SHTF Gear Discussion

[Phaseolus]

I live in rural Western Colorado. We don’t have natural disasters to worry about so in case of SHTF I’m staying home. All of the survival stuff is at home. Food, Water, ability to garden and defend it.

 

[Crowmangler]

I think the plan & gear list would be completely different for someone who lives "in town/ city" vs if you live out of town on your own property with acreage.
If I were in the city I'd have the bug out plan with bags & gear ready to go.
Living in a rural area I wouldn't wanna leave my home because it's the safest place to be. I'd focus on securing it against people trying to get what I have.
Biggest thing is making sure your generator is big enough & can be easily wired to run the well pump.
Gas for generator, propane for grill & diesel fuel for tractor.
You may not need 10k rounds of ammo for yourself but it's one of the best things to barter with.

 

[wesfromky]

This is a pretty good, buy long, read when it comes to prepping. I find it a nice break from the most of the shtf stuff, as it takes a more risk analysis based approach.

[lcamtuf.coredump.cx]

 

[vonb]

Alcohol...Good bartering tool. Also, antibiotics among the other items mentioned; Agree with the salt comment.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I don’t consider myself a “prepper” but I keep a few backpacks with ~ 4 days of stuff packed and in the closet. Without going into too much detail, some of the things I keep in the packs are:

-water ~ 3l
-water purification
-socks/underwear 2 pairs
-space blankets
-9mm pistols/~ 50 rounds
-ibuprofin
-phone chargers
-extra truck keys
-protein bars
-a few layers of insulation in each bag as well
As a few ponchos.

back in the day when I was living down south I used to really stockpile water, ammo, and I even kept ply wood, 2x4s and tons of nails around in case I wanted to cover my windows, I also used to keep a shitload of box lighters, ibuprofen and several pairs of prescription glasses.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Alcohol...Good bartering tool. Also, antibiotics among the other items mentioned; Agree with the salt comment.

you know the shot has hit the fan when you’re trading your booze off instead of drinking it...

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I live in rural Western Colorado. We don’t have natural disasters to worry about so in case of SHTF I’m staying home. All of the survival stuff is at home. Food, Water, ability to garden and defend it.

here in rural AK I think most people are fairly well set up for a potential shtf situation. I guess in that situation I’d mostly be trying to shoot a cow moose or something for food even if it was out of season.

remember this is hypothetical and I would never shoot an illegal animal outside of a SHTF/life or death situation.

 

[Glory]

Knowing how to do things, being a good physical shape, and being mentally strong will make up for a lot of things.

 

[huntaholic123]

Water, food, medication, and shelter. Everything else is comfort for the most part. I feel most people wouldn’t last once the water dried up and the grocery store shelves went empty. At that point, grab the guns. Stay out of towns, have rally points with trusted personnel if separated and phone lines are down. And keep your head on a swivel.

 

[netman]

If SHTF I’m grabbing my spotlight and 264 win Mag and going down the road and shooting that f....ing 200” buck that is nocturnal and only seen standing alongside the road late at night.
Once I got him loaded up I’m stopping by the neighbors house and kicking his ass real good.
After that I have no clue.

 

[Dirt Wagon]

Pick up a WaterBOB to make use of the water pressure before it's gone. It's cheap and is easy for anyone to hook up.

Best thing to focus on is dehydrated food with a long shelf life along with water filters. Your using this website so it's a given you already have gun's. If it's just a bolt action hunting rifle, I'd pick up an AR and buy a case or two of ammo to store away and use to practice from time to time.

If your staying at your place, buy a roll of barbwire & a big box of nails. Easier to crisscross the wire over your windows than to store wood and board them up. Also makes for good trip wire around the property for night prowlers, a few punji traps/sticks along with it and you'll feel a bit safer at night.

Pick up a cheap solar panel so you'll have a way to recharge things. I have a goalzero fordable model that fits in my go bag along with rechargeable batteries in AA & AAA for both flashlights and my Eotech 512.

Last but not least, medicine and bandages. Fish antibiotics are a must and really cheap....same stuff we use but for fish and unregulated. Band-aids, gauze, iodine, alcohol, & antibiotic ointment. Anything you can think of.....oh & vitamins....lol....would suck to try to survive off of beans w-rice and die of malnutrition.

Just remember, basics first and tactical later. The longer you can hold out inside your home the better. The majority of people won't have enough food to last 2 weeks & will be more tempted to snipe/kill a healthy person/family thinking they have the things that will feed their family. Better to stay out of sight rather than out in the open. Just keep in mind, behind every blade of grass there could be a gun pointed at you.

Like said before, always keep to yourself what you have. The hungrier a person gets the more violent they will become. Could be a long time neighbor or friend, they would think your set for the ice age and expect you to have enough to spare. Can't save the world, only you and your own.

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

Seriously especially how close we are to a possible WW3 at any minute. I’ve been slowly prepping my little family for years on plans and how we need to start thinking in case. Nothing crazy just certain skills, for example my son is 6 and can clear a bolt action. Now we buy quality weatherproof coats. I show my children maps and explain cardinal directions. They understand a compass how creeks flow into rivers which go to oceans. Small things they don’t realize are prepping them just in case bad things happen to the US.

