Women and Survival.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


Please dont apologize your thread was clear and concise of what your talking about and what you expect.

People are going to pick apart what ever you say regardless.

Some people do not warrant a response. True.

I think your on to something here. My wife is kind of into the survival as well. Her and I always come up with good ideas about what to buy for long term storage.

Storing our garden tomatoes and pickling cucumbers from our garden oh we have tons of things we do.

You as a woman have one thing going against you.

You are alone. If I could think of the most important thing you would need for when the SHTF it would be a rotti. Get one asap. Get a pup if you can afford one. Go through basic and advanced off leash training is a must. For his and your safety you need to be able to controls him or her.Are you in the city or the country. A rotti make no mistake is the most loveable companion you could have. And in any time of crisis he or she wil do what is in there genitics and their breed. Defend their master at all cost.

This would be one weakness you may have.

Even a small alert type breed which could alert you to approaching uninvited guests. This is key. They have such a keen sense of hearing. My dad has a tea cup which barks when the crickets approach the house.

I can tell you that if anyone came to my door they would be welcome as long as I welcomed them into my home.


Now if you came to my door and tried to force your way in well lets say Mr Rocky and his love/mate would never let you get past the door knob.

I have never had to teach protection with this breed as it comes natural to them they are natural defenders. What you really need to teach them is that you are the alpha at an early age. Dont bother buying an older dog as you have no idea what they were exposed to. Most dogs who have been hit are more or less to cower when a threatening situation comes up.

I love my dogs with all my heart and they know it. This is why they will defend me and my children. Usually they will sneak into my daughters room and jsleep at the foot of her bed. She really loves them and they know it. Not out of fear. They do it from the heart. And let me tell you they would take on anything or anybody regardless.

That would be your only weekness in defending your family. If your packing heat that is good as well. The problem I see with that is you have to be able to see your approaching attacker. This is where the dog comes in.

I live in a developement out side of the city. I can tell you that on many occasions at about 2am 11pm there have been young kids out goofing around smashing pumkins type sorta of stuff. One night at about 2am my dogs jumped up and ran to the window and started to wimper. I jumped up and went to the window to see a group of kids about 6 coming down the street towards my direction. He knew there was something not right.. He knew that their is not supposed to be people out there at that time he knew something was out of place. I went down stairs and open the front door to expose the screen door. I sat down in my rocker and waited as they walked down the street. As they got closer to my home about 100 feet from my property line my dogs started to growl really evil sounding. If you ever heard a rotti growl you know what it sounds like. Very frightening. A kid looks over in my direction towards my house and starts to approach my lawn. At this point my dogs explode out the screen door to the edge of the curbing and let me tell you the kids scattered like roaches when the lights are turned on. They were screaming holy # run.

The next day I got a call from my neighbors 4 house up on the left. They asked me if I had any damage to my front of my house. I guess the kids smashed all the pumkins and tore up all my neighbors mums and threw them all over the walkway. I told them it is funny you said that because I had seen a group of kids at around 2 am and I let my dogs out to keep them away.

We all know kids out walking the streets at 2am means one thing. Trouble.


And from that day forward I realized that I and my family would never be without a set of ears which never sleeps and would rise to any occasion without being asked.

Thanks rock I am forever thankful and greatful that I have been blessed to be in your presents and with such unconditional love.
Rocky Black

This they will defend...

reply to post by Rocky Black


As a woman facing a SHTF scenario I instinctively want to think about the most important factors like any gender would. Shelter, food, water, companionship...that sort of thing. I am many many miles from large populations of people which means that I won't have to worry that I will be stuck alone wandering crowded areas, defending myself from impending male problems etc. Where I am, having my husband, and a gun or two would be sufficient in that area. But on to the more important topics, like food. There are approx. 3 months of the year in which things will grow. Root vegetables, squashes, tomatoes, and other kinds of plants that are more hardy will be abundant. It's imparative to know how to preserve food for the remaining 9 months of the year. Canning and drying food is something to master for both men and women as this kind of thing takes much work. As for shelter, we are surrounded by forest and so building any kind of fence/home would be pretty easy. Females would be needed to help gather wood and swing hammers. Fresh water is also abundant in my area, a quick boil and we'd be good to go. Being from a small community, relationships and a sense of compassion for others' needs is intrinsically built in to our way of life due to our small numbers. Around 100 years ago people in my area were surviving off the land, and we haven't lost all knowledge of how to live with nature. Now, you throw in a zombie scenario or yellowstone or nuclear or bio warfare and well, I can't say if any of my personal survival skills/knowledge would be of much use. Anyway, thanks for reading.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


