The post SHTF Sniper.

+1 on the Guineas. That is one loud bird you can here that sucker half a mile away when they get riled up. And once one gets going the rest of the flock does as well.
I'd also bet they eat their body weight in ticks a couple times a season.

 

I have known a lot of kids wondering why it was such a big deal Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz was in so much danger when she fell into the hog pen.

We've gone so far from reality.

 

All livestock has its risk but Hogs are real special in the risk department and they are very clever critters, no other farm animal will start eating you alive if they knock you down Every year there are 5-6 news stories about people getting ate by their own hogs. Using Common Sense and having Respect for them goes a long way to minimizing the risk of being tomorrows pig turds.

 

I’m loud and obnoxious.

 

Yeah but how fast is your ziggy zaggy deal?

 

T5R, I have had the same thoughts and concerns about snipers around our place. If the crops were not up, they could hide half mile away and I’d not know.

My conclusion to deal with it was:

1. Detection. I’ve been thinking a weatherized FLIR camera on a gimbal mount high on my antenna tower. Unfortunately it isn’t cheap and talking a couple grand at bottom end. Be able to pan and tilt to scan the full perimeter. Secondly thinking a parabolic microphone in a discreet cupola on top of the shop that can also pan and tilt. Periodically monitor the area and close inspection prior to going outside. If a threat is detected then it can be avoided or dealt with. An added element would be making the camera controls and image all available via my wireless network. I have a long range AP 50’ in air on my antenna tower that gives me access over much of the farm. This would allow me to control and monitor the IR camera from about anywhere.
Another thought was a drone with FLIR camera to fly the area before venturing into the open. Problem with those is you can often hear them and then a sniper or surveillance will suspect they are detected and step up their game.

2. Protection. I figure if the environment becomes that risky better not venture out without body armor. Got that.

3. Concealment. Smoke, shrubbery, hay bails, window covering/blackout, etc. to conceal your movements as possible.

Obviously you can’t do this stuff all the time and there will always be risk. But we’ll all probably have a reasonable idea when things are bad enough to warrant these precautions.

AT

 

A plus to chihuahuas is they are genetically bred to attack the chupacabra in the goat pen.

My good friend brought one home for his kid. I don't generally like 'em but it's a cute playful little fart. Her has pet chickens. I think the chupacabra kills those too.

 

Damn this is interesting! I know to you it seems common knowledge, maybe even boring, but not to someone like me that's never has been around these animals before. Thanks for taking the time to write it up, really interesting!

 

One thing about hogs, as soon as you think you have them all figured out they will teach you something new I love sitting and watching all of the different social interactions in a mature herd of hogs. Also love watching how their defensive and offensive capabilities evolve over time. They actually develop and learn new and more complex tactics over time. Had two laying out in the open short pasture for hours a week or so back to the point I thought they were dead. Vultures thought they were dead as well, had about a dozen circling over them. Finally a vulture landed between them and was test pecking at ones back and the other hog snatched it up quick as lightning shook the hell out of and ripped it up, first hog got up and they had a tug of war with the vulture corpse and trotted back into the woods with their not quite equal shares of the vulture. That takes some intelligence and planning to coordinate. Things like that also get me to wondering......... If I had gone out to check them and see if they were dead would they have tried to make me the vulture.....................

 

Sniping is a tactical tool. take out leadership, demoralize, lessen resistance prior to assault. Once they fire you know they are there and counter measures work, sweeping fire, go on the hunt, burn shit. the thing a single sniper does not do is overwhelm.

 

In order to defeat a sniper, you don't have to be a better shot...just smarter! Keep out of sight...if he/she can't see you they usually can't hit you! Darkness is your friend...use it! Place barriers around anything important...yourself, your people and your stuff! Learn the lay of the land 1000 yards beyond your base of operations. Get out there and LOOK at yourself! Train to think like the son-of-a-bitch you fear, and then do something about it! Make your house a tougher nut to crack, plant a hedge so that you can leave your house undetected, remove cover and hides or booby-trap them! NOTE: I'm partial to a little anti-personal mine that consists of two small pieces of hinged plywood, with an interior compartment that holds a .22 LR bullet! Step or lay on it and you will get a nasty surprise! They are cheap and easy to make...so make them by the gross! Make it too much trouble and the sniper will go somewhere else!

 

A sniper is going to be cautious with their ammo and study their prey for a while, follow their routines to see exactly all they are up against.
One thing to remember is that human nature is to rush out to retrieve the wounded and that is what the sniper is waiting for. Dad goes out to get firewood and the sniper wings him just enough to get him scream in pain so that someone else feels compelled to retrieve them and bang now there are Two bleeding victims screaming till another comes out and now there’s 3.
The other thing that happens is in a panic people shoot spray and pray wasting ammo, not thinking about what they are doing and future engagements.
I suggest practice be done single shot style, disregarding mags. Make each shot count as though it were your last.

 

Be a hoot if some of these all dressed up were to pop-up for a look see every so often ?

 

Don't have a routine! You can get water and firewood at night! Learn how to defeat night vision and thermal devices, it's pretty easy and might make you regret spending all that money! It's unlikely that civilians would be able to resist going to the aid of a fallen family member, even military personnel fall for that old trick!

 

Actually, a sniper taught me that trick.
I got to thinking,
Though this might be too advanced in technology for most people here. Most guns don't have flash suppressor so seeing flash implies shots fired even if there is no report.
If one were to set up strobe lights at strategic locations that were ignited by sound, this might confuse a sniper as to where return fire is comming from.

 

Coyotes too. I used to drive right up to them in my leaf and put a 22LR between their eyes but they got wise to the sound of the nissan leaf. Now they know it as the sound of their harbinger of death.
Now I'm teaching them something new...

 

Dont know it this has been tried before but planting cane as a visual perimeter barrier seems like it would be an affordable answer to prying eyes. Dont let it get too thick and you can see out but seeing in would be more difficult. Overlapping lines with gaps would allow one to move outside the line and still block peering eyes.

Limited only by imagination.

jim

 

nothing against cane - but Jeruselum Artichokes would give you the same and you'd have a meal ready whenever you wanted to dig - grows just about everywhere