Static vs. Mobile Retreating

Having a house or a farm in a chaotic breakdown of civilization just makes you a target for any desperate gang who wanders by your place. The farther from population centers you have it, the less visible it is.

As has been a problem for people throughout the ages, if you have a permanent place to stay in a complete break-down or absence of law & order (& gov't) situation, you & your place will become a target. You should prepare to become your own police force in the absence of a regular police presence.

That means you and your friends & family need to fortify your location, and have more people with guns than the threats you are likely to face around you. A house stuck in the middle of Suburbia won't work. You need clear fields of fire all around to keep attackers far away from your location. Think BIG.

The American colonists did it by using improvised forts and soldiers & militia. The early Europeans did it with castles and militaries. If you want to stay in the open in a prolonged cycle of anarchy, that is what you must do. And if you can't afford to do that, then welcome to feudalism- find a benefactor that can afford to do it and join them.

This assumes your opponents don't have advanced military warfare capabilities. If they do, then you'll need to outmatch their firepower with your own. If you can't do that, then...

If, on the other hand, you can't build a personal fort, or join a militia, or you choose to keep to yourself or in a small group, then you must hide and prepare to stay mobile. This route requires you to travel light and fast. But you still need supplies, and you'll not likely have a ready way of getting resupplied reliably. In this case, you still need all your stocks, but you cannot afford to centralize their storage location, for security reasons. So then you will need to plan carefully for your area of intended operations, and pre-position caches in different locations. Store or bury supplies in areas no one ever goes to, but don't forget where you put them! That way, you can stay mobile and hidden, and only visit your caches when you need supplies. It's a very tough way to live, but it's your best chance of survival if you cannot properly defend a fixed location.

But moving around is risky. Movement draws attention, and staying mobile can get you detected by active searchers more easily than staying put & hidden. So I'd recommend mobility in the sense that you find a place to hide and stay there, but be prepared to evacuate at a moment's notice if you are in danger of being overrun. Of course you will want to set out sentries far enough away to give you an early warning if trouble comes your way. It's basically the same way bandits and moonshiners operated awhile ago. And it's the way small ground military units operate today.

Additionally, before the collapse and also while hidden, you can build secret hidden food production sources in your chosen habitat. You don't need a garden to plant vegetables. You can hide them throughout an area, mixed in with the native plant life. It's far from ideal, but it is do-able. Plus you can plant fruit trees in the woods too.

Research Permaculture for more info. on all this.

For meat, you can buy & loose food animals like rabbits, fish & guinea fowl into your Permacultured woods. They will breed continuously, but increase predators in the area too. But that's OK as predators can be trapped & eaten also. Pick animals with natural camouflage coats so they look wild to any outsider who sees one. You don't want domestic-looking animals running around. Of course you'll need to trap or hunt them, but at least having additional livestock around will help. The same idea applies with wild hogs,etc. And if you pick correctly, you don't have to feed them, as they'll survive on their own.


So these are your options:

1. Build or join a militia, fortify a stronghold (farm/ranch/community,) and prepare to mount a strong defense against hordes of both unorganized zombies and organized criminal & paramilitary gangs.

or

2. Stay small, light & mobile but hidden, living off your many scattered caches, concealed crops and locally stocked wildlife. (this technique can also work for a mobile militia too)

One thing's for sure: Going it alone, whether in the city, suburbs or countryside is not the most desired or successful plan for survival.