Concealing You Are A Prepper

concealing from your neighbors that you are preparing for doomsday some might find difficult . As long as your prepping is mostly made up of stored food and some small items that would be not that hard to hide . But forever or at least multiple year prepping likely will involve items that you could not hide . For instance my neighboring prepper group has jersey milk cows . I have milk goats . Trying to keep cows or goats in your house is something most people would not want to do , but I have seen people keep chickens in their house . If I was to drive to an isolated location and see " Blitz " s house with a garden , chooks , a wood smoke pipe coming out the top , a garden and fruit trees I would immediately assume I was looking at a preppers home . Then perhaps as a prepper I would recognize this quicker than a sheeple . I suspect " Rebecca " s home would also be easy to recognize . No doubt my home is . I remember a guy that came to my house standing in my front yard looked around , by simply turning his head and told me " I had a uncle that was a prepper ". The point is how successful have you been hiding your prepping activities ?

 

I think anyone in Alaska that has been in Alaska for more then 8 minutes, is blindingly aware that 30% to 45% of urban people are preppers. And that 101% of rural/semi-rural/remote/semi-remote/ wilderness and semi-wilderness people are super-serious preppers.

Not much point in attempting to hide it here. I don't think that in fifty years I have ever known any Alaskan who did not own several firearms. None of the above remotely implies that there will be zero or little ugliness in a Massive longterm SHTF event in Alaska.

 

I think it may be really hard to mask the fact you're a prepper for the reasons stated in the OP's opening post. Cows and what not will be sought after. I mean, that's food right there with its big brown eyes! LOL

To help protect what's yours and yours to give would require some good security. I believe in a layers of defense, I read in the book Art Of War about deception and unconventionality and I read in a book called Inside Delta Force about how they trained with the U.S. Secret Service and they use circles and layers of security.

So with that, learn how the pros do it in terms of security and contingency. And most of all, think of the impossible and the most outrageous and prepare for that too. If you can think it someone else can too.

About pulling an Alamo, that may not be a good tactic unless you have layers. I know that castle sieges mostly involved starving the people out and other things. I often thought if I lived back then I'd pile wood along the castle walls and get the walls nice and hot then chuck water at the walls. Now the walls come crumbling down. Then one day I think it was the History Channel I learned some clan or what ever did exactly that back then. So there it goes. If you can think it, so can someone else. And being an inventor myself I know all too often someone or some company thinks of the ideas I have.

The other factors about an Alamo situation are that you could be burned out. Though, that would destroy everything the Perps want so may not be a viable option. Gas grenades could be used if they had them. And I know the FBI has really small fiber optic cameras to drill into your house walls to see and create a breaching plan.

There are so many other things I could write a book. But following a layers of security approach should serve well, and prepare for the unforeseen. Most of all, have an in and an out. More than one would be sound advice.

 

What's this "back garden" all about? In the U.S. we call them yards or pastures.

 

I don't believe my garden betrays me. Gardens are common in Heartland America. I see lots of solar panel banks on roofs; I doubt most are preppers.

I should have a windmill, I guess. Kill some birds. The big windmills kill eagles.

If some inferiors break in to take our stuff, well I guess then I will simply shoot them then ask them to leave. Push'em out the door. If they are dead, then I have rope. I'll drag them with my 4-wheeler to some sink-hole and toss them in. They can rot there. Of course this could draw some attention. You never know.

 

I am in a more suburban area, so concealing is not difficult. Everything is inside of my house or garage. If I had a garden in the yard it would not be unusual. Many people garden in their back yard. Very few people know I have guns. For me I just keep my mouth shut, and nobody knows anything. My garage looks like a goat's stomach. God knows what is in there. I know where the preps are, and I have a hard time finding them. Is that hidden in plain sight?

My wife has an insane love of animals. Even if we had a cow in the back yard, no one would think it was unusual. They would just consider it another stray that we took in.

 

I try to conceal as best I can the extent of my preps for the obvious OPSEC. However, as Sourdough discusses above, what most call prepping is part of what most Alaskans have historically done. I’ve lost a little faith in the lack of common sense in some of Alaskans ability to adequately prep with what I’ve heard since COVID started, but not to derail the thread.