Before I married my husband, I was extremely dependent. I WANTED to be independent, but really didn't have anyone to teach me. But being a military wife, you have to learn quickly. Once my husband deployed, I was doing fine on my own and always tried to have a "plan" for everything for that "what if" situation.

I think it's amazing for women to be warriors. I love learning about survival and whatnot.

My husband and I are going camping with a couple once our friend gets back from deployment. I'm excited to learn hands on out there.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


Me three!

I am a mom, wife and researcher too. I have thought about survival scenarios on and off over the past 3 years. I would think about all of the possible outcomes and challenges I would have to face. One of those challenges is that my kids are 3 and under. Clearly it would be hard to protect two small children and still go out and hunt to feed the family. That is why I look at survival in a way were I would make sure I had certain people with me and my family in a sort of tribe for protection. Sure my family of four could do what we had to on our own but why not take advantage of the great people we know to make a tight knit survival crew.

To try to and get an idea of what survival would be like, I tend to look at how people respond when there is a natural disaster. Katrina, Haiti earthquake, etc. In those two examples, staying in with the mass of people resulted in murder, rape, every man for himself. I would like to think I could fight off a rapist but If I was a female by myself (if something happened to my husband) with two kids, a toddler and baby...It would be hard to protect myself if someone was threatening them.

So as a female, my thoughts are (if you were all alone with no kids) to either stay alone and away from cities until things balanced out or team up with trust worthy individuals, be it all females, co-ed, whatever. We are all capable of surviving regardless of gender, it is human nature to survive not gender nature.

I fully believe that women can do anything that men can, we maybe just need to learn and practice the things we don't yet know how to do.
I started looking for my weaknesses, one big one being physical weakness, so now whenever I get the chance to carry sacks of cement/gas bottles/heavy stuff up the hill to my house I do it and won't accept help from anyone, because I know that one day I might be alone and in a situation where I need strength and stamina.

reply to post by wiggleworm


That is probably realistic, small tribes forming I mean. I know that is the plan for me, with my uncles and cousins and a few of our neighbors. I guess it really all depends on exactly WHAT happens if anything. If there is a crazy virus going around, I would think the smaller the group the better. If it is rioting, there will be safety in larger numbers. I think the biggest part of survival is being able to assess situations quickly, and be able to think quickly and make decisions.

reply to post by syntheticbutterfly


I am a man and would like to say that it is a good idea to work on strength building and you got it. Lifting and exercise is great for muscle building and stimina.

You should seek out someone trust worthy perhaps another woman of similar age and strength. Now remember this is someone you need to know inside and out.

When people are faced with survival they tend to become needy and not so self suffient. Watch survivor and watch home some of the people react to being out there in the bush. They would rather lay there and starve and complain. This is what you definetly want to avoid. You need someone who is going to be helpful and willing to do what it takes to survive.

Find someone who is independent and gets by on their own without any help from others. You do not want to have to take care of someone and split your food with them if they cannot do the tasks. You need to find your equal be it a man or a woman.

You can stock up on canned goods which can last several years. Everytime you go to the market buy one or two extra cans of beef stew, corn or potatoe chowder canned vegatables.

You will need protein, vegetables, rice for carbs and water,
Some sort of heat source. Wood/fire pit

I like to stock up on everything.

I would buy some heavy duty stainless steel camping cups which are good for heating up stuff.

My wife and I are setting up a chicken coup this spring so we can get some hens and get our own eggs.


My neighbor up the road. he built hi daughter what appears to be a shed surrended by a 7 foot chainlink fence with a gate. She has about 15 hens and has a small little thing going where she sells them to the neighbors for $1.00 a dozen. I had her delever some to test them out and believe me they were unbeliveable and very fresh. To feed them is easy you cane buy them a mix blend or you can feed them ground up last years corn which you can dry out just put it in your attic in the summer or a hot place to dry it out. Yummy eggs...

