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Any SHTF'ers in the house?
- Thread Starter fromotoc
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Now might be the time to look into solar energy for your home. Its not the cheapest, but I think there are still gov't (haha) rebates for alternative power. It would be nice to be able to have power when needed. Even if its not enough to run everything, you can use it for necessities (heat, stove, etc)
A still would also make a great addition if in a long term SHTF, It is perfect for making clean water along with other things
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I have not yet done these, but I have been looking into Solar power recently.
On another note, make sure that you have some sort of manual wood saw and an ax (most of us do anyways). That way when your out cutting firewood you can stir up dinner to shoot (rabbits, squirrels, birds, etc).
A still would also make a great addition if in a long term SHTF, It is perfect for making clean water along with other things
.I have not yet done these, but I have been looking into Solar power recently.
On another note, make sure that you have some sort of manual wood saw and an ax (most of us do anyways). That way when your out cutting firewood you can stir up dinner to shoot (rabbits, squirrels, birds, etc).
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Someone has to say it, Its just an opinion. I personally like to here them all, and then make my own decisions.
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I am writing to try to prevent excess fantasies of escape into the forests by SHTF refugees. I speak from the experience of nearly a decade living out in the Coast Range of Oregon, some decades ago. Unless you already have land out there and friendly, reliable neighbors there, the Forest may not be a safe place to go. You need to know the ground and the people intimately first. You need to be careful of having fantasies not well based in fact.
The thing is, there are ALREADY people out there, and most are NOT friendly, as they have a much larger "personal space" definition than Flatlanders. They will certainly not be eager to welcome thousands of urban refugees who think they can "live off of the land." The country people already DO that, and it is a skimpy lifestyle---they don't WANT competition for the scarce resources of the forest. If you think deer and rabbits are just easily found, you have not been there.
It is quiet out in the country, and they can hear every single vehicle passage on their rural roads, hear every activity, see every smoke, and they will know exactly where you are. One group will welcome the arrival of well-stocked SUV's and RV's: the Hijackers. A simple backwoods roadblock will quickly solve all of your problems, permanently. Or a nightime blitz-attack. Or a sniper covering your outhouse. The outlaws there know the logging roads, ravines, and ridges. They are all skilled stalkers and hunters. There really is no defense unless you have a pre-stocked bullet-proof fortress that you can race to.
Most rural dwellers are decent, honorable people, but a large fraction of them are simply feral for generations. From what I saw I estimate a much larger percentage of the country population is criminal than in the cities. Whatever they can get away with, they will, and there will be no legal consequences. Rural burgleries are commonplace. Unemployed people can study your schedule and travels, and safely clean you out while you are gone. During the dope harvest season home-invasion robberies are frequent, and never reported to the law. Imagine if there IS NO law to report to! A large percentage of the young are illiterate drug-addicts, but are very cunning, courageous and remorseless if they can get something off of someone. Their very self-worth is defined by who they can hurt. If you think urban gangsters are evil, then you have not met many backwoods teens.
I don't want to go on with this doomgloom. Just beware of fantasies of escape to places you have not gotten to know well already. I think there can be no successful escape anywhere---our only survival is in making good friends and allies with neighbors for a mutual defense. This means SHARING our skills and resources, even our food and water. Going it alone means getting cut off from the protection of the "pack", which is what all predators wait for........................elsullo
The thing is, there are ALREADY people out there, and most are NOT friendly, as they have a much larger "personal space" definition than Flatlanders. They will certainly not be eager to welcome thousands of urban refugees who think they can "live off of the land." The country people already DO that, and it is a skimpy lifestyle---they don't WANT competition for the scarce resources of the forest. If you think deer and rabbits are just easily found, you have not been there.
It is quiet out in the country, and they can hear every single vehicle passage on their rural roads, hear every activity, see every smoke, and they will know exactly where you are. One group will welcome the arrival of well-stocked SUV's and RV's: the Hijackers. A simple backwoods roadblock will quickly solve all of your problems, permanently. Or a nightime blitz-attack. Or a sniper covering your outhouse. The outlaws there know the logging roads, ravines, and ridges. They are all skilled stalkers and hunters. There really is no defense unless you have a pre-stocked bullet-proof fortress that you can race to.
