Zombie Defense In Not-So Common Areas

Author: ZAC Admin
Submitted: 17 Feb 2009
Filed under: General &Home Defense &Mobile Defense

22 Responses to “Zombie Defense In Not-So Common Areas”

1. Dsurion on 18 Feb 2009 at 8:33 pm #

   Ah, the desert. As a frequent camper in the high desert area in Southern California (and lucking out with a geography teacher for a parent), I have a bit of a nitpick. Sandy dunes and windswept wastelands are in the extreme minority in desert climates; far more common is stony, broken ground covered in low scrub, though these are still generalizations. The only real unifying factor for deserts is that they lose more water than they gain annually. However, if you do run into dune areas, expect it to hinder you as much or more than it hinders a zombie.

   At any rate, the rolling dunes of the Sahara are hardly what one might run into at their local desert area, but no matter what, any desert is harsh and unforgiving. Mistakes with food, water, or travel that could be easily rectified elsewhere can be deadly. On the bright side, if you know what you’re doing, a desert can be a paradise in a zombie scenario. Not only is food and water available in abundance with the right know-how, but people without that know-how will avoid the place like the plague and take their zombies with them. I know, I know, statistically speaking zombies have to wander through every area, but like any predator they will tend to follow their prey, and if their prey doesn’t go where you are, all the better.

2. McLuvin on 19 Feb 2009 at 11:31 pm #

   I agree with Dsurion about the desert terrain we are more likely to encounter. The harsh, arid wasteland of the american southwest would be terrible without a proper supply of water
   and the deep woods provide there very own problems to deal with.

   However, neither of these places is going to be a surprise. You won’t suddenly find yourself in the middle of a barren desert or stranded in the alpine wilderness. You should always be prepared for the environment around you. Whether you live in a harsh climate or are just travelling through, you need to avail yourself of the proper supplies necessary to survive.

   Just as you should always have a weapon handy to dispatch the undead, the same amount of thought needs to go into your environmental preparedness.

3. ZAC Admin on 19 Feb 2009 at 11:34 pm #

   True, neither place will be a surprise. However, the zombie outbreak will most likely be the surprise. Having plans for just about any scenario is preferred if possible. Not likely, agree, but the more we think through these situations the more likely we are to survive.

4. The Doctor on 21 Feb 2009 at 6:36 pm #

   The forest one made the music video for the song Blood Red Summer pop into my head.

5. another mike on 21 Feb 2009 at 8:01 pm #

   You want an interesting environment to operate in? Try the “Sky Islands” of southeastern Arizona. Forested mountains rising thousands of feet above the desert of the valley floor.
   You get all of the weather of both environments. Flash floods, desiccating heat, summer monsoons, winter blizzards, storms of nothing but dust and lightning. Here’s a tip: Dress and equip yourself and your MZPK for the weather first, then add what you need to fight.
   There are enough animals to fill an Ark. Everything from deer, turkey and wild sheep to jackrabbits and javelina (a large desert critter that looks like a warthog but it’s actually a rodent) can stock the larder. Cattle might be available too if they aren’t eaten by the undead onslaught. There are predators to compete with though; lions, jaguar, bobcat, coyote, bears, snakes, tarantulas, and scorpions. A hunter for every hunted, each filling it’s own niche.
   The real benefit is the diversity of native edible plants. Cacti, mesquite, fungi, citrus, tubers, maize, fruits, vegetables, nuts. From the desert to the peaks it’s like a grocery store out there. But be careful, some of the plants are as deadly as any predator. You do know which plants around you are safe to eat, right?
   /be prepared

6. Dsurion on 22 Feb 2009 at 11:44 am #

   Sky Islands huh? Sounds very interesting as a refuge area. I take it you have some personal experience in the area?

7. Leor on 22 Feb 2009 at 1:42 pm #

   Wooded areas aren’t that hard to survive in.
   Lots of materials for alarms and traps, water in abundance, food if you know where to look and shelter no so hard to find.
   Lack of zombies is also a good thing since the only Z’s you’ll meet will probably just be passing through to more populated areas.
   My friends and I actually plan on taking over and renovating an abandoned concrete structure we found a couple of kilometers nearby in the woods (in the case of an outbreak of course). The ground in wooded areas is usually pretty fertile making it possible to wean ourselves off of salvage pretty quickly.

