The Grab And Go Survival Pack
“Which is heavier a soldiers pack or a slaves chains” Napoleon
Soon after you confront the matter and necessity of survival planing and stockpiling, another question will occur to you: “What will I do if I loose all this stuff?”
It’s a fundamental question, and it has a fundamental answer: You need a backup plan.
There are many things that can happen separating you from your main cache and retreat.
Theft and fire are two that come to mind and the threat of organized gangs of raiders scouring the countryside looking for sources of resupply are always a threat to the survivor.
but any quality pack with enough capacity will do. Stick with camouflage, dark green or other natural colors that blend with the terrain.
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and tinder.
, that I ordered from amazon.com but any light weight kit will do.
. Don’t forget to add personal meds.
10. L
ight - I have a 2-AA Cell Mini LED Flashlight Mini LED Flashlight
11. Tools - A folding saw
12. Extra Clothing - At least one extra pair of socks and underwear add other items if you feel the need and have the space.
13. Fishing kit - Line, hooks and sinkers and a few small lures. I also have a small gill net for catching fish.
14. Snare wire - I make my own from copper wire. Don’t forget to include at least 50 ft of parachute cord
14. Plastic bags - Two or three large lawn bags and several zip-lock sandwich bags, can be used fo a number of tasks and to keep things dry.
15. Small Binoculars - See game and enemy before they see you.
16. Sewing kit - Needle and thread don’t forget to include a few extra buttons.
17. This n’ that - Head net, electrical tape, face paint, gloves, sharpening stone etc.
18. Firearms - This is were feathers get ruffled and wounds opened. Everyone has their own idea of what the “perfect” survival firearm is or should be.
I am not going to get into all the choices here, which would be an article in and of itself. Instead I am going to tell you my personal grab and go weapons of choice. Ready? Springfield XD9, Ruger MK II and Savage bolt action in .308 Win.
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January 7th, 2010 at 5:28 am
I live where rattlesnakes are common so will be including a snakebite kit,leather gloves and wearing boots with knee-hi tops.
January 12th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
By the time most people are reaching for their 'GTFO' bag, they've already made the decision to hightail it to the woods or the hills.
At least, I hope so. Deciding to stick it out in a population center, especially with a shotgun/assault rifle in hand, seems like a very, very bad idea to me.
Up in the hills, you're not going to get anywhere without some means of starting a fire. Even the PeakOne backpackers stove needs a match to get it burning.
It amazes me how many 'survival lists' leave matches out. Bring matches. Lots of matches. Ditch a box of ammo for more matches if you have to.
Bring lots of candles too. Each time you light a match, light a candle. The candle lasts longer – you might need that flame again before your tasks are done.
Bring one good, top quality fixed blade knife and then bring a second, cheaper 'knockabout' knife you can use for the heavy chores.
A good hatchet will do the work of four other tools if you know how to use it. It will build you shelter (cutting boughs and pounding stakes), it will give you fire (and, therefore, warmth and comfort), it can break ice on a frozen river so you can fish, it can cut up any game you happen to bring down. The only thing I'd take over a hatchet is a knife. I'd rather have both.
January 15th, 2010 at 6:24 am
Toothache medicine may seem a funny item to take along on a bug out situtation but if you or a member of your party has a need for them nothing can replace their use, also a pain killer and antibiotics if available are worth the small weight they will add. I think it is called peace of mind.
January 23rd, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Rule one is the same as the military. Each day that a person stays alive the better skill they become. The person is smart and in better condition. Just a thought, your bugout kit, should be backed up with caches. The further away you are from the urban areas and the time from colapse the more dangerous the people will be that come to attack.
January 29th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
It is my opinion that you should carry at least two stoves. My primary and my favorate stove is jetboil personel. Why a canister stove is the fuel will last forever. As long as the tank is intack no holes in it the fuel will never go bad!! White gas has a shelf life of about 7 years. The jetboil has one of the fastest boil times of the lot. The second is a alchol stove made out of a 12 oz soda can that uses either rubbing or denatured alcohol. I use it with a canteen cup and canteen cup stove which is easly caried with the canteen. I have also sued it with a small pot and skillet!!
