Alberta must be different then Ontario as there are not too many places with in a two hour drive that are isolated. Unless you head way north and onto crown land. Somebody somewhere owns the land you want to use. Simply packing up and leaving unless you have a secure location that you own may not be the best idea.

There are other things to consider such as food and water. Ideally it should be in position before you bug out. Even thirty days worth of food for two people, water, sanitation supplies, cooking and shelter is a lot. I know for certain it will fill a normal sized trailer along with the pickup used to haul it.

Secondly is your Bug out location any more secure then the place that you left. Living in the country and spending a lot of time in the woods has taught me a couple of things. Normal noises of animals and day to day activities of people such as chopping wood travel a long way. The same is true for cooking smells and wood smoke, which are necessary for day to day living in the woods. A sound of a dog barking and the smell of wood smoke can travel for miles and be detected by unwanted visitors.

There is safety in numbers but that will also compound all of the other problems.

Just something to think about..

HTP

Good points Hilltopprepper,

Security is in numbers. Give me 10-15 people with a decent supply of guns and ammo, and I would feel much safer in a small town than out in the woods. Don't get me wrong, if there was a place to go that could be secured, and that had the ability to support my crew, I would go there, but at this point that is not an option. If it is truly a SHTF scenario getting out to the country has some big positives, but not without the people to keep you safe.

Going in any direction N,NNE,or NNW of Edmonton for 2-3 hours will put you into areas that are not populated for miles and miles.
There are plenty of fresh water lakes and streams full of fish. The forests offer plenty of game and shelter.

You make some good points, ReadyToGo, especially on your last post. That is a distinct advantage of living here next to the 54 N parallel; unfortunately, though as Hilltopprepper points out, wherever you set up shop at a BOL outside the city, those that later leave the city "along the spokes of a wheel" may eventually find us.
But, like you ReadyToGo, I've been scouting multiple BOLs out of Edmonton, within 3/4 tank of fuel. Been thinking of returning to each and burying fuel & other provisions but other priorities kept me at bay last year. 2013 is likely the year I do. If you want to meet for coffee and discuss our options, send a PM.

Going in any direction N,NNE,or NNW of Edmonton for 2-3 hours will put you into areas that are not populated for miles and miles.
There are plenty of fresh water lakes and streams full of fish. The forests offer plenty of game and shelter.

Don't think for one second that those lakes and streams will be full of fish with everyone that bugs out using them as a food source. The wild game in the forest would take a huge hit as well. Just with the economic downturn in the USA small game is almost gone from many 'wild' areas anywhere near financially distraught American cities. I would suspect that ranchers would take a huge hut in 'involuntary' herd culling post SHTF. I'll bug in thanks, but I also have to travel 80km to get to a town with more than 10,000 population.

Some food for thought...
http://survivalacres.com/blog/the-fallacy-of-bugging-out/

I am a hunter and also enjoy gophers as target practice. I therefore have made friendly relationships with farmers who have given me permission to use their land for these things. Some of these same farmers allow me to camp overnight from time to time. Some of this land I camp on is very well hidden.
I can’t afford to buy land and the BOL is 4 hours away, but if I had to I could go camping if needed at one of these remote locations. It could be a temporary stop over for the trip to the main hide and could also be used for a rendezvous point to meet up with others from my group so we can travel with safety in numbers. This spring I will be looking for places on the way to the BOL to use for this. I will introduce myself to the landowner where I have found a suitable location and ask for permission to access the land.
In the past I have gained access to land others could not because I bartered for access. I offer to fix fence, remove fallen trees from the edges of fields or just ask if there is something else they could use a hand with. Some people who normally say no at first have changed their mind after such offers. In two cases I am certain that in a real event I could then have a Prepper friendly conversation with the owner if I felt I needed to use the land for a longer term situation. At that time many folks who would think we are crazy today might be open to the subject. If you have a relationship with them for long enough you would have been able to decide if that landowner would be willing and beneficial to being part of a community situation in a post SHTF world.
If you don’t have a BOL finding a place to go hide and developing a relationship with the owner to gain access could be an option. Even if you don’t hunt it is a common request most farmers are used to.

Going in any direction N,NNE,or NNW of Edmonton for 2-3 hours will put you into areas that are not populated for miles and miles.
There are plenty of fresh water lakes and streams full of fish. The forests offer plenty of game and shelter.

Don't think for one second that those lakes and streams will be full of fish with everyone that bugs out using them as a food source. The wild game in the forest would take a huge hit as well. Just with the economic downturn in the USA small game is almost gone from many 'wild' areas anywhere near financially distraught American cities. I would suspect that ranchers would take a huge hut in 'involuntary' herd culling post SHTF. I'll bug in thanks, but I also have to travel 80km to get to a town with more than 10,000 population.

