Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival, Canterbury, Dave

This past weekend I decided it was time to organize the ammunition at the Bug Out Location. We had ammo stored in 3,,, 4 different locations, which made taking inventory a pain in the rear end.

My wife cleared off a wire shelf so I could bring it to the camp and organize the ammo stockpile. The idea was to get all of the ammo together, see what we have and go from there.

Ammunition at the Bug Out Location is your “oh crap, the S has seriously HTF.” If you have to rely on the ammunition stockpile that you BOL, something really bad has happened – you and your family have had to leave your home, friends and family are probably knocking on your door asking for help,,, things have gone from bad to worse.

Because I look at BOL ammo as a last resort, I only stockpile what I normally shoot in my rifles. This is ammunition that has been tried, tested and proven to work in my rifle and on the game animals in my area. Why use a certain type of ammunition during hunting season, and stockpile a different type of ammo at the Bug Out Location? While this applies to hunting ammo, I look at defensive ammo in a different light.

As for defensive ammo, I stockpile one type, and its something that preforms well in my rifles. The goal of defensive ammo is to poke holes in the target.
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The concept of the gray man is to blend in. This person can disappear into the crowd and never be noticed.

For all points and purposes, shouldn’t preppers / survivalist be practicing gray man on an everyday basis? As stated in another post, tacticool has no place in prepping. At all times we should blend in. Sometimes we need to be reminded on some of the simple things.

Some of the ways I practice “gray man”.

Gray Man Pants

In rural areas such as where I live pants are levis, wranglers or some kind of blue jean. Cities and suburbs maybe khakis or slacks.

I stay away from “tactical” looking cargo pants. Keep it simple and basic. I do not own a pair of slacks. Rarely, and I mean “rarely” will I wear khakis.

Gray Man Shoes / Boots

Rather than cowboy boots I opt for Justin steel toed work boots model number WK4661, Brown/Sawdust color. The soles are rugged and are supposed to be non-slip. […]

There is an interesting thread in the Survivalist Forum about Food Preps. Some of the topics being discussed are stockpiling food such as canned goods, stockpiling dried or vacuum sealed foods, buying MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), canning your own food, stockpiling family sized or #10 cans of food, or something else.

Regardless of how much food you stockpile, its impossible to stockpile enough food for a lifetime.

Here is what my food preps look like:

• Canned goods bought from local grocery store
• Dried foods – dried beans, dried rice, and the such stored in mylar bags
• MREs and Eversafe meals
• Stockpiling as much seed as possible – beans, peas, corn, squash, okra, radishes,,, only to name a few.
• Food stored in #10 cans
• Freeze dried food in pouches with a 30 year life span
• Fruit trees
• Chickens
• Garden
• Farming tools

Canned goods and dried foods are not a self sustaining food supply – once you eat them, they are gone. You are not going to be able to plant an empty bean can, and expect it to sprout a bean plant; which will grow more canned beans – that is not the way it happens.

Stocking up on canned goods, dried foods, vacuum sealed foods, is a dead end. Regardless of how long your food supply will last – 3 months, 6 months, 8 months, 12 months, its going to come to an end sooner or later. […]