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Sometimes you don't have the luxury of a plan A, B, C etc.
I know in my case I was forced to live in a small city for my job so I could make enough to buy my Plan A. Until I could, I made do which did include a plan for bugging out to my family ranch about 150 miles away. I had plans for escape and evasion, I knew where there was water, where there were caves and other shelters, where I could find food depending on the time of year, and how to move through that country without being seen. I stocked my cabin with food and tools, medical kits, candles and kerosene, a good wood range and full woodshed so once I got there I'd be set for a long period. I always knew that I may not have enough warning to get there by vehicle, and so I planned for alternative ways to get to my safe space.
Being in Montana, I also had to plan on how I'd move if it were winter with lots of snow and below zero temperatures.
Now, I have my own ranch and setup so I have the luxury of being able to shelter in place, but not everyone has that option. It was always my dream to have a place like I do now, but that dream only came true 2 years ago.
Sometimes you don't have the luxury of a plan A, B, C etc.
I know in my case I was forced to live in a small city for my job so I could make enough to buy my Plan A. Until I could, I made do which did include a plan for bugging out to my family ranch about 150 miles away. I had plans for escape and evasion, I knew where there was water, where there were caves and other shelters, where I could find food depending on the time of year, and how to move through that country without being seen. I stocked my cabin with food and tools, medical kits, candles and kerosene, a good wood range and full woodshed so once I got there I'd be set for a long period. I always knew that I may not have enough warning to get there by vehicle, and so I planned for alternative ways to get to my safe space.
Being in Montana, I also had to plan on how I'd move if it were winter with lots of snow and below zero temperatures.
Now, I have my own ranch and setup so I have the luxury of being able to shelter in place, but not everyone has that option. It was always my dream to have a place like I do now, but that dream only came true 2 years ago.
You make do with what you have.
And, when 20 guys with rifles and no morals show up, you are still screwed, just in a prettier place.
For a location in Montana, you should be in reasonable shape if you can make it through the first Winter - the cold will take out most folks who are clueless as to how to live in those conditions. That means having a place to live that's essentially impregnable, most likely underground and well stocked with supplies. Being underground reduces the need for heat, and makes entry prevention simpler - use watertight doors and flood the entry might be good, especially if the entry looks like a small, 4 person storm shelter that filled up due to bad design.
Any surface buildings need to look abandoned and unattractive, with little or no wood to burn, plus stone gives you something to hide behind if you get caught above ground.
Ventilation shafts for the underground space need to be well hidden, with several decoys, and a sump at the bottom to allow flammable fluids to drop completely out of the system. I can come up with other stuff that's possible but not entirely practical, but I am pretty confident that living in a wood cabin in a remote area will end up being a bad thing for most folks.
Personally, I am going to be stuck in Houston, since that's where my family is. I might be able to get 2 hours away to a friend's ranch, which is semi-defensible, but not ideal, other than I could get there overland if I had to, only needing roads to get across some rivers - Brazos, Colorado, San Bernard, and Guadalupe, none of which are fordable most of the time. However, a dark red 4Runner is not exactly invisible, and my spare has a crappy tire on it.
And, when 20 guys with rifles and no morals show up, you are still screwed, just in a prettier place.
For a location in Montana, you should be in reasonable shape if you can make it through the first Winter - the cold will take out most folks who are clueless as to how to live in those conditions. That means having a place to live that's essentially impregnable, most likely underground and well stocked with supplies. Being underground reduces the need for heat, and makes entry prevention simpler - use watertight doors and flood the entry might be good, especially if the entry looks like a small, 4 person storm shelter that filled up due to bad design.
Any surface buildings need to look abandoned and unattractive, with little or no wood to burn, plus stone gives you something to hide behind if you get caught above ground.
Ventilation shafts for the underground space need to be well hidden, with several decoys, and a sump at the bottom to allow flammable fluids to drop completely out of the system. I can come up with other stuff that's possible but not entirely practical, but I am pretty confident that living in a wood cabin in a remote area will end up being a bad thing for most folks.
Personally, I am going to be stuck in Houston, since that's where my family is. I might be able to get 2 hours away to a friend's ranch, which is semi-defensible, but not ideal, other than I could get there overland if I had to, only needing roads to get across some rivers - Brazos, Colorado, San Bernard, and Guadalupe, none of which are fordable most of the time. However, a dark red 4Runner is not exactly invisible, and my spare has a crappy tire on it.