Some food for thought...
http://survivalacres.com/blog/the-fallacy-of-bugging-out/

Well, I'm not sure where you are at, but I am quite sure that I will not have to worry about a mass exodus ending up in any of my locations. Without some sort of major SUV or off road vehicle access will be limited. What are the percentages of the population that A. don't even own a vehicle, B. only have a compact, C. have never done any camping, D. don't have a clue.

I am a hunter and also enjoy gophers as target practice. I therefore have made friendly relationships with farmers who have given me permission to use their land for these things. Some of these same farmers allow me to camp overnight from time to time. Some of this land I camp on is very well hidden.
I can’t afford to buy land and the BOL is 4 hours away, but if I had to I could go camping if needed at one of these remote locations. It could be a temporary stop over for the trip to the main hide and could also be used for a rendezvous point to meet up with others from my group so we can travel with safety in numbers. This spring I will be looking for places on the way to the BOL to use for this. I will introduce myself to the landowner where I have found a suitable location and ask for permission to access the land.
In the past I have gained access to land others could not because I bartered for access. I offer to fix fence, remove fallen trees from the edges of fields or just ask if there is something else they could use a hand with. Some people who normally say no at first have changed their mind after such offers. In two cases I am certain that in a real event I could then have a Prepper friendly conversation with the owner if I felt I needed to use the land for a longer term situation. At that time many folks who would think we are crazy today might be open to the subject. If you have a relationship with them for long enough you would have been able to decide if that landowner would be willing and beneficial to being part of a community situation in a post SHTF world.
If you don’t have a BOL finding a place to go hide and developing a relationship with the owner to gain access could be an option. Even if you don’t hunt it is a common request most farmers are used to.

What do you think your chances of staying on a land owners property will be if the SHTF? Do you think the land owner will let you have priority to hide out on his land over his best friends or family members? As long as someone knows where you are, you will be vulnerable to attack, or, worse.

Well RTG that is something you will have to determine for yourself. As I stated I chose these locations carefully and took the time to get to know the land owner. It will now take time to get to know new people, but I will take the time.
If the location has to be used for buggout then all you can do is ask. In a real SHTF situation I believe a lot of people will be more understanding than they would be in regular times. It is also a roll of the dice one has to be willing to make.

RTG wrote

Well, I'm not sure where you are at, but I am quite sure that I will not have to worry about a mass exodus ending up in any of my locations. Without some sort of major SUV or off road vehicle access will be limited. What are the percentages of the population that A. don't even own a vehicle, B. only have a compact, C. have never done any camping, D. don't have a clue.

OK then think about how many hunters do NOT get a tag in a draw. Think about how many fisherman have not got out 'as much as they would like to'. Think about how many campers 'just didn't find time this year'. If SHTF occurs a lot of those people will suddenly have time on their hands and empty bellies. I'm not saying that the forest would look like the first Woodstock concert but the pressure on wild fish & game would increase at a tremendous and unsustainable rate. Within a 30 mile radius of Edmonton the population is near 1.25 million. If just 5% of that population 'heads to the hills' that would represent over 60K people trying to live off the land. Granted that population would drop drastically after the first winter the effect of culling game populations would be slow to recover at best. I'd well imagine that 'Holstein, Hereford and Angus elk' 😉 populations would take a severe hit as well.

Interesting comment BelowTheRadar,

In the 1860's there were approximately 5,000 humans inhabiting the area we now call Alberta. Human populations tend to grow to the food supply. If we could only live off the land in its natural state, with no technology, there would be no more than 5-10,000 people in this province. Of course after a SHTF scenario wildlife would be decimated, and might not recover for decades. So AB wildlife resources would not be able to support even 5,000 in the years after a SHTF situation. Keep in mind our cattle would not survive in any numbers without feed and human intervention. They are not Bison. This is why it is important to pray to all of the potential gods and goddesses, because a bad SHTF scenario is really, really bad. 😉

Hi Rob,

You are not wrong that it would be very, very bad, but I have to say that if we take the time to learn and research and go back to old knowledge and learn how to use it now! we would have a good chance of getting and keep enough critters alive to support a much larger pop then that.. the average farmer in the world has five acres, and the amount of things that can in fact be used as feed for our livestock is vast, its just that we want that which takes the least amount of time to do, that can be done by less peaple and with the biggest machines..

