Hey guys, here's a good item that fits if you put some good preparation into possibly one day having to bug out. An e-tool (no, not one that helps you charge up your phone or tablet) or a good S.S. trowel.
There's the old military-issue Ames entrenching tool (personal favorite), along with many other folding mini shovels. With a good set of Contractor Knee pads and an Ames, you can easily do most of the chores reserved for a full-sized shovel. But you can easily carry it around in its cover.... If you don't mind the weight. Even the smallest e-tool I've found (Gerber Gorge) might still be a bit too heavy. (It doesn't help that Gerber pretty much phoned-in the cover for it.)
So.... lightest option would be the U-Dig-It S.S. folding trowel. It's the best trowel I've found. But it
is a trowel, not a shovel.
Why pack an e-tool or even a trowel? You might
realistically need one. Since bugging out is not the exciting adventure some folks think it is, you need to stack the deck to improve your chances of making it. Find a spot close to your BOL (Bug Out Location) and bury a cache. Ironically, no; I don't recommend burying guns. One thing to keep in mind is that someone might come by several weeks, months, or even years later; and stumble onto your cache. If you have guns buried in it.... Not good!
Also, since your main tool for digging up your cache might be a trowel, we're not talking any container big enough to hold long guns. Think typical military ammo can. Along those lines. Either the actual cans themselves or perhaps heavy-duty plastic containers close in size to them. Maybe a couple of feet down. Also, it wouldn't be a bad idea to hide a thick plastic trowel near your cache too. (I say plastic in that role since a metal one will easily corrode over time kept constantly in a hidden spot outdoors.) What to put in the container?....
All of the basic BOB categories should be covered. For example: Ferro rod and striker, good quality S.S. knife, water purification pills, heavy-duty quart ziplock baggie (to use as water container to purify water), some paracord, and definitely a couple of freeze-dried meals or MRE entrees-only, etc. Why go to the trouble of burying a cache close to your BOL?....
Imagine getting there, the supplies in your BOB are low and.... You see your BOL has people living in it.
Yeah, not expecting that. But, it can happen. Maybe not if your BOL is an underground bunker. (Especially one of those new ones being advertised for those with plenty of disposable income. To put it mildly. There are companies out there that can build you underground units complete with luxury accommodations. Most impressive one I've seen is made from a few sections of cylinder placed horizontally. Yes, your new home will be domed. But the floor is half-way through the cylinder. So, plenty of storage space under your floor. Honestly, if I had the money, I'd buy property in the mid-west, put a normal home on it, put my BOL underneath my property. My Bug out journey would be 10 feet of running to my BOL. Yeah, I'd try to get a job that would let me work from home.)
But getting back to the situation.... What do you do? Two choices, basically. You can go in, or leave. If you decide the group that took over is just too prone to use violence, you'll still need to replenish some supplies. So, you go to your cache. Now you can at least move on with more supplies. You could decide to go in. But now you have another choice.... Let the family in your BOL know it's yours' but you're willing to share. Hope that none of the parents decide they're not going to share your food with you (as messed up as that sounds), and commit violence against you anyway. Or, you can use the threat of force to kick them off your BOL. Even a desperate and hungry man is going to choose to leave and live, rather than risk getting shot by the rightful property owner.
That's a moral issue for everyone to decide on their own. But that's why an e-tool or trowel in the old BOB is a good idea. Getting back to an earlier post, it's especially good if you've been separated from your BOB; and only have the little fanny-pack or large belt case on your hip to survive on now. In that case, the plastic, hidden, trowel would be needed. Also, let's stack the deck some more. No reason you can't have more than one cache. (Just realize that any of them can be stumbled onto and taken by anyone. So, don't put your best or any expensive items into the containers.)
You should have a primary route, and at least two alternate routes to your BOL. You can plant a cache along all three routes. Once again, the items don't need to be very expensive.
Another reason an e-tool or trowel is a good idea.... You stop to camp. You start setting up camp. You then find some used toilet-paper behind a bush. And it's fresh. Okay, you know someone is in the area. Time to get out of there! The flip side is, let's say that's your recent T.P. at the site. Now imagine someone finding that. Someone hungry, desperate, perhaps at the point now where hurting or killing another human-being for food and supplies is a very real option for them. Now they know that someone is nearby. Someone who packed toilet-paper with them. That means they likely packed other things as well. Food, shelter, maybe even a gun. Now this desperate and hungry individual is going to very quietly search for
YOU.
Bury your scat. Maintain that low-profile. Consider a good e-tool or at very least a good S.S. folding trowel.
I'd like to thank YouTuber Survival Lilly for the excellent idea of burying a cache near your BOL. You guys know me. And you know I don't promote individual YouTubers or their channels. But that idea was not one of mine, nor one found in one of Creek Stewart's books. Just giving credit where it's due.
