You’ve got your guns.
Your pantry is stocked full of food.
You’ve got so much gear, your bags are ready to explode.
Now What?
Are you really prepared to survive?
Gear is great, but have you really tested yourself? Have you run through real-world training scenarios that include some of the same stressors that you may face during a real crisis?
- Have you run through simulated scenarios?
- Have you tested your plans and looked for weak points?
- Do you know how to use every piece of gear in your bag, and have you actually tested it?
I love my gear as much as the next guy, but when it comes to survival nothing can replace knowledge and good old fashion practice. To truly be prepared, you need to start practicing your skills in a real-world setting.
Start Hiking and Backpacking
While the last thing you want to do during an actual bug out situation is walk to safety, you need to understand that the better prepared your body is to face that scenario, the better off you will be during any type of situation you may face.
Hiking is a great way to prepare; not only help you stay fit, which is an extremely important aspect of survival, but it will also prepare you both mentally and physically in case you have to bug out.
Build a fire pit in your backyard
Building a fire pit in your backyard can help you in a number of ways.
- It’s a great spot to practice fire starting techniques.
- It’s a great place to practice primitive cooking techniques.
- They’re good to have in case you’re ever without power.
- They don’t look suspicious to your unprepared neighbors.
Shoot, Shoot & then shoot some more
Whether it’s for hunting or self-defense, if you own a firearm it’s your responsibility to train and practice with that weapon.
How tragic would it be for yourself and your family if after all of your preparation you found out the hard way that you don’t know how to use your gun? Think I’m being a little over dramatic? Think again!
Every year thousands of gun owners are killed by a criminal because they never learned how to properly use their gun. From forgetting to take the safety off to not knowing how to shoot, there isn’t a day that goes by where you don’t hear about a tragedy that could have been prevented through training.
If you have the money take a class from a high-quality firearms instructor, please take one immediately.
Go hunting and fishing
Being able to provide for your family is not something that should be taken lightly. Even during the best of conditions, there’s going to be times that you come up empty-handed while hunting or fishing.
To give yourself the best chance of survival, you need to learn how to hunt and fish. The more you practice these skills the easier it will be to find food during a survival situation.
This is the problem with a lot of gun owners – they read books and watch TV and think firing a gun is easy. Well, firing it is easy. Hitting something is another story.
My dad started taking me hunting and fishing when I was around 5 and I started shooting when I was around 7. I actually stated hunting with a gun when I was 10. This was repeated with my two boys at the same ages.
The other thing I did was make sure both boys became Eagle Scouts. It may not be military training but it does teach you how to survive in most situations. This was the rural Scout program, not urban. We spent many winters in snow caves we built as well as “stash camps” where they were taught to stash food, etc. and find it after it snowed with a compass. How many people even know how to use a compass, find and eat grubs and other insects, find a coyote spring for water, etc. now days?
Your spot on OneShot, your father taught you well, and you have passed it on, you can be sure your boys will “Be Prepaired”, thanks to you and your guidance.
It teaches them situational awareness and to think in their situation with what skills they bring to bear.
One thing that scares the bejezus out of me is when I see a person on that dumb Preppers show on tv get a new handgun or rifle. Half of them have never owned one…or shot one. Theyave scared kids! Surprised the camera crew gets near them. :P
Ever think about meeting these types after day 3 in the woods? When you have people running from the urban centers into the woods? That have never been off the concrete? oh man…..
“This was the rural Scout program, not urban”
Good point! And it makes a difference. Unfortunately we’re in the urban program, so I’ll be filling in for the silliness that scouts doesn’t cover here.
well, in a survival situation one must realize that a good shot will only get you soo far…What happends when you have nothing to shoot at? Ones survival relies on more than how well they know their gun and how close to the bullseye they hit. Yes this is a huge factor in self-defense and plays a great role in survival, but gathering and foraging are also key components to ones survival. Knowledge og edible plant and even insect in the area in which you live could save your life.
“People will do amazing things to ensure their survival.”
-knowledge is power
I have an idea. Why don’t we start a group where we go camping together and practice and share our camping, hunting and survival skills. I like to consider myself fairly self capable, but like everyone here I could always use more skills and advice.
I do have skills to share also: hunter and fisher, Army with 2 deployments, camper and firefighter paramedic.
That’s a great idea, Joe! I’d be the first to agree. The only problem is that with these blogs you could be in Alaska and I could be in Ontario. That sort of makes weekend warrior-ing together kind of difficult.
