fight or negotiation

[Highlander]

^^^^^^^^^^^ I completely agree with you, as prepers we try to cover all the angles so as not to find ourselves in sticky situations, all we can do is our best and with a bit of luck and preparation we will come out the other side intact

[Straight Shooter]

SD raised a good point, and one I think about a lot, if you live off the beaten track THEY are more inclined to stay and lay up a while ...after all THEY will become the hunted also , THEY will feel safer in such a location, that's why we choose it or bugged out there in the first place, More work needed here with my place or ...and another escape plan maybe ....it just go's on and on dunnit.

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BUGGER !

[Timelord]

I see there is still the same old idea about that some individuals have in that they will never be surprised. In that no one would ever get to their property - unless they walked up a road or were spotted by a 24 hour surveillance team. Not everyone uses dogs or they might not have survived. Not everyone has multiple able bodied folks to carry out all desired actions or foxholes already dug at their multiple bug out options. Not everyone is a dumb ass who will approach in a normal way. What if you get caught with your pants down - literally?

It is accepted that "most" preppers agree that bugging out IS an option, even as a last resort. It could happen during the bug out or any time a new location has to be aquired or lived at. So why is it that some preppers seem to have trouble conceiving that they might be on the end of some other clued up dudes recce and so would not be the one initiating the contact. If this concept is so unthinkable to the prepper who perceives they have every angle covered, then I think they are over confident and not as fully prepped as they think....
Just imagine hearing these lines while out back of your shelter & skinning a rabbit for the family pot indoors -- "Alright mate - got any food to spare?"
What then? 300 yard headshot with your uber sniper rifle or pull out your cold steel machete from its sheath or go into an alpha male rage and win the day?? What now - is the only option to immediately physically attack? How does this fit with our evolution? All the military type bravado wording & paraphrases on forums will be of little tactical use in this situation. What about your family indoors..
Do you attack without a second thought? Do you respond verbally? What if they appear unarmed? What if they appear armed with guns? What if they are armed but appear non threatening? What is your best response? What if you are impaired due to ill health or injury? Can you even consider this scenario or would it never happen to you? Or is it easier just to say "well you'd never really know till it happened, so you would just have to deal with it then"? This last logic could be applied to everything else as well and is the antithesis of the prepping mindset. Thankyou in advance for your most interesting & thought provoking replies. , TL.

[Steve]

You have several options, bluff, welcome, trade etc. etc. One thing that is sure, you'll be better at it if you have a few dummy runs with your family first. Practice makes perfect, so you should have a drill to follow for when that stranger arrives.

A simple phrase shouted into the house, "Honey, set an extra place for dinner", can warn your family to get into pre-arranged formation, hide items that might tempt a robbery, or even place a weapon in a handy location. With luck it will delay any bad intentions on his part until you have had time to assess the situation properly.

[bigpaul]

this is all dependant on where you live, city, town, village, hamlet or isolated. city could be a problem due to all the concrete canyons and what I call "lack of personal space", large town same, I live on the OUTSKIRTS of a SMALL town....strangers here stick out a mile! I can take you to remote locations where they NEVER see anyone..apart from the postie....so like I say it all depends on your personal circumstances.

[bigpaul]

"negotiate be damned"!

[Highlander]

(17 June 2013, 00:16)Timelord Wrote: I see there is still the same old idea about that some individuals have in that they will never be surprised. In that no one would ever get to their property - unless they walked up a road or were spotted by a 24 hour surveillance team. Not everyone uses dogs or they might not have survived. Not everyone has multiple able bodied folks to carry out all desired actions or foxholes already dug at their multiple bug out options. Not everyone is a dumb ass who will approach in a normal way. What if you get caught with your pants down - literally?

I guess this is aimed at me,.. I dont mind a bit though...,.... I was in the military long enough to [hopfully] look at all the option, or at least all the options that come to mind,.. there are often options that your minds eye doesn't see until it is pointed out to you

First of all unless you live in a fortified castle then I doubt anyone lives in a house that is completely secure, every location will have its weak points, all you can do is try to limit these and cover the main problem points first.

When we moved to this house we looked at the area in detail, it really is not an easy area to get to if you dont have transport, and if you do arrive my transport then you can only approach via one road,.. there is a problem here, by the time I see that they are at the door,.. a problem

If they come on foot they can only EASILY approach by the same road, someone who knows the hills could approach from the hills, but I would be fairly confident of seeing them,...or one of my dogs would

They could come up the loch by boat, but couldnt land close by because they couldn't stand on the bog, they would be down to their knees at least,.. believe me I know I have tried

So we chose this spot to limit the risks not to eliminate them.

If I was to miss someone approaching my dogs would certainly hear/see them, [ I have three German Shepherds and two older Collie dogs] because of the dogs the gate is locked.

I do have one direction that is more at risk than the others, that is because it is lower than me and has more trees, but to get to me from that direction they would first have to go through a couple of other properties, a variety of fences and a short climb to get to our level

Because of the dogs, I cant see me being caught with my trouser down, which doesn't mean that it couldn't happen, it might happen at night,...then I would have to assess that at the time,.. it would depend on how many there were, are they armed [ I would be ] and who was with me at the time

Nothing is sure, nothing is completely safe,...all we can do is think about your situation and how best we could manage what we have

[Skean Dhude]

Dogs are not infallible. They simply reduce the risk. They are distracted by many things. Plenty of places have dogs yet still get broken into now.

The question was though IF you were caught then what would you do. We don't half go off on tangents on this forum.

Plus I think many of us just throw out an answer without really thinking about it. Very few things are black and white and with some of these we lead the answers.

Nobody shoots first unless they are a nutter. We all look out to see what is there. We evaluate the situation and then we respond. So a single kid would get a different response to some guy sneaking up on the house. Someone walking up shouting and making you aware would get a different response to someone charging the house. We would probably speak to the kid or the persson walking. That is communication, no shots fired yet.

This is why I have so much difficulty with these scenarios. They are needed to make you think but many of us don't think about them properly.

[bigpaul]

I suppose if someone walked up with a white flag then i'd see what he wanted, I would treat a kid with the same suspicion as an adult, maybe fire a warning shot or arrow, someone skulking about wouldn't get any warning, several of them and I fire as soon as they are in range. I've said about TRUST before, I trust no one..that way I wont be surprised when they attack, better to be ready than to be caught off guard.

[Highlander]

(14 June 2013, 13:30)Sunna Wrote: their seems lots on this site that say ,ill fight to protect my home kids food ect.
but when push comes to shove would you ??
its not as if you can pop to casualty anymore ,cuts broken bones could kill after s h t f .
i beleve most will negotiate their way out of things , you will have to , if your bugged in one good petrol bomb and your bugging out maybe losing the lot
i think if you fight everybody sooner or later your lose or get badly hurt and at what cost to you and yours ???

(17 June 2013, 12:31)Skean Dhude Wrote: The question was though IF you were caught then what would you do.

.... but the question that was asked has to be linked to what you have and where you live, everyone is different,.. if we were simply to answer the question without giveing our own situations then the answer would be either `yes` or `no`,... because the question was would you fight or wouldnt you?,.... not if you were caught what would you do?.... he is not asking what would we do, he is asking.... `would you?`