I guess I don't get the whole but out bag thing. I can see keeping some supplies in my truck/car at all times. But the whole backpack bug out thing? Where are you walking to in the winter? I can't see leaving the safety of your home to be out there on foot with two days of food and water. Maybe if the neighborhood burned down, including your house. Have you ever seen the TV show "Alone"? Unless you live in the northwest, northeast, or Alabama, your not going to have a large enough area to support yourself with game. You'll have to many others doing the same, or shooting you for being on their property. Most country folk are not going to let you squat on their land and steal their resident game. What am I missing from a situational view point?
You are completely missing the most important aspect, INDIVIDUAL NEED. Many of us cannot BUG OUT at all so we plan to bug in because its what extenal influences dictate, Others among us CAN bug out because their circumstances and personal economics ALLOW them to do so, they also often have some place pre arranged to move to. Others on here HAVE to try and bug out because where they live is totally unsustainable, some to pre arranged locations, others to near by wilderness areas or coastal areas, others simply have vehicles adapted to act as portable shelters.
Who said we were all walking, who said TSHTF would be in Winter, who said we all live in areas that had real winters, who said people will only be reliant on hunting game many people have years supplies of food cached away in multiple locations, others among us grow nearly all our own food. You clearly have made up your mind before you started posting and before you did any research.
Bugging IN.
Quite a number of preppers have looked at the economics AND logistics of bugging out and realised the costs of a home and BOL are simply to expensive and complicated, so they have BUGGED IN. By that I mean they found a more sustainable, secure home, out of the way as best they can further out of town but still often within commuting range. They have moved to better suited properties NOW before anything bad happens. More defendable, more sustainable, more private, more remote, better situtated, better resourced. They actually live in their BOLs for want of a better word. This means much of the time they will already be at home if TSHTF, or if they are at work they only need to get themselves back home by one of many preplanned and checked routes. If those routes are longer than ideal distances the prepper has cached supplies along those routes to allow them to replentish on the way home.
Those who bug in usually have developed plans and procedures for their families to get home from school, college etc in a simplar manner. So instead of wandering off blindly into the wilderness they simply only have to get home from work.
I personally live in a temporate area where severe winters are rare, forest fires remote, quakes unheard of, Occasional ice events, flooding and power cuts are the main natural threat, cities are distant, YET my circumstances mean I have to stand my ground and bug in. Traffic on any given day is to severe to allow to me bug out and I cannot afford an established BOL , so my pack is a Get Home Bag designed to sustain me in getting home from where ever I may be. Culturally I know the people where I live will panic and start to flee this area if something dreadful occured, the road system will close in minutes, thats why I have reccied every possible path, lane, bridleway, farm track, logging trail, canal tow path, storm drain,etc etc in this area to allow me to get home.