February 4th, 2010 at 6:07 am
worth mentioning iodine tincture. iodine is a powerful anti-microbial. a couple of drops can purify dodgy water and can be put on cuts and wounds to stop infections
February 4th, 2010 at 8:04 am
I know a lot of Americans use the word "shovel" for both shovels and spades, but don't let that word confuse you. Don't take a shovel by mistake because you think they are the same! A (real) shovel is right out, you need a spade so you can dig.
If you are willing to use fire, a Kelly Kettle is very useful (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Kettle). It will need less fuel and produce proportionally even less smoke than alternative ways of cooking/boiling.
February 4th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Gangs and Thugs won't be hordes of city folk.
The Gangs and Thugs will be people who are living in the countryside,
February 4th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
If I was bugging out, I wouldn't be taking guns. Sorry but just a good knife, a compound bow and spare stringing. Who can afford to have the sound of a gun anywhere in their vicinity? A gun might make me feel like I can fight them off, when in fact I need to be a mouse and not get seen at all.
February 4th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
No One should have prescription antibiotics left over. When it comes to antibiotics you're supposed to take the full course– even after you feel better– or you risk the infection returning even more virulent.
February 4th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Instead of all that superfluous food supply, why not just make some home-made Pemmican that can last for years without going bad. Then all you need is one pound a day for clear thinking nutrition and strength. I've made it myself and left it on the shelf for 2 years and it was still very edible and in no way made me sick. If you need the recipe, check out Ray Audette's. It's just dried beef and rendered beef fat mixed to together. Won't go bad and can be easily transported. Also, you won't need all the cooking supplies. After all, we are talking about survival, right?
February 4th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
I am intrigued by these comments as I have never been on a survivalists' web site before. Seriously guys, can you imagine what it would be like with thousands of guys like you spread out in the woods shooting anyone who strays into their territory? What will you do long term in a month, three or six months or a year? Surely you're talking about total breakdown of law and government. If you think that you need the gear you're talking about, the best thing to do is to watch the news carefully, transfer your savings somewhere else where there is reasonably stable government if things start looking bad and if it looks like total disintegration, take a vaction after your savings. Vacation there anyway, learn the language and make contacts. Get advice from your bank about having a holiday-country stash but don't break the law. It's not necessary. A thousand dollars or so, is enough to start up elsewhere, so sell the guns and gear and stash the proceeds when you go on vacation (don't leave it with a friend or tell anyone anywhere what you're doing). If it gets to the point where you're shooting fellow survivalists, you've left it too late and are unlikely to survive yourself. Ideally, you should fly out to Montevideo or drive to Vancouver with your kids and all your suitcases, but if it comes it, here's my grab pack: No weapons, good holiday trekking gear, no camouflage (don't look like a survivalist) a good story worked out for your travel, a number of small gold coins thoroughly concealed (never swallow them – people do bad things for gold and rumours get around), cash to use or to let bad people with guns steal. The best weapons are invisible – unarmed combat training, a good plan, early use of your brains and camouflage by blending in with everyone else. Firearms are bad not only because other people may be better than you at using them and there may be more of them, but because you will leave it too late in getting out – you will think that you can fight your way out. You need a lot of fear early on and to keep it. If you MUST have a knife, have a very sharp little Swiss army knife. Expect to be stopped at police/army checkpoints so none of those murderous-looking things that are around. Read up on what happend when Hitler came to power. Those who got out were ok; everyone else had a very bad time. Living in the woods was not an option. Guns are fun but I wouldn't confuse them with personal survival. Well, just a few thoughts from a fellow survivalist. Good luck.
February 4th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Getting out of population centers is HUGE. Panic, panic, panic will be everywhere as super-markets and Wal-mart are completely BARE. No supplies, no water, no prior psychological prep. People will be in shock, then in denial, then surprised, then angry, then desperate. Think TITANIC. It's funny, but with all the mention of various supplies here, your most important asset at ANY TIME, is your ability to THINK and COPE.
February 4th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Yes I do disagree with you.
1. Have your bug out bag already at the 462 yd vantage point. Yes, it must be hidden and safe from critters, a metal container with pack inside.
2. You sound too resourceful to easily bail from your house. Make it more a fortress.
Perhaps home made mortars filled with nails
covered by fake rocks.
