Not looking to move and hunker down in a compound (yet) but wanting to be a bit more prepared should SHTF. I should probably stop reading F16 too….

Think I still have my old Boy Scout manual (only made it to First Class) but looking for book recommendations for various survival skills.

I hunt on a yearly basis, but I'm certainly under no illusion that I'm a city boy. I know I can get meat, but curious about long term storage tactics without refrigeration, even preservation without electricity options.

I've grown herbs and small salad gardens in the backyard but maybe just the Houston soil, it's been a struggle to find a green thumb.

Just looking for guides on General homesteading, canning, animal husbandry, foraging guides, off grid living. Want to learn new skills and forge new ones.

Get a Peterson guide for edible and medicinal plants. Pretty easy to ID.

Go to a used book store. Good resource to get info.

Trial and error. Works great.

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long term storage tactics without refrigeration, even preservation without electricity options.

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Propane fridge/freezer with lots of extra gas.

IronRed13 said:

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I should probably stop reading F16 too….

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Foxfire books.

A lot of it is outdated, but really good "old ways" of doing all sorts of stuff.

Backwoods Home magazine is my favorite subscription.

IMHO, in a real extended SHTF scenario, pure hunters and gatherers, or even long time preppers, are not going to make it for long. You are not going to be able to hang onto what you have. The first priority is to team up with 30 - 50 healthy like-minded individuals in a suitable secure and fortified structure in the right location where the heavily armed team can protect both the location and gathering parties. Survival will then come down to hunting/gathering (and likely raiding) in heavily armed parties. Defense and preservation of the group with enough strength will come first and survival in terms of food/water/comfort will come next and will always take place in a large group. That is my take in the times we're living in.

Survival skills will be sorely needed but maybe not so much in the traditional sense, and not so much from a solo perspective.

RM76 said:

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IMHO, in a real extended SHTF scenario, pure hunters and gatherers, or even long time preppers, are not going to make it for long. You are not going to be able to hang onto what you have. The first priority is to team up with 30 - 50 healthy like-minded individuals in a suitable secure and fortified structure in the right location where the heavily armed team can protect both the location and gathering parties. Survival will then come down to hunting/gathering (and likely raiding) in heavily armed parties. Defense and preservation of the group with enough strength will come first and survival in terms of food/water/comfort will come next and will always take place in a large group. That is my take in the times we're living in.

Survival skills will be sorely needed but maybe not so much in the traditional sense, and not so much from a solo perspective.

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This. Stockpile ammo. To barter or to raid, whichever is necessary.

The inner cities will fall apart first. Raids on stores and food. That will slowly or quickly spread to the suburbs looking for food and resources. Those with the most resources will be overrun bad. The wildlife and anything that can burn within 100 miles of major cities will be decimated in months....

Don't prepare to dig in and stay....prepare to fall back to an actual stronghold with a community just like you. Everyone else will be overrun and killed. Have skills to offer this community to rebuild society or you will be killed as useless right there and not worth feeding.

Am I the only one who doesn't want to survive if the world comes to this sort of stuff?

I'll quietly see my way out now…

cupofjoe04 said:

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Am I the only one who doesn't want to survive if the world comes to this sort of stuff?

I'll quietly see my way out now…

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Totally agree!

zooguy96 said:

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Get a Peterson guide for edible and medicinal plants. Pretty easy to ID.

Go to a used book store. Good resource to get info.

Trial and error. Works great.

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If you're referring to edible or medicinal plants, I would disagree.

RM76 said:

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IMHO, in a real extended SHTF scenario, pure hunters and gatherers, or even long time preppers, are not going to make it for long. You are not going to be able to hang onto what you have. The first priority is to team up with 30 - 50 healthy like-minded individuals in a suitable secure and fortified structure in the right location where the heavily armed team can protect both the location and gathering parties. Survival will then come down to hunting/gathering (and likely raiding) in heavily armed parties. Defense and preservation of the group with enough strength will come first and survival in terms of food/water/comfort will come next and will always take place in a large group. That is my take in the times we're living in.

Survival skills will be sorely needed but maybe not so much in the traditional sense, and not so much from a solo perspective.

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So uh… where shall we found Fort TexAgs?

malenurse said:

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zooguy96 said:

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Get a Peterson guide for edible and medicinal plants. Pretty easy to ID.

Go to a used book store. Good resource to get info.

Trial and error. Works great.

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If you're referring to edible or medicinal plants, I would disagree.

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Of course I wasn't referring to that.

The most important thing is to find the rich person who has the means to afford hiring people and putting them under the protection of the personal army. Going solo has never been successful - it sounds neat being all holed up in your compound and hunting and gathering on your property - but the rich people will have goons out making sure they have the resources at their disposal. Both people, food, arms, etc. For example, I assume one of the first items that will get taken over would be things like solar panels and wind turbines so if you have those on your property you'll likely be an early target.

Watch Walking Dead for various scenarios.
Humans turn feral quickly.

IronRed13 said:

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I should probably stop reading F16 too….

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That's what I finally had to do. Or at least limit myself so I don't constantly feel like the sky is falling.

Perhaps an old underground missile silo in the middle of nowhere!

To learn about canning, you can pick up a copy of "The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving." Walmart likely carries it, and Tractor Supply might have it as well. The book has photos and covers water bath and pressure canning methods, plus has lots of recipes.