Most rural dwellers are decent, honorable people, but a large fraction of them are simply feral for generations. From what I saw I estimate a much larger percentage of the country population is criminal than in the cities. Whatever they can get away with, they will, and there will be no legal consequences. Rural burgleries are commonplace. Unemployed people can study your schedule and travels, and safely clean you out while you are gone. During the dope harvest season home-invasion robberies are frequent, and never reported to the law. Imagine if there IS NO law to report to! A large percentage of the young are illiterate drug-addicts, but are very cunning, courageous and remorseless if they can get something off of someone. Their very self-worth is defined by who they can hurt. If you think urban gangsters are evil, then you have not met many backwoods teens.
I don't want to go on with this doomgloom. Just beware of fantasies of escape to places you have not gotten to know well already. I think there can be no successful escape anywhere---our only survival is in making good friends and allies with neighbors for a mutual defense. This means SHARING our skills and resources, even our food and water. Going it alone means getting cut off from the protection of the "pack", which is what all predators wait for........................elsullo
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good post.
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I think the TV show Jericho was a good portrayal of how we might have to pull together as communities in the future.
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Good post, elsullo. There is more than one reason you have to be mentally as well as physically tough, even ruthless, when living in the boonies.
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Good post - I've never thought I'd have much chance running around in the woods in a SHTF situation. Given that reality (for me), I haven't focussed to much on trying to cram everything into one backpack.
It's good to know what "X" you are solving for and plan accordingly.
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having bug out plans and pre placed caches is important. Knowing your area and who might be in in it is even more important. Fact is most people thinking there gonna run out and camp in the woods, are in for a rude surprise. As far as raiders and people coming after me, I hope they have lots of good stuff for me to liberate.
I'm getting there.
I do have a truck with alot of steel on the front to crash through the walls of several key local buildings.
AND a contingency plan for taking over a defensible building that already HAS supplies for 6-12 months, (or much more or much less depending on how many other people show up) with quarintine area, food, supplies, vehicle parking, etc.
I DO NOT want to attempt to defend my home (when the zombies come), it will be left behind.
I do have a truck with alot of steel on the front to crash through the walls of several key local buildings.
AND a contingency plan for taking over a defensible building that already HAS supplies for 6-12 months, (or much more or much less depending on how many other people show up) with quarintine area, food, supplies, vehicle parking, etc.
I DO NOT want to attempt to defend my home (when the zombies come), it will be left behind.
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having bug out plans and pre placed caches is important. Knowing your area and who might be in in it is even more important. Fact is most people thinking there gonna run out and camp in the woods, are in for a rude surprise. As far as raiders and people coming after me, I hope they have lots of good stuff for me to liberate.
As I said, just beware of having unfounded fantasies of survival. What will you do if you are in the center of the field of fire from three hidden snipers? Even your personal dog pack (IF you could feed them) could only wake you up, but not save you. Your dogs, vehicle or house could happily be riddled with bullets by predatory humans so they can liberate YOUR good stuff.
Speaking of rude surprises, most loggers and farmers are also experienced road-builders and have LOTS of dynamite legally stored. These are not stupid people, and the outlaws amongst them are not stupid either......................elsullo
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If you have to abandon your usual residence, having somewhere prepared as far off the beaten path as you can, in as advance as you can, is all you can do. If you set up in an area not scheduled for logging or thinning for at least a decade, and leave something there in the way of shelter and a few non-essential supplies you can afford to lose, let it sit several months and check back. If it's been looted, you picked the wrong spot or area. Try again.
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My personal bol is family land in a rural area. If It got real bad there is a close easily defended peak. With some preps already cached nearby. Sure hordes of well trained raiders could charge our fall back retreat, but they will have to be hard up to make it worth there losses. But I totally agree, if a person has no plans for this it could be bad for them.
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IMHO shelter in place is best. At a minimum 3 extra cans of food is purchased every time we go to the store. One protein, one vegetable, and one fruit. Standing order, use one can today, replace with two next trip. Costco is a great place to pick up case lots of foods you already eat, so rotation is easier. Money for ammunition is figured into the monthly budget, as are spare parts for small arms. 100 gallons of fuel is kept in reserve and rotated on a regular basis. All landscaping is dual use, decoration for now, bunker material at a moments notice. It wasnt hard to start doing it and its kind of fun. When we run out of room in the house, then we start filling relatives houses(our favorites first)
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What do you store your fuel in and how to you refill? I'm using 5-gallon metal jerry cans - (somewhat) easy to take to the gas station and refill when rotating. I've had problems with the plastic cans leaking over time.
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Looks like I'll be in the market for some metal jerry cans. Darn I didnt anticipate problems with plastic. Thanks for the tip.
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I've been replacing the old landscaping materials with edible native-to-Oregon stuff. Oregon Grape for one. Nummy jam. I plan on letting some spuds, carrots and other veggies go native out where the back yard used to be when I had more energy. Rotating periodically, of course.