Sometimes when I'm out on the go and I have to grab fast food as a last resort. I grab a huge stack or salt, pepper mustard ketchup and whatever they have. Its free right. Grab a handfull.

When you get home get a box and label it condiments. Put about 4 of 5 freezer ziplocks inside. In each bag place a desicant pack to keep out moisture. You can buy them of the next time you open an asprine bottle of pill bottle of any type take the desicant pack out and keep it and use it to keep the moisture out of your supplies.

Everything taste better with salt and pepper.

Every little thing helps. Think of it like camping in the wilderness.

What do i need.
Heat
Warm clothes cool clothes
Hunting gear, fishing pole
Fire wood dried out or look for types that burn green like ash. Fallen trees are good sources of dried out wood.
Dry are to store your fire wood is a must.
Bottle of clorox bleach unscented original only. Eye dropper 1 to 2 drops per gallon I think are suffient.
Antispetic in a bottle Johnson and johnson has one which has lidocain in it which is good.
It is like a squirt bottle where if you need to irrigate a wound you could squeeze the bottle hard and get a good stream of pressure without wasting much product.
Antibiotic cream. neosporin or bacitracin are great.
Steri strips like butter fly stiches and super glue type bandage. I love this stuff. Just rember not to glue the entire wound shut and you may seal in bacteria. If you have a large cut glue most of it shut but leave a opening so the wound can heal from the inside out. your body can do most of the healing for you just dont seal the wound shut leave a weep hole for pus to escape.
Knife with a honing stone for shapening
I also have a butan torch hand held and a box of butan refills. which would be enough to ligh a fire for a couple of years. Go to you hardware store and ask for Ronson butna lighter refiller most carry it.True value home depot lowes.

You dont need to build a comaound or anything like that. Just enough supplies to survive about 2 to 3 years living off the land.

If you could build a smoker of buy a smoker that would be great for smoking fish and meat and would keep it from going bad. Nothing like Venison jerkey or wild turkey jerkey.

A must on the list is is stok up on you booze. I dont know about you but when the # hits the fan your not going to be able to go to the store and buy a 18 pack or box of wine.

4 bottles vodka
4 bottles of rum. Captain morgans only. got to be able to sail with the captian if you know what I mean.
4 bottles of sambucca

A shot or 2 before bed will help you sleep.

Lets see what else would you need.

Wind up radio with charger adapter.
Rechargeable AA,AAA and a couple of head mounted stapped to your head flash lights. LED type only.

These are thing you need to add to a list and just slowly accumulate over time . Don't go out and try to buy this all at once but just start collecting.



Zip loc gallon freezer bags are great for storing stuff.

Obviously guns and ammo if you can obtain it legally.

Wind up recharger

I'm a single mum of two, with a rather tempestuous relatinship with the father of my youngest (who is also now my ex), for me I am preparing myself should the time come that he would not help out with my daughter, but will worry about his new immeadiate family (he has a new girlfriend now, and she is having his baby next month).

With that in mind, I intend to try to survive any apocolyptic type scenario the way I do each and every day, by just getting on with it, and should we all survive TSHTF, I will do my best to continue to raise my children.

Skills wise, I would like to say I am not entirely useless, I can cook without poisoning, which is always a bonus, and dare I say it I'm sure that should I need a man in a TSHTF scenario, I am sure being a woman would be a positive, as opposed to a negative, you do what you need to for survival, its our basic instinct.

Although I may just struggle if my life depends on doing the washing up lol

reply to post by TKDRL


Yor better off in very small gorups of 2 or 3 max. The more you have to more you will need to feed. If this is about surviving then you eill need to survive. Men can be very selfish and stubborn. I'm a man I can say that.

Now another issue is you know what happens when 2 many women are couped up. Just too much estrogen in the room and the same goes with man. They will be fighting bickering.

You need to stay in small 2 max 3 people groups.

Me I have a family.

My wife god love her for putting up with my #e. And my 2 kids and my 2 rott's male and female dogs.

You can see I have plenty of mouths to feed and this is why I began stocking up my supplies about ten years ago before we had kids.

