A Broad Series of Preparatory Questions

I live in Ontario, in a major city center. I have a number of friends, scattered about, though all withing about an hour and a half drive from me, all interested in this/wanting to prepare. I also have a wife and son.

I know most of this information is scattered about this forum, but I would like to sort of compile this information for my own use/take directly from the experienced members of this board.

Firstly, I am quite an outdoorsman, having spent most of my life in small towns and in the outdoors, fishing, hunting(with a bow) and also know well how to grow/farm.

Firstly, my priority(besides the obvious) would be how, in a general SitX scenario, to get in contact with these people, all of whom possess skills of benefit. Would some sort of communication be needed, or would simply a predetermined meeting point suffice?

Secondly, what should be in my BOB? I have many of the obvious, ie a hunting knife, bow and many arrows, and know how to make these myself, hydrogen pyroxide, iodine pills, chlorine tablets, a tent, a fishing pole, with all the 'extras' a number of pdfs printed off with various herbs and edibles from the area.

Besides that, I am just looking for advice from the more experienced members here about what to do should the unthinkable happen.

Hey!

You pose some very valid questions but I am not too sure about the first question. Do a search on this forum and you'll find many valuable topics on BOBs and what should be in them.

Do you live in Toronto or another city?

Communication is something I've been working on for my group a lot lately, figuring out ways to implement things so that it protects the group while also giving a robust communication system.

FRS/GMRS Radios

Those are probably the best bet for short distance communication however one needs to be aware that they are public frequencies and therefore not hard to monitor. For security reasons I highly suggest using pre-determined call signs for group members to avoid giving away unnecessary details over open air.

Maps

Perhaps the best idea I've come across yet for maps is to divide them into a grid and assign your own number and letter system for identifying these locations so that you can call out to others over the radio without giving away specific locations that are easy to locate.

Planning

Its probably a good idea to gather with your group and determine criteria for a bug-out situation. Once you have a solid set of guidelines to use when determining when to bug out determine a set of procedures leading all members to a general location rather than a specific one, then assign likely locations identifying names. The idea is to get within say a few miles of your selected locations then call out a meet point location via the maps I mentioned earlier, group up then check your bugout locations before moving into them as a group and setting up camp.

first here.... there is alot of thinking that goes into this area but in the end all the effort is well worth it...

lets say you have to B/O... prior to that you need to look at what your traffic is like during the peak rush hours in your city and all traffic along the route to your destination... then multiply that several times...

Look at the crime rates and incidents in your area and do what ever is needed to protect you and yours... because believe me the idiots will come out and attempt to take what is yours...

Helig mentioned the FRS/GMRS radios... I have to agree they are some of the best and most durable

Now... plot a meeting place and then after all people are notified and the site is discussed that is safe , and somewhat easy to get to... set up a few surprise assemblies and time it to see how long it takes all parties to get there... we practice this at least once a month here and we all have it down to maybe a 45 minute charge into the area...

definately obtain city street maps and plan the routes, obtain topographical maps, and get state maps if needed.... there are an abundance of them and I am not sure about your area but here in Idaho we can get topo's and other maps from fish and game...