Security on your homestead for when SHTF

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First put a 300' parameter around the house before putting it around the property but $50k for your property? how many acres?
For a 5 run barbed wire field fence it shouldn't cost no more than $750 per 1320' and that includes everything (except tools) that's a little over a 5 acre run $1500 for a 10 acre run, a square 10 acres would cost $6000

From defensive perspective, you want to fence off what you can defend (defensive parameter fence) Once you get your defensive fence built then work on the outer parameter fence starting at the most vulnerable points.

about 10 acres, convenants prevent barbed wire
 
This place has covenants?

Personally, I think HWY 20 would be a more likely escape route for refugees leaving Chicago than say I90. Not those two specifically, just that any small highway leaving Chicago would be a better route than the Interstate corridors. Small highways would still be easy to follow, offer a pretty straight line of travel, and would have lots of scavenging opportunities. If I were desperately leaving Chicago, I would not take the Interstate system. Maybe as a first step, go to where you think the majority of the people you think will be a problem are, then try to decide if you were them, where would you go? How would you scavenge and where would you start? Where are the first easy pickings?

Your defensive needs would also depend on where you are. Elgin is a lot different than Carpentersville, IMO, even though they aren't that far apart.

Anyway, if your beginning homestead is in a suburb with covenants and an association *shudder* then there isn't much you can do right now. If I had to stay there, I would plan on getting to know the neighbors, and having a couple bigger dogs, and try to pick some places with the best view of the property, places you could sit and watch out for problems. 10 acres is big, but doable. Sucks though, room for growing food and having chickens and rabbits, but hard to defend because of the location and current rules.

It would take a real horrific, long term emergency to send hordes out combing the countryside, I think. Me, I would focus on food stores and sustainability, and armed defense, before worrying about booby traps, or fencing. There really isn't a fence good at keeping out people, not when they access to tools and time. I wouldn't be against a nice hedge to hide the property from view. No need to have the garden on display.
 
the real value in a fence vs. people is the deterrent and that it wastes time.

Any determined human will defeat a fence or even a wall. (though a good, tall wall, with some anti-scaling measures, is a pretty damn good barrier....though expensive).

My garden area is behind my garage though, so can't really see it from any vantage point unless you are on the property.
 
The highway poses a risk. Fencing, shrubs and anything else you can do to narrow the lane of approach will be good (Remember the 300 stood off a larger army by choosing a very narrow battleground.)

While you are expecting an approach from the highway, someone who is determined not to be turned away might have someone approaching from another direction (behind or from one side) while they (or perhaps their women and children) draw your attention to the front. Try to forget everything you know about your family and the interior of the house while you walk around the property and try to see it from a stranger's point of view. Is there a good looking approach?

Is there concealment or cover for someone approaching from any direction? It might help to have some concealment that appears to be cover when viewed from outside. Something that looks solid but can be easily shot through may be handy if the bad guys duck behind it. In the case of concealment and cover locations, you might think about burying some wire to those locations so that you can install strobe lights or highway flares with electric igniters on the side of the cover that faces away from the house. If someone comes in at night, strobe lights in their faces can give you an advantage.

Finally, there should always be a backup. If there are simply too many people heading up the driveway, do you have an escape route in mind? We have buried camping supplies near our house so that if we get caught flat footed, we can just lay low a few days until our BOL has become boring to the bad guys. This is also why the supplies are buried all over the yard in 3 month barrels so that if someone takes our home, we'll have something to return to later.
 
Keep in mind human psychology. Humans tend to take the least path of resistance. Rows of blackberry (thorny brush) and a small clear opening and you can guess which path they will follow. Do not make it look too man made but just narrow. that facilitate folks walking in line, which the tend to do anyway. That is where you want you hidden surprises (after WROL). Range markers can be just simple colored flags, which also help provide wind directions. The real facts are, modern farms, ranches, homes are not defend-able. Too many windows, too many approaches and inadequate ballistic cover. The modern building are good for shelter but are not good fortifications. Early warning and information will serve better than stake pits or caltrops. Those are delaying tools to allow the family time to bug out. Just remember, while you can't defend the home, neither can the invaders. Have a near by retreat / fall back position, with supplies and ammo. That gives you the opportunity to return and harass the invading force or completely eliminate them, if the group is small enough. Just always remember "The Alamo" was a lost battle and they ALL Died. That is not what you want for your family.
 
