Looking for suggestions/criticisms for my location/plans

[Brent S]

I really like the thorny bushes, black and raspberries give some protection and produce fruit at the same time. I had some natural blackberries in a spot where I didn't want them, I've mowed then down forty times at least and the tough little buggers are still sprouting up! The hardest part of real protection is any normal house is not defensible, period. A 22 can penetrate any standard wall, and windows won't even slow it down. The best plan is to have safe areas that you can reinforce, and can have a way to return fire from. Also consider an emergency retreat path in case you're outnumbered. I haven't done it yet but am considering a concrete room in the crawlspace. Since your property is so large it may be a good idea to make a fortified store room in an outbuilding also, in case you couldn't make it back to the main house in a pinch. I think a 12" block wall filled with concrete will stop a 50 cal. If you have some peep holes for return fire you have a pretty good advantage. Hope you'll never need to test these ideas out!

 

[Cerberus]

....The best plan is to have safe areas that you can reinforce, and can have a way to return fire from. Also consider an emergency retreat path in case you're outnumbered. I haven't done it yet but am considering a concrete room in the crawlspace. Since your property is so large it may be a good idea to make a fortified store room in an outbuilding also, in case you couldn't make it back to the main house in a pinch. I think a 12" block wall filled with concrete will stop a 50 cal. If you have some peep holes for return fire you have a pretty good advantage. Hope you'll never need to test these ideas out!

the problem with reinforcing the crawl space is that you cannot escape at all. sure you could make a emergency exit tunnel, but you'll achieve of an impact on the enemy force if you don't prolong the bleeding effort. the hostiles will also be relatively quickly inside your basement or at its peepholes if you aren't holding them off. They'll see there is a tunnel and they will shoot down it while others run the direction of where the tunnel leads above ground. sure you could say well i'll make it a hidden tunnel. but once you disappear they will find it. because they know there is an emergency exit to the room because that is the only thing that explains your disappearance and lack of a body. you would still need to burn the house down behind you to hide it.

Imagine you are leading that assault on your property and what you would do to conquer it. and if you cannot conquer it you annihilate it. plan your defense like that. from the view of the attacker and what would hurt him most if he did it like you.

 

[Gazrok]

I actually discovered quite a bit of blackberries growing wild on the property, so encouraging them in certain places. The house itself is pretty much concrete block, so no worries about rounds going through (but man, it's a pan to hang anything on an outside wall (have to drill an anchor into the concrete). I would love to build a radiation/redoubt bunker on the property, but that's going to take some serious scratch and time (so it's further down the list).

However, I do have an out building that we use for hay storage, that is concrete block for about the first 5' of height. Wouldn't take too much to put in some firing ports, to use it for such a purpose, in a SHTF scenario, so may just do that...thanks!

 

[Brent S]

I actually discovered quite a bit of blackberries growing wild on the property, so encouraging them in certain places. The house itself is pretty much concrete block, so no worries about rounds going through (but man, it's a pan to hang anything on an outside wall (have to drill an anchor into the concrete). I would love to build a radiation/redoubt bunker on the property, but that's going to take some serious scratch and time (so it's further down the list).

However, I do have an out building that we use for hay storage, that is concrete block for about the first 5' of height. Wouldn't take too much to put in some firing ports, to use it for such a purpose, in a SHTF scenario, so may just do that...thanks!

By the way, great looking piece of real estate!

 

[Brent S]

the problem with reinforcing the crawl space is that you cannot escape at all. sure you could make a emergency exit tunnel, but you'll achieve of an impact on the enemy force if you don't prolong the bleeding effort. the hostiles will also be relatively quickly inside your basement or at its peepholes if you aren't holding them off. They'll see there is a tunnel and they will shoot down it while others run the direction of where the tunnel leads above ground. sure you could say well i'll make it a hidden tunnel. but once you disappear they will find it. because they know there is an emergency exit to the room because that is the only thing that explains your disappearance and lack of a body. you would still need to burn the house down behind you to hide it.

Imagine you are leading that assault on your property and what you would do to conquer it. and if you cannot conquer it you annihilate it. plan your defense like that. from the view of the attacker and what would hurt him most if he did it like you.

I like the suggestion of reversing the roles of defender to aggressor, gives you a broader perpespective.