Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
First, the disaster will come. It will come like they always do. It may start slow and steady but eventually, it will reach a fever pitch. The destruction brought on by man or mother nature will ravage all that dares step in its path. The audible effects of the disaster will give way to visual awe when the damage is quantified.
Soon after the disaster, things will get rather quiet as people begin to take it all in. When the realization that everything they have learned to depend on is gone, there will be a hush across the land. This will be quickly followed by a screaming mass of desperation that will involve violence, looting, rape, and the most carnal and violent behaviors. But even that will die down eventually.
If you are still alive, you will find yourself in the silence of survival. You will find that breaking that silence and attracting the attention of the desperate masses could lead to another tragedy. We are going to discuss six methods that can give you away in a survival situation and how to mitigate them.
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1. Smoke
If you find yourself in an outdoor survival situation, you will eventually be heating and cooking with wood. Not everybody knows that the types of things you put on a fire dictate the type of smoke you’ll get. Stay away from green. Young saplings and green leaves will create billows of white smoke that will be easy to see from far away.
In fact, this is a great technique if you are looking to signal for rescue. Look for dry wood from old trees. This is your best bet when it comes to building a good fire.
Watch the video below on the Dakota fire pit. This is a method of building fire underground to cook with and heat your shelter. You want to build this type of fire pit by digging two holes in the ground and connecting the tunnels. The largest tunnel will be for your fire.
Also build your Dakota pit under a full tree branch. This will help disperse the smoke.
2. Smell
If you are fortunate enough to bag yourself some wild game in traps or by bow and arrow (assuming you want to be silent), you must be very careful about cooking. Many survivalists will tell you to smoke your meat to get the most shelf life out of it. When it comes to shelf life they would be right.
The problem is, after a few hours of smoke and delicious meaty aromas floating up into the air, you will probably have some visitors. You may even have some wildlife visitors as well.
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The Dakota method mentioned above will help with the smell as well. Still, in an urban survival situation where cooking will attract hungry and desperate people, it would be in your best interest to cook and scatter. You shouldn’t loaf around and eat.
Don’t sleep where you have cooked. In the wild, this brings bears, but in urban survival, it will bring people.
Learn to cook in the ground. You can make charcoal by assembling a pile of wood and completely covering it in a mound of clay soil. After this, build a big fire all around the mound. The soil will protect the wood inside and the fire will create some great charcoal for you. Use this to cook in the ground.
You can cook whole carcasses in the ground covered in leaves, or you can bury small cooking pots, covered, and avoid the wafting smells.
3. Sound
The importance of being conscientious about sound is crucial. Sounds come from all types of movements and activities. You must remain quiet always and particularly in movements. Many people plan on carrying an AR15 or rifle of the type in a survival situation.
You must be very disciplined when you use that weapon and know what using it means. A gunshot will bring people.
Learn the basic principles of hand signals in movement. You will want to be able to move quickly and quietly without having to stop and discuss changes in direction. Another skillful use for hand signals is if you see someone before they see your group. You can signal a quick stop and cover with just a move of the hand.
Keep a silent or quiet weapon on your person along with your high-powered rifle. A crossbow or even a smaller .22 will generate a lot less sound than a big rifle. Another overlooked survival weapon is a good scoped air rifle.
4. Light
Light discipline is a consideration whether you are bugging out or bugging in. Remember, the world will be darker than we have seen it. If we are experiencing a disaster that puts the power out for a long time, the world will be totally different at night.
The light pollution of buildings and street lights will be gone and you will be left with the cosmos above as your only light.
The human eye is trained to find light and particularly artificial light. If you have a home or a site that is lit in a world of darkness, you will have visitors. Of course, there are ways to combat this as well.
We call on the Dakota fire pit again to also conceal our fire. If you can create a perimeter of tall rocks or logs around your Dakota setup, you will be offering great coverage to your fire. Also plan on building camp around the fire and camp in denser areas as well.
Light discipline also involves traveling at night without the aid of artificial light. In the cooler months, this is a fantastic way to stay warm through cold nights. Sleep during the warmer days. This alleviates the need for a big camp fire in the middle of a dark night.
While traveling, you will want to mind your flashlights, headlamps and lanterns. Get yourself a reliable red light as they are much less noticeable at a distance.
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5. Conditions
In a community setting, you will want your overall condition to mimic that of the conditions around you. In other words, a fresh haircut, well fed, spirited neighbor may raise some eyebrows in a community without running water that has been bartering for food over the last month.
In our society, we are often looking for the guy who has it easier. He often becomes a villain as well, i.e. the rich are evil!
Be observant of those around you. Make sure you mimic their struggles to keep your preps a secret. Unfortunately, if you admit to having it, people are going to want some of it.