I will be teaming up with a neighbor. He has several pieces of heavy equipment (excavator, dozer, etc) which we can use to build barriers. Our biggest protection will be the dogs. Early warning system that cannot be switched off. I think once the dogs come out, people will move on to an easier target.
 
I will be teaming up with a neighbor. He has several pieces of heavy equipment (excavator, dozer, etc) which we can use to build barriers. Our biggest protection will be the dogs. Early warning system that cannot be switched off. I think once the dogs come out, people will move on to an easier target.
Someone who will be a threat to you will have no problem "switching off" the dogs too. So while they're great to have as members of the team, they're not 100% deterrent.
What type of barriers do you plan to build? I have come up with several ideas (for my as-of-yet unpurchased/nonexistent BOL) but for one reason or another I've judged them all impractical or ineffective.
 
I’ve thought a lot about security. History shows that even the most secure castles were taken or surrounded and starved out. While I do think some security measures are wise, I believe being mobile and flexible makes more sense. I would rather run and hide than fight any day. If a group takes over your place it makes more sense to use sniper tactics and pick them off from a safer distance that to take them on font and center. One thing to consider too is modern homes are not secure enough to defend. Most rifles will penetrate walls easily, even lower caliber ones. I would never waste ammo shooting at a window, just hit the sides where the person is likely hiding.
 
Rural fencing is for keeping stock in (or out), not two legged predators. At my rural retreat I'm slowly stockpiling 44 gallon drums. Place strategically outside areas of the house you want to harden (windows, bedrooms, doors, other ground floor firing points), fill with dirt, even plant low growing herbs or vegetables in them if you like.

The drums are either free or very cheap, the dirt is free, and you have a ballistic barrier around sections of your house. Combine with sensor lights and/or dogs for early warning, practice you response to attack, have a secure fall back location and plan.

At my retreat I have drums of supplies ready to bury in the hills behind my cabin. They will get buried almost immediately if I bugout, so that I have a fallback option if it looks like my retreat is about to be overrun. I won't lose all my supplies, and will hopefully have enough to sustain my group until we retake my retreat or find somewhere else.
 
Rural fencing is for keeping stock in (or out), not two legged predators. At my rural retreat I'm slowly stockpiling 44 gallon drums. Place strategically outside areas of the house you want to harden (windows, bedrooms, doors, other ground floor firing points), fill with dirt, even plant low growing herbs or vegetables in them if you like.

The drums are either free or very cheap, the dirt is free, and you have a ballistic barrier around sections of your house. Combine with sensor lights and/or dogs for early warning, practice you response to attack, have a secure fall back location and plan.

At my retreat I have drums of supplies ready to bury in the hills behind my cabin. They will get buried almost immediately if I bugout, so that I have a fallback option if it looks like my retreat is about to be overrun. I won't lose all my supplies, and will hopefully have enough to sustain my group until we retake my retreat or find somewhere else.
"Rural fencing is for keeping stock in" if you are lucky. :) We have a bull that will run thru even if electric on occasion when we have moved a new to be cow to the front pastures.
 
about 10 acres, convenants prevent barbed wire

not much land out there that's unincorporated anymore - it's all been grabbed by one municipality or another >>>> you have all kinds of zoning laws that come into play - even the county would have a zoning law against barb wire usage in a residential area - any "covenants" that a HOA has takes 2nd place
 
"Rural fencing is for keeping stock in" if you are lucky. :) We have a bull that will run thru even if electric on occasion when we have moved a new to be cow to the front pastures.
A bull will go where a bull wants to go. My bull has been missing for about a week now. I go out twice a day looking for him and have covered many miles. I've got a plane on standby for this weekend if I can't find him today.
 