Bear spray will put a grown man in a fetal position instantly. So let's say it's the government and you don't want to kill. Build a 55 gallon version of a flame thrower that throws
bear spray 40 to 50'. Didn't kill them and can now disarm them.
Heh,Heh,Heh!
February 4th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
re: "remember Waco?" I remember 10 totally unprofessional untrained armed citizens TOTALLY DEFEATING 40 Government wannabe rambo's. The lesson of Waco is that just a few men can successfully defend against these fat bellied stupid mask wearing 45 year old Federal Agents. If Koresh and his people had escaped and evaded after the initial confrontation, I would say more than half of them would still be alive today. Fight to live. Shoot then run. Hide yes, but NEVER hole up.
February 11th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
I live in Florida in the suburbs. I plan to stay in my house as long as possible with my supplies and weapons, but I will bug out if forced. I have a mosquito head net in my pack, as well as bugspray and sunscreen, a sun visor and cheap sunglasses. Here, the sun and heat are your worst enemy. I also have a tiny backpacker tent, because in the humidity without a/c, the cockroaches will swarm all over you at night, indoors or out. A good night's sleep will make me a better survivor.
Christine A.
February 16th, 2010 at 4:20 am
Anyone got ideas on a better country? One where it will be safe? I'm with the guy that would rather build a nest elsewhere than shot my way through for 5 years.
February 16th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
i think some of you are not considering weight after all those light items are packed it gets heavy. I do keep my bag packed and in a good place at all times and i also have a Saiga 12 with a scope yea its heavy but i can go from birds to bear by changing the mag
February 21st, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Forget canteens they don't hold enough water. Get a camelbak and some extra bladders with a nalgene bottle and canteen cup for cooken.
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:25 am
I just found this site and what a introduction! Mr. Anonymous, out side of my survival guide (which is in a moisture proof bag and in my pack at all times unless I'm studying it)I have not read anything, any where, that I'm in so much agreement with! Thank you. Theres a big dose of reality in what you've had to say. I've read many blogs and struggled through many opinions and I've usually arrived at "yeah but". Seems to me that very few see the big picture. If that bag really needs to come out, theres something seriously wrong! It needs to be handled equivalent of being Jewish in Nazi Germany!! With 10 seconds of warning I'm secure enough with my abilities and arrangements to defend my home against a few gang bangers. Not to say I'll come out unskaved, but I'm confident I will survive. But total breakdown of society as we now understand it, is a completely different animal.. Your absolutely right — having a plan with arrangements made and playing it smart is, in the big scheme, the only real way of insuring survival. I don't believe that history will reflect on something like that as a "skirmish". Every action you take could possibly be a matter of life or death! Looking wrong or acting wrong and you've lost your freedom. Your life is the only thing you have left to loose after that! Should of been long gone way before then. The bug out bag won't do much good unless the plan was to fight your way out and then survive the two hundred mile trip to where the militia is hopefully assembling. Or surviving for a while until it all blows over won't be much of a option either should it come "blitz kreg." I live about thirty miles from the exact center of the USA. Theres lots of room out here! And I don't have shelter and provisions tucked away outside of my home. I've been a hunter, fisherman and camp site kinda guy since I hit the dirt. I've probably lived more of my life outdoors than in. And I've kicked around the survival idea for years. But I'm damn concerned about the way things are turning in this country. Enough that I'm taking the things discussed serious and have been taking appropriate actions for a while now. My intension's haven't been to offend anyone here.I do respect what everyone has to offer and I do listen. But like a doctor with a cancer patient looking him in the eye and saying "Look (Billy) you've got cancer"!! "And heres what we've got to do about it or your going to die"! is the proper approach in the situation. Sugar coating cancer is lethal!! So I say thank you again Anonymous, for gettin' my attention….
March 6th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Please add to it! use it! pass it on!
JUST IN CASE SURVIVAL PACK
Remember, this is a list of many the things you may or may not need and every situation is different so use your common sense and always pack your own bag!
Pack
▫ any quality waterproof pack with enough capacity will do.
▫ (high-vis for a rescue pack /earth tone or camo for a post apocalyptic pack)
▫ Hunting stores usually sell reversible hi vis. / camo.
First -aid kit –
▫ It's best to assemble your own kit, tailored to your individual needs
▫ Any personal meds
▫ pain meds
▫ allergy meds or epi-pen.
