Interesting - a moat?

[The Heretic]

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...

View attachment 896042

Yup - I can usually walk thru my woods and over my land during the rainy season, but I've more than once gotten vehicles stuck in the muck - especially my flatbed. My much lighter pickup not so much, but I do not even try to go onto the back acreage during the winter - tried once and slid right off the dirt road into the muck within 100' - I was lucky to get back out or the truck would have been there all winter (I did have the flatbed stuck for several months once 30' from my house - I have since bought a winch). Both the pickup and the truck are 4x4s

 

[Horatius]

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....

I agree Andy, the mosquitoes would be awful, but think how big the fish would get And I have no doubt they would leave you the land ...with no way in or out and 120 days to remove all signs of man!

 

[The Heretic]

I agree Andy, the mosquitoes would be awful, but think how big the fish would get And I have no doubt they would leave you the land ...with no way in or out and 120 days to remove all signs of man!

Mosquitos can be dealt with by spraying the water, if the water is standing water.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Anything for the clicks. Next thing you know he'll stock it with fish for even more never-ending clickage.

 

[American123]

I dislike mosquitoes and would not want to put a gargantuan breeding ground for them around my house. I'd rather line my whole property with ecology blocks.

Could also let the kids paint the ecology blocks. "Tactical art."

 

[RedRover]

Nice moat...

 

[Soli]

Didn't read thread, but I approve of this idea.

 

[titsonritz]

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

 

[CamoDeafie]

A moat that is fed/kept fresh by some means of irrigation canals/culverts/drainage ditches might be of more use.. especially if its deep and wide enough to allow fishes and orher things another concept I've seen that was rather interesting... "natural/organic" swimming holes. Combining that concept with the moat, and again, using say, an manmade canal to feed the moat might be of use..

 

[sobo]

Now that's pretty cool! I'ma gonna hafta try that on my new plot of land when I get it!

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

A moat

 

[GWS]

A moat that is fed/kept fresh by some means of irrigation canals/culverts/drainage ditches might be of more use.. especially if its deep and wide enough to allow fishes and orher things another concept I've seen that was rather interesting... "natural/organic" swimming holes. Combining that concept with the moat, and again, using say, an manmade canal to feed the moat might be of use..

This I like!!!
Keeps the water fresh for the fish and flowing to forestall the mosquitos.
Winner winner, fresh fish dinner!

 

[CamoDeafie]

Honestly, doing a "stealth" moat design which just happens to look like some fancy landscaped "natural" ponds/stream/ water features around your property, complete with falling water fountains, decor, garden like looks... I don't think anyone would see it and think "moat" now that has been said.. well. It takes creative planning and designing.. although a lot of mansions seems to have a similar water feature thing.. although they tend to be right up next to the house/buildings. An alternate would be a "dry ditch"/levee system where you could in theory employ the sides of the ditches/levees as berms...

 

[The Heretic]

Use BTI to Kill Mosquitoes. It's Chemical-free.

Use BTI to kill mosquitoes. BTI is a naturally occurring bacterium that kills mosquitoes before they can become disease-spreading adults.

homegardenandhomestead.com

 

[The Heretic]

Honestly, doing a "stealth" moat design which just happens to look like some fancy landscaped "natural" ponds/stream/ water features around your property, complete with falling water fountains, decor, garden like looks... I don't think anyone would see it and think "moat" now that has been said.. well. It takes creative planning and designing.. although a lot of mansions seems to have a similar water feature thing.. although they tend to be right up next to the house/buildings. An alternate would be a "dry ditch"/levee system where you could in theory employ the sides of the ditches/levees as berms... View attachment 896361View attachment 896362View attachment 896363View attachment 896364View attachment 896366View attachment 896367View attachment 896368View attachment 896369View attachment 896370 View attachment 896365

I prefer the ditch at a distance, for the reasons I mentioned, especially the flooded field which turns muddy (at least during the winter).

 

[Mark W.]

There is a reason they call it a dead furrow lol.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Honestly, doing a "stealth" moat design which just happens to look like some fancy landscaped "natural" ponds/stream/ water features around your property, complete with falling water fountains, decor, garden like looks... I don't think anyone would see it and think "moat" now that has been said.. well. It takes creative planning and designing.. although a lot of mansions seems to have a similar water feature thing.. although they tend to be right up next to the house/buildings. An alternate would be a "dry ditch"/levee system where you could in theory employ the sides of the ditches/levees as berms... View attachment 896361View attachment 896362View attachment 896363View attachment 896364View attachment 896366View attachment 896367View attachment 896368View attachment 896369View attachment 896370 View attachment 896365

Toilet paper man would be stymied.