National news about the “evil hoarders” and how the government should confiscate and redistribute during the pandemic should send loud warnings about the need for OPSEC. N95 masks and means for sterilization have been an important consideration for most of us who prep since the movement started. The government is now pushing that normal folks shouldn’t have N95 masks as the medical professionals need them, and there has been almost no one speaking out defending our right to have these items. The same WILL happen about our food preps if food runs short, and certainly the same for our weapons.

OPSEC.

 

Maybe I should remove the concertina barbed wire and Claymore mines from my front yard so that the neighbors won’t suspect that I’m a survivalist.

 

We actually do have an entire roll of razor concertina wire ready , but we don't consider it critical enough at this point to put it out .

 

I suspect that when the SHTF there will be a lot of livestock thefts as the starving, rampaging hordes look for sources of food.

 

Oh, I would love to have some Claymore mines wired around the yard, but...

 

I agree that is why I spend some nights sleeping outside close to my milk goats .

 

I put in a 6 foot chain link fence around my whole property. At first, I was going to top it with strands of barbed wire, but at the time I just thought it was unnecessary. Hindsight is 20/20.

 

In the Wild West when they caught cattle and horse rustlers they would hang ‘em, and hang ‘em high.

 

I have always felt I was born 100 years to late. I would be very comfortable living in the Old West, and that kind of justice suits me just fine.

 

You might get your wish. When the SHTF, there may be quite a few looters just hanging around.

 

The head quarters of the largest Ku Klux Klan group on the planet is located in my county . They have a reputation of hanging people . Crime compared to other parts of the country is very low . I ate breakfast one morning with the Grand Dragon and his family . His wife made from scratch the best biscuits I have ever ate . She used to camp a lot as a girl trapping with her father a " government trapper ". I suppose she learned her cooking skill cooking over a camp fire . During teotwawki this definitely is not the place to mess up .

 

There are some towns in the south that have signs that say something to the effect of “Criminals, don’t hang around here after the sun sets or you might be hanging here when the sun rises.”

 

In a county I well know, a crew of white hunters came across a black guy chasing a white girl up a creek in a hollar. The girl actually had been abused. So the guys shot him -- I don't know if they'd taken him into the local county seat or not. The gunshot didn't kill him, so they then hung him. They burned his body on some railroad ties. Hanging was popular back then.

No matter how big somebody was, they got a noose.

https://blueridgecountry.com/archive/favorites/mary-the-elephant/

 

My paternal grandpa taught me to tie a hangman's noose when I was 5 years old. The rope was absolutely HUGE to me. The Manila was like a rope of thorns to my hands. I was hypnotized and delighted with the blessed information I was receiving from a god.

 

The situation at UK is roughly similar to mine. I do however highly recommend keeping free roaming chickens around. Chickens multiply pretty damn fast and not mentioned they also produce eggs.

 

When I was a cub scout it was required to learn how to tie several different knots. Right there in my cub scout book was how to tie a hangman's nose. LOL! I bet they don't show you how to do that anymore.

 

I use a rope when trailing down quarry " man or beast " with my bloodhound because he really gets into trailing and pulls very hard , a regular leash will not do . It has occurred to me ,catching up to a looter I would have a rope .

 

In reply to the original question, I think Poltiregist is right in that if a prepper came to my house they would probably recognize very quickly that I was also a prepper. But hopefully its subtle enough the sheeple wouldn't catch on so fast. I was invited to a party once, it didn't take me long to realize the owners of the property must have been preppers. I didn't say anything. No need to make them uncomfortable if they want it quiet.

But it also goes back to the grey man concept. Do you blend in with your surroundings. For example I heat with wood because it keeps me independent from the grid/and or furnace oil etc. But then many people around this area heat with wood even if not for the reasons I do. So I don't stand out in that regard. Many also grow a bit of their own food. But the level of expansion of my garden may be a give away now LOL.

