Some Myths About Bugging Out on Foot

Great read, thank you!

 

I think that the old statement that the correct name for a man bugging out without a known destination to go to is a refugee will never change. The present world situation indicates the folly of that solution and renews my desire to bug in if at all possible, either at home or a predetermined location.

 

Bugging out on foot would be best done by a single highly skilled man or woman who can live off the land or a small team trained well in evasion and scavenging tactics. Sadly for us my wife has had her left ankle destroyed by a surgeon who didnt have a clue and now she is disabled. The only way to move her is by some wheeled vehicle . She can use a bike or a mini bike or small motorcycle. I have been looking at small Honda mini bikes and thinking about attaching tiny little trailers to them . For us though think the best way to bug out would be a very small all wheel drive Van pulling my little 6 foot trailer. I could put our canoe on the roof of the trailer and pack that little bugger with enough food and supplies to go a very long way. However that would put us on the roads for the most part. Mules would be an option. Two for riding and two for pack. Cant really carry enough on mountain bikes. Keeping 4 mules though would be tough here.

 

I think for me the biggest problem with walking out is that I just cant carry enough supplies to go very far. Ammo for instance. Even if I carried a .22 rifle and handgun I could only carry about 500 to a 1000 rounds if I wanted water filters, dry food, fire starter, tent, blanket tools, Knife, first aid kit extra clothes etc. You can only go so far with what you can carry. You are forced to scavenge and harvest as you go and that is the variable you can not control. While there may be game in one state it may all be gone in another. Hunting is labor intensive and can require days to get a meal. Fishing can be a good way to get some protein but that is also more to pack out as are traps and things like cordage , wire , etc. I think for most average people bugging out on foot is fools errand. I could probably last a month or two if I didn't get Killed along the way. I have tried the survival challenge living off the land with no tools or shelter and made it a few days until it rained. I think the biggest myth of all is that using some para cord and a Knife you can build a bow and arrows to take game before you starve to death. I tried it and failed to build a bow that was accurate enough to hit anything and didnt have enough power to kill if it did. Now living in an area where Cane grows would help as would an area where good bow making wood was available. The area I chose had nothing. There were no straight arrow shafts, turkey feathers, or arrow head materials anywhere to be found. I got one shot at a Squirrel and missed by several feet. I was able to make a fishing pole and caught a few brook trout to eat. All I had was my Knife, a lighter and some cordage. Fish line and a couple hooks. I boiled creek water in an old beer can .

 

Could you bug out by canoe?

 

I carry tin snips with me, to make arrow heads. I also make survival strings, which is really long flemish twist string with a single loop, so that you can adjust it to length of the survival bow by adjusting the height of the bottom twist. I also carry at least a multitool to help make shafts in a hurry. IF you have the time in an area, post SHTF, you can also bait scavenger birds in with rotting meat, and kill or trap them to pluck feathers.

You might be surprised to hear it, but many native tribes and europeans did not striaghten shafts, but mass produced them but catting out a section of straight grained tree, and then batoning slightly oversized shaft "blanks". Then you just work the edges down to a round shape, and tie them into bundles to dry.

Also, in the Eastern US, canoes/watercraft were the primary mode of distance travel into the War for Southern Independence.

 

I would take too the water in a split second, Think of all the hiding places normally out of reach from the masses!

 

I have not yet met anyone on any survival board or archery site that has a kill shot on film using a field expedient bow made from stuff like para cord and sticks. I have done a lot of searches as well. There are very few guys out there that have even taken deer with stone heads and all hand made bows but these are not field expedient. They took years to build and perfect. I challenge anyone anywhere . To take a knife some para cord and a couple days food into my woods in Michigan. Make a bow from the materials here and kill anything before they start starving. It is harder to hit a squirrel or rabbit then a deer. I can post video after video of failures. It is the biggest myth out there and glorified by many who think they can make their own arrows from sticks and take down deer . Indians learned from the elders and spent years learning how to build their bows, how to work with sinew and stone. VERY FEW people today have the skills to do this. Get a 22 rifle ad stock a lot of ammo. Better yet raise animals and grow food. Bugging out is a fools errand.