 

[03A3Sporter]

Interesting and obsolete as a means of defense.


I will say I agree with the other poster who talked about creating a marsh bordered with lost of thorns , thistle and other nasty stuff as a human barrier. If I wanted to landscape something to cause people to stay away , I'd be highly inclined to create a swampy area in the approaches that was bordered by Rosa rugosa, Black Berries, Sand Plums, and a couple of trees you don't have in the PNW . The Bois D'arc and the Black Locust both are infamous for producing large thrones , which end up on the ground over time , the black locust thorns can be 3 to 4 inches long and have barbs , these can easily penetrate boot soles and cause pain and infections, they also tend to break off in the foot etc.

As for the swamp or marsh well those boggy conditions slow anyone and anything down .... using a terrain feature and aggressive shrubbery to funnel people a route you want them to go makes a lot of sense if your're trying to mitigate trespassing .

 

[The Heretic]

Interesting and obsolete as a means of defense.


I will say I agree with the other poster who talked about creating a marsh bordered with lost of thorns , thistle and other nasty stuff as a human barrier. If I wanted to landscape something to cause people to stay away , I'd be highly inclined to create a swampy area in the approaches that was bordered by Rosa rugosa, Black Berries, Sand Plums, and a couple of trees you don't have in the PNW . The Bois D'arc and the Black Locust both are infamous for producing large thrones , which end up on the ground over time , the black locust thorns can be 3 to 4 inches long and have barbs , these can easily penetrate boot soles and cause pain and infections, they also tend to break off in the foot etc.

As for the swamp or marsh well those boggy conditions slow anyone and anything down .... using a terrain feature and aggressive shrubbery to funnel people a route you want them to go makes a lot of sense if your're trying to mitigate trespassing .

Same principles as a ditch with a flooded/muddy field - just with some nice embellishments. The problem with some of those embellishments is that they could give the attackers cover depending on the layout. The idea of the ditch (moat) and the flooded field is not to keep the people away, it is to slow them down to make them better targets. Not that barriers to discourage are not useful if properly employed and the terrain/layout allows.

 

[CamoDeafie]

Interesting and obsolete as a means of defense.


I will say I agree with the other poster who talked about creating a marsh bordered with lost of thorns , thistle and other nasty stuff as a human barrier. If I wanted to landscape something to cause people to stay away , I'd be highly inclined to create a swampy area in the approaches that was bordered by Rosa rugosa, Black Berries, Sand Plums, and a couple of trees you don't have in the PNW . The Bois D'arc and the Black Locust both are infamous for producing large thrones , which end up on the ground over time , the black locust thorns can be 3 to 4 inches long and have barbs , these can easily penetrate boot soles and cause pain and infections, they also tend to break off in the foot etc.

As for the swamp or marsh well those boggy conditions slow anyone and anything down .... using a terrain feature and aggressive shrubbery to funnel people a route you want them to go makes a lot of sense if your're trying to mitigate trespassing .

Nonsequitur but related. A battering ram is interesting if considered obsolete but the LAPD SWAT team has a vehicle based battering ram, and there are stories of truck mounted ladders used by SWAT and Antiterrorist teams, much the same way the old seige engines with ladders and towers were employed against fortifications to breach walls and engage defenders.

A moat/ditch that is out on the edge of the property (as opposed to being right up against the housing as in my examples), combined with a flat field that may get boggy/swampy, depending on the weather... will do very much to slow down attackers. In fact, one could classify the ditch as a "drainage system" on the perimeter of the property, like what has been done in a much smaller scale in rural areas... combine with natural, perhaps native barrier shrubs and the like... the only possible issue is that the shrubs may give cover for the attackers to stay out of the homeowners field of view.

A modification of the ditch system might be better suited... if the house is the high point, with the yard/field on a slope towards a berm where the roadway/driveway is located, or behind a regular ol drainage ditch/moat... this berm should be deep enough to cover a person, thus having a clear field of fire towards the berms, no place for attackers to hide really... especially if the pathway around is basically a roadway with the rest of the property being open farmland and clear to the ends of the property. Trees and shrubs would be near the house, and depending on the outside of the property, be trimmed up enough that there's no real hiding places behind the trunks even at 400 yards.