A hick's survival advice
 

Isn't a flatlander who piles up a high-value stash in a remote area with no neighbors within earshort or line of sight kind of like a big, tall brittle tree? All those chains and locks and barbed-wire fencing and bolted doors just shout out that the flatlander has something valuable inside that cabin/bunker/RV etc.

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjun08/survival6-08.html

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

Good article, Thanks

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

That actually made alot of sense.

The best way to hide is in plain sight of course.

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

When society begins to break down the most obvious symptom is barricades, along with private police forces. We call them gated communities, and when things get worse every neighborhood will have impromptu gates and fences and guards. Your most important prep in such times is knowing your neighbors, even if you don't spend a lot of time with them. As for unattended stashes in the wilderness, there is a fair chance that someone is watching you even when you seem to be alone. They just might be inclined to wander over after you leave and see what they find.

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

great article, thanks

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

Good article. As enticing as the fantasy of the remote bug-out hidey-hole to run to when TSHTF is, it's just not realistic.

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

If TSHTF it's community and relationships that will keep you safe. Get out of big urban settings and lay down some roots. Great article.

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

Delighted that there was such a favorable response to this article... I kinda
expected to get flamed!!!
His opinions had a big effect on my viewpoint... suddenly am feeling
more prepared.

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

We've kinda had this discussion here at GIM before. It will be important to make your place look undesireable. Definitely no generator. Small or no fires. If you go out in public you'll need to look skinny and gaunt like everyone else. Worn out ragged clothes. Walk everywhere etc, etc, etc,

Nice article!!

sb

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

wow... great article and great website overall. thanks for the link.

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

Ok, out West, Flatlander's are people that live out East on flat land :)
Just giving yeah a hard time!

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

Own the high ground.

Check things out.

You dig hole, wife looks out from the high ground.

Have most the dogs loose way before the dig.

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

These folks are right out of the Deliverance movie.

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

I wonder what Mtns this boy grew up in.
The Hicks live offa Hicks Rd. in Banner Elk, NC, FWIW.
They might not take too much of a likin' to this westerner (Berkeley, ah hahahah) posing as one of them. 'Course they wouldn't know as they ain't reading the intarwebs, they're too busy chopping wood, running 4-wheelers and shooting coyotes (I know I see them at it regularly).

I was dead serious about the Hicks name originating from and remaining in the NC mountains, BTW.

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

Survivalist author Mel Tappan was keen on this approach. Conservative small town with strong sense of community and necessary services--doctors, hospital or infirmary, dentists, machinists, carpenters, plumbers, farmers, ranchers, etc. Move there BEFORE the SHTF and make every effort to befriend the locals...

The romantic idea of running off into the wilderness with a rifle and backpack and expecting to survive a protracted crisis...is the stuff of fantasy.

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

You aren't trying to imitate your neighbors, you are trying to be part of the community. You do that by being neighborly, and getting involved. And you never ever say "Where I'm from, we have laws about that sort of thing!"

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

I think dogs are the most underestimated security system. If things get bad, the very first thing I am going to do is go to the local animal shelters and adopt no less than 4 dogs for security. If there is someone out there, you will know. For as long as dogs and man have been friends, the lives of men who own dogs are longer than those who do not (I watched a Discovery channel special about the dog/man symbiotic relationship).

The second thing I would do is move back home to the stix and the land that I grew up on and reestablish myself in the community. I know the folks there (still) and I know what each family is inclined to (be it good or bad). Plus, my family still lives there. So when I plan for TSHTF, I plan for my entire family at much additional cost. I also treat my closest neighbor at my "farm" like family. He is an honest man and there are only two ways to drive out of the valley my farm is in (and the only road runs less than 20 feet from his front door). The other side of the valley you could drive out of if you cut a path thru the trees for about 80 acres. Thats alot of work and theives generally are allergic to that.

I do not disagree with this author. Theives are a constant worry in the hills.

Re: A hick's survival advice
 

Exactly..........

Nobody would think you are crazy enough to just leave it around.


T