Originally posted by Expat888

what will you do if :
1. Someone liberates your supplies from you ?

The best solution is to have caches/refuges/ in three, different directions, at increasing difference. For instance:
A) cache in your home
B) cache maybe 2-5 hours on foot in one direction (could be in a u-store-it facility, as long as access is not electrically controlled
C) refuge 2-5 hours by car. A relative's home is ideal.

2. The situation lasts longer than your stockpile and there is no way to resupply ?

The problem is mitigated by the zone defense outlined above. The inventory-based answer is to have more than 14 days of food on hand in your primary location. The FEMA website estimates that the average American city has 2 weeks worth of food, by the time you add in warehouses and pantries, and subtract out riots and uncontrolled fires.

The skill-based response is to either leave, or else acquire more food through cooperation, force, or fraud.

How many have the necessary skills and knowledge right now to actually survive without the high-tech toys and stockpiles ?

depends on the scenario, and somewhat on happenstance. A survivalist brain surgeon who slips down the riverbank while filling his canteen still bashes his head on a rock.

Sadly if someone tries to steal my supplies I'm afraid I can't do all that much to stop them. Sure, my instinct will kick in and I would fight them off but my kitchen knives and strategicly placed sharp rocks are all the defence I have. I wouldn't risk my life I would just give in so I don't get too injured or killed. lol Man, I sound like a wuss!
Given the rural location I live on an island of military bases and densly populated areas, I would try to stay in my home as long as possible as there really is no forest or place like that to 'camp out' other than on a base which I don't think I want to go. There is only one road in or out of my entire side of the island as well so leaving without being on display is impossible and I'm betting the mountains will be crawling with locals and I wouldn't stand a chance up there.
If I were to lose all my supplies I think I could last a while as long as nobody kills me. As long as I have a trashbag and can find a coconut shell and some rocks I know how to desalinate the ocean water to drink. I would kill rodents and any other animal I could find as well as fish and crabs. (luckily my mans a pretty good spear fisherman) I'm quite familliar with the local vegitation that is edible too.
That's all I've got so it has to be good enough! Best of luck to you all.
Peace & Love

Well, here is the deal for this Canadian. We have enough water for six months, enough food for 6 months, enough beer and smokes for 6 months and........enough lead for 1YEAR!!

Thanks for the advice on powerline right of ways...however, I am still going to use them. Now that being said, I took for granted that many would use some common sense...I am not going to just go marching out in the open...heck no. But hiking parallel to the lines about 20 yards into the woods. This way, i can still track my route by way of map, maintain some stealth, and when I run into a barrier... or a briar thicket, the right of way will make passage.

I use to work on a tree crew that cut and maintained right of ways... so trust me, I know what they consist of and the obstacles they entail. However, walking and hicking and migrating via powerline right of ways will definitely be preferable to roads, highways, cross roads... some are concerned about killing fields of fire on a right of way...imagine what I-95 or I-64 or I-40 or I-81 will look like.

As for crossing roads...wait until dusk and cross...maybe daybreak. As for hunting a right of way...what do you think I'll be doing until dusk waiting to cross?

I am lucky, as a teen of 17, I applied for and was accepted for a course offered through the Royal Canadian Air Cadets program to train as a Survival Instructor. I spent 6 weeks in the northern part of Quebec on Lac Sebastien. I learned a lot, and grew up a lot that summer in 1994, and what I learned would go a long way to helping me survive without any "supplies". One of the main resources we used on the course was a book by John "Lofty" Wiseman that most of you are probably familiar with, the "SAS Survival Handbook", A book I would recommend that everyone get and read, repeatedly.

Surival for anyone will be entirely dependant upon one key factor: KNOWLEDGE! Knowing what is edible in the wild and what is not, knowing how to find water sources when there appears not to be any. Knowing what to use in nature for medicine. Good news is, we still have time to actually get some valuable knowledge, via the internet, books, etc. That should be the main focus of people these days.

Thinking about the powerline / pipeline easements.....

It might be redundant in the countryside. I personally hunt on a powerline easement, but honestly, fellow hunters are not going to be my biggest problem. And in that scenario, most people will be hunting close as possible to home, so as not to leave their stuff unattended. A shooting gallery? Probably far less than highways and main throughways that gangs and thugs will be using.

So comparatively few people will stray from what they know, that snipers will find slim pickings away from the drives people know from going to and from work, and to and from grandma's house every Thanksgiving.

The place where rail and power right-of-ways could make the difference is where you are forced to leave a major metropolitan area on foot. The ones in the city frequently have locked gates to cut down on the ATV and monster truckers. But it wouldn't be a problem for a fellow or group on foot, who could stop and scan the treeline before emerging and avoiding a defile. Binoculars would be a requirement. Rail bridges especially could help cross major rivers after dark without being noticed. One hi-line path that I know of would let you travel ten miles around a major metropolis, without crossing a street. The most you'd do is climb over a gate designed to keep out cars (since it's part of a state park).