 

There is guy who was on Naked and Afraid who had a deer hunting video out for several years that seems to be taken off the net now that he was on television. But he does a great job getting into position to take a small doe with his stone broad head and self bow . He gets like a 7 yard shot and the arrow almost bounces off the deer. It sticks in just far enough to break off the broad head ,leaving it in the deer which runs off and gets away. Zero to little penetration. There about a dozen guys out now who have kill shots on deer using Hand made self bows but these are Osage , Yew AND OTHER GOOD SEASONED WOODS. These bows took months to build and tune. The arrows are works of art that you dont build in the woods. I am a deer hunter with over a hundred kills and about half of those were taken with bows. I know what it takes to kill one. Nothing wrong with learning the skills to build traditional bows and arrows. But that isnt field expedient. as Bruce would say , JUST SAYIN.

 

We have discussed this before. I do not film hunts, I quite simply can't afford the cameras, nor were they readily available when I was in my 20's. (I'm in my 50's now)
I did this in Ohio. I took a 4 point buck at 7 yards with a bootlace, and knife, over a long camping weekend. Stealth matters more than the bow. It can be done.

 

Does it need to be a bow? Or will a crossbow suffice? I can try and embarrass myself in the upcoming hunting season. I like challenges, especially ones my skill set is only minimally up for on stuff like this.

Does it have to be a "normal" field expedient bow, or can I use my normal kit? I usually take stuff along for stuff like this because experience has taught me that something always goes wrong with your main weapon.

 

I ask about the crossbow because I am going to build one as a personal training thing for a book I am working on. Details and all that.

 

I've built a crossbows from the leaf spring of a truck. What he wants is proof that a man with just what he carries in, (string/knife, axe whatever) can build a bow and take game. And he wants it on film, because he doesn't believe it can be done.

 

Since our new home and our BOL are one in the same now, the only bugging out we're going to be doing on foot might be to the stand of woods over yonder till the mutant zombie bikers get done looting our stuff and raping our animals.

That said, my bigger concern is "getting home" from work or elsewhere, which, according to Murphy, is where we'll probably be if SHTF. My job is 15 miles away, rural for the most part and a fairly easy hike with my Go bag. (Yeah, I do it once in a while just for kicks). My wife, OTH, is about 20 miles away and has to navigate her way through the hood for the first 5 miles or so. If she gets through that, the rest of the way isn't too bad, but will take her a good two days I figure. My worst nightmare would be us being caught out visiting at one of our family's homes in the urban areas, all of which are a good 50 miles away. But even at that distance, I see no need to take one of them Ohio deer with a bootlace and my knife. With my luck I'd come across one of them bucks I nailed with a paintball gun over the years and he'd go all Bambo on me.

 

I'll see if I can get something rigged up.

 

Keep in mind, it only has to draw and fire once. The rest is up to the hunter.

 

Field expedient means you build it from the stuff you find in the woods. I see this type of myth posted over and over on survival forums. The myth is that you go out into the average woods with knife and some para cord and build a bow and arrows that will feed you before you stave to death. Unless you try this in an area abundant with good bow making materials it ISNT going to happen for 99.9% of the people. If you can build a crossbow from what you find in the woods by all means show us It is hard enough to hit and kill animals with modern Archery equipment. Traditional archery and field expedient are two totally different things.

Kellory , it is not that I dont believe it can be done . The myth is that anyone can walk out into the woods carve a bow and kill something. It is my belief that 99.9% of people trying this are going to fail to make a kill before they starve to death. Now with food supplies and time to build a good self bow and some accurate arrows the percentage starts to swing. Indians for instance had mentors teaching the young bucks how to strengthen and wrap the wood using materials like Sinew. They practiced their craft and honed those skills. There are very few people in the world today who could pull it off. Bundle bows and other nonsense have never shown a kill shot on film yet they film the bows being made and the process and then try and sell you the dvd.

Again to be clear, I am sure I could build a nice Osage self bow and some cane arrows in my shop given a good video on how to do it and lots of good tools. Im sure I could even make stone broad heads and I have geese all over my yard for feathers. However just 5 miles from my home is a federal forest where I tried to find materials and it was a complete failure. There was nothing to work with. No feathers, not one stick straight enough for an arrow shaft. I did get a bow stick that pulled about 30 pounds and I actually got a close shot at a squirrel which I missed by several feet.

 

Okay. I fully accept your challenge. Will stills of the "victim" be good enough, or do I need to rope somebody into filming me full time?
It may be a bit because of some personal issues and waiting on hunting season, but I like the challenge.

Any tool limitations? Or just my BOB?

 

Kingfish, I don't know if you have a Tractor Supply store near you, I've been looking at the neat all terrain bike they sell, Just throwing it out there.

 

Long, long ago (but not in a galaxy far, far away) I took a survival course and we did pretty well for 10 days with snares. We didn't do it but I have seen accounts of even taking deer with them.