Inch Bag, Bug-out Bag, Get Home Bag, EDC. Glamping with guns.

A Tiger McKee article in American Handgunner Magazine caught my eye the other day. Tiger was hustling the Ruger PC Carbine, and he made the comment that the PC Carbine could be matched to use the magazines from a popular pistol, and if you add a snubnose revolver chambered in 9mm, you were all set.

All set for what exactly?

The Apocalypse-porn industry has grossly distorted some things, so a quick personal survey seems in order. Almost all human activity revolves around a central base of support with stockpiled resources of food, tools, and other necessities of life. The concept of bugging out and heading for the hills with a man-portable kit of bare essentials is THE recurring theme, but bugging out all ends at some mythological Bug Out Location with its cached store of infinite supplies miraculously intact after the ravaging hordes have passed by. Again we have an established base of supply, but how realistic is it if you have no specific place you are trying to reach? “My name is Bob and I have my INCH (I’m Not Coming Home) pack, and my trusty solar charged Apaco-Blaster in the 40 Gigawatt Range. Peace out!”

Let’s start with three solid facts:

1. All animals need shelter to survive. This fact guides the first principle of wilderness survival. I have to keep myself dry, and at a safe body temperature, or I will not survive. Shelter helps me do that by countering environmental factors that make it hard to maintain a healthy body temperature. Insulation keeps the warmth in or the heat out depending on latitude and a roof keeps the precipitation at bay.

2. All living things need water. Depending on environmental conditions (see Shelter) and physical activity levels, a human can go about 72 hours without water before survival becomes iffy. Again, depending on environmental conditions and activity levels, a human requires about one gallon of water per day to survive. That is two quarts of drinking water and two quarts for cooking and VERY basic hygiene.

3. All living things require food. Assuming adequate water, a healthy human can manage 3-5 days without food before physical and mental impairment sets in. Once again, the time factor is impacted by environment and activity level. A cold or active person burns more calories than the person lying around in a warm bed.

Now let’s consider some basic gear required to meet these needs.

Shelter

1. Clothing – Normal street clothing for a temperate climate run about 2lbs, and a decent pair of sturdy ankle-high walking/hiking shoes with add another 2lbs.

2. Fire – When hunting, I routinely carry strike anywhere matches in a waterproof case, a ziplock baggie full of dryer lint, and a firesteel. The entire kit weighs in at about 4 ounces.

3. Rain – A military grade poncho is my preferred rain gear. It will keep most of me dry. I can also be draped over my pack to keep my gear dry. Weight 1lbs. If you add a “woobie” (aka poncho liner), it jumps to 2lbs.

4. Heat/Cold – This is the challenge that requires the most creativity since very few climates on Earth experience extremes of temperature within the same 24-hour period. A survivor usually has to plan for short-term temperature swings within a relatively narrow range of about 20 degrees. Twenty degrees is more than enough to kill a person, but it is within the capability of most outdoors enthusiasts to cope with by appropriate choices in clothing and gear. Since we have already covered clothing, we can move on to gear. The classic (pre-1940) bedroll consisted of one or more wool blankets. During the 19th century cattle drives, the cowboy’s bedroll was called a “soogan”. It was a oilskin tarp folded around two wool blankets and rolled up like a modern sleeping bag. The weight of a soogan was about 6.5lbs which is close to the weight of a modern four-season sleeping bag, but the oilskin tarp acted as a waterproof ground sheet which the modern sleeping bag typically does not have. Add another pound or two for the ground sheet.

Water

1. Sources – A reliable source of reasonably clean water has been the bane of mankind as hominids spread across the planet. In modern times, water courses have been diverted, dammed, or otherwise altered. Industrial pollutants, toxic runoff, and sewage have killed most of the remaining water courses.

2. Water Treatment – A traveler must assume any source of water found is toxic, so Filtration gear (1lbs personal pump filter), and purification method are mandatory. Chemical purification tablets (100 tablets = 1lbs) are an option, but once they are gone, there are no more. A bucket for boiling water is a better solution.

4. Transportation – Water is heavy. A US Gallon (3.8L) weighs 8.34lbs. That is the same as 300 rounds of 9mm ammo. This prairie son hunts with two military canteens with the aluminum cups that fit on the bottom, so I can boil my water without lugging an extra container. In an emergency evacuation, I would hang two more on my pack located to balance out my load.

Food

1. Sources – Your neighbor may be a jerk, but unless we are replaying “The Road”, I don’t think long pig is on the menu when just starting out. With industrialization, urbanization, and industrial agriculture defacing the planet, the options for living off the land are thin.

2. Collection – You have the classic options of “hunt” or “gather”. Don’t buy the hype that the south is being overrun by wild hogs. They are out there, they do a terrific amount of damage, and they are delicious, but they do require effort to hunt. Taking large game requires a firearm, or archery tackle. Small game is much easier to trap using a snare, and fishing is an option, so pack some handline gear. Snare sets and handline fishing gear will set you back about a pound. Rabbits, squirrels, fish, and birds (use small grain and a rat trap) do not a wholesome diet make, so study your wild plants and hope for a mild winter. Shooting another person’s livestock, or stealing standing crops because you are starving may be a defense to prosecution, but in an systemic collapse emergency it might land you at the bottom of a dry well.

3. Preparation – Raw meat need to be cooked or preserved quickly to avoid food poisoning. Boiling the meal and consuming the broth in addition to the solid components yields the most nutrition by volume. Cooking requires fire, and fire has been a security problem since humankind took up Bar-B-Que. Smoke during the day, light during the night, and odor all the time attracts attention. Attention is not what you want in a high threat environment. The fire kit has already been discussed, so the cookpot will set you back about half a pound in weight penalty.

