[opaww]

OK so you got everything in your bug out bag and you know where you are headed. You have drilled enough times to be confident that you will get there safely, you have even stored some things at the location you are headed in advance.

You got the 3 weapons you are going to take and plenty of ammo for them. It is 5:00am Monday morning and you turn on the early morning news to find that some zombie government has taken over, and they are calling for a total ban on private owned firearms. They have ordered the zombie police force and military to go house to house and confiscate all weapons along with horded foods.

You wake the wife and kids dress grab what you can throw it into the truck and all head out to your soon to be SHTF compound. Knowing that stealth and being unheard will be paramount to your survival, you only use dry wood so smoke is light, you are careful to remove any foot prints leading to you. Brought foods are running low so it is time to supplement what you have with some local game.

Taking your .22lr you sit up a few yards from camp to shoot a few rabbits that you see all the time. Your son with you spots a real fat rabbit and says dad right there, right there, and points to it. You see it and aim, fire, and your kid runs down to fetch the plump rabbit for dinner.

You both head back to camp skin and start cooking when all of a sudden you are over swarmed with 30 well armed zombie military and thrown to the ground hog ties along with your family, then you all are dragged down the hill thrown into the back of a truck and haled off to a camp for terror-ists because the zombie government has branded anyone who does not comply as terror-ists.

Just where did you go wrong? You did everything you should have done to stay safe and secure.

Some know the answer and some don’t, lets see how prepared you really are.

opaww

[user4]

There's a lot of things that could have theoretically happened wrong.

1) You shouldn't have left your house. It's easy enough to hide food and guns.

2) Hitting the road is movement. Movement causes detection. It's easier for the zombie government to watch roads of egress than going door to door searching millions of homes

3) Fire, even non smoking fires leave a scent on the air. Why is fall everyone's favorite season? The smell of decaying leaves and fires being lit all across the neighborhood. Also, in the cooler months there is an inversion layer that keeps such smells low to the ground.

4) Shooting things. Sound carries. More so on clear days. The sound of a yelling boy will carry farther than a typical man's voice due to octave.

5) Separation of the family unit. You just left the women back at camp as free hostage fodder. You have relinquished your control and gave an advantage to the zombies by self dividing and calling in the hordes to conquer you.

6) You don't live in TX, Wy, OK, or MT. You have no like minded allies against the evil zombie gubmint. FAIL

[dog2000tj]

Your bug out compound is not surrounded by an inner and outer, 20' wide, 10' deep, filled with styrofoam laden diesel fuel and spikes moats. Further, you forgot to starve the pit bulls that are stranded in the area between the moats. Even further, your trip wire traps for the claymores set around the perimeter of the moats failed.

All that and you forgot to learn how to fly a helicopter so the one you have parked inside your compound is useless.

Alas, now you are zombie food. Better you than me

[Poink88]

Blend, vanish by being among others. Based on your scenario, you don't need to bug out and camp out just yet.

They are only after the firearms. Keep a sacrificial piece you can surrender and keep/hide the rest.

If you have to, fight like a guerrilla in this case.

[opaww]

Originally Posted by Ineffable

There's a lot of things that could have theoretically happened wrong.

1) You shouldn't have left your house. It's easy enough to hide food and guns.

2) Hitting the road is movement. Movement causes detection. It's easier for the zombie government to watch roads of egress than going door to door searching millions of homes

3) Fire, even non smoking fires leave a scent on the air. Why is fall everyone's favorite season? The smell of decaying leaves and fires being lit all across the neighborhood. Also, in the cooler months there is an inversion layer that keeps such smells low to the ground.

4) Shooting things. Sound carries. More so on clear days. The sound of a yelling boy will carry farther than a typical man's voice due to octave.
5) Separation of the family unit. You just left the women back at camp as free hostage fodder. You have relinquished your control and gave an advantage to the zombies by self dividing and calling in the hordes to conquer you.

6) You don't live in TX, Wy, OK, or MT. You have no like minded allies against the evil zombie gubmint. FAIL

This was the main failure of the person in this scenario. With the technology that is being used right now in some cities and by the Military, they can spot to with in 30 feet just where a shot came from. The technology is small, portable and accurate.

To compensate for this, one should also look at such things for acquiring game foods as a sling shot, Bow or Cross Bow, snairs/traps, and maybe a pellet rifle. You are talking about almost no sound and what little sound will not carry far and will not be picked up by the devices the zombie government has.

A good sling shot will run you about $10 U.S. and almost anyone can learn to use one in an hour or so.

[c3shooter]

.22 CB Longs are quieter than my pellet rifles. And a word about the fire- have y'all ever seen what a fire looks like on a FLIR camera? Not THAT hard to shield a small tin can stove.

But in the event that someone wants my guns- hey- no problem. Here is the single shot .22, and the single shot 12 g. Both the pride of JC Higgins- $40 for the pair if you shop carefully. Have a nice day.

[IGETEVEN]

Originally Posted by Poink88

Blend, vanish by being among others. Based on your scenario, you don't need to bug out and camp out just yet.

They are only after the firearms. Keep a sacrificial piece you can surrender and keep/hide the rest.

If you have to, fight like a guerrilla in this case.

Indeed, and the "acquisition" of a zombie radio or tapping into a their tac frequency for counter-surveillance intel and zombie movements helps immensely, as well.

[Poink88]

Correction, just surrender your single shot .22 since ALL your good guns were LOST on that boating accident in the Marianas trench (if I remember correctly).

Let me re-iterate, the best hiding place is out in the open.

[CA357]

Interesting stuff. Thanks opaww.

[bkt]

Originally Posted by Ineffable

There's a lot of things that could have theoretically happened wrong.

1) You shouldn't have left your house. It's easy enough to hide food and guns.

I have to agree. Don't leave your home unless staying there will put your life in danger. Hide stuff you don't want confiscated. Also, have stuff cached at your BoL. If you need to part with some token firearms to appear cooperative and compliant, fine.

In an all-out SHTF situation like that, build a freakin' can and use subsonics for your .22 to keep it quiet. It's not magic. If that's not possible, resort to trapping, bow, slingshot or let the bunny go free and fish instead. Failing that, learn what edibles grow wild in your area and be able to identify them quickly and reliably. Whether you have one or more routes planned to your BoL, it makes sense to engage in some guerrilla gardening now so you know you've got something to eat along the way.

Now, to answer your "where did you go wrong?" question, one big problem is that I didn't immediately alert friends to what was going on. I couldn't live with myself failing to do that.