How to Make your Hunting Camp a Bugout Location
OutdoorHub Reporters 08.16.18
Bugging out is nothing without rigorous planning. Simply put, if you are going to evade a serious disaster or the residual effects of that disaster you better have a few places in mind as a BOL or bugout location. If you are not prepared for that than you are not prepared.
Why would people waste their time creating a bugout plan and securing a bugout location?
Well, the idea is that escaping, by car or by foot, from a highly urbanized or even suburban area could be your best bet if we ever experience a collapse of civility. To stay around people is considered a death sentence as many of the people are simply not prepared to deal with a collapse. They will be desperate and do anything to survive.
The bugout plan works to get you out of the violence fast and, hopefully, to another secure location. That would be considered you BOL or bugout location.
The Harsh Reality of Choosing a Bugout Location
The struggle that most people face is they don’t have the money to invest in another home, cabin or even piece of land to call their bugout location. Even a small piece of rural land can run you over $5000. Less than %50 of Americans have more than $500 saved. Though the economy seems to be getting better the money Americans have is not growing.
This means the average person is left with very few options for a BOL.
The Bugout Hope
Thanks to men much more prescient than most today, we have large swaths of public land that can be used for many things. In essence these public lands are owned by the people. These include national, state parks and also wildlife management areas.
Every year hunters, trappers, fisherman and bird watchers explore these areas, camp in them and call them home for days at a time. Some are tens of thousands of acres in size! You might frequent one of these yourself and you may have a hunting camp as well.
If your hunting camp is a cabin or a swath of public land you can quickly turn that space into a bugout location.
Upgrading your Hunting Camp
There are some very simple things you can add to your hunting camp to assure it can double as a BOL. One of the first things to add is a collection of survival caches. These homemade resource containers have the ability to turn any area into one that is ready for survival and possible collapse.
Survival Cache
The basics of designing an effective survival cache are simple. You need an airtight, water tight vessel that is large enough for the things you want to store. What types of things should you store?
- SHELF STABLE FOODS
- AMMO
- GUNS
- SPARE SHOES
- CLOTHES
- WATER PURIFICATION
- WATER FILTERS
- FIRST AID
- FISHING GEAR
- TRAPS
You can get as fancy as you like in this regard. Just be sure that you have a good quantity of these items, so you can react and adapt in your new bug out location.
You can buy expensive containers that are large and very effective for use as a survival cache. If you are on a budget simply use some wide PVC pipe and cap both ends. Use some sealant and these should be ready to bury in no time. Fill the pipes with the above-mentioned items.
A great practice is to bury several small caches rather than one large one. This assures that even if one is found you will have plenty other resources around. You do not want to gamble the house on one big cache and find it has been damaged or stolen.
When hiding your survival caches be sure that you either mark a map or hide them near landmarks that you will never forget. If you cannot remember where you put your goods, what’s the point of having buried them in the first place.
Shelving
If you are lucky enough to have a physical location, be it a cabin or something else, you can make one substantial change that will affect everything. If you are looking to turn a hunting camp into a bugout location, the very best inclusion you can make is shelving.
The addition of shelving means you suddenly have a more efficient storage unit. You can use that shelving for all sorts of things. Your first mission will likely be to pile up a bunch of food and water. From here you can move into things like ammo or household supplies. First aid supplies aren’t a terrible thing to store either.
A simple hack to really maximize your space when it comes to storing first aid, lights, and preps in general is to invest in Rubbermaid containers that can be labeled. Store all lanterns, flashlights and other light sources in a bin called LIGHT. Make it simple and well organized. Do the same with other categories of preps
Powerful Communications
Beyond hiding and storing survival gear and resources, you are going to want to know what is going on out there. While the whole point of your hunting camp may be not to think about the outside world, turning it into a BOL will change all that.
Look to add things like police scanners and HAM Radio to the hunting camp. Be sure you have a way to connect with the world. You might want to look into something like a Gotenna, also, this could help you keep in contact with people close to you. Hopefully they will be there with you, but you never know.
Do not leave out communications when it comes to a bug out location. The more information you can gather on the disaster the better. You might even find out its safe to return to your home.
Conclusion
A hunting camp can pretty quickly become a bugout location. You can add the items you need to your location and you can also outfit that location to perform communications without much effort. The struggle will be to keep those items safe. Yes. I am talking security. Even when there is no disaster.
If someone wanders by your hunting camp and sees the shelves of food and electronics you might be setting yourself up for a break in. There are also crafty HAM enthusiasts that can triangulate your position and find your camp if you are broadcasting from it.
I love the idea of having a BOL and if you have a cabin or a hunting camp you should take advantage of it. Just keep security in mind before and after the collapse.
