Practice bug out 0600hrs

Discussion in 'General Survival and Preparedness' started by wrc223, Aug 30, 2012.


  1. wrc223

    wrc223 Monkey+

    Tomorrow morning (8/31) at 0600 we will be having a practice bug out. As much as I hate the thought of a bug out, I know it needs to be planned and practiced. So, first thing we are loading up and headding for the hunting property. Very high ground covered in densely packed hardwoods and a heavy underbrush in large areas. 3 natural springs (one runs year round) and a static water supply.
    There are already two existing camps up there, one primitive cabin built with hand tools, logs, and slabwood. The other is an open pole barn with a slanted roof to cover the camper. We will probably spend the first two nights there and the next one (or two) at the primitive camp.
    I plan on improving security and deterrent items this weekend. Got to, hunting season is right around the corner. Figure I can complete many tasks this weekend as I have 4 others that are attending (they just dont know it yet). The wife and kids dont know it yet either, they think we are doing home/farm projects this weekend. Shotgun goes off and alarm sounds at 0600.
    I am gonna toss and turn all night like an 8 year old waiting for Christmas morning!
     
  2. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Man, I hope you've done a dry run of this, or you could become, ah, ostracized at home and wind up in the camp alone. "This is no drill" is a bad thing if never practiced, instant chaos, much h and d.
     
    tulianr likes this.
  3. wrc223

    wrc223 Monkey+

    Oh, we have done the classroom work, the pre-plan, and we have done weekend bug outs plenty of times. We typically only do a 24 hour stay (I may stay out a week or two). We are leaving tomorrow morning and wont be back till tuesday (maybe monday). I am currently printing out some materials we will be going over out in the field. Wife and kids are all 100% involved in everything and the youngins have skills. I have 4 other very close friends who will go at the drop of a hat. Dont matter if its a practice bug out or a Maine black bear hunt for a week, they drop and go (they have jobs that allow them great flexibility).
    I gots things squared away. ;)
     
  4. JABECmfg

    JABECmfg multi-useless

    Cool! You're going to tell us how it went when you get back, right?
     
  5. tulianr

    tulianr Don Quixote de la Monkey

    If I fired a shotgun, and woke my wife up at 6:00 a.m., there had better be incoming targets for her to shoot at. Otherwise, I would become the target of choice in short order.
     
    oldawg, BTPost and Jeff Brackett like this.
  6. Witch Doctor 01

    Witch Doctor 01 Mojo Maker

    If i fired a shotgun at 0600 there better be bears in her bee hives.....
     
  7. mysterymet

    mysterymet Monkey+++

    Wake my butt up on a saturday at 0600 and it better be teotwawki...
     
  8. TXKajun

    TXKajun Monkey+++

    I think this is a great idea! I'd love to do the same with Sweetie and Bunny, but 1) we don't have any place to bug out to and 2) Bunny'd have a conniption w/o his games for a whole weekend! LOL j/k!!!

    Seriously, tho, we've talked about doing a "bug in" weekend where we turn off the master breaker and see how we do from Friday evening till Sunday evening. So far, just in the planning stages, especially since it's getting up to 100+ every day. Yeah, I know, TEOTWAWKI won't wait till a nice day!

    Kajun
     
    tulianr and mysterymet like this.
  9. jasonl6

    jasonl6 Monkey+++

    Any update on how this went? What things stuck out as neeedd most?

    Jason
     
  10. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Has to be a KOA someplace not too far off that can give you an idea if what's in the BoB is adequate.
     
  11. wrc223

    wrc223 Monkey+

    .........and were back.

    Wife wakes me up at 0514 with a glass of water over my head (yeah, she's one of those) and say "okay big boy, I know you are up to something". I am standing in the middle of the bedroom shaking like a dog shitten razorblades cuz that water was freekin COLD. Now I have a reason to bug out.....to keep from getting a murder 1 charge.
    After lookin her over I go from p.o.'ed to ready to get this thing started (she was dressed to move out... right down to laced boots).

    Feel free to ask any follow up questions and I will share what I am comfortable with.

