10 Ways A Bug Out Bag Can Save Your Life

If you do not know what bug-out bags are, let’s give you a really quick tutorial. Bugging out usually refers to leaving your home, area of residence, or even the town or city where you live due to some kind of threat.

Your neighborhood could be going up in flames or drowning under a storm surge, there could be terrorists and evil-doers around, or there could be any other number of natural weather phenomena threatening the place you live.

green molle bug out bag with first aid kit, knife, multi-tool, and fishing kit, next to it
green molle bug out bag with first aid kit, knife, multi-tool, and fishing kit, next to it

Now, bug-out bags are backpacks or duffle bags that contain essential survival items that you will need when you head for the hills. Shelter, food, water, water purification, fire starters, blankets, tools, first aid, and in most cases weapons, are all things that are in bug-out bags. These items could very well help save your life.

So here are 10 situations that are realistic and important to plan for…

#1. Surviving A Fire

Bug-out bags are great things to have with you in the event of a fire that burns down your house, or in a wildfire. There are many items in a bug-out bag that can help save you in this situation: first aid items to help treat small burns, protective gloves, and masks to prevent smoke inhalation.

#2. Preparing For A Terrorist Attack

Now, this might sound a little far-fetched, but with several totally unpredictable world leaders at the helm of the world’s most powerful countries, plus many different terrorist organizations around the world, it is better to be prepared for a terrorist strike or war than not to be.

Things like first aid tools, camouflaging tools, shelter-building materials, fire-building items, food, and fresh water will always come in handy in these situations. Hammers, knives, flares, and other such objects can help protect you from these threats.

Having a pre-planned family emergency bug-out plan where everyone knows where to go and meet is not a bad idea too.

#3. Signaling When in Need of Help

What many people do not realize about floods is that they actually don’t provide clean drinking water. If the flood is from a storm surge, it is saltwater, so you cannot drink it. If the flood is from freshwater, chances are that it is still highly contaminated anyway.

signaling position using fingers and improvised mirror
signaling one’s position using fingers and an improvised mirror

Well, a bug-out bag will provide you with a way to get fresh drinking water and food.

And if the flood has stranded you, it can also provide you with some shelter and many ways to get attention using prepacked items such as a satellite phone, flare gun, fire starter, and even a signaling mirror.

Any of these items will help you get found quicker than without them.

#4. Giving You a Roof Over Your Head During A Hurricane

This one is a little similar to the previous flood scenario, but it still applies nonetheless. Hurricanes can destroy homes, flood areas, get everything wet, knock out electricity, and so much more. Bug-out bags will have many things to help deal with pretty much any situation that arises.

If you’ve had to hunker down or are locked in when water and power may have been cut off, you will always have water purification tools and blankets to keep you hydrated and warm. T

But most of all, you should have a tent that will provide you with a roof over your head should your home get destroyed.

#5. Finding Your Way Back After Getting Lost In The Woods

Being lost in the woods is definitely not fun. Finding food is dangerous and hard, as is finding clean drinking water. Finding shelter can be hard too, and so is starting a fire in wet conditions. Getting the attention of those around you in order to be rescued can be difficult.

A good bug-out bag should have everything you need to stay alive in the woods for a few days at the very least. Protein bars, a Sawyer Mini or purification tablets, a fire starter, an emergency shelter, and hunting tools are the very basic items you will need to stay alive when lost in the woods.

#6. As a Flotation Device While Crossing a River

At some point in your bug-out, you may need to cross a river, and obviously take your bug-out bag with you. Should you have enough zipper bags to keep all your essentials waterproof, you can use the extra bags to hold air, then put them in your backpack to help keep you afloat.

#7. Hunkering Down

Now, being confined in your home either because of a blackout, a blizzard, or because of some other event,  these obviously aren’t bug out situation. However, this does not mean that your bug-out bag cannot help save your and your family’s lives.

The fire starters they come with can help a lot for one thing. They often come with space blankets for warmth too. Maybe you’re left without food, so you’ll be glad you had that extra trail mix in your BOB.

Also, if you don’t have power, you don’t have water, the water purification tools in a bug-out bag can help you effectively turn snow or ice into drinkable water in no time at all.

#8. Self-Defense during an Animal Attack

Animal attacks are quite common in some parts of the world. For instance, if you are staying in a forested area, wherever that may be, there will always be hungry animals looking to take a bite out of you.

Well, a bug-out bag with first aid gear, some basic antibiotics, flares, flashlights, and maybe even some weapons will help prevent animal attacks and help treat wounds once an attack does occur.

#9. Treating Injuries and Preventing Infection

We know that “injuries” is a pretty vague thing to say, but then again, injuries are vague in nature. Whether a broken leg in the middle of the woods, a snake bite in the desert, or a fox bite out on the tundra, you need a way to take care of it, especially if there is no professional help around.

A good bug-out bag will come with the first aid kit needed to treat most basic injuries and to stay alive until help manages to get there. Remember folks, staying warm, well-hydrated, well-fed, and relaxed can make a big difference in the case of certain injuries.

#10. It Can Stop Bullets for You

Well, regular backpacks can’t do that but you can add a bulletproof backpack panel, such as those made by BulletSafe.

A Bug Out Bag Can And Will Save Your Life One Day

As you can see, there are many different situations where you might have to pack your bags and head out of town.

Maybe a fire is threatening your home, maybe a terrorist has threatened an imminent strike, or maybe the next big hurricane is headed your way. Whatever the case may be, if you have a good bug-out bag, you have a way better chance of surviving most situations than without one.

The most important things that you always need are things like food, water, ways to communicate with others, ways to stay warm, and sometimes ways to stay hidden too.

A good bug-out bag should have all of these things. Remember folks, we don’t want you to be those doomsday preparation people that amass a small arsenal of weapons and have a messed-up ideology. We just want you to be prepared for an emergency situation.

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