 

I didn’t like the option, but during our house remodeling I had to let a workman into my gun room/supply depot. When he was finished he came out and asked me if I was preparing for the end of the world. No comment from me.

 

If you were ever asked I would just say "Gardening is my hobby. I really enjoy it." End of story. I have friends who enjoy gardening. It shouldn't raise any flags. Keep up the great work.

 

I remember our rural school bus driver confiding in me one day , that he to was a prepper . My place is obvious . A person can hide it to a point but as preparations accumulate outside of a structure it has reached the point of not being able to hide it . My son's retreat sitting 0n the same property as mine , is even more obvious than my house . Most people riding down the county road would instantly know they had stumbled upon a nest of preppers . Prepping to survive for a few months is different than prepping to survive for years . I would not have much confidence in a persons ability to survive for years if they could hide it .

 

Anne Frank and her family survived hiding from the Nazis for two years. I think they did a pretty good job.

 

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In our little corner of the world (rural and off beaten path), if things are so screwed up that there are actual people using 'gas grenades' and efforts to 'burn us out', it would be a last pleasure in life to attempt to make it an 'Alamo' and just plan on going down fighting. Besides, with only me and a single neighbor, no matter what we do, there would be little in the way of 'layers'......but it still all sounds good for a prepper book.

 

Hey kids, my name is Bingo the Clown! This is my water rifle with its little bubble-machine underneath. I'm only getting ready to put out some fires. Bingo sez, "Be prepared!" And remember, don't tell your parents about Bingo! You can tell your dad that you need a fire extinguisher at home so that when your mommy gets drunk on the wine she brings home in those cardboard boxes, you can help put out the fire she's started on the stove! That way, you'll be one of Bingo's Fire Patrol! Hurraaaaaaay!!!!!!!!

 

Didn’t we see that guy on the premier episode of Doomsday Preppers?

 

My grandfather used to say this about murderers and rapists....”Give them a fair trial and then hang them.”

 

My dad's dad was born before 1895. He taught me to tie a hangman's noose when I was a wee lad. He was my bestest buddy.

In his era, they didn't put up with messed-up sh## behavior. Such was quite intolerable. They sure didn't care how you got to be mean and hangings out back of the courthouse were quite popular with the local folk. Justice writ large and all that. The preachers got to yell-out sermons. What joy. Choirs got to sing remorseful souls off to heaven and the prideful off to the flames of perdition.

Here's the courthouse. As far as I know its still being used for county business, but I've been too far away from home for far too many years. They moved the jail a good time ago, but not the County Clerks offices.

 

Fortunately I live out in a rural area so If i were to own Cows/Chickens or etc. No one would really think much of it.. unless SHTF then I'll probably be a target..

But unfortunately my neighbors are pretty close together so.. I don't have any room for livestock.. just yet.

 

I'm not really sure if my neighbours think I'm a "prepper" or not. Being in a rural area, most people keep chickens and have a veggie garden. But ...

When we recently had the bushfires, I had the fireys knocking on the door asking if I had reported a specific fire as "you're the only one here who knows how to read a map". I'm like ... what the ...

I'm also the only one in the whole area (yep, unbelievable, seeing as it's a rural area) who has a firearms licence and has guns in the house. Most people here think that if you have firearms you're a serial killer.

I'm also the only one in the area who has cameras.

All the neighbours thought I was wasting money when I got satellite internet and an antenna so I had mobile reception. Guess who had no internet and no phone reception when the fires were raging? Yep. That's right. Because everyone else is reliant on normal ground internet and phone coverage. Totally screwed during the fires. They were without for 2 months. I was sweet though.

Guess who had dramas with no water during summer? Yep, just about everyone. Except me. I bought another 25,000 litre tank, plus I've got river and dam access. Everyone thought I was wasting money. Yet, I had neighbours ringing up saying they were running out of water. One neighbour actually ran out of water. Not me. I'm sweet as. (However, credit where credit due. A neighbour initially let me take water from his dam until I got sorted. Top bloke).