Water
▫ canteen / water bottles / camel back
▫ charcoal filter
▫ water treatment tabs
▫ iodine tincture
Fire
▫ Waterproof matches
▫ Magnesium fire starter
▫ orange bic lighters
▫ fire-steel
▫ Wax paper (wrapped around lighters)
Food
▫ Book of edible and medicinal plants of your area!
▫ (Pack enough to last 5-7 days)
▫ jerky
▫ energy bars
▫ Gatorade powder
▫ instant coffee
▫ Freeze dried food
▫ nuts
▫ dextrose tablets
▫ SALT AND BAKING SODA
(Choose foods that are light weight and have a suitable shelf life.)
Stove / cooking
▫ compact camp stove
▫ pellet stove
▫ compact cooking set
(Smoke and noise from the cutting and burning of wood would be undesirable if you are in hostel territory or being pursued).
Sleeping bags
▫ a good sleeping bag could mean the difference between life and death.
▫ Get a light weight "mummy" style bag rated to -20 degrees or your area.
Shelter
▫ Rain poncho
▫ tarp
▫ compact tent
▫ metallic emergency blankets
(Camo for cover or high-vis. for rescue).
Light
▫ Mini LED Flashlight
▫ Candle
▫ Head lamp
▫ extra lithium batteries
▫ Solar powered equipment
Tools
▫ folding saw
▫ diamond wire saw
▫ Swiss army knife
▫ fixed blade knife suitable for batoning
▫ light weight trench shovel
▫ machete
▫ leather gloves
▫ light hatchet
▫ sharpening stone or tool
▫ small block and tackle
▫ super glue
▫ flat file or diamond file
Extra Clothing
▫ (REMEMBER COTTON KILLS!!!)
▫ Wool socks
▫ Polypropylene long underwear
▫ wool toque and mitts
▫ extra shoe laces
▫ hi-vis. vest and hat
▫ Gortex shell (top and bottom)
▫ ( Hi -Vis or Camo)
Fishing kit
▫ As much as a Spool of fishing Line
▫ hooks and sinkers
▫ small lures
▫ Small barbed spear tip
Sewing kit
▫ Needle
▫ thread
▫ buttons
Navigational gear
▫ gps (only good if we still have sat-com)
▫ compass (only good if we still have magnetic poles)
▫ topographical maps and a good understanding of your area
Firearms and Signalling
(Everyone has their own idea of what the "perfect" survival firearm is or should be. I take a 450 marlin for bears and scoped Krico 7mm… My wife shoots a scoped M14.)
▫ smoke grenades
▫ bear bangers
▫ flares
▫ Signal mirror
▫ whistle
▫ marine horn (also works on bears)
▫ pepper spray
This n' that
▫ brass snare wire
▫ TOILET PAPER!
▫ at least 50 ft of parachute chord
▫ Head bug net
▫ electrical tape
▫ gorilla tape
▫ binoculars
▫ monocular
▫ tiny radio
▫ aluminum foil
▫ soap (hotel size)
▫ bug repellent wipes
▫ cheap sunglasses
▫ toothbrush with toothpaste in handle
▫ large plastic bags
▫ zip-lock freezer bags
▫ blister treatment and moleskin
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March 7th, 2010 at 10:14 am
add leatherman and whistle to the list
March 10th, 2010 at 3:01 am
I saw caffeine pills mentioned above. They are definitely a handy thing to have if you're pulling sentry, or escaping/evading. It's a diuretic, however, and you will be ultra tired, but if you need to stay awake and you just can't – it's an option; a very compact one.
K
PS If you're gonna use a pack, make sure it's got a good hip strap, white shoulder straps, and a frame…you'll be happier humping your load with those features.
PPS Footwear. Make sure you have worn-in, sturdy boots (right for your "area") that you've practiced carrying your ruck in. Blisters could be your downfall if you're in a worse-case-scenario. Funny how little footwear is mentioned. It's right up there next to water in my opinion.
March 10th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
I can't believe it took so long before someone remembered to add toilet paper to the list.
What were you going to do, shoot the clag-nuts off?
March 14th, 2010 at 9:22 am
A magnifying glass is good for slivers or fire-starting.