Any fellow survivalists utilize their truck?

I actually made those for her with the urban camo 550 paracord when I was making pulls for some rifle bags.

 

My buddy in FL did mine. Added a removeable carry handle also.

 

My survivalist friends and I are doing a full BOB shakedown with a 3 day no-food survival hike this May. Our goal is to test out our latest refinements of our BOBs and put them to a true field test again to see how they perform. I'm ready to go and can't wait, but the other 2 in the group are still purchasing refinements and missing goods.

Rules are simple. Has to be a true BOB that you would have packed at all times, not tailored for a camping trip per se. No lighters/matches or fuels allowed. No weight limit to your bag, but we're shooting for a target weight max of 25#. All contents must be inside the bag, not attached to the outside of the bag for the first mile of the hike (the point of this is that you don't want a BOB in your back seat with all sorts of visible treasures attached to it for thieves to covet). All participants must be fully self-sufficient - no sharing of gear in the group - so we can simulate a solo bug-out situation. We are starting the hike with only 1 32oz bottle of water, no more than that. Any other water must be secured in the field. One 3600 calorie Datrex bar allowed, but only to be used in an a medical emergency and not for hunger.

The reason we aren't doing fuels is because we live in AZ and you can't leave a BOB out in your truck in the summer heat and have fuels inside. The fire danger is too high. Our goal is to continue to refine our bags for our climate, and to ensure it's a bag we can truly keep with us at all times in our vehicles. We figure 3 days is a safe timeframe to go with no food, and filterable water will be no more than 2 miles in any direction at any time. We'll be within 10 miles of well-used forest roads at all times just in case of emergency.

Our 2nd day will be spent at one spot, practicing snares, foraging edibles, shelter building, fire skills, navigation, and other bushcraft. Days 1 and 3 will be travel days, but for only about 2/3 of the day. This will be a woods trip at 7000' elevation, and future trips will be at different times of year both in the low desert and in the mid climates.

 

Sounds cool, but no ferro rods either? Or just no lighters or matches? Every BOB should have a ferro rod, at minimum.

 

Ferro rods for sure! I carry at least 2 and at least 1 magnifying lens. I'm going to be testing out some inert fire gel on wet wood, but aside from that, all fuels must be gathered in the field. We're going to be practicing bow drills and other methods out there, so lighters and matches seemed too simple. The gel won't light with spark, just like a candle, but once it gets burning with open flame it gets really hot. Still requires an actual flame to ignite it. Military folks would probably know what it is. I just recently learned about it.

Cooking will all be done over open flame or in wood-burning backpacking stoves. Some home-made hobo stoves will be coming along with some of the guys.

 

Yea I bowdrill all my fires but always have magnesium and a bic as backup.

If you run across some yucca or sage will you mail me as much as you can lol? That shit is perfect for friction fire. Almost too easy.

 

I'm the first to admit that bowdrills are a pain in the ass when you have other things to do. Just tedious, but a necessary skill to practice. Different results every time depending on wood availability and conditions.

No yucca or sage at that altitude and in that part of AZ. I have sage in my front yard landscaping, and yucca isn't far away but usually at slightly higher altitude than where I live. Where we'll be, we will be dealing almost strictly with pine and oak, with a small variety of shrubbery that will be decent for the drill.

 

Stay inside.

 

That's my plan. I'm bugging-in with the old lady & the dogs unless something forces us out. If things get so bad that the only option is to bug out we'll likely head a couple of hours to my buddy's land in rural Nebraska. The next move will likely be out of the country if that won't suffice. I don't foresee too many situations where bugging-in won't be the better option for us.

 

Absolutely. Its those get-home situations that matter, or the "I was out wheeling in the middle of nowhere and my truck broke down" situations. Luckily I work from home now, so all of my gear is in the garage and around the house. Before, my commute was 26 miles one-way so I carried my BOB as my GHB. Change of clothes, basic shelter, food reserves, etc. so I could make it across Phoenix on the outskirts and stay off the main roads.

 

Makes perfect sense. I just read too many guys who it seems their reaction to just about any SHTF situation is to buy out. That's all you hear. Bug out, bug out, bug out. Personally, my home is a fortified fort on the outskirts of a relatively small city just in the foothills of a decent neighborhood full of gun loving respectable human beings. I've got a dozen security cameras and know every square inch of this house and could run through it with my eyes closed. I know all the sounds and what they mean and have a decent amount of just about anything anyone could need to live on for quite some time. My best chances for survival for my wife, the dogs and I is right here in this house. I think too many people romanticize the idea of bugging out and most have never even camped. It's not something you want to do unless you have to and shorter periods are better. I've got a few necessary things in my vehicles and on my person to get whatever it is I need to maintain survival during a bug-out en route to my secluded rural bug-in location. If the foreseeable future is long-term bugging out I'm looking for methods of leaving the country.

 

I need to setup a truck bag.

 

No, we got it.

 

I love to camp, but I'm like you where I'm not bugging out unless my house burns down or there's total anarchy. Backup plan is a hardened bugout location 32 miles away in a remote area. My friends and I already have a plan to take it by force if we have to, because it's in such a good spot. Year-round spring, room to farm, cattle and game everywhere, and totally set back out of the way for easy protection. 2 day's walk, take it over on day 3 after resting. Last resort option, of course.

 

Yeah.. We got it.

 

Same. I bought my current house because I saw its potential, and I've spent the last couple of years getting it up to snuff for long-term living without outside assistance. Wood heat, backup hand pump for the well, lots of garden space, a rainwater collection system, etc. Plus it's on a dead-end road with decent neighbors and it's not near any major roads.
The old house was nice and new, but it was a prepper's nightmare. Situated in a development a stone's throw from the interstate and had no option for 'no power' heating, plus a few of the neighbors were the confrontational type during the best of times.

Edit- I plan to bug in unless something happens to make that more dangerous than bugging out. Therefore, pretty much everything in my truck bag is geared towards getting back to my house (A GHB).

 

x2.

Not sure why everyone thinks their 'hood is going to be ground zero for whatever zombie, nuclear impact, invasion etc scenario. More than likely, you're better off in your defendable home. The only advantage to bugging out is mobility. Problem is, the more mobile your are, the less stuff you have.

1st. plan should be to bug in and hunker down. You're much better off coordinating with your neighbors, you know the people you live next to right now, and pool resources and man power. Much better off in numbers. You don't have to give up ALL your personal resources to the pool. Have a "good neighbor" stash of supplies ready.