Hold on a bit Watchdog, Joe has made a very good point. Maybe all of us can’t meet up, but I’m sure we’ll have groups of two or three of us that live within a reasonable driving distance from each other, or could meet to camp somewhere along the midpoint.
I would be more than willing to do something like this, and to bring other survivalists I know. It just scares me that noone my age (I’m only 20) seems to know what to dowoot side of the comforts of a city. Sometimes I wonder if the younger generations even COULD survive, what with all the kids I see around here not knowing which end of a rifle to point down range (city kids that would probably die off without their precious phones and all).
David H. I am 18 years old, and ive been studying different survival techniques for a few years now. Just because you live in the city, doesnt mean youre worthless, haha– but I agree, a lot of people don’t know how to survive. But my brother and I would be more than willing to drive half point to meet up with other survivalists to obtain more knowledge; knowledge is power. Also, you don’t have to just survive in the country. In certain cases you might have to in urban areas as well.
Become your weapon..know it intimately..practice, practice, practice..be ready to, at a moments notice to break daily protocol in pull a ghost..disappear.. shit will hit the fan..when it does, be vigilant.!
They always say practice makes perfect. Just when you think you got your plan down. Test it again, and again. You wont really be prepared for an emergency unless you are constantly training.
Being in excellent physical shape eludes many otherwise well prepared people. Hiking is an excellent way to gain skills and keep fit
I agree. But hiking won’t be enough. You might have to run miles at a time at some point. You might have to be able to pull yourself over a cliff with your pack on. It just depends. But you cant really depend on walking with a 30-40 pound pack on as a great workout. Sure it will help keep you active but, you’ll need to do more than that.
When I was taught to hunt I fired only one shot every half hour whether with a rifle or a bow. The reason is this when you are hunting you don’t fire shot after shot. You get only one chance, make it your best. I don’t go through a box of ammo every time I practice at most I go through five rounds a month but then again I know my equipment and I rarely miss.
And remember to shoot from all ranges and manners of cover as well as shooting from the ground. Thats right in the dirt. Train as you fight. And when someone asks why you need an “assault rifle,” the answer is covering fire, reflexive fire, suppressing fire, and enough rounds to move or push to cover. Thats why. Oh and reloading is a bitch when crouching behind a car or hugging the ground.
Thought I would bring up a point that occured to me reading here. Our plan for bugging out involves a permenent place to hunker down. It is 400 miles away. I have seen comments about might have to rappel or climb hills/cliff, etc.
One thing I’m doing is obtaining topo maps and pre-planning several routes to our perm position. Along those routes I’m going to place caches of supplies buried in public parks out in the woods and record coordinates in GPS and hard copy. Will be able to re-supply food and ammo and have water sources. Hope to get as far as possible by vehicle but contingency planning dictates that we might have to walk door to door. My point is to know the terrain on your route in advance. I know there are no cliffs, major rivers to cross etc. on my route so lots of gear I don’t need to carry. Just saying.
Dont forget weather sapper. Check out what weather patterns are like along your planned route. It really dictates what equipment is essential during transpo. Theres a great book about hiking and equipment by ….cant remember his name…sorry TBI, but its published by national geographic. It gives a lot of great tips.
I think I’ ready could use more people my 22 yr old grandson and I practice regularly we swap back and forth on who is the best shot at 100 yds but we are more than effective (you wouldn’t walk away).We are working on our food supply live in the middle of 40 acres house can’t be seen from road and we have a 90 lb pitbull that doesn’t like strangers how do we rate? p.s. 2 ak’s 1 sks couple thousand rounds of ammo
If you own a weapon you better know how to service it. Better know how to trouble shoot it, repair it know what parts are it’s weak links. Please do not think equipment equals skills in the field. THEY DON’T ! You’d better learn to operate on Natures time not human time. An example would be ; An alerted deer doesn’t move until it is certain from where the alarm (noise , sight, scent , vibration,yes deer feel ground vibrations through their hooves )survival is important not getting comfortable or fed or any other human longing. Learn how to Man Track. I could go on and on.
prariewolf, thanks for the good tips, i need them.
My husband wants to take a survival class but wants to be prepared before he starts. This list is perfect to help him become ready for survival training. I’ll have to make sure that he goes hiking and backpacking in preparation. Now all we have to do is get all the equipment!