We always talk about Bug Out Locations in the abstract: “I’ll grab my bag and go” Go where? “The wilderness” is not an answer. If you don’t have a specific location you are unprepared. Bug Out contains a detailed list of 275 prime wilderness Bug Out Locations.
The Bug Out Book
Bug Out: The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastrophic Disaster Before It’s Too Late by Scott Williams is an excellent survival book dedicated completely to your Bug Out Plan.
Full Disclosure: Scott was nice enough to send me a free copy of the book to review here, but I’m going to give you my honest opinion about it regardless.
Bug Out was published in June 2010 and has 302 pages packed full of information, detailed maps, illustrations, and gear lists.
Part 1: Bug Out Basics
- The Fantasy and Reality of Living Off the Land – Scott gives a very down to earth perspective and shares the stories of several famous survivalists, both good and bad.
- The Bug Out Bag – Covers everything from choosing your bag to important gear selection. He goes over essential survival gear and doesn’t recommend bunches of modern junk gear.
- Advance Planning and Location Selection – Gets into the meat of the book and encourages readers to carefully choose their Bug Out Location by region and important things to remember about climate, terrain, natural resource, and various types of public use land.
- Transportation – This chapters his almost all of the possible means of travel you could use in getting to your But Out Location and the pros and cons of each.
Part 2: But Out Locations
The second half of the book is a gigantic and detailed list of Bug Out Locations made up mostly of public use lands like National Parks, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Corps of Engineers, Wildlife Refuges, State Land, and some private land areas.
The 275 possible Bug Out Locations are broken down into 8 regions of the country. Each region is outlined with a detailed map and information on weather, climate, land, resources, hunting, fishing, wildlife hazards, and specific equipment needed.
- Rivers Swamps and Islands of the Gulf Coast
- Islands & Lowlands of the Atlantic Coast
- The Appalachian Mountain Corridor
- Lakes & Big Woods of the North
- The Midwest & Heartland
- Wilderness Strongholds of the Rocky Mountains
- Deserts, Canyons, and Mountains of the Southwest
- Pacific Crest Mountains and the West Coast
Detailed Locations
Many of the 275 Bug Out Locations in the book get their own section of several paragraphs detailing things like the exact location, size of the land area, means of access, resources in the region and main other useful tips.
This section of the book is not something you would sit down and read cover to cover, but use as a resource for planning and scouting Bug Out Locations in your area. You really have to read it to understand the level of research and detail that went into this guide.
About The Author
Scott B. Williams has been exploring wild places perfecting his wilderness survival skills for most of his live, beginning with hunting and fishing while growing up in Mississippi. His adventures include thousands of miles of solo long-distance sea kayaking journeys in the U.S. and abroad, as well as extended wilderness canoeing and backpacking trips in every region of the U.S.
Scott has published four previous books including On Island Time: Exploring the Caribbean, Exploring Coastal Mississippi, and Paddling the Pascagoula.
He also blogs about Boat Building and of course his dedicated site But Out Survival.
Dislikes
The first half of the book on packing your bag and transportation might be somewhat basic for the more experienced prepper, but the incredible Bug Out Location encyclopedia in the second half makes picking up a copy more than worth it.
Favorite Part
Finding 3 public wilderness land areas within reach of my home for possible Bug Out Locations that I didn’t know about.
Overall
Overall I would highly recommend this book for anyone who does not have a specific Bug Out Location already planned, or anyone who might want to find more possible locations in their area. The first half of the book makes a great introduction to building a Bug Out Bag for newer preppers.
Bug Out: The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastrophic Disaster Before It’s Too Late is available for about $5 below cover price on Amazon where it has quite a few 5 star reviews.
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My name is Scott and I run SurvivalCache.com along with the help of several great contributing authors.
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Damn you and your book reviews… I guess I'm adding at least one more to the library.
haha, sorry Montezuma, I call 'em like I see 'em and Scott has a great resource here.
His blog is definitely worth checking out too.
I'm in the middle of the book myself – an excellent resource. This is not just a book to pick up and read, this is something to add to your toolkit.
Dustin,
Absolutely. Though the first half of the book is a good read, especially for newer preppers to get a grasp on all of the aspects of bugging out.
The second half is definitely more like an encyclopedia of But Out Locations. It's fun to read about your area though.
I recently aquired this book and read in two days not quite cover to cover because the 2nd section is not read for hours freindly. but any way this is a great book with lots of helpfull infomation and would recomend that everyone check it out of the library if not buy it outright
-logan
Logan,
Thanks for commenting, I'm glad you enjoyed the book.
I hope you were able to find some good But Out Locations for you and your family.
Picked up the book Friday (7/16/10), had the majority of it read by Sunday (7/18/10). The beginning is some basics on gear and planning your escape with maps and the proper bug-out vehicle suitable for you and yours. Still informative though. The second half I just jumped to my respective section of the country and read up on some areas. Very helpful, and I cannot wait to try and do some advanced scouting.
When checking out wilderness locations consider the following: how far to the nearest rural prison,military base,campground,wilderness resort ,hunt clubs, etc. May or may not be good neighbors. There is a lot of "wilderness' out there, to me here at my location, but it is already someone else's backyard and they know the lay of the land .You might be seen as encroaching on their territory. Just saying.
Any kindle readers out there? I have a kindle and love it. I can store 1500 books independent of the need for internet. It uses the same solar charger my cell does. I have a lot of manuals as well as favorite novels, even a bible. My whole library weighs a few ounces. My question however is, has anyone seen a kindle edition of this book? Sometimes there are issues with the e- edition from smaller publishers. This would be a good book to add.
You have the phrase "But Out" instead of "Bug Out" in more than one place in this article.
If you're into bugging out , you probably are going to be doing a bit of walking. Check out 'The Complete Walker' series by Colin Fletcher.
After reading One Second After im deff getting this book. That book was really good.
Bug Out is an awesome book, read it every day and use as a guide!
See you in the spring, Oxbows for me.
Goes without saying : Know your state well ! Find areas that will be more unlikely for the masses to head in a bad situation . Living in Arizona , most of the population will most likely head north ( trees, water , etc . ) , Im heading South ! to an area just as hospitable in resources but off the beaten path . If few hundred Apache’s can just vanish in that area with the US cavalry getting lost because the formations all look alike , I wont have any trouble getting away from people there either .
coronado national forest great idea
ugg boots, drugs whatever send me i purchase all – ok swell ? here i my adress observations
yacumos@gmail.com
I know a place to go in the mountains to bug out in….. http://www.tennesseemountainhideouts.com/” rel=”nofollow”>.http://www.tennesseemountainhideouts.com/
Ask him to visit and do a Hawaii version ; )
This book is awful unless you are a truck driver. I wrote a post about it on my site and most of the book is simply not useful unless you are constantly traveling.
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