“You can hear the siren in the distance. Your electricity is out, and your home phone has no dial tone. When you try to use your cell phone, you get the same message over and over: “All circuits are busy.” You know a disaster is quickly approaching. And you know that waiting this one out is not an option. In the breathtaking stillness, you can hear the clock on the wall. Tick-tock, tick- tock. The eleventh hour is here. You have to leave your home immediately or you and your family will die. [...]

Oftentimes, a disaster will threaten the safety of you and your family in your own home. Suddenly, staying at home and “hunkering down” is no longer the safest decision. To stay alive, the best decision may be to leave. The buzz term for this decision is bugging out.”

Wow. What a perfect emotional explanation behind the reason to prepare your bug out plans. This quote is derived from Creek Stewart’s new book Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag. And let me tell you – after reading this book you’ll be able to do just that.

Creek Stewart is a survival expert that teaches off of the principal of experience. With thousands of hours of experience, he has transformed his survival expertise into a 10,000 sq. ft. survival facility (read more here). What am I getting at? The man knows what he’s talking about.

Recently he published this ultimate guide to building the perfect bug out bag and was generous enough to let me review it and give one of my lucky readers a free copy.

This has truthfully been one of my top faves for survival education. One thing that drives me crazy about most survival literature is the fact that most of it is full of “filler material”. There is not a single page wasted in this book and whether you win the free copy or not, I suggest everyone serious about emergency preparedness pick up a copy.

Instead of giving you a super general overview of the entire 200 pages, I thought I’d go over one of the sections that I liked most: Tools.

The book includes sections on Hydration, Clothing, Shelter, Fire, First Aid, Hygiene, Tools, Lighting, Communication, Protection, Pets, Organization, Preparedness, Planning and Resources. The tools section was one I was really looking forward to. I mean considering the fact that you can spend anywhere from $19.99 to upwards of $600 on a survival knife, how do you know what’s necessary and how do you know what’s not.

Similarly to every chapter in the book, Creek lays out simple and direct guidelines for selecting the proper bug out tools. The bottom-line: I need a new knife.

TAKEAWAY FROM THE BOOK: Three characteristics of an optimal survival knife: fixed blade, 7-11″ long with a single edged blade.

Also covered in the section are different uses for your survival knife and the necessary pieces to look for in a multi-tool.

All in all this book is packed with necessary information for a complete and useful BOB. After reading it you will never doubt me again when I say to NEVER buy a prebuilt BOB. As Creek has so beautifully illustrated, every BOB will be unique to you.

Added Gems You’ll Find in this Book

  • Tips for Children – This was a massive benefit for me when choosing to recommend this book. Many survivalists forget that not all of us are single, strapping young men. Emergency preppers consist of women, elderly, young children – entire families. Many of the sections in this book include good tips and information to help keep your kiddos and aging generation in mind when making your plans.
  • Section on Pets – Now I don’t have any pets but I know plenty of preppers that do (and would swear that they love them like their children). In this case, why wouldn’t they also be included in your emergency survival plans. Forgetting that “family member” could be devastating if proper preparations aren’t made.
  • Categorized Organizational Checklists – Not only will you get all the know-how but at the back of the book Creek has included a comprehensive section of inventory checklists. They are also broken down into categorized sections with areas to write in whose BOB each item will be stored in.

3 BOB Questions for SN’P

  1. How old were you when you built your first Bug Out Bag? Thanks to growing up with a survivalist father, I have had a BOB my whole life. I built my first one, however, at 20. I’m sure if you asked Creek this question he probably built his first one at like 4 1/2 and it was probably better than the one I’ve got right now. But I digress…
  2. What do you consider the top 5 items in your Bug Out Bag? This one’s a toughy. I’d say my knife, rope, fire-starters, water filter and collapsable container. When it comes down to it those really are my bare bones. One day I’ll learn how to make fire out of wet moss like Cody Lundin but for now that will have to take up one of the top five slots.
  3. What have you chosen for your Bug Out Survival Knife? To be honest, I could tell you what I currently have but reading this book changed a lot of my criteria. I’m now in the works of picking a new survival knife and will post when I’ve made a decision.
Want a free copy of this awesome and potentially life-saving piece of knowledge? Who wouldn’t? It’s really not that hard. Post a comment on this review or write something on my Facebook wall and you’ll automatically be entered to win. I will select a winner from the participants Friday, June 1st.
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