Guess who has veggie seeds when no one can find any? Yep, that's right. Although I do have an advantage seeing as my son and daughter in law are both nursery people. So they've taught me how to save seeds and have been able to get hold of seeds and seedlings that the general public can't get at the moment.

I seem to be the only one in the area who actually knows the area (and I've only been here a year). I asked a rural firey about a track a couple of weeks ago ... he didn't have a clue. I even sent him a photo of the map showing the track. He still didn't have a clue. None of the locals have any idea regarding the various forest tracks. They think I'm as mad as a cut snake because I constantly go out in the bush exploring. Yep. Exploring. Knowing how to get out, different places to bolt to if necessary. Where water is. I've got tracks picked that no wacker would bother to go down. I've spent hours finding a track and a place to go to with water and camouflaged it to minimise the likelihood of anyone finding it.

Anyway, I think my neighbours think I'm just some weird, batty old witchy woman who has way too many kangaroos loose in the paddock.

A few eyebrows may be raised when I get my goats ... good for meat if necessary, milk and soap. I'm also looking at getting a merino again so I've got plenty of fleece to spin and knit.

Oh yeah, and my brother is going to put solar on for me so I don't have to pay for electricity. Sweet as.

But, yeah, I'm just some nutty old woman with some weird ideas ...

 

Got my Troy Built Horse tiller back the other day …..from the person to whom I had loaned it out years ago.

Got my Truck repaired and went out and picked it up....the Kholer engine burned out in the Troy Built Horse ...locked up.

Have a replacement engine in my garage in a box and will soon enough be replacing it.

Won't be loaning it out again...what was I thinking??? I gotta get out of that "Nice " guy thinking mode now that I am more aware of high maintenance Ishmaelites than in the past..


Eventually I will be putting in a garden in my back yard....as did I years ago.


People having gardens in their back yard is not unusual around here.

However if conditions get difficult enough behind this virus business...a garden may be a calling card for ever freeloader ...around..and you will only be running a welfare program for freeloaders.

This concept concerns me.


Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

There's nothing worse than lending stuff to people who either don't return it and/or return it damaged, especially if it's an expensive item.

We used to have a board in the shed - if someone borrowed something, they had to "sign" for it and write the date when they took it. That way we could keep track. It's so easy to lend stuff and forget who you lent it to. This system had the effect of either people deciding they wouldn't borrow something afterall, or those who did borrow something returned it immediately after use, in good nick.

 

For me, that includes lending money. I had a co-worker who was broke and needed rent money. $1300 and 4o years later and I still haven’t been paid back. Lesson learned : DON’T lend money to friends, neighbors or co-workers.

 

Same for me. Willing to help, but don't ask to borrow anything. Money never even enters the conversation.

 

I don't worry that much if the locals know I am a prepper . I try to help my nearer neighbors to obtain things they may need for the apocalypse . Last year I offered a neighbor a free milk goat but he declined the offer . I have been helping a neighbor establish a vineyard by furnishing him with rooted grape vines . I had rather have my closer neighbors prepared for the apocalypse rather than have them come to me begging for help . My security is good enough and our group tough enough that trying to overcome our group would be an daunting endeavor . Running away to hide from looters is not even a consideration . An all out blood bath is the more likely outcome . I already have my surgical bullet remover on standby . We also have a medical trained person in our group .

 

I'll loan or just give money to people who need it. In my most recent case it was my neighbor. He got a heart attack and was told by the doctor he had to stay home from work for a while. Seen as how he wouldn't be able to pay the bills I took pity on him and gave him $200. Now with this COVID shit I told him to forget paying me back even though he said he would.

I just try and follow what Jesus said long ago. And I give to charities as well. I'm also a monthly contributor to the tunnels to towers foundation.

 

In my case, the co-worker took the money and ran. She never even attempted to pay it back. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” I trusted her and she broke that trust.

 

That's why if you "loan" people money consider it not a loan but a hand out. Don't ever expect getting it back. Many, many people go through this time and time again. Just state that your policy is not to "loan", give out money. If I do it it's not to borrow but give away. I don't ever expect it coming back to me. And I only do it for very few people.