You've definitely watched too many mad Max movies. I've lived in Montana all my life, and lived through many winters, as have several generations of my family before me.
Stay in Houston. In a real SHTF there's no reason to take you in, second, only 2 hours away is about 100-150 miles, well within the zombie danger zone.
You've definitely watched too many mad Max movies. I've lived in Montana all my life, and lived through many winters, as have several generations of my family before me.
Stay in Houston. In a real SHTF there's no reason to take you in, second, only 2 hours away is about 100-150 miles, well within the zombie danger zone.
You don't think that roving bands of guys with guns aren't going to be an issue, even in rural Montana? You are way more optimistic than I am.
My friend would take us in. He lives with his son, and 2 people can't easily defend the place, or do all the maintenance and other work that would be required. Besides, he has a number of tasty cows running around the place.
City folks who made it down there from Houston or San Antonio wouldn't last long in the brush. Too many snakes and feral hogs, as well as a number of unfriendly plants with thorns - mesquite, huisache, cactus, etc.
You don't think that roving bands of guys with guns aren't going to be an issue, even in rural Montana? You are way more optimistic than I am.
My friend would take us in. He lives with his son, and 2 people can't easily defend the place, or do all the maintenance and other work that would be required. Besides, he has a number of tasty cows running around the place.
City folks who made it down there from Houston or San Antonio wouldn't last long in the brush. Too many snakes and feral hogs, as well as a number of unfriendly plants with thorns - mesquite, huisache, cactus, etc.
Montana is a very rural state. The roving bands of gunslingers would probably be patrols of ranchers and other citizens keeping the zombies away from their cattle and grain silos.
This is an area used to protecting ourselves from those that wish us harm. The Indian wars didn't end that long ago.
This state has a very high percentage of veterans of various wars who know how to deny the enemy.
Add to that, crossing several hunddred miles of ground with little good water, arctic weather, vicious wildlife, no towns to resupply, it's not a good option for some bunch of zombies to go out into the wilderness hoping to find some isolated ranch with enough supplies to get them home let alone with enough food or whatever to make it worth even trying.
Around my place, I'm 10 miles from the nearest town of 230 people, to the east there's 6 miles of dirt road, and only 3 houses between my place and the rural 2 line highway. It'ss about 15 miles to the highway to the west, and only 3 houses on that route too.
Around my house someone would have to cross over 1/2 mile of open hayfields, (all 4 sides) with absolutely no cover to get close to me, and I routinely shoot coyotes in those fields at ranges of over 400 yards. There would have to be armor or a whole lot of them to get across those killing fields. Even if they tried from 2 sides, the wife is an excellent shot as well.
One of the best reasons for being as remote as i am is that it's a very low payoff for any zombie coming out here, not to mention that the other ranchers would be a very serious gauntlet for any zombie to run to get to me.
We're all armed out here, and between hunting and protecting our stock from predators, we're very practiced and familiar with our weapons, Add to that most of us have done our time fighting all over the world, this area is a very hard target for any zombies.
You don't need a bunker when the country you live in serves as a barrier to all but the most serious threats.
Most people wouldn't head to rural areas during a crisis... that's not where their needs would be EXPECTED to be met. The need for food, water, medical services, electricity, materials and fuel will most likely be 'provided' in dense urban areas. The idea of a total collapse of civilization is a hollywood scenario that is very unlikely. I don't plan for that. More likely a crisis would produce ... civil unrest in cities between those who have and the have nots, gangs, or a tribalism of sorts. Law enforcement and the national guard would be deployed to control the crisis. **Transportation and Refrigeration is very important for large urban areas to function.
History gives us a glimpse of what a crisis is and could be. The major changes in civilization are: air travel, electricity and communications. Disease, storms, war, floods, gangs, tribes, etc have always been a problem throughout time.
Every area has inherent risk associated with geography.
I think staying in an urban area would be a mistake.
The people there are already not very pleasant to be around.
Major supply shortages will make them act worse.
Not long ago when covid first hit the store shelves were picked almost bare.
I don’t want to see how people will behave if things got majorly worse than that and are not able to feed their families.
Desperate people do desperate things.
I will be in an area abundant with food, water and moderate weather far far away from the urban crowds.
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