4. Preservation – An alternative to cooking, some meats can be preserved. Beef, venison, and fish can be dried into jerky. Jerking does not work with pork, so traditionally it has been brined. (Salt pork ring a bell?). If you are traveling with a group that can provide adequate perimeter security while building the drying racks, and making sure the crows don’t steal your meat, this might be viable, but consider all of those folks need to eat while waiting for their next meal to dry out. Regardless, do the homework in advance. Food poisoning with diarrhea causes dehydration and maybe death.

Transportation – Now we finally get to the point of this essay. Excluding the rifle and bow mentioned under the Food section, the weight penalty for a person traveling on foot in Texas is about

Water – 8.34

Water Filter kit (individual) – 1lb

Clothes (1 set of) + Boots – 3lb

Poncho + liner – 2lbs

Fire kit + Snare/Fishing kit = 1lb

2 Canteens + Cups & Covers – 1lb

Cook Pot – 0.5lb

Four Season sleeping bag – 6.5lbs

Expedition Pack to carry your crap – 5lbs

Total – 28.3lbs of gear.

So much for the must-haves, now we need hardware:

Cutting Tools – We need two. A small 4-inch knife for food prep and general utility. Mora Knives have been in this role forever. They are light and durable. We can go two ways with the next cutting tool which will be used as much for constructing shelters as fighting. Bowie/camp/field knives, kukris, hatchets/tomahawks all fall into this category. Weight penalty is about 2.5lbs for both tools.

Cordage – Life outdoors without cordage is amazingly tough. 550 paracord is all the rage these days, so add 2.5lbs for 100 yards.

First Aid Kit – The number and styles of IFAK offerings is unbelievable, but figure it will cost 1.5lbs in weight penalty for small one.

Multi-Tool – Some folks swear by these, but I find a pair of channel lock pliers to be of more use outdoors. Add a half-pound to the pile.

The gravity bill is now up to 35lbs.

Projectile Weapons

Firearms and archery tackle are our options. Gun vs. Bow. Bow vs. Crossbow. Any of them are better than a pointed stick unless your name is Cyrille Huc.

If you can recover your arrows, they can be used again until they break. You do know how to make your own arrows, don’t you? Expended firearm ammunition is gone unless you recover the spent cartridge case, and happen to pack long the components to reload the round.

A traditional recurve bow weighs about 3lbs. Add another pound for extra strings, wax, arm guards, shooting glove, and miscellaneous stuff for repairing arrows and the bow. The arrows and quiver add another 2lbs.

A pretty basic crossbow kit is 7lbs.

CVA makes a little break action single-shot rifle, that weighs 6 pounds + the ammo. A Box of 50 rounds of .44 Magnum ammunition is 2.8lbs. Dropping down to .357 Magnum lowers the weight of 50 rounds to 2lbs.

Why these calibers? Partially to stay with Mr. McKee’s Pistol Caliber Carbine topic. Both of these rounds are proven game stoppers, and both chamberings can easily be found in handguns and long guns. The People’s Sporting Rifles are all decent candidates for this application, but the weight penalty for feeding them goes up significantly. Weapons chambered in 22 Long Rifle are not significantly lighter than the others, but the ammo penalty is much lower if you are willing to trade stand-off distance and ballistic effectiveness.

What’s our penalty up to?

Archer – 39lbs

Crossbow – 42lbs

Rifle – 43lbs

According to REI a backpacker should not carry more than 20% of their body weight. As a 16-year-old, I did a 70 mile trek at Philmont. I weighed 160lbs at the time, and my pack was 55lbs. The average BASIC loadout for a US Army infantry soldier is 43lbs.

So, what’s the problem? Calories! Bob is not packing any food yet. MRE’s weight about 1.5lbs each. Since he’s trekking on foot, and hauling all of his gear, he needs a lot of calories, so figure 2 MRE’s per day to keep going. 6 MREs adds 9lbs to the load putting him over 50lbs with no body armor, handgun, or spare anything. In fact, poor Bob is missing about 80% of the absolutely essential equipment recommended by the Every Day Commentators online.

Strap 50lbs to the average American, tell them to take a casual hike down the block, calmly dial 9-1, and wait a few minutes…

So how did the old timers do it?

Forget the Hollywood image of the Mountain Man or the Cowboy, and do some research. The early hunters and trappers of the late 1700s used pack animals. If he was well off, a horse carried the man and a second horse carried the gear. If he was not so well off, the horse carried most of the gear, and the man walked and carried the rest. A working cowboy carried as little as possible on his horse. Most of his gear, including his guns, traveled in the chuck wagon. People on the Oregon Trail used wagons, and the poorest migrants had handcarts!

So what can we learn from this? Bob needs a pack animal. The easiest pack animal to obtain and work with is a goat. A good sized goat can carry about 20-30lbs, and it will eat just about any vegetation available. Llamas are an option, but they require more pasture space than a goat. Of course our urban survivor Bob is not going to have access to pack animals, so he needs some wheels

Enter the game cart. A cart will carry 150-500lbs of gear and roll along fairly nicely on firm ground. If you live in an area with lots of snow, skis would be easy to improvise. A cart will limit Bob to certain terrain choices, and plans for fording rivers should be made before the Big Day. It will also leave a VERY obvious trail telling any interested party that someone with a lot of valuable stuff passed by.

Just food for thought.

Watch yer topknot!