SHTF Gear Discussion

[TCUHunter34]

I want to focus more this year on being ready in case some sort of disaster strikes and to have everything my family needs. So much of our hunting gear is exactly what would be needed for a survival situation. I’d love to hear how others are preparing in the case of a natural or unnatural disaster.

What do you have packed and ready to go at your house? How many people are you packing for? What do you keep in your vehicle ready to go?

 

[menhaden_man]

Real money, food, water and plenty of ammo is the first stop.

 

[TCUHunter34]

I agree with the cash. I feel that may be overlooked too often

 

[menhaden_man]

I agree with the cash. I feel that may be overlooked too often

Not talking funny money from the feds (though some of that is good too)... go to APMEX or Gainesville Coins.

 

[reaper]

A good water filter,ammo,good knife,portable shelter,good friends.

Envoyé de mon Pixel 2 en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[danarnold]

unfortunately I dont $ will have much value if it really hits the fan hard... ammo , water filters, survival tactics will keep you alive, not forgetting a solid team as mentioned above

 

[Where's Bruce?]

I'm practicing long range shooting. Hahaha...bwahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ohoopee]

Platinum and gold and diamonds. We live in a different time. A pair of used pants cost
$100. Hard times and a bag of dry goods is going to cost someone everything they have and
they better have the above or something to trade.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Not much experience in the prepper / EoTEAWKI / zombie type apocalypse stuff. I read a few books on the topic that are interesting. “One second after” isn’t the greatest book but is an interesting read. I would say from my experience in huricane Katrina, NYC blackout and hurricane sandy that these will be useful:

- cash ($20s are best)
- 2 gallons of water per person for 3-5+ days
- water purification or filter device and water storage
- food for 3-5+ days
- 3-5+ days of meds
- maps (paper kind, as cell tower batteries and backups will run out after 3-5 days)
- generator with extension cords, oil, filters, etc
- fuel for vehicles and generator
- sleeping gear and shelter
- hygiene gear
- Matches and fire starter gear
- 1st aid
- batteries and solar charger
- chain saw, ax, shovels, crowbar, etc
- comfort items (booze, candy, portable DVD player and tv, music, books)
- evac plan for pets and prized personal possessions

For Katrina I still had municipal water (cold) and could cook on a propane grill after scavenging bottles from the neighbors grills. Cell towers were dying one by one and were jammed with traffic when up, could text but not call. It took weeks to clear roads and longer to restore power. During the NYC blackout cash was king. No atms, no credit cards, no gas, etc. during sandy, power was out for a long time in many places, and not just the areas with direct hits. Lines at gas stations. Empty grocery stores. No generators or gas cans within 200 miles.

I the world really goes to hell, guns, ammo and the ability to use them are your best bet. Armed gangs, warlords, etc. will be the order of the day.

I for one, plan to go full mad max on day one. No waiting around for the slow devolution of society for me. As soon as it becomes obvious that polite society has ended, I am gonna whip out the hockey mask and assless chaps and turn the rapey/looty/killy knob up to 11.

 

[mlgc20]

I have a spreadsheet printed out that has my checklist of items. Some of my priorities are:

• Power (Batteries, solar, propane)
• Plenty of guns and ammo
• Water treatment
• Coolers
• Fire starting
• Wood processing
• Rope/cordage
• First aid/pharmaceuticals
• Birth control

 

[wind gypsy]

Keep enough dehydrated meals around for spur of the moment trips and emergencies. SHTF would pretty much grab the normal backpack gear, minus optics and adding gun/ammo.

All the stuff you'd expect. Edit: definitely not worrying about birth control like the above poster That falls under the knowledge section - pull out.

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

It depends if you’re preparing for a short term natural disaster like a big earthquake or hurricane, or something more tin-foil like an EMP or dirty bomb.

In either case, I don’t see gold being particularly useful. Short term cash is king, when people need to buy food and gas and credit card machines are down. Long term, once people go into survival mode, I don’t see people wanting to trade for gold, they will want useful things. Seeds, salt, coffee, whiskey, etc.

FWIW, my opinion is that being prepared for the former is wise. Your basic camping supplies would be a good start. Sleeping bags, water filter, stove, PLB or Inreach, etc.

My goal is to have my vehicle reasonably well stocked for day to day “emergencies”, but would be useful for bigger ones. Everything fits hidden in the storage compartments besides one medium sized pelican case in the back.

- 9mm pistol (carried on my person, not left in the car)
- flashlight
- leatherman
- trauma kit with tourniquet, gauze, gloves, shears, etc
- survival kit with knife, emergency blanket, water tabs, lighter, fire starter, collapsible water bottles
- onboard air compressor with hose and chuck, tire plug kit
- lithium jump starter pack
- tow strap and shackles
- folding traction boards and small shovel
- 2 way radios
- OBD II reader
- basic hand tools
- ratchet strap
- bailing wire, duct tape, electrical tape, paracord

As far as our house goes, we have natural gas for our range and grill, and I’ve converted our generator to run on it. It can power our whole house except for the water heater and AC, if I can keep the freezers going we could make it s long time. We also have a pool to filter water from, and a fireplace and wood pile.

I probably should load up a “go bag” of sorts in the event that we have to leave our house quickly for some reason. I usually pack one when we have a significant hurricane headed our general direction in the gulf, but it takes a bit of time to get ready.

