Chapter 10: Protecting Yourself & Your Family

 

When it comes to Doomsday scenarios, one of the first thoughts that come into people's minds is the need for protection.  Whether the threat is from other humans, predatory animals or, even, zombies, people come up with all sorts of ideas about the protection capabilities they need in the event of emergencies.  If you want to be truly prepared for Doomsday events, you should be considering how you intend to provide protection for yourself and your family as well. 

 

There are several options and special considerations when planning your family’s protective measures in a post-apocalyptic world.  What kind of threats do you anticipate?  Are you comfortable with lethal force or is a non-lethal protection something you would be more comfortable with?  What are your physical abilities and training?  By answering these three questions, you can determine a lot about your mindset and how you need to prepare your Doomsday protection planning and strategy.

 

Threat Types

 

In preparing for Doomsday, the possibilities for threat scenarios are almost limitless.  The physical well-being of you or your family members could be threatened by wild animals, looters, rogue military groups, invading governments or any other conceivable enemy.  You may even face threats from other survivors who simply didn't have the foresight to prepare for disaster to come.  Determining what threats you may face and how far you are willing to go to protect yourself and your loved ones in response to each threat type is crucial in preparing for Doomsday scenarios.

 

Lethal vs. Non-Lethal Protection

 

When it comes time to defend yourself or your family against the various threats you may encounter, it is too late to answer the questions of whether lethal versus non-lethal force is preferred and at which level the various forms of protection are appropriate.  To be prepared to deal with any threat on any level, you must make those crucial decisions before the need arises.

 

Weapons, Physical Abilities and Training

 

Depending on how you choose to defend yourself and your loved ones from attack in a Doomsday scenario, certain equipment and training is required before the event gets here.  Fortunately, for many preppers, the same weapons used for their defense strategy are also part of their strategy for providing food through hunting.  In many cases, these individuals have put aside a small stockpile of ammunition and firearms to meet both their hunting and defense needs in the event of a large-scale emergency, so they will already have these items on hand when the need arises.

 

Whether you choose an armed defense strategy or not, knowing at least the basics of self-defense will be imperative in a Doomsday situation.  Understanding the escalation of force as related to your attacker and being able to diffuse a situation without the expenditure of valuable ammunition or the loss of other resources may prove to be very useful in the turmoil that follows a global Doomsday event.  When it comes to protecting the life of yourself or someone you love, there are no limits.  In a survival situation, protecting your life-saving supplies may carry equal importance because, once those supplies are surrendered, you have limited the amount of time that stands between you and death because your stockpile was holding off starvation or dehydration.

 

All preppers should consider some form of physical training and self-defense education to improve their odds of survival in a Doomsday situation.  This kind of training serves a twofold purpose.  First, at some point, you are either going to be caught without a weapon or ammunition will run out and this training gives you an additional layer of defense.  Secondly, by adding self-defense training, you add a few more steps in the escalation of force ladder, making it less likely that you would have to immediately resort to lethal force tactics for defense. 

 

By leaving the window open for non-lethal defense, you create less risk of accidental injury and raise the opportunity to negotiate a peaceful and mutually beneficial solution with human aggressors.  This is not saying lethal force would never be warranted.  If you feel that your life or that of your family is threatened, then you may feel justified in the use of lethal force.  With that said, you should also understand that, when the dust settles, there are serious consequences for every action, whether it is in your own mind or by the law when order is reestablished.  The use of deadly force against another human being is not something to be taken lightly.

 

Protecting Yourself From Wild Animals

 

Most of us spend our whole lives without ever encountering a dangerous wild animal.  Large predators tend to be reclusive and are rarely seen outside of their own territories.  With Doomsday planning, this can no longer be taken for granted, especially if your chosen retreat is in an area which some of these animals already call home.  Since the best way to protect yourself is to avoid a dangerous situation, it is important to know how to remain safe while in predator country.  Safety around large predators, such as bear, mountain lion, wolves and lynx, is mostly common sense precautions. 

-        Travel in groups, when possible.  A larger group means you have others to help if you get into trouble and it also makes for a less inviting appearance to these animals that often hunt prey which has been separated from a herd.
-        Don’t leave garbage or excess food around that could attract attention from vermin, scavengers and predators.  Unsanitary conditions in camp are not good for your health and it could be an open invitation for a large, hungry lynx to join your for dinner.
-        Be aware of your surroundings.  If something changes in your immediate area, such as the birds become agitated or there is something crashing through the brush ahead of you, it may be your last notice that you are not alone in the woods.
-        Don’t knowingly encroach on the territory, the young or the kill of a large predator.  These animals are extremely territorial and will fight to protect their (often) large territories, their young and their kills when they feel threatened.
-        Know what the tracks and signs of large predators look like in your area.  Once you know what these signs look like, go the other way when you find them.
-        Do NOT run from a predator.  These animals are hunters and nature has designed them to chase and kill prey.  If you run, you will trigger the natural response to attack and, while a large Grizzly bear may look slow and cumbersome, you will not be able to outrun them.
-        Carry some form of protection.  Whether it is bear repellant spray or your trusty pistol, you always want some form of fallback for those times when you get a little too close to the action.  While a handgun isn’t likely to pack enough punch to bring down a large predator like a bear, it might just make enough noise and pain to make the animal decide something else looks more interesting than you.

 

In a survival situation, the need to avoid a confrontation with these dangerous animals becomes even more important than it already is.  With limited access to medical care, even a small scratch could quickly become a serious and life-threatening infection.  Imagine how much more dangerous it would be to allow yourself to be mauled by a mountain lion.  If the encounter can be avoided, then do so.