Now I'm starting to realize is that I need some other sources of protein. Tha is why we are persuing the chicken coup. You can pick up the birds really cheap around hear. 8-40 dollars for a great hen to lay some eggs. We mentioned a bunny hutch to but I would rather have chicken which is less prone to diseases.

There is alot of wildlife around me here in southern NH so I know I could survive. I alos have a hand pump if required I could unsrew my cap on my well because I have water visible at 50feet down my well so I can easily pump water by hand. My water is great and I have had it tested. My only problem is I need to buy another back up hand pump because if this one fails I will pulling water out of the steam out back.

reply to post by SolarE-Souljah


I haven't read the rest of the posts yet but thought I should answer yours. Don't under estimate women. I grew up with my uncles which are only 5 and 7 years older than my self. I can still build a rabbit box as good as I did when I was 13. I also know how to skin one too, only did that once though. Hated it!! But if I had to, I could. And they taught me to shoot too. My first experience was with a 12 gauge rifle, that nearly knocked my shoulder off!
My grand mother and grand father raised all the food they needed. Garden veggies and animals for meat. Hated that part too. They also raised there own wheat for flour too. Farm life was very demanding and we kids were a vital part of it then.. But it taught me a lot, living with my grandparents while my Mom worked.
Also We knew we had better listen good the first time, because back then you really got your butts popped!! And rightfully so..because everyday living depended on all of us working together to get to the next day.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


This is a great thread and thank you for starting it. Although i dont think SOME of the male replys seem to get it !
Here in the UK its hard to buy a knife let alone a gun and thats all they seem to think you need to survive....

I am a strong woman and i like to think i can look after my partner and my family if TSHTF. We are in the country and are stocking up on tins and essentual items ect.

The only thing that i think i would struggle with is if there was a bad virus outbreak, im not good with Zombies !! (lol)

First , disregard the patronizing comments from the guys who all know women who can kick just about any guys azz . Bullcrap . Second , disregard some stupid martial arts video showing how to de-nut a guy or some other such nonsense as attackers and rapists don't stand in front of you in a perfect position , first introducing themselves and then expressing their intention to rape you . I'm not like that but if i wanted to rape you , you're getting raped after i approach mostly unseen from short range and punch your fu*king head in as well as stomping you before we go in the bushes but that's only if i don't make the final approach mostly unseen and put a knife or a gun in your back . Third , being overconfident will get you killed . Fourth , the lack of confidence will get you killed .

Originally posted by SolarE-Souljah

Originally posted by NoRegretsEver
or how we are easier to talk to.

lol wut.

hahahahhaahah. Oh that's a good one.

Anyway, truthfully, I think a woman would be a good part of a group survival type of thing...

Let's say there were two males and two females who have agreed to work together to survive. While the men go off hunting, the women can gather.

It goes back to our hunter gatherer roots... So yeah mixed company in a group survival situation would not be too bad.

Just women by themselves.... Well maybe they can talk a deer to death. LOL.

First of all I would deduce the fact that you either 1) never met a REAL woman before or 2) wouldn't know a real woman if she slapped you in the face which is often the case in cases such as yours it would seem......

I know women that I would put money on as far as their AIM with a gun alone. Women are known for being far better shooters then men. HOWEVER its not what most of them want to do and nor should they.

Women are the nurturers the glue of the community. If there is enough good women within a community then there will be strength there and among the men as well. A good woman is worth her weight in gold.



As far as survival for the times ahead, it's good to want to build a small strong community. I would advise to be very cautious whom you choose for this community because in the coming times not everyone will be trustworthy.