Freeze dried meals have an insanely long shelf life, but we stock a hurricane bin full of soup, vegetables, tuna, etc each year. At the end of the season we move it into our pantry, eat it, and re-stock the bin. You aren’t wasting any $ compared to the guys that have thousands of dollars tied up in freeze dried survival rations they will likely never eat.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a couple cases of mountain house on hand if you will go through them hunting though.

That goes into why I don’t think the “end of the world” scenarios are wise to prepare for in most cases. Guys tie up so much $ hoarding junk, when they are more likely to end up having their house burn down, get disabled in a car accident, etc and would have better protected their family by investing that $ in something else. These are typically the same people that weigh 350 lbs pounds and their plan is to hike home 15 miles with an 85 lb backpack full of junk.

 

[LaHunter]

Not much experience in the prepper / EoTEAWKI / zombie type apocalypse stuff. I read a few books on the topic that are interesting. “One second after” isn’t the greatest book but is an interesting read. I would say from my experience in huricane Katrina, NYC blackout and hurricane sandy that these will be useful:

- cash ($20s are best)
- 2 gallons of water per person for 3-5+ days
- water purification or filter device and water storage
- food for 3-5+ days
- 3-5+ days of meds
- maps (paper kind, as cell tower batteries and backups will run out after 3-5 days)
- generator with extension cords, oil, filters, etc
- fuel for vehicles and generator
- sleeping gear and shelter
- hygiene gear
- Matches and fire starter gear
- 1st aid
- batteries and solar charger
- chain saw, ax, shovels, crowbar, etc
- comfort items (booze, candy, portable DVD player and tv, music, books)
- evac plan for pets and prized personal possessions

For Katrina I still had municipal water (cold) and could cook on a propane grill after scavenging bottles from the neighbors grills. Cell towers were dying one by one and were jammed with traffic when up, could text but not call. It took weeks to clear roads and longer to restore power. During the NYC blackout cash was king. No atms, no credit cards, no gas, etc. during sandy, power was out for a long time in many places, and not just the areas with direct hits. Lines at gas stations. Empty grocery stores. No generators or gas cans within 200 miles.

I the world really goes to hell, guns, ammo and the ability to use them are your best bet. Armed gangs, warlords, etc. will be the order of the day.

I for one, plan to go full mad max on day one. No waiting around for the slow devolution of society for me. As soon as it becomes obvious that polite society has ended, I am gonna whip out the hockey mask and assless chaps and turn the rapey/looty/killy knob up to 11.

I haven't seen these items discussed in the 'Gear Section'. What models are best?
I laughed when I read this.

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

Ammo stashes are pretty overrated. How much are you actually going to use? And imagine carrying that stash...

Water, shelter, food, and first aid should be priorities.
Weapon for defense and food should as well.
We encountered a 7.1 earthquake a little over a year ago. Damage was minimal to my family, and no lives were lost. However I realized how underprepared we were. Sure I had a buttload of ammo and weapons, but that wouldn’t have done many any good.
I’ve sense focused on making sure we could survive an Alaskan winter in case power was out for an extended time.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

A lot of good thoughts here.

Getting debt free would be a good preparation in the event of illness, injury, or job loss.

I grew up in Alaska and it was normal to put back enough food and water for a week or so. Snow, ice, earthquakes, or Gorbachev launching a missile, etc.

Think about the most likely issues and prepare as best that you can for them. Then take a deep breath, and enjoy the freedom of knowing that if it is out of your control, there is no point in worrying about it.

 

[GunsAreFun]

Some things I keep around ready to go:
20 gallons of gas
10 gallons of water
50#s of vacuum sealed rice and miscellaneous canned goods
Extra bag of dog and cat food
Cook set
AK with 7 loaded mags in pouches and a case of 1000 rounds
Everyday carry bag has knife, fire starting material, tarp and rope, water filter, compass, rain jacket, puffy, protein bars, and extra pistol mags.
Toolbox is already ready to go
Flashlights, knifes, saw, two strap, rope, first aid, TP, and hand sanitizer always in my truck
State road atlas
Old cellphone with offline maps downloaded
Down blanket (need to add sleeping pad)

My next step is going to be getting all these things (sans the rifle and gas) together on one shelf ready to load at any time.

 

[cornfedkiller]

I for one, plan to go full mad max on day one. No waiting around for the slow devolution of society for me. As soon as it becomes obvious that polite society has ended, I am gonna whip out the hockey mask and assless chaps and turn the rapey/looty/killy knob up to 11.

 

[Northernpiker]

Hmm... I guess I’m not prepared for anything. Oh well, let me know when it starts.

 

[Poser]

I’m not a prepper by any means, but the most overlooked item I notice on SHTF lists of people who say “I’ll just hunt and fish” is salt. Hunting ain’t gonna do much for you if you don’t have a means of preservation. If hunting is in your survival plans, stock up on salt and practice up on salting chunks of meat without refrigeration. Also, you might want a supply of fiber....

 

[Lark Bunting]

First rule of Fight Club...I mean Prepping...

People will want what you have. Don't let neighbors know what you have prepared.

I went through a period of reading every EOTWAWKI books available. Picked up some interesting tidbits along the way.

I would probably be most vulnerable currently since we are packing for a move. Please delay retaliation from sh!thole countries until after the beginning of March.