The Solitary Man’s Refuge (24 page)

I always understood between us, that you and I
would use some of the same traps, bait, guns, ammo and
food to overcome some of this adversity. However, I never
realized how many other people would not even have a
half of our chances at getting by. I sort of see why you
didn’t do the NatGeo Doomsday Prepper thing. You saw
some warning signs and thought about this shit coming
and wanted to maintain at least some secrecy, am I right?”
Michael said, looking at Don intently.

“Something like that.” Donald said shrugging his
shoulders.

“I think what Donald is saying is that we are in a
situation now where we might have to play judge and jury
in a live or die sense and before we let it get to our heads
we better discuss it in the here and now.” Bubba said
carefully watching Michael’s face for a reaction.

“I understand that, I say far be it from me to not
defend the decision you preppers all made to prepare daily
for something like this to occur. I can see the rock and
hard places you are in now to share all them supplies you
painstakingly gathered and probably had to do without
other things people take for granted, in order to achieve
this level of preparedness for your homes.” Michael
related.

“Thing is boys, I probably only got a bit extra to feed
some lucky adopt a family lightly for a month in extra preps
before I start worrying about me cutting them off
completely. I am thinking I will bag up some rice and
beans, say a weeks worth for 1 in some baggies. Michael
and I got our own deal on mutually shared survival going
but, if anyone comes begging for food I can offer one of
those prepackaged things and tell them right then I am
willing to do this for them say…seven times and then no
more. We are going to have to be real careful about letting
on what we got, as well as a concern is, people will start
watching each other and wondering what others got that
they don’t. I need to share some vegetable seeds with
these neighbors as soon as possible, but deciding when
that conversation takes place is sort of tricky. We need to
let everyone else’s little life dramas play out on their own I
am thinking. Follow the same practices of trying to find
food as they do, ask the same questions as they do to
each other when we meet about how and where to obtain
food. Be super careful with our garbage and always have
someone guarding the preps 24/7. Thing is, we want to be
blended into the community as best as we possibly can.
Sharing crops with others is ok, but just donate the logical
amount you can give away, if that is all supposedly you are
surviving on.

I will get all of my herbal books out and inform Old
Max that there is information in them on substituting some
herbs for those medications that he and his wife may or
may not have on hand or that they can’t replace from
anywhere from now on.

Food wise, we really have barely enough to take
care of our own I hate to say it but it’s a grim fact. Think
about it as a math problem. If you have 8 buckets of grains
and legumes stored, representing 1 years’ worth of food
for one person at 1600 calories a day and we 6 human
bodies tried to live off of that, it means we got exactly two
months each to survive utilizing only that one resource.
That means we don’t have any extra food rations to give
away. One year of Mountain House for one person adds
another two months living for us four, ok. So that puts us 4
months into this crap and dead in the middle of winter
when the food stores run out. That’s my basic stash we got
on hand. Yeah, I got some other stuff I call extra, but it’s
really not extra in anyway you see?

I have got prepped maybe 5 (25lb) boxes of
parboiled rice, a bucket of beans, a bucket of ABC soup
mix and some other staples that I am going to dip into to
help the neighbors maybe, or NOT! That’s probably
another two months worth of food for each of us if we need
to make it to summer and then we will be eating weeds
and depending on catching wild game to survive any
further.

We are kind of getting stuck with the concept of not
offering anything at all to the neighbors and hoping it
doesn’t get noticeable we aren’t getting any skinner as
they are losing tons of weight. That can cause some
conflicts for sure, particularly for me because since it’s
known that I am a prepper. This is also not a bad thing in a
way. People know I got some firepower in the way of some
serious guns most likely on hand and they know it won’t be
no walk in the park to come borrowing from me if they ain’t
saying please and acting real nice.

