreat or whatever you wish to call it. I chose the place based on my experiences of 60 years a prepper in training, my age, and my capabilities. I am also on a different continent, with different climate, different personal restrictions, different attitudes and a population density that is today, for me,what yours would be after a 90% die off.

Now stating that I can say there are some constants no matter where you abide. Dragging babies into the woods to live under a tarp is a death sentence. You can not carry on your back enough goods to support a family and rebuild society. Dragging old people into the "wild" would be the same death sentence. After three weeks under a tarp your wife is going to slit your throat for putting her there. You are going to lose that extra weight you have been wanting gone because you have absolutely no experience hunting, fishing or foraging (no reading books and searching the internet do not count). People are not going to take you in based on some imaginary skill you claim to possess because you read about it in a book or saw on You-tube.

And the most important thing; someone already lives where you want to go!

I have always claimed that in GB everyone bugging out to the coast is going to be trampled to death by everyone that is bugging out to the interior. All of them searching for free land in a place where every square inch has been owned by someone for 5000 years.

[sethorly]

Original post updated to include all ideas in this thread. I'll keep updating it as new ideas come in. I like lists

[izzy_mack]

Biggest danger? Probably complacency. The fact that we have "stuff" means we're in more danger, especially if someone else knows about it. If we had to bug in the first rule has to be keep your head down and don't make it look like you're coping better than anyone else.

[Mortblanc]

Biggest danger? Probably complacency. The fact that we have "stuff" means we're in more danger, especially if someone else knows about it. If we had to bug in the first rule has to be keep your head down and don't make it look like you're coping better than anyone else.

What happens when they start losing weight and you don't?

What happens when they decide to check out your house, which you have made look empty, for abandoned goodies?

[Jan Smits]

Biggest danger? Probably complacency. The fact that we have "stuff" means we're in more danger, especially if someone else knows about it. If we had to bug in the first rule has to be keep your head down and don't make it look like you're coping better than anyone else.

What happens when they start losing weight and you don't?

What happens when they decide to check out your house, which you have made look empty, for abandoned goodies?

These questions are very much on my mind. While bugging in is my main plan, if after 3-4 weeks normal service hasn't resumed it means something drastic has happened and normal service won't be back any time soon. At some point, though surrounded by urban jungle for miles in all directions, bugging in is no longer the safer choice for me. I know my door will be broken down, no matter how well I barricade myself in, the trick will be to have bugged out before that happens. I haven't got far with the plans, partly as it is a situation fairly far down my list of probabilities, partly because I'm still new to this and there's a complexity in needing three or four plans. Those will all start with strict rationing and poor hygiene, so when I do break cover I don't stand out - I don't even plan a bag, just a few items and me looking ragged and desperate like everyone else. That may be contrary to 'prepper thinking', but I'm in a situation maybe different to most, and I think it is my only realistic option.

[Arzosah]

Mortblanc - I've just read your post on Friday, thats a great analysis.

While bugging in is my main plan, if after 3-4 weeks normal service hasn't resumed it means something drastic has happened and normal service won't be back any time soon. At some point, though surrounded by urban jungle for miles in all directions, bugging in is no longer the safer choice for me. I know my door will be broken down, no matter how well I barricade myself in, the trick will be to have bugged out before that happens. I haven't got far with the plans, partly as it is a situation fairly far down my list of probabilities, partly because I'm still new to this and there's a complexity in needing three or four plans. Those will all start with strict rationing and poor hygiene, so when I do break cover I don't stand out - I don't even plan a bag, just a few items and me looking ragged and desperate like everyone else. That may be contrary to 'prepper thinking', but I'm in a situation maybe different to most, and I think it is my only realistic option.

And this is a good point too - though I'd say *some* sort of bag will help you with the grey man approach - nothing crucial, obviously, but something. Most people will be carrying something - even if its just a fleece in a bin bag. As for the bits you really want, hidden pouches that go inside your clothes can be a start, and a gilet type thing with pockets on the *inside*, plus as many layers of clothing as you can bear to have on. With a few bits in your pockets ...

[Plymtom]

At some point, though surrounded by urban jungle for miles in all directions, bugging in is no longer the safer choice for me. I know my door will be broken down, no matter how well I barricade myself in, the trick will be to have bugged out before that happens.

I know this feeling, but we don't have the health to do it, so after that amount of time we would either be making friends and mucking in, or standing our ground, the survival odds are about the same, some of us without a return to normal, or something approaching it would be screwed, it doesn't mean we wouldn't fight for survival, I wouldn't endorse bugging in in an inner city in the worse case scenarios but you do have to face facts if for whatever reason bugging out is a no can do.