Bug out bags

[Backyard Bushcraft]

Ive been kicked out of bed this morning fo being "too warm to sleep with" so have spent the morning on you tube and been looking at the bug out bag kits on you tube which from what i gather is quite the american thing to do but interesting to see peoples kits!!
have a look if you get a chance!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZroZySBRug&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPTHv5vQzIY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGu65xXuZHA&feature=related
this ones a bit ott (paranoid american) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDKZmTxlt7A&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyvNNpLp-20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpnGUEOpzs4
these two are quite good and the best ones i've seen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Nz7M8Pdp4&feature=related
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/index.php/Forums.html
could go on forever posting up vids but have a nose around you may find something you dont carry and mite like to like a bazooka or some thing! but i seen one guy carried a mini pry bar which i thought would be jolly handy!

 

[Backyard Bushcraft]

looking around also lead me to this bit of you tube too not had chance to look at it proper yet but seems good! http://www.youtube.com/user/BushCraftBums

 

[MartinK9]

Not forgetting::

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrlluirGbRQ

 

[Backyard Bushcraft]

If anyone seen the mini pry bar and fancy's one ive found them here http://www.axminster.co.uk/product....aughan+Mini+Bar+&user_search=1&sfile=1&jump=0

 

[hiho]

your link to here just goes to the forums
also im sure B&Q sell mini pry bars as well

 

[British Red]

B&Q do - £2.99 in the "roughneck" range. Really handy bit of kit for pulling nails and the like -far batter than a claw hammer

 

[forestwalker]

My thinking about BOB is that either you go full paranoia mode and carry everything you would need to (1) make a run for the border or (2) survive/hide independently for a week (food, 24h water, etc), not forgetting the zombie killing tools and the triffid protective gear. Or you figure "what is the worst likely event?" and toss a decent first aid kit, a Trangia, a wool blanket, a poncho, a mora and a tin of baked beans in to the car, and hook a firesteel to your house keys and shove a SAK in your pocket. The final way is to assume that the likelyhood of something more serious than having a flat tyre or missing the last bus is minimal, so all you need is a candy bar (possibly) and a small headlamp. And a condom or two in case you meet a girls scout who is similarilly inclined (to quote the song).

If one lives well north of the Arctic circle, Somalia, or outback where-ever, or have a line of work where having to make a run for the border is likely the kit-list should be slightly different, of course. Most of us don't.

More fun is the purely hypothetical list of "if I was to go spend a year east of the Urals or west of James Bay, out in the bush the entire year, what would I pack?".

 

[Minotaur]

forestwalker,

I think you are missing the point of a BOB. The most it should have is the kit you need to survive for 72 hours.

The point is to practice and carry the stuff you need day in, and day out. Plus the stuff needed to get you home, if it all goes pete tong.

The point of being prepared is to have the stuff when you need it.

One of the things that drives me nuts is people who get headaces who do not carry tablets.

If you do it right a BOB should be a growing collection of 'Be Prepared' items, and food.

 

[forestwalker]

I think you are missing the point of a BOB. The most it should have is the kit you need to survive for 72 hours.

72 hours. Under what conditions? Normal-sane (no communist zombies from beyond the looking glass), fairly close to what passes for western civilization? Clothes I'm sitting in front of a computer in. Out in the woods around here? Same 8-10 months of the year. The firesteel and SAK, perhaps a piece of string (I'm the kind of person who allways have a piece of string on me) would make life easier, but is not essential except in winter, when an axe, a billy and a firesteel makes life ever so much easier.

The point is to practice and carry the stuff you need day in, and day out. Plus the stuff needed to get you home, if it all goes pete tong.

Clothes, Pretty much mandatory around here, for some silly reason. Is plastic an acceptable substitute for cab money (so that I can get home)? In winter it is different, then a bit of extra clothes, an axe and a foam mat makes life very much easier, as would a billy -- or reasonable substitute -- for melting snow. That kind of stuff is resident in the back of the car.

BTW, what does Petes underwear have to do with things? Or is it slang for something else? I carry the stuff I need, day in and day out: drivers license, petrol station card, USB stick with lesson plans and a red ballpoint pen in case I need to grade an exam. Some sort of multitool is usefull if one needs to fix a loose stage on a microscope, or open a few shipping boxes.

The point of being prepared is to have the stuff when you need it.