Or, I give some food away, delay the inevitable into
a longer slower starvation for the recipient and have to
watch my back every moment after I say no more food can
be shared. I would have no problem sharing say if the
power was out for three weeks do to a hurricane but this
event is far different. If we help the community, it’s got to
be a full blown effort on our part and requires an unknown
quantity of cooperation that we can maybe, just maybe,
depend upon from them in reciprocation. We need to
somehow get the people on this dead-end road planting
vegetables and sharing hunts and labor together as a
cooperative community bent on its survival as a
community and not just an individual’s day to day
nourishment or existence. If say for consideration, that the
neighbors on my side of the road agrees that we are going
to do a stalk or drive hunt simultaneously on a certain day
and at a certain time, we are assuredly going to get at
least one deer killed and the meat can be divided amongst
us all. It’s a hell of a lot safer and more productive for
everyone to do it that way, instead of every neighbor going
hunting in their backyards so close together at all different
times and spooking deer in different directions away from
us.

I don’t know either if anyone has hunting dogs
around here, but that’s another consideration to take into
account. If someone is going hunting with dogs, everyone
needs to be aware of this and safely watch out for them
crisscrossing possible lanes of gun fire. Folks should be
thinking about chaining their dogs up for their own
protection now, too. I am going to be running a trap line for
food procurement and I don’t want any tragic accidents or
blame happen to me because somebody let their dog stray
and it gets stuck in one of my trail sets. I got some extra
110 conibear traps some people can use to get their own
dinners and I will share the catch of any animals requiring
my larger traps if I set on their property. I can give a few
classes on making a deadfall or a primitive snare, but I can
do a better job without worrying about somebody else’s
attempts at trapping cluttering up the game trails.

Getting this community to pull together cohesively
is about the only way we are all going to make it the way I
see it, of at least everyone getting one meal a day.
Therefore, I might have to share some extra food preps
now and then and maybe even some fresh meat if I can
manage to fill all my traps. Petty jealousy or coveting my
preps is always a danger, but it’s a danger that can be
quantified possibly. I just need to add up the possibilities
and reach my best solution.” Donald said to his deeply
thinking audience who seemed both perplexed and
challenged with figuring out options about the little debacle
they all faced in sharing resources.

LowBuck looked up from studying his iceless drink
and wore a serious look.

“You know once you offer to share some food and
bring up those coordinated deer drive hunts, everybody is
going to be thinking guns and hunting buddies. Guns and
hunting buddies’ means everyone gets their gun out if they
haven’t had them out already and thinks guns and ammo.
So now we start the “Gun Culture” where it will be common
for everyone to be carrying a hunting as well as defense
tool in the form of a firearm on a daily basis. You might
think it will be like the old west and everyone just expects
to see a hunting rifle, but it won’t be like that. People are
scared and scared people with guns get nervous around
other scared people with guns. It’s kind of like lighting a
fuse and you don’t know what it’s attached to at the other
end that might hurt you. People are not thinking too
straight at the moment and it’s harder for some than
others, tempers might flare, somebody might just go off the
deep end, etc., so we need to consider that.” Bubba
declared and let his thoughts on the matter be considered
as fair warning we might not like the playground we were
considering making.

“I guess what I am saying to both of you, is when do
we start showing the neighbors our black rifles versus
regular hunting style guns.” Lowbuck said, referring to the
media’s slang term “black” for any weapon that had some
kind of accessory or mechanical feature that the ‘powers
that be’ could label as an “assault weapon” and try to
restrict it’s sale and possession with ridiculous regulations.

“I still remember the looks I got LowBuck using that
old scoped SKS I got ,because that hunting club I happen
to have screwed up and joined didn’t appreciate that the
bayonet was still attached to it. It’s a great whitetail hunting
gun with many a deer taken with it, and the thing is factory
sighted by the military with the weight of that integral
bayonet built in so why remove it? That’s the way you
have to shoot one unless you restock the weapon and I
see no reason to do it.” Donald said pondering when he
was going to start to open carry his Smith and Wesson MP
15 AR.

“I told LowBuck you said I could borrow that SKS
rifle.” Michael reminded Donald.

“Oh sure, he wouldn’t give it to ya huh? I knew you
guys were being a bit standoffish to one another about
something. Bubba, you did right by refusing him when I
wasn’t here, but Michael can share ammo the same as
you if he needs it. By the way what did you bring with you
weapon wise, just that 9mm carbine or maybe you got an
AR stashed somewhere?” Donald said reasonably sure of
Lowbucks answer.

