I have heard of many people saying when it all goes down their "heading for the hills" and just where in those hills are they planing to go? That someone else is not already there. In the state which we live in there is just over 5.4 million people (Numbers from State Census) and what are you going to eat when you get there I ask? "I'll shoot a deer to eat when I get there!" There is about 1 million deer in our state (number from the State's Department of Natural Resources) by that math 4.4 million will go hungry right away and 1 million will go hungry in just a couple of weeks.
Others who thought leaving was a good idea!
If your bug out location is an hour away by vehicle and you have to make it on foot, you're most likely not going to make it. The average ground gained in a day during World War II was only a couple of miles a day, your average Wagon Train covered 12 to 20 miles a day this was on good days were weather permitted and others were not trying to take what you have away, and no traffic. If your bug out location is 60 to 70 miles away or even further and your on foot with children odds are your not going to make it. There will be others out there along the way not as prepared as you are. And you are in the open on unfamiliar ground and they will out number you and take what you have for their own and leave you and yours with out or dead.
Could this be you and your Family
In the current world situation where there is armed conflict going on, there is just over 60 million people listed in refugee status, these are people that left there homes to move to some place they felt was safer It is believed that many other didn't make it and meet their fate along the way listening to their tales of love ones lost along the way and those that did make it are now left with their fate in the hands of charity or others.
There is nowhere you can really go that other like minded people haven't thought of as well. Think of it like this, you know of an old cabin way back in the woods, there are others that may know of the same old cabin back in the woods that you are unaware of.
The amount of supplies you would need to carry will not be enough if you were to bug out and you had to stop along the way due to injury, illness, or break down, had to detour your route due to traffic, riots, bridges being out or as a control check point stopping all traffic. Or you have to finish your trek on foot. Unless you have supplies stocked piled at your bug out location, unless you have caches along your route and if your route is detoured for any reason then getting to those caches will be difficult to get to.
Casual talking with your local store clerk
Maintaining your current location and a bug out location can be taxing on your time, energy and your wallet and any other resources that you have. This takes twice the effort when you could be focusing on one location. It is very difficult to secure two different locations when you are at only one of them at a time. You could have a well supplied bug out location only to find out that someone else moved themselves in before you got there. All the multiple times that you have traveled to and from your bug out location, to maintain, improve and to supply it other may have been watching that you were not aware of. You have to remember there is not very much you can do without someone knowing or watching what you're doing. Not to mention that we have an unconscious need to share about what were doing "What are you doing this weekend?" reply "Oh the family and I are going to the cabin this weekend it's just off the lake." You just don't know how much information you actually give up in general conversation with others we talk to. This conversation could lead up to it's location, by talking about the fishing, hunting or just "How nice and quite it is there". This person now knows you have a cabin and where it is and in a time of need and despair they may head there for their own needs.
If you feel you have to have a bug out to another location then make it a family members location. Mom and Dad's place in the country. Or your Uncle"s and Aunt's, Brother, Sister or even a Cousin's place anywhere you can have numbers on your side. You can't do it alone You can't be the "Lone Wolf"! You can't hunt, fish, farm, split wood or much of anything else without having help with security, or someone else keeping an eye out for trouble. If it's just you and your loved one with children, you can't stay awake forever. Security is a 24 hours 7 days a week 52 weeks a year thing. If it is your turn on security then you have focus on that task and that task alone, you can't hoe the garden and also be watching for the bad guys. Remember "Many hands makes lite work"
Our location is in a very small farming town, where we have a Doctor's office and a Dentist's office as well as other resources and here is where we are staying and family members will be coming here as a safe and secured location if such an event were to force them to leave their homes. It's far enough away from any major city if such an event was to rise up we would not be over run by hoards of people trying to leave the cities due to it's not along a major highway.
Yet close enough for the ones we love to reach us within a few days. Bugging in isn't always an option, but a plan now is. Either way (bugging in or out) now is the time to find routes, gather medical supplies and have a food/water plan for everyone at the location plus 5. Family may bring friends. Always over prep at the location you choose.