6. Dogs
We love our dogs. They are loud and boisterous every time someone comes by the house. They are way cooler than any alarm system. The problem with dogs is that they are also instinctual. The reason we love them is because they read us better than any creature on the planet.
When you are on high alert, so are they. This comes from hanging out with us over millennia. They are going to bark when threatened. That is their go-to deterrent. They don’t care if a hail of bullets is what comes back in return.
The solution? Start training your dogs on terms like hush or silence. If your dog is not capable of keeping quiet in a bug out situation, you will have your location exposed all the time. Branches will fall, sticks will snap in the night, and you will be scared. This will make your pooch go crazy, in most cases. A simple command can take care of that.
White noise is another great method when dealing with dogs. When I want the babies to stay asleep, I put the television on for the dogs or they hear everything outside and get loud if something comes too close.
Setting up camp by rushing waters or waterfalls is a great way to muffle the perceived threats of your animal and keep them quiet through the night.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, it’s pretty easy to give ourselves away in a desperate world. If you take these six considerations and apply my recommendations, you will be a little more concealed. What other situations would expose you in an urban survival scenario? Leave your comments below.
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Make sure your vehicles do not look like ” bug out” vehicles( No visible gun racks or a front bumper winch. Put ordinary tires on it. If possible; own a USED vehicle( a 10 to 15 year old one).
What about not believing” ALL _____ AND ______ PEOPLE ARE ROBBERS AND RAPISTS”?
Have you ever been to a plasma donation center? A large percentage of their customers are NOT WHITE PEOPLE.
CLOTHES too. Wearing some flashy clothes that is decorated with pure gold and natural diamonds-?Oh, you’ll get some visitors. And SHOES. JEWELRIES. YOUR NEW PHONE. Everything that makes you look rich is dangerous.
Do not wear clothes that make you appear to be WEALTHY. Or wear lots of jewelry. If you must carry a cell phone; Do not be seen with one that is the newest one. If possible; travel in a car that looks OLD.
Be careful who you share information with, your skills may be valuable but do not give yourself away too easily. Make sure you can trust folks before you say, I’m a doctor, or I am a first aider or a nurse. You might be pressed into service 24 hours a day or put in dangerous situations that you personally want to avoid or be forced to stay where you might otherwise choose not to. Not just yourself but your family or fellow members could be at risk.
Having had an uncontrolled fire burn through the town where I live, I can assure one and all, locating the source of smoke when it is all around you is very difficult. In an end of the world situation, you will not be the only one with a fire going. Most folks will have fires going to keep warm even if they have nothing to cook. Buildings will burn unimpeded by fire fighting personnel. That will add to the smoke overlay. The best thing you can do is lay in a supply of N95 masks. N95 masks are built to U.S. specs. KN96 masks are built to Chinese specs. Your choice. I personally like the N95 masks with the exhaust valve. The valve makes breathing easier. I have first hand knowledge that they work quite well when the air is saturated with smoke. For more than two weeks after the fire burned through it was impossible to breathe outside without the mask on. Buy them now that they are in surplus supply for the next time we need them. Do not buy those flimsy blue things. They do not work in high levels of smoke.
One of the things you should do now is to learn how to live FRUGALLY( LEARN TO LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS). Pay off all of your outstanding debts(credit cards;student loans,etc).
Our last recession was caused because of our STUPID spending habits. People living on $80,000 a year( after taxes)bought $500,000 houses or $40,000 cars. Then their monthly payments ate their lunch. Plus banks were Stupid enough to loan them the money to buy them.
What is so wrong with owning a car for 20 years? Or buying clothes at a thrift shop? Learn to food that is Inexpensive( Spam makes 13 flavors of their pork Spam) Learn how to cook organ meats.
How do you find a group of like minded preppers you can trust? A very small group said I can join them, but that will last only as long as the food does. My husband cannot contribute. 84 in poor health. I have some limited medical skill and supplies, sewing skills and machines that can be converted to treadle power, I’m a teacher and great with children. I have probably 6 months supplies of food, not water, for my husband and myself. But, what’s to prevent someone from accepting us, taking our supplies, killing my husband and myself or using me for other purposes?
There isn’t enough information for people who have to shelter in place. I know to hide my food supplies, no light, not to be obviously doing ok etc. I occasionally eat cold meals so I’ll be used to it. We live in an old mobile home in a tiny rundown 1 street trailer park. We won’t attract undue attention, but can’t dig a shelter or prepare in any other way. There is no practical, affordable way to fortify the mobile and even it there was, when the food runs out….
The only other option is to run away now to a friend way up north. My husband will fight me on that as his late wife of 57 years is buried here.
I am extremely concerned and at times downright scared. My main hope is that my husband passes before it happens….
