Interesting - a moat?

[The Heretic]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=315556316637819

Yes, sorry, it is a FB vid

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[Horatius]

Why not? dress it up as a wetland grow enormous piles of blackberry bushes' on both banks and have fishing access points on the high ground on your side!

 

[The Heretic]

Why not? dress it up as a wetland grow enormous piles of blackberry bushes' on both banks and have fishing access points on the high ground on your side!

One of the plots we used to rent that had cherry trees, is on an S curve (Scholls Ferry Road) that people take often take too fast (one guy somehow managed to kill himself a couple years ago). To prevent people from getting to the trees there, intentionally or unintentionally, the owners have piled tree limbs, stumps and other pruning debris along the road and let the brambles grow up over them to about 10' high. So now if someone runs off the road they will hit that wall of stuff and probably not the trees beyond (which are now hazlenut, but you can't even see the trees anymore).

I would dig those ditches along the road even wider and deeper - if allowed - if it is a private road and not public and the ditch is not in the right of way easement (not sure where that is, but it might be Mt. Hood in the background). I live on a private road and not worried much about tresspassing.

 

[GWS]

Not sure how that moat can stop bullets but I would like to be able to stick a fishing rod out my window to catch breakfast.

This guy's moat doesn't appear defensive in that it looks easily crossed at only a few feet wide.

 

[Pops1911]

Never forget that the first use of a castle moat was to receive all of the human waste thrown/drained from the castle. It was a cesspool with fish. LOL

 

[The Heretic]

Not sure how that moat can stop bullets but I would like to be able to stick a fishing rod out my window to catch breakfast.

This guy's moat doesn't appear defensive in that it looks easily crossed at only a few feet wide.

Not easily crossed by a vehicle

 

[RVTECH]

This guy's moat doesn't appear defensive in that it looks easily crossed at only a few feet wide.

AND he never mentioned specifically what he was 'protecting' himself from.

Not easily crossed by a vehicle

A couple 2 X 8s and you are across.

 

[Pahonix]

Doesnt seem like you can fit very many alligators in it.

 

[Dinglenutz]

I always thought a ring of Claymores would be more my thing, but a lot less legally defensible.

 

[The Heretic]

AND he never mentioned specifically what he was 'protecting' himself from.


A couple 2 X 8s and you are across.

Maybe with an ATV, but not with a 4x4 pickup.

The idea is to slow down someone trying to cross the moat so you can pick them off while they are dealing with the moat. Also, note that he talks about flooding the field - good luck crossing that field after it has been flooded for a week or more - unless you have something like a Sherp.

That and encourage them to use the driveway/etc. which is a bottleneck.

 

[Idaho44]

Racing a vehicle through a field and 'discovering' a two foot wide, one foot deep ditch can be memorable and a little disconcerting, not to mention the lump on your head from impacting the top of the vehicle!

 

[mrblond]

The Roman way

 

[Horatius]

I always thought a ring of Claymores would be more my thing, but a lot less legally defensible.

I want your house to be our Alamo

 

[The Heretic]

Racing a vehicle through a field and 'discovering' a two foot wide, one foot deep ditch can be memorable and a little disconcerting, not to mention the lump on your head from impacting the top of the vehicle!

I have more experience with hitting bottomless mud in a field, but yes, a hidden ditch or hole can be fun too.

Anybody who has not gotten their 4x4 stuck in a muddy field just hasn't tried hard enough. I've seen tracked machines stuck in mud almost to the point where you can't see them anymore. Get past the moat out into that flooded field and then get stuck - perfect to be picked off from a defensive position a couple hundred yard away. If the attackers try the driveway instead - perfect; some buried IEDs will take care of them there too, then pick off the vehicles/etc. stuck behind the blown up lead vehicles or the ones that tried to get around them and then get stuck in the muddy field. This is all classic tactics for dealing with vehicles, including armored vehicles.

 

[The Heretic]

The Roman way

View attachment 895937

The problem with that is you don't want today's enemies to get that close to your defensive position if you can. A moat/ditch/tank trap, whatever, 100-200 yards away with a muddy field in between slows down the attackers enough for them to be much better targets while they slowly cross those barriers.

 

[Horatius]

and as the Santiam residents can attest a flooded marsh is dandy for fire protection.

 

[Idaho44]

Battle of Agincourt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt). Armored Knights on horseback vs infantry etc. Interesting lesson in history and as others have pointed out, mud is not your friend if you are slogging through it! Hated those plowed fields when they thawed in spring!

 

[The Heretic]

Battle of Agincourt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt). Armored Knights on horseback vs infantry etc. Interesting lesson in history and as others have pointed out, mud is not your friend if you are slogging through it! Hated those plowed fields when they thawed in spring!

And today we have the advantage of being able to use firearms to stop attackers at a distance, so slowing them down dramatically while crossing a muddy field allows the defenders to pick their targets, take good aim at a much slower attacker and greatly increases their chances of hitting the attacker. Less panic for the defenders, more time to aim. Defense in depth greatly increasing the advantage of the defenders. Relative flat open ground gives attackers much less cover.

In peaceful times the land does not give the appearance of a defended area - just peaceful farm land.

 

[sobo]

Anybody who has not gotten their 4x4 stuck in a muddy field just hasn't tried hard enough. I've seen tracked machines stuck in mud almost to the point where you can't see them anymore.

I've seen it happen with striking regularity in my line of work.
Note, I am not the operator. I just design the stuff that they get stuck in while trying to build it...

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Moats are a time honored and interesting means of defense.

I would bet that they are also breeding grounds for mosquitoes and perhaps diseases as well , if stagnant.
Andy

Edit to add :
It would be my luck if I did make a moat...it would turn into a federally protected wet land area....