(Bugout.news) In emergency situations when stuff has hit the fan and you’re moving out fast, what you’ll need in terms of overnight shelter are just the basics: A tarp, paracord, a couple of stakes and some leaves and branches for bedding.

But at some point, the goal is to stop running and settle down somewhere. At that point you’ll definitely have a need for a much larger, more stable and sturdy place to lay your head at night and from which to operate. And just so you know, this is something that you’re going to have to build before stuff happens, because it will require the use of tools that you’re not likely to be carrying with you when you bugout.

In selecting your long-term shelter location, there are some things to consider, the most important of which is access to a source of water, even one that is untreated like a pond or creek. While you should be carrying in your bugout gear a couple of different ways to sanitize water, once you get your long-term shelter built you’ll be able to boil your water as well.

Another consideration is access to food. If you have never hunted in your life – and face it, most people haven’t – you won’t be able to “live off the land,” at least at first. So you’re going to have to make sure you have a food source nearby until you get the hang of hunting and growing food (remember, this is long-term we’re talking about).

Gaining access to a food source means one of two things: The source must either be in walking distance or a short drive away, though in the latter, consider that eventually your vehicle will run out of fuel (unless you can secure more – a subject for another day). So walking distance is best (and be prepared to lose this source at any moment to a larger, roving band of survivors).

Finally, your location should be difficult to find or see. While you’re going to camouflage your shelter as much as possible, you certainly don’t want it sitting in the middle of a forest clearing, for example.

All said, a need for long-term shelter rests solely on your ability to be able to remain where you have decided to “settle down” – a ready supply of food and water and a good location to hide in.

There are a number of shelter designs but the one below by Survival Lilly will do the trick nicely, and for several reasons that she explains in her short video: all-around better protection from the environment, the ability to serve as a base of operations, weather protection, and so forth.

So, give this video a watch and be thinking about that “place” where you’d like to go when stuff happens and, more importantly, when you’re going to get started building (and stocking) it.

More:

• Six makeshift shelters that you can build on the fly
• Building an observation and fighting pit/shelter
• A prehistoric supervolcano is quietly brewing in an Idaho national park… and it’s eruption would be phenomenally larger in scale than Yellowstone – Collapse.news

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