Discussion
ApOrbital said:
To be honest thats how I discovered preppers and what bug out bags etc were. I was interested in history or more to the point how people used to live and survive in the past. Ray Mears released a number of TV programs which showed how people used to live using bushcraft skills which are still practiced by some indigenous people today, how they foraged for food, hunted, how they made shelter etc. I found it interesting. Bug out bags and/or the people who put them together tend to rely on similar techniques and as anyone who has watched a Youtube video knows it loads a similar video after the one you have watched and the two are very similar. A lot of bug out bags or 72 hour bags as some call them lend heavily on bushcraft knowledge. If there is a natural disaster or other disturbance could you walk out of it and survive for a few days to get to safety based on what you carried on your back, which is exactly what bushcraft is about. In some of the wide open expanses of America prone to hurricanes or other natural disasters, it may be something that could affect you and it might be an idea to be prepared to exit to a safer location.
A lot of posters on this thread like myself live in the UK where nothing ever really happens. Ok the odd flood but nothing very serious like your house getting knocked down and people are quickly on the scene to take you to somewhere dry and safe. But its still an interesting subject none the less.
ApOrbital said:
Cotty i do not have a bug out bag just water and a tent and a sleeping bag in the boot of my car.
Sorry I was not implying anything. I was just using your link to show the similarities of a bug out bag to how people could survive for a couple of days if someones situation took a down turn.
get some more pictures up of your take aways 
Anyone got any suggestions when in say the last 100 years in uk or USA prepping would have been useful?
I'm thinking the serious prep - move family to remote location, prepare for at least a year type of stuff; not the sensible weather related stuff we've previously discussed.
I can't come up with anything....even during the war we managed to feed the UK population via rationing etc....
Any ideas..?
Also during the war hiding out meant you would be a deserter/draft dodger...
I'm thinking the serious prep - move family to remote location, prepare for at least a year type of stuff; not the sensible weather related stuff we've previously discussed.
I can't come up with anything....even during the war we managed to feed the UK population via rationing etc....
Any ideas..?
Also during the war hiding out meant you would be a deserter/draft dodger...
5ohmustang said:
On a large scale Argentina 2001, The Great Depression, WW2, Cuba post collapse of the USSR, Hurricane Katrina, Andrew, Sandy, The winter of discontent, American indians.
In the vast majority of those a credit card would have been of FAR more use than some "bug out" kit. And, given that Native Americans pretty much lived exactly the lifestyle so beloved of Preppers how much more Prepping should they have done?5ohmustang said:
Rationing during the world wars was made possible through homesteads and farms growing, harvesting and preserving food for rationing. Programs like War Garden demonstrated that. There were firearm donation programs from the US to the UK so that the British public could arm themselves as British Ordnance facilities could not satisfy the demand.
And absolutely none of that bears any relationship to individual prepping. That is more an example of how well-ordered societies operate. An individual prepper isn't going to donate his food supply to somebody who needs it more. A thousand individual preppers aren't going to either. It takes a collective approach (requiring some form of Government) to do the above.Apologies if I've misunderstood and you weren't giving these as examples of the need for prepping.
jdw100 said:
Anyone got any suggestions when in say the last 100 years in uk or USA prepping would have been useful?
I'm thinking the serious prep - move family to remote location, prepare for at least a year type of stuff; not the sensible weather related stuff we've previously discussed.
I can't come up with anything....even during the war we managed to feed the UK population via rationing etc....
I think, in any of the disaster scenarios envisaged, the safest response is via co-ordinated action. Individual survivalism may help out in the very short term (ie you go and hide until the war is over) but whatever catastrophe has happened will need somebody to get off their arses and fix it. I'm thinking the serious prep - move family to remote location, prepare for at least a year type of stuff; not the sensible weather related stuff we've previously discussed.
I can't come up with anything....even during the war we managed to feed the UK population via rationing etc....
Alternatively you can go and hide in some remote cave with your 52 weeks supply of pot noodles and hope somebody ELSE fixes things so you can come back to civilisation.
5ohmustang said:
On a large scale Argentina 2001, The Great Depression, WW2, Cuba post collapse of the USSR, Hurricane Katrina, Andrew, Sandy, The winter of discontent, American indians.
Prepping can be any form of preparing for hard times, without even realising it. It was part of our ancestors lifestyles, the only difference being the term survivalist or prepper was not coined.
In what way would prepping as you describe it be more successful in the wake of Katrina than a more standard-issue "get in the car, get a motel in a non flooded area, eat food from the supermarket" approach?Prepping can be any form of preparing for hard times, without even realising it. It was part of our ancestors lifestyles, the only difference being the term survivalist or prepper was not coined.
I don't think that anyone is suggesting that laying aside some food for a few days in case of bad weather, and having a flashlight and portable stove in case of a power out, is a bad idea, but I just cannot envisage needing a "bug-out bag" anywhere in the civilised world.
Exceptions:
Australians keep a box with important documents, photos, valuables etc near the door in case they need to evacuate for a bush fire. Sensible enough.
If you live in a country with significant civil unrest and near civil war, then it's *probably* worth keeping a bag and a firearm near the exit, along with an escape plan, if there is a reasonable possibility that you'll need it.
If you're a mountaineer in the winter mountains, take winter survival gear and food. If you're in the Canadian north where there are grizzlies, take a gun. If you're on Baffin Island and there are polar bears, definitely take a gun.
But Oregon, between March and October? Nah.
Countdown said:
Would a credit card not achieve the same outcome but more efficiently?
Credit cards are not very useful if there are no shops open. Plus in a reasonably populated area you don't think other people would be trying to buy "spare clothes, food, water, the basics" queues etc and that is if they have power to run the tills. Better to just have it prepared to grab and go.Cotty said:
Credit cards are not very useful if there are no shops open. Plus in a reasonably populated area you don't think other people would be trying to buy "spare clothes, food, water, the basics" queues etc and that is if they have power to run the tills. Better to just have it prepared to grab and go.
When was the last time in the last 2000 years when there were "no shops open"?ETA I was responding to 5oh's post about Hurricane katrina. I don't disagree that some cataclysmic event which results in the complete and total shutdown of "Society" could happen. However, IF something like that happens, it's better to be with a group of like-minded people working towards a solution than in a remote wilderness surrounded by a year's supply of dried pasta.
Edited by Countdown on Sunday 3rd July 16:52
Countdown said:
When was the last time in the last 2000 years when there were "no shops open"?
I agree if you want to be silly and state that there will always be a shop open somewhere in the world due to time differences. However lots of shops do close, walk down any UK highstreet at 10pm and see how many shops are open. Plus if there is no power to run the tills or the shops are closed as they are under 3 foot of water, or like Katrina the shops have been knocked down, you will not be able to buy anything.
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