“I brought the kit and caboodle, as long as they in
LEO safe mode and away from the ammunition most
states say you can transport.” Bubba said grinning that
Donald would ask such a dumb question, or not so dumb
because some states would nail your butt regardless for a
trumped up gun grabber charge.

“Well, in that case, I will lend you my AR, Michael,
until I get back because you are familiar with it from the
military, but when I return you most likely are going to get
checked out on that Romanian AK and we swap back,
Ok?” Donald told Michael, reasoning that it was a logical
choice under the circumstances.

“Sure, that’s fine by me. I really appreciate it,
thanks.” Michael responded, shaking Donald’s hand.

“We will talk later on what kind of firepower to lend
Amy and how we are going to teach her to use a firearm.”
Donald said not forgetting that security was about to get to
be a paramount concern for everyone.

“I got that 20 gauge but I am a bit light in the shell
department.” Michael mentioned.

“Well, check her out on it when you get a chance. I
know you would need to let her fire it to do a good job of
teaching her but if you’re light on ammo you best save it.
There are going to be guns going off here and there in the
woods over the coming weeks and with that comes
people’s curiosity of the other people’s motives for
shooting. I used to have another farm where I always shot
a lot of ammo out on my land and probably freaked my
neighbors out. I haven’t shot anything since I been here
but have heard what they got in the way of pistols and
rifles. No way have I shorted on storing ammo even if I felt
like shooting everything I got all day long, but I don’t think I
will advertise that little fact yet. Take my 12 gauge
Mossberg and teach her the fundamentals of using it. I got
12 gauge shells stocked up out the wazzoo. I want it back
though, if I end up going on a deer hunt with Bubba before
I take off for town, I want to play point man with it. Some
Federal 3 inch shells with no 1 buck are a hell of a
lawnmower for a quick shot in the jungle or these woods.”
Donald said thinking about the best combination of tactics
and firepower if a three man team was going to be easing
around the woods together.

“I guess we just carry our regular hunting rifles for
awhile out and about while in the public’s eye and tote the
main battle rifles around the house for awhile.” Lowbuck
stated and tried to tempt Don into having a shot of whiskey
with him.

“No thanks buddy, I am sticking to beer for now. I
guess we just do the watch and wait over the next few
weeks before we make any neighborly contact moves. I
wonder what prices are going to do in the stores that can
get things to sell? Seems like they would have to have
hyperinflation effects eventually but there is plenty of price
gouging during a disaster legislation on the books already
that has been needed in the past to discourage it. Thing is
if you don’t have some cash on hand prices already, it
don’t matter and I have no idea how the banks will function
if at all. I guess we try to spend all the green cash we got
and then it’s going to be poke and hope on exchanging
anything of value for food.” Donald commented while
wondering how in the hell commerce would commence
again like history tells us it always does or has previously
in the past.

Bubba resumed his seat on the picnic table bench
and offered his assessment.

“To say the least, it’s going to be a real interesting
ride from now on. I guess the government will try to ration
what goods they can as best they can, but this isn’t the
1930`s and I think society lacks the patience and morals to
stand in a soup line without turning the gathering into a
Wal-Mart riot to get something on sale. Now If the
government and states can get the railroad trains running
again, this country just might have a chance of surviving
somewhat or else things will spin out of control all at once
if we can’t move foodstuffs on a regular basis. I can’t see
it immediately unraveling except probably in places like
LA, no, it will be a slow decline where a little bit of food
stuffs get through for not enough people and tense up from
there. We got to figure out how to get the best out of that
time we can before things get down to the primitive. I think
that you are going to be the key to that advantage, Don,
whether you want to take that job or not. If they do call you
back to work, take it for awhile just so you can get some
first hand knowledge of what will be going on.” Bubba said
trying to help Don with his disaster reservist work
decisions and improve everyone else’s chances to get
some kind of inside track information on where and when
help might be on the way if at all.