Thanks for starting this. I am like you, but not a "researcher", more the philosophy type. Live near a library on purpose. ..It would/will be different for women, I believe. While there are " advantages" and disadvantages to fem v. male, I suggest we not waste alot of time on that discussion, but rather go directly to an exchange simply from our own point of view.
Question ( I have been working with). What would life in Michigan ( or other local residence) be like if western civilization ceased?
Answer: Michigan would be (eventually) like what the Ottawa, Pottawattami and Ottawa peoples experienced. The reason being that there would be the same resources, and challenges. Books on these cultures are a good sources of information. (example, Food=squash, corn, beans, fish, deer) Transportation= by foot, canoe on the many rivers. Shelter= very needed in winter, heated by wood. Social Structure= clan mother leadership in regards to all issues of survival, outside of war. People will, in my opionion look to woman for all the elements of life, especially dinner. ( Medical) care will fall to women, or rather, be naturually returned to women. Midwifery, nursing care. etc.... Many abilties and skills can be developed today ( example, gardening) . We do not need to wait for a shift ( It that what the term means?) .. Also, there would/will be many ( mental health) emotional needs should civilization break. .. a well respected book on mental health needs in a time of mass crisis states that one thing a person can do before, is to make up one's mind clearly and firmly to the fact of chosing survival. For in a time of mass crisis, there will be many hindered by the question of whether she wants, wants.. to survive.
...Life can be very good outside of civilization.... Just some thougts..

reply to post by iLoGiCViZiOnS


Better watch out with that attitude, there are plenty of real men out there that don't gender discriminate. I have no qualms with hitting a woman back, afterall we are all equals. Any real person. male or female know not to put their hands on another person violently, without full well expecting to recieve the same. I despise woman that think they can go around slapping guys for saying the wrong thing, and get away with it, because they are female. Kind of offtopic, but if things were to go sour, I think women with that kind of crappy attitude will be the first killed and eaten :p Just some friendly advice.

reply to post by TKDRL


With that attitude huh? I am just stating facts. A strong woman would never hit a man without good reason. On the other hand if a man ever put his hands on a woman without good cause then he's just a poser. A strong woman is also to smart for a man to simply be prayed upon. Afterall they are and have always been preyed upon by men, so their intuitivness is usually a step above a man's that grew out of sheer survival insticts. So yeah if a man is up to no good and there is a strong woman around he will be down before SHTF because woman make good watch dogs basically, and can potentially be more dangerous than a man if properly educated/trained.

Know your enemy don't create one....it's just good to know who's on your side and who's not.

The question was raised regarding women in survival.......well there you have it!

If you find my response offensive then I find yours weak because if you are a real man you should be able to handle a real woman..........seems like someone left his pants down for all to see ah? Oh look NO BALLS! Which would explain why you think men and woman are on such an equal playing field since you are so closely related.......

Ladies there are REAL men out there......

Okay okay okayyyyy........

I knew this would happen. This thread slowly turned into a male bashing hate fest against men. As usual.

NAH BUT FOR REAL. Let me be civilized here. My post on the first page was supposed to be sarcastic. I apologize for the hilariousness and I know I offended some of you. But hey, life gots to have humor sometimes. Yeah. So that's that.

NOW then. Some actual contructive discussion begins now..

-DOGS! so important. There is something about having a dog as a pet that just strengthens both parties. It's like humans and dogs are meant to cruise together. I love it.

-Trust me, I know some women can get hella feisty, and I would not want to cross their path. Sometimes it is just the vibes they are putting off and I know to stay away. I'm sure every guy knows that feeling where a chick is giving of those really intense vibes where she's like "I AM GONNA BITE UR HEAD OFF IF U EVEN LOOK AT ME!."

-Men and women are meant to like clash. It's just how it is. But we can also get along, but there will be disagreements along the way. It's just one of those things.

-We are all entitled to our opinions.

-To the OP, totally a legit cool thread.

-To the women, I actually really love you and that why I joke and kid around with you. You are all so sweet and loving and I appreciate you very mucho. (kisses and hugs.)

Aloha and good vibes k?

reply to post by iLoGiCViZiOnS


Sounds like you have real men and pushovers confused or something lol. A real person, men or women, won't take any abuse, physically or otherwise and let that stand. It really does annoy me that women think they have the right to try and slap a guy in the face, or throw a beer in their face, all I am saying is it is stupid. And I was half joking, in case you didn't realize by the eating people part. Offensive, no, I was just pointing out an annoying attitude trend that I see going around. If your version of handling a real women is allowing them to slap me around if I say something they don't like, then I want nothing to do with it lol. Only a fool gets offended by words IMO, this is a net forum, I am here to post my opinion on thing, read what other people have to say, and most of all have fun.