This doesn't have anything to do with fences, but one successful aspect of camouflage is hiding in a spot where seekers wouldn't think you could be hiding. Speaking of bulls, the Carson and Barnes circus spends their winter off season a few miles from me in rural Oklahoma. Several years ago one of their elephants wandered off and was not found for a couple of weeks Looking at that territory in winter, you wouldn't think something as big as an elephant could keep hidden, but it happens.
 
A bull will go where a bull wants to go. My bull has been missing for about a week now. I go out twice a day looking for him and have covered many miles. I've got a plane on standby for this weekend if I can't find him today.
Think I'd be checking any neighbors with heifers first. . . If you have a good bull, they probably won't mind having the "free service". Cows here are always bred this time of year with calving happening in the early fall to spring. It's too dangerous on the calf to have a summer birth if dark in color. They overheat easily in our weather. You might be different there.
 
Think I'd be checking any neighbors with heifers first. . . If you have a good bull, they probably won't mind having the "free service". Cows here are always bred this time of year with calving happening in the early fall to spring. It's too dangerous on the calf to have a summer birth if dark in color. They overheat easily in our weather. You might be different there.
I've got the word out to the area ranchers and I think I've got the search area narrowed down to a few thousand acres. When I went out this morning I found some range cows in a small valley a couple miles north of here. I'll go out again soon to look some more.
Most of the cattle around here have local owners but some are shipped in from out of state to graze in the mountains.
Our bull is a high quality registered Red Aberdeen, and pretty valuable.
Most calving here takes place in February, March and April. Calving that early has it's risks due to the weather but it gives the calf a head start on the summer flys.
 
This place has covenants?

Personally, I think HWY 20 would be a more likely escape route for refugees leaving Chicago than say I90. Not those two specifically, just that any small highway leaving Chicago would be a better route than the Interstate corridors. Small highways would still be easy to follow, offer a pretty straight line of travel, and would have lots of scavenging opportunities. If I were desperately leaving Chicago, I would not take the Interstate system. Maybe as a first step, go to where you think the majority of the people you think will be a problem are, then try to decide if you were them, where would you go? How would you scavenge and where would you start? Where are the first easy pickings?

Your defensive needs would also depend on where you are. Elgin is a lot different than Carpentersville, IMO, even though they aren't that far apart.

Anyway, if your beginning homestead is in a suburb with covenants and an association *shudder* then there isn't much you can do right now. If I had to stay there, I would plan on getting to know the neighbors, and having a couple bigger dogs, and try to pick some places with the best view of the property, places you could sit and watch out for problems. 10 acres is big, but doable. Sucks though, room for growing food and having chickens and rabbits, but hard to defend because of the location and current rules.

It would take a real horrific, long term emergency to send hordes out combing the countryside, I think. Me, I would focus on food stores and sustainability, and armed defense, before worrying about booby traps, or fencing. There really isn't a fence good at keeping out people, not when they access to tools and time. I wouldn't be against a nice hedge to hide the property from view. No need to have the garden on display.


if your place is incorporated into a municipality - they aren't "covenants" - zoning laws are usually been accepted from the standard BOCA book of codes - the overalls are accepted and possibly some of the sub-codes where they make sense for the locale ....

if the property is incorporated - you're not rural - you have neighbors that have to be considered >>>> thus the codes - keeps things civilized and maintains everyone's property values ....
 
Maybe not in Illinois, but it's a different story in many other places. And not just out west either.

don't get your regional bigotry fired up >>>> didn't say Illinios - that poster was talking a specific urban area that rings the greater Chicagoland area - that's HUGE $$$$$ per home building lot - large continuous acreage that can be sub-divided into lots could run upwards of $250,000/acre - people are buying up 2-3 older homes and tearing them down for one large new building lot ...
 

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