What I have done so far to prepare

[10hpmclaren]

Hi
Well mostly I have put together what I will need to gather food should it all go tits.
Given that we in the UK live in a nanny state I have kept my hunting equipment simple but effective
I have shot English long bow for many years so a good longbow was not a problem. I settled on a 75lb draw weight laminate bow with a Dacron B50 string. Each winter I make 50 arrows to suit my bows and a few extra to put away for stores. I have about 250 all in all and enough fletches to make 150 more. My arrow shafts are made by me from a mixture of woods but mostly poplar. I machine my own arrow heads and forge a few bodkins. Firearms wise I have a few air rifles and a couple of shotguns will be added after xmas.

My next aim is to work on storing some food and medical supplies. Fuel for heating isn't a problem I have at least a long ton of coal in the shed most of the time and as much wood as I can store.

Our home is reasonably secure with good quality doors and window plus a strong room if its ever wanted.

This year coming I will be pushing harder to prepare as I can see a time coming when I will have no choice but to defend for my self and my family.

Kevin

[Plymtom]

You're sounding like someone who already hunts, if it takes imagining the worst of scenarios to swing some into action to become what once we all were, ( able to fend for ourselves for more than just a day or two without going to the shops) then it's not all that bad, the great thing about the prepared mind set is that "normal" bad luck and minor disasters become manageable, we've all speculated what things will be like if things go T*&s up as you say, so much of which would be location specific to the extent that one event that hit globally would not effect everyone in the same way, my strategy and that of many here is to prepare options, breathing room so as we don't have to venture out in bad weather (or bad times) for as long as is possible.
Start from the stance of what if you couldn't get out? what would you need? have you got it? If you haven't how are you going to get it, keep it in balance, ( no good having enough TP for two years if you only have food for a week Storage will soon become an issue for all but the very lucky so where are you going to put all this stuff?
We call ourselves preppers, but beyond having that in common we are a bunch of people with very different circumstances, a very diverse group with huge differences in how we can deal with disaster because of location, means, defence often gets discussed, but for the most part ( because for many of us TS does and is HTF) is not a major concern, if you list all the things which could happen to you, how many of those would being armed to the teeth help you in...Flood, Fire, Unemployment, sickness, death in the family, snowed in... the list of good reasons to be better prepared to cope is vast, the chances of having to decrease with the severity of the event
Don't stop the Archery or shooting though, it's good clean family fun for many of us... enjoy it for what it is

[hobo]

Nailed it there PT!

[10hpmclaren]

You're sounding like someone who already hunts, if it takes imagining the worst of scenarios to swing some into action to become what once we all were, ( able to fend for ourselves for more than just a day or two without going to the shops) then it's not all that bad, the great thing about the prepared mind set is that "normal" bad luck and minor disasters become manageable, we've all speculated what things will be like if things go T*&s up as you say, so much of which would be location specific to the extent that one event that hit globally would not effect everyone in the same way, my strategy and that of many here is to prepare options, breathing room so as we don't have to venture out in bad weather (or bad times) for as long as is possible.
Start from the stance of what if you couldn't get out? what would you need? have you got it? If you haven't how are you going to get it, keep it in balance, ( no good having enough TP for two years if you only have food for a week Storage will soon become an issue for all but the very lucky so where are you going to put all this stuff?
We call ourselves preppers, but beyond having that in common we are a bunch of people with very different circumstances, a very diverse group with huge differences in how we can deal with disaster because of location, means, defence often gets discussed, but for the most part ( because for many of us TS does and is HTF) is not a major concern, if you list all the things which could happen to you, how many of those would being armed to the teeth help you in...Flood, Fire, Unemployment, sickness, death in the family, snowed in... the list of good reasons to be better prepared to cope is vast, the chances of having to decrease with the severity of the event
Don't stop the Archery or shooting though, it's good clean family fun for many of us... enjoy it for what it is

Have to say that makes good reading and perfect sense. My big fear is the issues we have in the UK with fuel prices and where the fuel is sourced from. Gas being my biggest concern, I can see a time going when we in effect have our supply cut off as a country. If this happens my fear is the infrastructure that supplies our food will fail very quickly leading to people having to resort to desperate measures just to eat. I don't want to be one of the desperate, and I certainly don't want to become a victim of some one else's desperation.
I look around here and on a good day I have to watch out for people trying to steal my property and on a bad day threatening my Mrs on her way back from the shops. I can't imagine how bad it would get if the shops had no food.
Living in a semi rural area precludes help from the police on a good day (last time we were burgled it took the police 4days to come out).
I don't want to become a gun toasting butter in fact far from it but I do want my family safe by legal means.

Cheers Kevin

[izzy_mack]

Wow! Sounds like you know your stuff about archery, maybe you could offer advice in bushcraft section to those of us thickies who know little.

You didn't mention water storage/availability but agree with hobo and pt@s posts.

[10hpmclaren]

Hi Izzy
To be honest here in the UK running out of water in the UK is slim to none, unless of course the water supply becomes contaminated. Back in a previous encarnation I spent weeks at a time working all day long in a forest and we never took water for brewing up we always used river or stream water well boiled. Mind you I suppose a good water filter would be a sensible investment.
Even here at home the chances of running out of water are low as we have a river less than a half mile away. I will how ever lay in a supply of bottled water just in case.
One thing I am happy about is not having to be reliant on supplies of petrol and diesel. Having a steam traction engine parked in the shed gives us a good work horse and a means of transport all be it bloody slow

Cheers Kevin

[Smudge]

(last time we were burgled it took the police 4days to come out).

The last time? How many times has this happened? What extra security measures have you taken?

Do you grow and forage?

[10hpmclaren]

Hello smudge,
Three times last year. The last one I caught the guy loading my property into his van at 6 in the morning. I will admit I wasn't all that polite I did how ever help him up of the floor twice.
We have an alarm on the house CCD cameras on all four walls and a separate alarm on the workshop.