I hope you can resolve your difficulties, when elderly people prep they do become targets very easily. I wish I knew the area you live in because my husband and I are in our 60’s and would love to help some elderly folk in SHTF
I’ve looked into survival situations where one must leave and travel elsewhere or stay and fortify. How do I know which one to do?
One small item that many do not think of is OLD VHS TAPES or NEW ONES that are out of date due to DVDs and CDs. I have a big box of them. Put a few in your go bag. It can serve many purposes. It makes very strong binding tape for shelters , spear heads, arrows, bows, spring traps, fish nets, tool making. perimeter alarms, trip wires with cans, slings, sledge making, wound wrapping, pulled muscle straps, booby traps,fire starting, basket making, and much much more !
Butane does not work well, if at all, at low temperatures. It snows once every 5 years in Tucson, AZ, so that is about 32degrees F, zerodegrees C. A butane burner does not always function well in AZ.
Roosters. Those little jackasses will give your food supply away as well.
Tribes in south America cut the vocal cords of their roosters for that reason. If a person wants to have a self-perpetuating flock for a while longer it would be worthwhile to have this done at the vet before SHTF and maybe observe while they do it. Also consider quail instead
Something to bear in mind, every aspect of a would be problem or apocalypse, will be Controlled by the elites. Most aren’t going to expect what is really coming, and only have an idea as to how things will unfold. Your ideas will be wrong. I know people are sincere, but they are sincerely wrong. Pray, prep, arm yourself, initiate a militia, but what’s coming is planned out… Most of what will happen, especially this year, is planned, right down to them entering their underground safe based. But they’ll be running from God, not you.
Mg You are so right, especially the last sentence.
Start reading your bible if you have one. If you don’t go out and get one.
The bible fore tells of the last days when things are going to get really bad.
I happen to believe that the best recourse in the event of a serious, long-lasting SHTF situation is other people. People of like mind. Gathering together for mutual protection, forming citizen militia. I favour setting up co-operative “villages” of RVs, cabins and tiny homes that are secured inside a protected perimeter, with collective gardens, food preparation and storage, and support services like medical, skills training.
Anonima, you are probably the closest to a rational, and potentially, actual real life solution. If anyone wants to know how to survive any form of calamity and how to survive it, just research how the people from Yugoslavia area (Bosnia, etc.) survived their ordeals during that civil war.
I believe that possessing Bushcraft survival skills are necessary, but think Urban. There is a plain, common sense answer for that: Bugging out will not be the answer. Imagine hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions of people with the same survival and bug-out plans heading out into the bush….having read all these prep and survival articles and advice, they expect to put all that knowledge into practice …only, with all those potential throngs of people in the bush, they will merely create another baseless town / city of inhabitants of overcrowded, nervous, agitated, scared, desperate and uncontrolled, lawless masses of in-your-face people who will be at each other’s mercy, or the lack thereof, discovering that there are not remotely enough natural resources to feed, water, clothe and warm them. Moving all these people into such territories will spontaneously ignite uncontrolled chaos in a very short space of time, and you will see people attacking each other internally, instead of protecting each other.
History has taught those who cared to learn that humans will turn on each other with no-holds barred agrivation when their survival instincts are pushed to unhumane levels, and they will do ANYTHING to stay alive, involving everyone around them, including their own kin and friends, make no mistake.
Many well experienced survivers will therefor advise you that it is better to stay at home and form clusters that are protective where they can set up safer community bounderies, share resources, keep watch and protect each other within familiar surroundings. The reality arround survival strategy is, that small to medium sized well managed groupings of people are more likely to survive successfully than individuals trying to go it alone, of course with exceptions where individuals are experienced outdoors survivors who have practical know-how. “City slicks” trying to go it alone to avoid the large crowds and evade detection in the wild, trying to live off nature, without experience, will sooner than later run into life threatening situations.
As well, ask yourself, can you think of vast forested / wild areas where you can escape to and practically “disappear” off the radar without bumping into someone? There are people everywhere nowadays due to world over-populations issues. This drives home the problem especially when whole communities, or even large groups of people head off into the bush to escape collapsed societies and have the misgivings of finding resolution in the wild.
The stuff you need to survive in urban conditions will surprise you what you need and what you actually don’t; what becomes very valuable and what becomes useless and outright dangerous.
Staying beneath the scene is important for SURVIVAL. It may also apply before the BTSHTF, Before The Shit Hit’s The Fan. As times get more demanding and become more of a challenge one needs to keep a constant sense of anything that is going on in, near or around you. You have to see with you ear’s and hear with you eye’s. Develop that 6th sense to keep on keeping on. The number one demand / challenge is psychological. Don’t let it drag you down into the swamp. Psychological can wipe you out faster than a nuclear attack. Keep yourself up and going, period.