 

[gbflyer]

I’m 50 air miles from civilization, longer if you like a nice cold swim. No road. We live that shit brotha! If you don’t have a Winters worth of staples here it’s because you’re a gov employee who just moved here from California. It ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Don’t wish for it. Billy Badass won’t make it a week.

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

I’m 50 air miles from civilization, longer if you like a nice cold swim. No road. We live that shit brotha! If you don’t have a Winters worth of staples here it’s because you’re a gov employee who just moved here from California. It ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Don’t wish for it. Billy Badass won’t make it a week.

Not guna lie man a little jealous

 

[gbflyer]

Not guna lie man a little jealous

Folks will starve to death here too bud. Need to be some place where you can grow something other than leaf lettuce and potatoes. There’s game, but that wouldn’t last 3 months if folks got good and hungry. There’s lots and lots of fish as long as your kayak holds up ‘cause there ain’t gonna be no gas! The Tlingit people did it, I suppose we could learn eventually but not without a lot of suffering. Me personally I’d probably lose it come Winter with the short days and endless rain. Bad enough with lights and store bought whiskey. Hahahaha.

 

[BrushyHillGuide]

I'm not much of a prepper but I happened on the video below recently and it sure made more sense than most discussions I've heard. I guess I'm fortunate to live in the boonies where we're surrounded with game, have our own water and grow a garden most of the year. I'm a full time hunting guide and my wife and kids are all very good shots. We have so much here that I have a "get home' plan and a plan to defend what we have. The most important part of our plan is to shelter some other folks we care about that can help us defend our resources. Anyway, the video is worth watching as it provides some perspective you don't usually hear and it makes a WHOLE lot of sense, imo.

 

[Dirt Wagon]

Anyway, the video is worth watching as it provides some perspective you don't usually hear and it makes a WHOLE lot of sense, imo.

Warrior Poet Society is one of my top favorite Youtube channels. Has a whole series of history videos on warriors of the past that are worth watching. Has a very sensible approach to living life and doesn't get too carried away with what you have but what you can do/learn.

One of these day's I plan to take one of his shooting classes.

 

[dutch_henry]

When I lived out West, we spent winters snowed in for months, 50 miles from town. Here in NH we've had some storms wash out our mountain roads for weeks.

We always thought in terms of "if I don't have 'x,' what is my backup?" Like,
-If I don't have gasoline, my backup is [bike, skis, snowshoes for travel, bow saw for cutting wood]
-If I don't have a doc, my backup is [a robust FAK, medical books, medical training]
-If I don't have purified water, my backup is [mechanical filter, bleach, boiling]
-If I don't have heat, my backup is [woodstove, sleeping bags]
-If I don't have electric lights, a cook stove, fresh veggies, my local bar, my vet...

Biggest for us was always food: Work out your food/nutrition needs and cache a few extra months of nonperishables. Can (or learn to can) from your garden or by hitting up supermarket/farm sales. The best/most cost effective way is to be organized and rotate through your stock so you're continuously using and replacing it. In addition to the usual foods you'd think of, we always have some hard winter wheat because it keeps forever, and you can sprout it for something fresh.

I always liked that approach vs setting aside a pile of long-shelf life stuff. But if you'd rather do it once and forget about it, read up on storing food with mylar bags and oxygen absorbers. Pintos, lentils, split peas, pastas last a long time this way. As others have said, lots of non-iodized salt, but also sugar or honey, and any spices you want for variety.

If I were a prepper, I'd focus on food storage, with the assumption that every yahoo is going to be out there hunting and fishing too. Maybe traps and snares makes more sense than thousands of rounds of ammo.

 

[flatlanderhuffandpuff]

I have thought about this more and more as we enter the "internet of things" age. A just in time economy will not do well when the system goes down for a few weeks at a time.

You can't possibly prepare for every situation and still be a functioning member of society. With that being said I will not take a chance of watching my children go without food and water, ever. Food has never been so cheap and readily available. A while ago I purchased an amount of rice, beans and canned food that would support my family for several months. We eat out of that supply and replace and add where we need to.

I'm not planning on living off the grid or fighting off a swarm of zombies but with the way the world is now I will not live as though the luxury of grocery stores and electricity couldn't go away overnight. It is so cheap and so easy to plan for the worst case scenario. Think about having to tell your kids there isn't any more food then spend the few hundred bucks on the staples.

For true SHTF situations you need to have a plan to get water and treat it, grow your own food, treat serious wounds, repair mechanical equipment, heat your dwelling, not get raped and killed.

I think most "doomsday preppers" would enjoy it for a day then shit their pants and want to go back. It gives anyone who is prepared a bad name.

I think everyone should have 60-90 days of the things you need in your day to day life.

 

[*zap*]

Silver coins in $.10 to $1.00, green dollars, water purification ability and storage of water ability, mre's and other foods (foods to store for longer term survival situations-this is a good topic in itself), obviously ammo and firearms, high end pack or packs, good portable shelter. Most important would be the ability to make good sound decisions and have skills that relate to survival situations.
Physical condition may be the #1 prep.....