It's good that these questions were posted. These are questions most people wouldn't think or even ask.

I would be fine if I had nothing. I don't rely off the high tech toys. I had martial arts and weapon training. I'm very smart, confident, and I'm ready mentally for the worst. I did my research on survival and I've been out in the cold. Knowledge, experince, mental preparedness, and leadership is what you should have. Your bug out bag should be the addition to those four important things. I have all those things but some areas are weaker than others. I'm better off than most, but I'm not competive with the best.

Simple answer: I am realistically prepared for what is necessary.

i have thought about this as well..i have alot of food and water stock but what do i do when i run out...Well with me i depend on god but in a another way i think that i might be in a bit of trouble..Its like you have to think back to the cave man days to figure out how to survive..

Making the tools you need out of natural substances..hunting and knowing or learning how to skin a animal, what Berries or ok to eat and what berries or not ok to eat...what would we do ...my daughter case in point would starve and go crazy cause she is so dependent on technology....How to make a fire with no flint,lighter or anything sold now days...Can we do this??

I couldn't...Back to rubbing the stick really hard..How to stay warm and cool and how to find water and how to clean it to make it safe to drink..Great question..

Maybe i should be learning how to live life in the old ways to prepare for upcoming events in the new days

I come across many posters on ATS and other sites dedicated to Survival that have the mistaken view they will be able to get away with being predatory as their method of getting by after SHTF, maybe its a cover for their laziness or an excuse for not being prepared, maybe watched Mad Max one to many times - I don't know?

This I do know....

It will take a relatively short time (3 days max) for people to band together in mutual protection. Those that think they can just "take" what they need will be treated as the rabid dogs they are by attempting to take food and sustenance from my children and neighbors. No mercy will be shown in that situation.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry has the same idea that they are heading out of the city to the woods to survive. Around these parts that means half the Atlanta metro population will have the same idea, Highway 400 N is nearly gridlock on a normal commuting day - it'll be a zone of death when SHTF, besides once the folks who live in those parts figure out whats happening I don't think they'll welcome strangers with anything but a gun as they order them to turn around and go back where they came from. By the by I don't live North of Atlanta for the very reason that all I've talked to from Atlanta really do have that same idea without fail.

Even if that gauntlet was successfully run how long will the game and edible plants last? Not long in my opinion. Soon you will be fighting over that marrow from the dead deer carcass along with thousands of others.

If you live in a large city or its metro area get out now or as soon as you can manage - its way to late to wait for a SHTF scenario to occur. All measures of the economy and political situation point to a 2 year window maximum to accomplish this - time-frame doe's not include anything for natural or man made disasters hastening the fall.

Of interest should be last summers Presidential economic and budget committee estimate of economic disaster within a 2 year time frame - so you know its not just my opinion.

If you can live in a rural area or town preferably less that 5000 population, most will find this is possible to do economically if they reduce and get rid of useless baubles modern society has foisted upon us, cable, expensive cell plans, latest electronic gadgets, big screens, the latest fad in automobiles etc. Don't forget the McMansion! Living really is affordable for those willing to enjoy life's simpler ways - I think more fulfilling.

Know your neighbors, make it a point to be helpful and friendly during normal times. Keep operational security by not advertising your preparedness, make a neighbor hood plan ahead of time so its ready and well thought out prior to any SHTF event. When SHTF your neighbors will be much more receptive to listening and most will appreciate someone leading with a plan - especially if they know you beforehand.

I have mapped out all road choke points, blocking locations and secondary ambush sites within my area of operation as well as overland high points. I have a barter plan so that the "community" members can share resources in a mutually beneficial way.

For those who broach the subject beforehand (that number is growing by magnitude as time goes by) I give much more detailed advice and can only cross my fingers that they accept it and plan ahead. Some I know are doing just that.

In a SHTF scenario lone wolfs, isolated families and small groups will be extremely vulnerable to being overrun by bad actors and roving gangs.

Groups organized into 30-100 people will have a much better chance of fending off these roving gangs. I believe all but the most industrious bad actors will be killed off rather quickly or starve as supplies dwindle and they battle amongst themselves - mainly in the first six months.

My plan is just as I have written above, I believe there is strength in numbers, shared duties will keep "fresh" manpower available, many skill sets needed will be available and labor will be available for gardening and other needed long term survival activities besides defense.

If you reside in a city and SHTF tomorrow your chances of long term survival are magnitudes lower just because of where you live, at best you will be enslaved by TPTB or face starvation, torture and all the privations man can do to one another. It'd be humane if you were killed outright at the beginning, harsh yes but thats the way it will eventually come down in a full on SHTF event.

Your only chance is a slow descent SHTF finally forcing you to decide to get out - unfortunately you will by then have little access to needed supplies and resources, consider who's to take you in unless you possess some critically needed skill - at this point most would be turned away.

Alone and by yourself in any but the most remote areas is not a viable plan. Even then you will still be prey for others in that remote area and will have to constantly watch your back.


A good read on the subject is "Lights Out"