    We grabbed our camping gear then headded out. The b.o.l. is 27 miles away. I can cut the distance by 9 miles if I go by horse, foot, atv, tractor, etc. We arrived at the primary camp and opened up the place (set up safety area and secure water/sanitation). After that we recieved the rest of the happy campers over the course of two and a half hours (well within the 4 hour agreed meetup window). We then selected scenerios to run and chores to do from the hat. Half the campers went to do chores and the others started using skill sets and teaching others those skills. We have a couple people who are really into archery...... I mean REALLY into it. They spend thousands anually on archery related things (luckily he has a LOT to share/lend). They were teaching others (and me) how to shoot or how to improve and they were using everything from longbows and recurves to brand new mathews bows and crossbows. I had a tomahawk throw set up that was also used for knife throwing by others (I just cant get it right, I can throw hawk like nobodys business but the knife eludes me). We also had some chemistry classes set up and practical usage in treating water for drinking.
    Chores included expanding water capacity (hey you can never have enough water, right), setting up multiple lighting options, securing the southeastern edge of the property (mostly tractor time, 1 operator with a quarter hour safety check by second camper), harvesting whatever edibles that were ready to use, and I wanted to closely examine all of my work done up there thus far. Everything is working well and has no issues except some of the recycled tin roofing over the lean to is leaking in the front. More of a nusance than a problem but a follow up visit will be done before winter with a new roof sheet. This is a pretty large lean to and it is in the center of the camp. 8'x19' front with a 2' knee wall in the back. Back is closed off and there are two compartments made virtually rodent proof and semi-watertight (will tolorate heavy rain and mountains of snow but not full submergance). Then there are storage cabinets in between and outfacing shelves for putting gear on if you are staying in there. Sides and back are 2 layers of various sized logs standing upright with 4x4's for the roof. Off the side is a hanging rack for processing deer, cows, pigs, etc with a fold down 3'x6' table and a wash basin.
    By end of day one all objectives were met. Everything worked well and we had some good learnings.

    More to follow from the rest of the weekend but I have to get ready for a Dept. mtg. and I have been a.w.o.l. since thursday evening so I gotta get ready.
     
    BTPost likes this.
  12. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Leanto facing into or away from the prevailing wind? Anyway to secure the outward facing shelves?
     
  13. TXKajun

    TXKajun Monkey+++

    ghrit, that's a great idea! In fact, we've got one about 12 miles north of town, on a nice lake. Maybe when it starts to cool off a bit...like late October or early November.

    Thanks!

    Kajun
     
  14. wrc223

    wrc223 Monkey+

    ghrit,
    Facing away, I also have a canvas tarp that can cover the entire front from Panther Primitives and no. Typically the shelves are used for the organized and accessable short term storage of gear.

    Part II: Saturday, 0530.
    All the campers start off day two. Today we will hunt and prepare small game for tonights dinner. Two hunting parties of two set out on a pre-determined loop and stop at areas of known squirrel concentrations. Gather 6-8 squirrels/team and return to camp. While hunting parties are out we examined all stored items in camp. Some items have been stored there for an extended period of time. Beans, rice, canned corn, canned tomatoes, and canned green beans have all been stored for extended periods of time. Rotated stock and used old stock to prepare with squirrels. Other supplies are also inspected and changed out. At 11:00 I sent a fishing party up to the pond for some bullhead.
    Sent a team to the #3 and #2 water supplies to make sure everything is in working order. In the past these springs have tested well for drinking water. Problem is, some new people live uphill and I want to ensure they arent spillin anything bad. These springs also freeze up in winter so they are not primary water sources. While I do have my water supplies numbered, they are numbered according to order they were found not in degree of importance.
    For the afternoon most of us worked on trapping and snare skills. We did set some up and did have success in obtaining critters when they were checked the next day. While we did that some other campers wanted to take the oppertunity to enhance their work from Friday. I am incredibly pleased with their efforts. We have a very safe and happy campground now. Ease of movement and the ability to be protected as you move from campsite to campsite.
    While the cooking crew worked to prepare the evenings feast consisting of squirrels w/ beans and rice, canned veggies, two bullheads smoked over apple wood, and flatbread, the rest of us went down to the range for a little target practice and sporting clays.
    After dinner three scouting parties were assembled and sent on three different trails to move ahead to the primitive camp. Half will set up camp at the primitive site and send a runner back to meet up with the rest of us at first light. For everyone else it is clean-up, secure for skeleton crew, and get some sleep.....tomorrow will be busy.

    Part III preview. Medical knowledge put to test because of supidity. G'nite everyone!;)
     
    Jeff Brackett likes this.
  15. wrc223

    wrc223 Monkey+

    Okay, sorry, it's been a couple days. Had a fire the other night, mtg. night before that, work, kids.......you know the drill.

