When/If TSHTF, if you have the ability to stay away from cities, don't underestimate...ATTN PREPPERS

On the serious side, this is a good thread and if I were looking for a dog to find me some meat, it would for sure be a beagle. Think they can smell critters 2 states away and nothing seems to please them more than locating them.

Climate change will end your delusions of growing food and harvesting game. Not to mention you have got to feed your animals as well, if they do no succumb to the climate changes, pollution, et al.

Also, a small population of people will wipe country sides clean of small and large animals in short order. Louis and Clarks' small party wiped out large and small game animals on the north west coast 2 days walk around their camp in part of a one fall and one winter.

If it were not for the natives in the area bringing them food, they would have starved to death.

You are forgetting the population in this country is 300 million. You really think all those living in large cities are just going to sit in their rooms and starve without moving into the country side? You really think you will somehow be able to 'hide' where you are?

In the past, large numbers of people walked from the east to the west across this country in relatively short order.

Is there a road to your house? Hard to hide food and shelter with a road leading right to it.

But, its good to dream and it sounds like you got it already, that is awesome, enjoy it, cause it aint gonna last forever.

Laughable.

This once great nation may have walked East to West coast as you say but not anymore.

You are sleeping at the wheel better pull off the next exit and check the map and stretch your legs.



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OP's scenario is quite a ways from perfect but your pessimism is not even in the ball park.

Come hell and high water who would I wish I listened to you or OP?

Good job OP thanks for the tip on beagles.

We adopted a Bassett/Fox hound cross from the local shelter about a year ago. He's not trained to hunt, but he is an excellent family dog. Smart as a whip too.

Lucky you!

I seen deer, turkey crossing my 2 acres......but huge trailer park down the road really worrying me in case of SHTF.

I love dogs....but in a SHTF event dogs will need to be fed and will most likley draw unwanted attention to your hideout area when it barks.
Just image the packs of dogs that will be roaming looking for food.... after their owners let them go cause the did not prep dogfood.

Some of you (like me) have places to get to away from populated areas. Some of you are good woodsmen and women. Hunters etc...Prepers.

Even if you have all your preps in order. Land to grow food. Protection. Hunting and fishing gear. Gas and stabilizer. Everything you could think of to keep you and your family going strong when/if TSHTF, never underestimate the value of a pack of hounds. The more the merrier.

I have 2 beagles, a 7 year old female with 7 good years in the woods tracking, and a 1 year old pup who has been in the woods a great number of hours since she was 8 weeks old.

I'll try to get at least 2 more if TSHTF. Together as part of your family they offer hunting companionship, protection, an alert system, and a 1st line of defense. If you treat them well they'll always be there for you.

If you can, get some hounds.

I've had beagles and they are barkers, I guess like most hounds.

I guess if you can train them to be quiet when you need them to be it'll be ok.

Its in their blood. They know how to track from birth. Very little training is required. My youngest pup was remarkable in the woods at 2 months old. You should see her now! So fast, so excited to find a trail...

Very true, it wouldn't take much for him to be a top-notch hunting dog. We saw a fox the other day on a walk. It was like he'd seen the holy grail! I would gladly have half a dozen more like him.

I love dogs....but in a SHTF event dogs will need to be fed and will most likley draw unwanted attention to your hideout area when it barks.
Just image the packs of dogs that will be roaming looking for food.... after their owners let them go cause the did not prep dogfood.

the thing about dogs is they can fend for themselves, and help you fend for yourself too.

Thanks. A great thread (in my opinion) revisited.

Shall I bump it again ?

Why not.
I had my hounds out in the woods last weekend scouting out an area for a few rabbit snairs. They chased at least a dozen rabbits in a 4-5 hour period. I would have ha a clean shot at 6 - 8 of those rabbits at one point or another. Figure I'll get a few for stew this fall.

Saw a good number of Pheasant too.

In a survival situation those dogs would have scared up dinner and then some.

Please note: I'm not in America. I live in Canada, a much larger country with VAST areas of untouched wilderness and wild game. Our population is only around 32 million. So, although I agree that the U.S. may not be suited for wilderness survival in many areas, Canada is in many areas.

Good point, mine is not pessimism, it is reality. The US is a time bomb, not just because of population, but geographical issues.

The New Madrid fault, west coast faults, volcanoes, drought, climate change. Any combination of those would displace millions of people, cripple transportation and on and on.

The US is balanced on the edge of a knife in so many ways, people here who think they can prep their way through what is going to happen here are largely, fooling themselves.

They would be better off pooling their supplies with other groups, by land New Zealand, Canada, Australia wilderness and moving there.

That is what the so called "Elites" in the US are doing, and with good reason.

Part of prepping is looking at the facts how they are WHERE you are, not romantically thinking 100 million US Citizens can "live off the land" in some nearby national Park.

Or thinking that your cabin in one of those parks is "safe" because it takes you 2 hours to get there from a city with a population of millions of people.

It is laughable.

Provided you are reasonably intelligent and know what you are doing, you are certainly much better off being prepared for what is most likely to come. How can there be discussion about that ?

But I do agree that cooperation is very important. There is no doubt about that either, it seems to me. You've got to be a bit realistic - as you are pointing out.

My dogs are English Mastiffs, two of them, 200+pounds. I heard Mastiffs were good for bear hunting, and bounty hunters. We do have bears here, I guess they'll be our neighbor hood watch dogs. Nothing but woods and farmland here.

My Advice...if TS does not HTF, get into a big box Lowe's, or Home Depot and apply yourself. Strive for management and make t known. You'd be surprised what you can achieve financially in a fairly short amount of time.

This is really good advice! Nothing like being the holder of the store keys of a place like that come TSHTF. Fer sure.

I think we can look at it this way.

If society collapses to the degree that all those preppers rejoice and know they were right all long and are very glad to have spent a good part of their lives just prepping, then we might consider there will be, roughly speaking, two layers or two parts in society: those who will try to survive by taking from those weaker than themselves (whatever they want, or think they need) which will necessitate it goes without saying the use of brutal violence and an absence of scruples or a moral conscience ; and those who will try to keep up and together some sort of society with as high a degree of civilization as possible, using their own skills, resources, and stores, and trying to cooperate with other people in an optimal way. Needless to say, there won't be Christians worth speaking in the first category.

Of course, these two categories will be less easily recognizable in real life, there will be many people difficult to categorize.

Some of you (like me) have places to get to away from populated areas.