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The first priority is to team up with 30 - 50 healthy like-minded individuals in a suitable secure and fortified structure in the right location where the heavily armed team can protect both the location and gathering parties.

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It's pretty hard to get 30-50 "like minded" people to cooperate in normal times, much less during periods of high stress. It takes a pretty regimented hierarchy with strong leadership and discipline for it to work. With most preppers, there would be egos and a power struggle in no time.

Your best bet is to live in a smallish, somewhat isolated city that can continue to function despite macro level disruptions.

If you study history, particularly the post WW1 fallouts in Europe and Russia, you'll realize that a bible may be about the only thing that will save you. You won't be living off the grid and independent for long. If America fails, something will quickly replace it.

Mark Vorderbruggen wrote an excellent foraging guide and teaches classes locally. Also has a Facebook page with informative posts. Neat to know info.

https://www.facebook.com/ForagingTexas?mibextid=LQQJ4d

https://www.amazon.com/Foraging-Explore-Natures-Flavorful-Adventure/dp/0744051444/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=6ea03132-af63-4915-875b-423b9398d64a

I encourage everyone I know to be prepared for at least a 3 week scenario. Regional type disasters.
Beyond three weeks, if you can't get help or evacuated then Civilization has totally collapsed.

That scenario is not survivable. You will not with stand the Golden Horde.
Take a map of the USA. Draw a 400 mile circle ( one full tank of gas) around every major metro area.
Everything edible within those 400 mile radius circles will be eaten in the first month of SHTF.

There will be a few warlords emerge that may last longer, probably charismatic NCOs with access to crew served weapons mounted on Hummvees.

Hopefully everyone I care about goes quick.
Best prep for doomsday scenarios is " get right with the Lord".

V8Aggie said:

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RM76 said:

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IMHO, in a real extended SHTF scenario, pure hunters and gatherers, or even long time preppers, are not going to make it for long. You are not going to be able to hang onto what you have. The first priority is to team up with 30 - 50 healthy like-minded individuals in a suitable secure and fortified structure in the right location where the heavily armed team can protect both the location and gathering parties. Survival will then come down to hunting/gathering (and likely raiding) in heavily armed parties. Defense and preservation of the group with enough strength will come first and survival in terms of food/water/comfort will come next and will always take place in a large group. That is my take in the times we're living in.

Survival skills will be sorely needed but maybe not so much in the traditional sense, and not so much from a solo perspective.

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So uh… where shall we found Fort TexAgs?

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It rhymes with "Voss".

There's actually a book called :

Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning

Animal Eight 84 said:

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" get right with the Lord".

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Hording ammo and relying on hunting won't be enough. Lots of people will have ammo and everyone will be hunting. You think you have trouble with trespassers/poachers now? Wait until everyone that ever thought he was a hunter suddenly needs to feed people. What ever name is on the Deed in the court house won't matter, to anyone.

Whitetail deer were all but wiped out in parts of Texas during the great depression, so were a lot of other critters. And that was with a lot smaller population of people.

You are going to need a tribe, you won't be able to hold what you have, plus gather more, on your own. What your tribe consists of depends on you.

Be an asset not a liability. Get training. Especially medical training, immediate action/trauma response etc. I had no idea how much I didn't know until I took a class. Get in some kind of physically fit shape. Stop eating fast food, take a serious martial art, get some exercise/learn to love running.

Most folks (men) want to Gear their way out of a training problem. Learn to do useful stuff.

River Bass said:

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It's pretty hard to get 30-50 "like minded" people to cooperate in normal times, much less during periods of high stress. It takes a pretty regimented hierarchy with strong leadership and discipline for it to work. With most preppers, there would be egos and a power struggle in no time.

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I disagree. I think to the contrary. In a real life threatening disaster people will find a way to work together for the good of all. Just look at Ukraine. Everyday folks (many not even soldiers) working together to defend their way of life and their country. Your survival group needs to be large enough 1) for strength, and 2) to capture enough diversity in expertise. Doctors, shooters, reloaders, hunters, cooks, handi-men, etc.

RM76 said:

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River Bass said:

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It's pretty hard to get 30-50 "like minded" people to cooperate in normal times, much less during periods of high stress. It takes a pretty regimented hierarchy with strong leadership and discipline for it to work. With most preppers, there would be egos and a power struggle in no time.

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I disagree. I think to the contrary. In a real life threatening disaster people will find a way to work together for the good of all. Just look at Ukraine. Everyday folks (many not even soldiers) working together to defend their way of life and their country. Your survival group needs to be large enough 1) for strength, and 2) to capture enough diversity in expertise. Doctors, shooters, reloaders, hunters, cooks, handi-men, etc.

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That is absolutely true. I've thought a lot about that. However, the difference is that in Ukraine there is the constant threat of an outside enemy that everyone has in common. One enemy, one goal.

Shared external pressure creates great allies.

However, in something like the OP has described where a lot of people would be out for themselves, I think a lot of people would get primal right quick.

I'm not sure that we have the sense of community that our grand-parents and great grand parents had.

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I'm not sure that we have the sense of community that our grand-parents and great grand parents had.

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I'm sure.

We ain't got it, not even close.