    So, it's Sunday morning and it is still dark. Lots of movement just below our camp about 75 yards. Loud enough to wake me and two others and have the watchman already focused on the area with............. ummm...... binoculars. All he kept wispering was holy sheeeeeee-it. I immediately knew what he was looking at. A heard of whitetail deer were headding out of the thick brush and down to the water. Well, wouldnt you know one of our more....shall we say simple campers thinks he is going to speer one and heads out in silent persuit. I told the others to stay in camp because who the heck knows what Dug (yeah, it is spelled Dug, not Doug) will end up doing.
    So another camper and I decided to start our day by makin some cowboy coffee. That is where you use your bow drill and start a smokey fire and boil down some crushed coffee beans in a tin cup. Dont laugh, if you get some good beans you can make a coffee better than a coffee house. A hit of raw sugar and milk straight from a cow tit and you are good to go!! So now the sun is starting to peak over the horizon and we gather in camp for fellowship. After prayer we go over to the great table for breakfast. Just then Dug comes back, kinda. We heard him ask for a little assistance. Dug learned some incredibly important lessons. Remember back when I told you about the REALLY steep incline we need rigging to get some stuff up? Well ole Dug didnt remember when he was running through the woods in the dark trying to run down bambi. Now, I know what you are probably thinking. Why in the heck would wrc have such an obvious idiot in his group. Well, there are a few things Dug is good really exceptional at. One is manual labor. You could point to a 3000 sq.ft. house give him a half dozen hand tools and tell him to tear the whole thing down in a week by himself and he would have it done. Two is make any motor run no matter if it is 19hp Briggs and Scrap iron or a Detroit 60 all while working out of a 10'x10' Sears tin shed. Three is hit anything he points his rifle at. Anything else and it is like trying to corral Forrest Gump jacked up on about a dozen red bulls but his strengths and the sheer "holy smokes did you just see what that idiot did" value of having him around makes it very worth it.
    Dug sprained his left knee and ankle, had lacerations and abbrasions from his left ankle to his left armpit, bruise to his right cheek, a bloody nose, and a laceration to the scalp. Time to multitask. I had to take this as an oppertunity to do a few things. I need to let people use their first aid skills, teach Dug a lesson, run a scenerio for evac of an injured man, and learn what I will need to get/prep for this in the future above or different than what I have already done.
    So, medical to tend to Dug while we work out a plan. We opted with a good level of security to move him so that way we could rotate guys through carrying the stretcher. This would also give the ones staying in camp an oppertunity to operate camp (water, sanitation, cooking, splitting, mending, repairing, keeping secure, etc.) on a bare bones crew. While camp can be maintained easily (like an hour or two worth of chores) if only sustaining a half dozen people, it requires more hands on deck when there are many more campers. We selected the best trail to move him...best for those of us carrying him, not the one in the stretcher. If he were injured doing something noble then I would be far more conciderate but this was due to stupidity so a learning must happen.
    Once medical was done doing their job, we made a nice woodsy stretcher. Totally lacking in any comfort whatsoever but backed in 100% reliability. We load up Dug and we head on out. We make a nice spirited walk to the base camp where we will re-evailuate Dug and decide our next course of action. At this point I am leaning towards sending him home in his own truck. If he needs help, I will drive him wherever he needs to go, in his truck. If he wants to stay for the rest of the weekend, thats his choice but the campers who carry him get to mess with him all they want.
    We get back to base camp and untie dug who now, in addition to his original injuries, has motion sickness, three new abbrasions, and two contusions (oops, dropped him). He gets up and limps around for a while and decides he is going to stay in the low lands for the night. This actually works out as we were going to return to this camp on Monday anyway. Now we have someone already there.
    The rest of us made our way back up to the primitive camp and tossed around ideas for the betterment of our move between camps. Once back at camp we cut diversion ditches so we could have non drinking water moving nearby. The end point for the water is the same it just makes a bigger loop. This comes in below grade from where camp is located so no flash flood danger exists to the camp itself. This water can be filtered and purified but mainly I wanted something to bring in water close for the purpose of cleaning and other water needs. I like the security of the primary drinking water supply. Another thing I was able to accomplish on this trip was making some more secure areas in camp and to make a couple of the larger tent boxes more like cabins. Perhapse as soon as next spring they may get their walls finished off and a roof on top.
    That pretty much chewed through a Sunday pretty darn quick. We did do some practicals with skills and had a good dinner in the late afternoon/evening.

    Next up: Monday and Tuesday.
    Talk to you soon.
     
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