Good point- that’s the first mention I’ve ever seen of BTSHTF – I’m stealin dat! 😉
Another way you could prep without being noticed is disguising a garden as a patch of “wild” plants. When most people think of gardens, they think of individual patches of land or pots, each filled with specific types of vegetables/fruit. What they won’t expect though, is putting the plants together so it looks more natural. Could also use subtle ways to mark certain plants in the garden if they happen to look similar. Just an idea :3
Won’t work…at least not well. You might not have the plants grow in patches, but you are still taking care of them.. and that shows. A lot.
It’s actually a lot like the issue with smoke.. smoke is always noticible. sure, you might try to conceal it, and sure, it might make the smoke not as noticible from the distance… but as soon as the enemy gets within certain distance, they will hear the fire, and smell the smoke.
Very good article, but I think they missed two important remarks:
TRASH – We all know that the trash of one is the treasure of another, careful not to offer a garimpo area…
CLOTHES and SHOES – Clothes that are very clean or that are visibly expensive and above what the average person can get in a crisis can also denounce their resources.
I live in Brazil, and here is a rule of thumb: dress according to where you are!
Great point- we’re having lots of Rolex robberies even in pricy areas.
“You can make charcoal by assembling a pile of wood and completely covering it in a mound of clay soil. After this, build a big fire all around the mound.”
I thought the idea was to remain undetected – building “big fire all around” is not a good way to remain undetected. You want your fire INSIDE your clay mound…like this…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjK2XlNE39Q
If you want to remain undetected, the very last thing you want to do is shoot somebody. Not only will the shot(s) attract others but you’ll end up with bodies to dispose of. Not smart.
Well I will watch while you cook mmmm and they will come only once each!
Dakota fire pit is excellent, I was raised Cherokee and we used something similar . The way I was tough is to use 2 metal rods to hang your cook pot 1/2″ above the pit. this saves water and allows you to remove the pot easy.
A good camp leaves you 2 escapes the obvious and a hidden one. the plains natives had a back flap that was not visible, sometimes with wood or brush on either side of it,even covering a depression to hide in.
A Hogan had a crawl hole, covered with a bush in the back.
Cave dwellers usually had a second tunnel hidden with a thin rock,or behind a large rock.
biggest thing is STOP thinking like a “civilized man”. You are no longer in the world where “civilized” people exist.
I spent 2 years in the wilds of main, living free, and gained wait, and muscle .
Rangers were hunting me, and they even called in hellos. That is the way to survive!!
Why were rangers hunting you?
Genuinely interested for the story behind it.
Travel near the road, not on it. Be aware of natural and man made chokepoints. Waterways allow fast, stealthy exits. Get an old Boy Scout Fieldbook for woodcraft. That is where the special forces got theirs.
ANY sign of habitation. Keep cutting saplings, gathering wood, rocks, creating a path from repeated walking in same route, area must stay pristine or move on every so often. Bugging out WILL NOT BE EASY.
4. U 4get about rats?
you should manage your supplies, trash, and sewage no matter where you are to avoid disease and vermin, like rats. If you meant rats as a food source, I’ll eat rats before I starve, and gophers, squirrels, snakes, lizards, fish, birds, what-ever I can catch. I recommend everyone should stock up on some extra snap traps for both mice and rats (real cheap at WalMart), maybe a gopher trap or two, and you can use snap traps for gophers, squirrels, birds, etc. if you prepare them properly, which usually involves a “tunnel” or “box” large enough not to hinder the trap from operating, the animal enters for bait and then sets off the trap. I also recommend having extra fishing line & hooks, and some strong but malleable wire and twine/cordage for snares. Traps and snares are great for catching small “game”, but you really should learn how to set them up before you have to depend on them for food. My favorite “bait” for snap traps is a dab of peanut butter, easy to apply, sticks well, and the smell lasts a long time.
I would rather eat ground animals than any type of water animals.
Just me though.
I’d rather have fish vs rat
Re the Dakota earth stove. This can easily be made far more efficient & smokeless by replacing the earth between the 2 holes with a thin metal plate that enormously preheats the incoming air – like my Helixtove. Also you can keep kettle & saucepan clean by letting the fire play under a sheet of aluminum on top of which is the kettle that then never gets black. Hey, Let me know how that goes!
If you are a believer in the 2nd Amendment, none of tevforegoing will be an issue.
Wake up people, sheeple and snowflakes.
A generator running. Laundry hanging out to dry. Gasoline or diesel storage tanks. A vegetable garden. Vehicles that are obvious tactical use. Well used paths or driveways. At a house or cabin, stacked firewood, ready to use. Muddy footprints on a porch or entrance way. Fresh garbage or trash.
there are 3 main things that will give away your location to bad people.
LIGHT
SMELL
NOISE.
and my wife makes 4….