5 acres, in the mountains- how would YOU defend it?

[Brutus57]

I think for less than a group or extended family camouflage is great. Those castle type bastions sound great but they SCREAM come and get me and mine. or the bad guys just say Eff it, ain't worth real troops just hit it with an airstrike (drone, or other Hellfire of bomb dropping beastie. You want as little a footprint as possible and the biggest buffer, early warning system you can think of. Plan, plan, plan and cooperate. The big challenge, is who can you trust.

Brutus Out

 

[JackD]

Or Limburger cheese on the manifold?

 

[erudne]

in the PNW there are lots of big trees and lots of small bridges. Wedge a large tree 1/2 way across a bridge so that an opponent must enter onto the bridge to dislodge the multi-ton tree trunk.
Just saying

 

[CamoDeafie]

in the PNW there are lots of big trees and lots of small bridges. Wedge a large tree 1/2 way across a bridge so that an opponent must enter onto the bridge to dislodge the multi-ton tree trunk.
Just saying

in that vein also, rig up a large Figure 4 dead fall under the bridge and then use a chain saw to cut the supports JUST enough to collapse once a 5-ton truck gets onto it... they''ll have to bring in the Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge vehicles, IF they can get the weight of the thing up the gravel roads and switchbacks.
EDIT: this is for the wooden bridges made using rail ties and similar materials. steel and concrete is much more difficult to deal with, but can be done by homebrew equipment
I am also a believer in dispersed shelter system; and in camouflaging, as well as decoys and trailer trash appearance (not too much that it looks like a meth lab but...)

 

[Phillip Boisselle]

Before I get yacken I want stop say that I am a Marine and I did a stint in a security detail at an air station in western Iraq. in all practicality, most of what you need done can be handled with your wits, a weapon and a good fence. Whats more important than the gear you need is the systems that are set in place both tangible and intangible. Each facet of a system or each system being another sharpening glance at your razors edge. Your going to want to be as informed as you can and keep careful track of that information! Think about having log books and white boards tracking info as it updates. Think about having LPOP's set up so you can get eyes on of whats happening around you. Articulate this detail all the way down to having passive IR sensors that communicated possible hostiles to your mobile device (this can be done high tech with camera's that link to a droid or just sensors that send a signal to an FRS style radio) your also gonna want to control whats going on inside your compound like black out hours and day exposure limits. Other than that, wait till s**t gets bleaker before you go stringing trunks up into the tree's or digging pungi stick pits. Make friends with your neighbors and see about getting every one to protect you all's land together.