Gasoline keeps no more than 6 months, buy a big bottle of Sta-Bil or somesuch to preserve it. You can keep doping it, but it's better to use it in the mower or chainsaw or generator before a year goes by. I would only use old preserved gas in my injected vehicles if their tanks were mostly full to dilute it as much as possible.
I used to use Rubbermaid plastic gas jugs. Squat, narrower at the top, I ran around the woods with a couple full ones in the bed of my pickup and never had one turn over or leak. Only bad part was the gas made the plastic used for the spout brittle, and the Fred Meyer store quit carrying the brand.
I've never had good luck with Blitz stuff (rough openings wouldn't seal), but the ones recently look better. I suspect they'd tip over easier than the Rubbermaids however.
Good, heavy, steel jeep cans, not the crummy Chinese knockoffs are good, but get spare gaskets and a spare spout. The gaskets dry out and crack, and the spouts aren't soldered anymore, they're glued! If you can find them, there are 2.5Gal half-height cans that are much more compact. In any case, strap those things down and inspect yearly for rust.
The military uses plastic ones unlike any I've ever seen, I'm pretty sure a web search would turn them up, I have no idea how spendy they are. Coyote Brown gas cans look very salty!
Check out any rafting specialty places for jeep cans.
Gasoline keeps no more than 6 months, buy a big bottle of Sta-Bil or somesuch to preserve it. You can keep doping it, but it's better to use it in the mower or chainsaw or generator before a year goes by. I would only use old preserved gas in my injected vehicles if their tanks were mostly full to dilute it as much as possible.
I used to use Rubbermaid plastic gas jugs. Squat, narrower at the top, I ran around the woods with a couple full ones in the bed of my pickup and never had one turn over or leak. Only bad part was the gas made the plastic used for the spout brittle, and the Fred Meyer store quit carrying the brand.
I've never had good luck with Blitz stuff (rough openings wouldn't seal), but the ones recently look better. I suspect they'd tip over easier than the Rubbermaids however.
Good, heavy, steel jeep cans, not the crummy Chinese knockoffs are good, but get spare gaskets and a spare spout. The gaskets dry out and crack, and the spouts aren't soldered anymore, they're glued! If you can find them, there are 2.5Gal half-height cans that are much more compact. In any case, strap those things down and inspect yearly for rust.
The military uses plastic ones unlike any I've ever seen, I'm pretty sure a web search would turn them up, I have no idea how spendy they are. Coyote Brown gas cans look very salty!
Check out any rafting specialty places for jeep cans.
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Your experiences with Rubbermaid vs. Blitz (plastic) mirror mine. I have some older Rubbermaid cans that work great; the new Blitz plastic ones leak around the cap. Especially during the summer, the cans would get somewhat warmer and expand - gas would seep out the caps. Not good.
I haven't seen the Rubbermaid ones in years - I wonder if they even make them anymore?
I've had good luck with Blitz metal cans. Used them for maybe 5-6 years now without problems. No problems with the rubber gaskets yet. The first metal spout I had leaked a lot; the replacement spout has been fine.
I've thought about using Stabil, but just rotate on a semi-regular basis instead. I put masking tape w/ pull dates on all of my water & gas cans. I shoot for 6 months, but usually forget and let it go 7-8.
One more thing: I only store 10 gallons of gas. I'd like to store more, but I really hate rotating the stuff. It's messy and a pain to deal with. Rotating water is bad enough, but at least if you spill some of that you won't smell like gasoline (or catch on fire). The other part of our strategy is to keep the cars filled every week whether they need it or not. My wife wasn't crazy about this at first, but now she's caught on (kinda). Never know what's going to happen while you're at work (or elsewhere) and I don't like to be caught short.
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It was a lot easier to rotate the gas when I still went hunting in the fall. We were many miles from any gas, and if a gate was locked (I lacked a cutting torch), it was over 40 miles around to the other side to try that one. 
I was having trouble finding parts for the Rubbermaid jugs in the Fall of '03 when I last ventured out. I don't look anymore. I almost think it'd be better to pre-place a 55 gal drum somewhere and use that, but I doubt I'll go that far into the sticks to hunt anymore.
I was having trouble finding parts for the Rubbermaid jugs in the Fall of '03 when I last ventured out. I don't look anymore. I almost think it'd be better to pre-place a 55 gal drum somewhere and use that, but I doubt I'll go that far into the sticks to hunt anymore.
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