If we really needed to go back to keeping just the livestock that we could keep on our own lands with the hands on work that folks could do, would there be less, of course there would be, would we lose it all, well that would depend greatly on where the focus is.. if the person is focused on hay and grains, they would be in a world of hurt, if they went back to the roots, back to the old knowledge, the reports are all there for those that are willing to take the risk and learn..

No more big pig barns but for every four or five families, one person with two sows and boar, who then places out weaner piglets one or two per family, that is raised over the spring(used as piggy plows) summer to fatten, and butchered in the fall, for very little carry over costs, you could feed many families in that single pork.. and think of all the things can come from it..

In my current research on sunflowes as fodder, amazing studies done on it as a feeder crop for in places like montana (which menas it would work in alberta as well) that it can be grown in area's where wheat and corn could not be due to limited growing season..

I guess my point is, that the knowledge has come along way since the settlers arrived.. although I would point out that when talking to my mother, it turned out both my great grandfather and grandfather in their homesteading in alberta did in fact grow sunflowers for animal fodder as well as limited household use.

Thanks for the tip on Sunflower seeds farmgal. I'll plant a few of them as well this year. Unfortunately most of the caloric value comes from saturated fat but I'd well imagine in a survival situation the caloric demand by the average survivor would probably increase by 50 to 100% thereby burning that fat pretty darn quick. While I seldom eat sunflower seeds I am sure that I would enjoy them more when they were seasoned with the very best sauce of all, hunger.

http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-sunflower-seeds-i12036

O, but there is so much more to those plants then the seeds, I will put a link to the post I did on them but am going to clip out the part that I feel applies directly to what we are talking about here..In fact I was just talking to my farmer and he said told me when I could safely plant them based on what he is planting and when he will be spraying, aways a good to have a working relationship with the folks that owned the land next to you..

http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/sunflowers-o-the-mighty-sunflower/

"So of course my next thought was, well I can dry some of those heads and hang them in the big barns hay loft that I don’t use as it a massive space with great air flow and lots of ways to hang them from, but then I stopped and really thought about this, I might be able to hang and store several hundred heads but not more then that.. that leaves a possablity of several more thousands of heads, now I am sure that the wild birds would be very happy to help releave me of some of these but still..

hmmm, so I got to talking to my momma, and she started telling me about how my grandfather used these as animal fodder as soon as the seed pods started forming but way, way before we would consider them ready for drying and storing.. This was feed to the pigs, to the sheep, goats and cows.. interesting.

So I started doing some more reading.. turns out there have been good studies done on this and up, this is a great bird and cow fodder, they are very clear what percents are safe for feeding and how to use it, so that was very very helpful.

Assuming that I get a average size head (which full size can be upward of 5 pds on the kind I picked to plant) even if I take it down by half to 2.5 pds per head, it could produce between 12 to 15 thousands pds plus of heads.. Thats somewhere around six to eight tons of fodder for the farm critters!

The green leaves can be picked and used for bedding in a light way thoughout the growing season, which is a interesting idea.. once allowed to dry, the stalks get hard and strong..

They can be trimmed and used for poles for the next gardening season or for making a natural weaved fencing projects but the thing that surprised me to find out was this gem?

“Those who undertake to grow Sunflowers should, however, bear in mind that the ash obtained from the plants after the seed has been harvested is, owing to its richness in potash, a manure of considerable value, so that it is really wasteful to use up the dry stems merely on the domestic fire; it is of more advantage to make them up in heaps on the ground, burn them there and save the ash.

At the time of cutting, strip off the leaves and feed them to rabbits or poultry. When the stems are dry and after the seed crop has been gathered, choose a fine day to burn both stems and empty seed-heads.

Of the ash obtained from burning the Sunflower stems and heads (apart from seeds) 62 per cent consists of potash, and as an acre of Sunflowers produces from 2,500 to 4,000 lb. of top, the total yield of potash is considerable. Allowing 3,000 lb. of top, there would be produced 160 lb. of ashes per acre of crop, which should contain upwards of 50 lb. of potash.

The ash should either be spread at once or stored under cover; if left exposed to rain, the potash will be washed away and the ash rendered of little manurial value. It can be used with advantage for the potato or other root crop in the following year, being spread a little while before the crop is planted, at the rate of from 1/2 to 1 OZ. to the square yard”

So if this plan can be worked out, I will have something that will use marginal land on the farm, increase the amount of bee’s food on my land, be pretty, work to improve the soil itself, produce 6 to 8 tons of animal fodder, plus greens/bedding, plus the ability to have my own garden stocks for different products and the ability to produce my own potash for my farm use, thus once again closing a loop, making something that had to be reached out for to outside the farm and making it a on the farm! 0 mile potash..