I've always been of the opinion that it is even better to have the skills when you need them. Kit is a convenience, and in some cases a crutch. Unless you are playing "14th company in NI" with your buddies. In which case I'd like an MP-5k, two spare mags, 2-3 field dressings, two flash-bangs and one CS container, please. And coms with a reaction force, if available.

One of the things that drives me nuts is people who get headaces who do not carry tablets.

I have a perfect headache remedy. A one shot treatment, no problems with the complaint reoccuring, and no patient has ever complained about side-effects; beheaded people seldom complain about side-effects.

If you do it right a BOB should be a growing collection of 'Be Prepared' items, and food.

Mine has been a shrinking collection of "Be Prepared" items, and food is optional for the first week unless I'm running from a Kzinti hunter force.

Basically I can't see the role that a BOB fullfills for 99.37% of people in Europe and N. America. Getting home? Wear good shoes and carry cab money. Food? A credit card valid at a large grocery chain will do fine.

 

[Tengu]

Unless theres an electricity blackout...you wil need cash.

Ive just been away all weekend on mine in relative (aside from the rain) comfort.

 

[Mikey P]

I've always been of the opinion that it is even better to have the skills when you need them. Kit is a convenience, and in some cases a crutch. Unless you are playing "14th company in NI" with your buddies. In which case I'd like an MP-5k, two spare mags, 2-3 field dressings, two flash-bangs and one CS container, please. And coms with a reaction force, if available.

And a Sig. Don't forget your Sig.

 

[Mikey P]

And a condom or two in case you meet a girls scout who is similarilly inclined (to quote the song).

Actually, now I am intrigued...I was in the cubs/scouts/venture scouts and I don't remember this song!

Without wishing to stereotype the Swedes, I assume that you have a more liberal attitude to sex, an attitude which Baden-Powell hadn't really given much thought to!

 

[forestwalker]

Actually, now I am intrigued...I was in the cubs/scouts/venture scouts and I don't remember this song!

I don't think it will be sung much in the cubs... The song is by Tom Lehrer, called "Be Prepared":
http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/t/tomlehrer3903/beprepared185518.html

Without wishing to stereotype the Swedes, I assume that you have a more liberal attitude to sex, an attitude which Baden-Powell hadn't really given much thought to!

I can't really speak for the scouts in Sweden, having left them after the first camp I went to (they weren't woodsy enought for 11 year old me), but one should note here that Swedish scouts are fully co-ed.

 

[forestwalker]

And a Sig. Don't forget your Sig.

Now you just make me want to spend the cash some decent airsoft/model guns and make a video of "my EDC kit", of course wearing a balaclava all the time.

 

[forestwalker]

Unless theres an electricity blackout...you wil need cash.

Ive just been away all weekend on mine in relative (aside from the rain) comfort.

True about the cash. But going away a weekend camping is different from "needing a BOB", and a well exercised piece of plastic could have set you up in comfort as well.

 

[The Lord Poncho]

I've got to say, i'm very surprised that everyone so far has been remiss enough to overlook the most essential of all post apocalypse items- a tin foil hat. To stop 'that there darn' UN' reading your brain waves.....

 

[MancsMan]

I don’t see a practical need for a specialised kit bag, my Belly Bag, together with my pockets would meet all the potential needs in the UK…

 

[calibanzwei]

http://www.edcforums.com/

For all your BOB needs

 

[Tengu]

Um, but I dont have any plastic to exercise...

 

[Mikey P]

Now you just make me want to spend the cash some decent airsoft/model guns and make a video of "my EDC kit", of course wearing a balaclava all the time.

Nah....I think we'd be straying onto the territory of other 'specialist' forums if we did that!

Anyway, do you mean you don't have a balaclava in your bug-out bag?

In all seriousness (for a change), I take the point about a bug-out bag being fairly redundant for most of us but, I guess it's like being in the Scouts - 'Be Prepared'. I feel pretty comfortable with a small Swiss Army Knife, some string and a firesteel in my jacket pocket but it could be argued that I'd be better off with a lighter. While I have the choice of being able to practice lighting something with a firesteel if I want to, the lighter is far more effective and efficient but it isn't as much fun!

Sometimes it's just nice to feel that you have a few items available 'just in case'. I suppose if we wanted to be brutally honest about our likely situations, most of us would need no more than a credit card and some cash. But that's not really bushcraft, is it? - no matter how sensible and logical the reasoning is.