Should You Have a Survival Retreat?

This question often haunts me. If you're like me, you live close enough to the city that staying put might be risky. Staying home has a ton of benefits if you can manage the risks. The thought of quickly grabbing my stored food and water and leaving the rest behind is a scary thought. So a retreat that is far enough away from others but close enough to get there fast helps alleviate these fears because I can easily store goods onsite and this can save me a lot of time if I have to leave my home fast.

Hunting properties are perfect retreat locations because they are always far from city life and usually provide plenty of natural cover. My favorite part about hunting properties is they are very affordable for most of us because the property would be difficult to develop on and therefore considered useless land for developers. A couple of acres is substantial for most small groups but will need to grow as your group grows. It is worth the extra cost if the property has a stream or natural spring because fresh water is the most important for survival. The last benefit I will mention for buying a hunting property is the ability to absorb the surrounding parcels if society crumbles and the owners fail to use it. Some might consider this stealing, but I call it borrowing because you can always vacate the land if the owners arrive.

If you don't know if you should have a retreat, read the book, Holding Your Ground: Preparing for Defense if it all Falls Apart. This book helps you determine if your house is safe WTSHTF using the author's own algorithm which assigns numerical values for your neighborhood, property, highways, etc. If the algorithm states that you could stay in your home, he gives you ideas on camouflaging the property so it looks as though it was already looted by others and also ideas on protecting your house from the inevitable gangs.

If after reading this guide you determine that you need a bug-out plan then maybe a retreat is necessary. Finances are the most important part of prepping so now is the time that having a prepping group of friends and family already in place can help immensely. Buying a property should not be one person's job and I have found that if a group of people pitch in money they will also pitch in the time to prepare the property. Clearing trees, burying caches, building structures, and planning for the future tends to be much easier with a group.

Keep Prepping Friends!