8. GreenEyedBandit on 22 Feb 2009 at 4:01 pm #

   If you’re used to the woods that you’re hiding in I think they would be a decent hiding place depending on how hard it would be to find food in your area.

   Around here there are tons of squirrels, rabbits, and deer in the woods and lots of dairy farms so there really wouldn’t be a shortage of meat, and there are enough bow hunters around to be able to find a bow to hunt with. I’d try to stay away from guns while hunting for food. Even though I’m a much better shot with a rifle than a bow.

   I’ve never been to a desert region so I have no clue how I would survive there.

9. 3ID on 22 Feb 2009 at 11:55 pm #

   I would not want to stay in the woods or the the desert you have find and build every thing from scratch witch will suck and it will take energy that you will need to deafened form the undead i would rather just have a prebuilt strong hold you can build stronger and stronger with the passing days and live near a city yes more zombies but also more survivors so with the places i think it is a win win situation it all counts on you and your preparedness

10. Dave on 01 Mar 2009 at 11:07 am #

    “[Rural areas] means not many supplies or resources, unless you have planned ahead and are prepared for the fight. ”

    Not here in Scotland anyway. Places that are remote and/or with poor roads often have ration packs, radios, fuel and generators stored in case they get cut off (not uncommon in winter). Furthermore these places base their economy on food production: farming, crofting or fishing. City supermarkets will likely be Z hotspots, are likely to get raided as soon as an outbreak is publicised and anyway even canned goods go bad.

    Then there’s the castles and hunting lodges (people who lived in castles built these mini-castles further out for their hunting parties). The only better accommodation you could hope for is a nuclear bunker – also usually built in remote areas – although these may require a certain number of people to operate. Another economy staple is crafts, which means production tools which remain functional without substantial power).

    Gun control is very strict here and rural farms are by far the most likely place to have a firearm (shotgun, occasionally rifles) here in the UK, unless you fancy raiding an army barracks or the police HQ (armed police are uncommon).

    Here I think rural areas by far offer the best resources for survival in the medium and longer term. The biggest advantage however is initially. Smaller, less mobile and more dispersed populations are much less likely to acquire an infection and much more easily able to isolate themselves from the rest of the world as they have fewer, more remote roads. Moreover, upon outbreak the army is likely to divide cities into barricaded zones, which will either reduce chances of infection arriving in your zone, or leave you barricaded into a area rife with Zs. I think the cities will fall before the army is able to property devise a strategy, which by then would probably involve withdrawing from helpless cities and trying to contain the infection within them – hopefully saving more manageable towns and near self-sustaining rural areas.

    That goes double on the islands, which benefit from a natural barrier so all you need to do is eliminate any Zs on the island and you have a very safe zone where you can live a pretty decent life.

11. another mike on 02 Mar 2009 at 11:11 pm #

    thanks, dsurion. yes, my current base camp is in that region. i really like it.

12. sean on 03 Mar 2009 at 2:24 am #

    growing up in canda i have spent much time in that climate
    and i believe that it is my preferred region,not just for when the undead come,but also just for day to day life.
    i think i would do well living in a forested region again

13. jediwannabe1 on 13 May 2009 at 3:52 pm #

    I live in a rural area on top of a hill and can see forquite a ways around my house. the only place the zeds would be able to catch us by suprise is from the woods in the back yard. but the only vulnarble part of the house is the rom, where ther is a huge 7-wide convex structure of windows. all the other windows are way too high up to be climbed into, and the back door is pretty sucure considering there USED to be a porch to it :\ …so, all I’d really need to do is get supplies, lock up those from windows somehow, and keep an eye open fo the occasional zed or two. I don’t think i’d need more than a .22 rifle and maybe 100 rounds to last a few years. Only problem is supplies…

14. jediwannabe1 on 13 May 2009 at 3:53 pm #

    In my last post i said ” the only vunlnerable part of the house is the rom”…. i meant front…

15. PandemicAttack on 20 May 2009 at 8:51 pm #

    I would actually prefer a wooded area to anything else: hard for zombies to navigate in the trees so not many will be around, easy to be stealthy in the trees, abundance of food and water, possibly a cave structure that could be barricaded with fallen log, or and this is may favorite, climbing a tree is ideal. Zombie A.) can’t see you and B.) can’t climb to get you. Plus if the resources needed are available a treehouse is probably one of the best defenses.

    And if you’re in the desert, since zombies are basically rotting tissue, they would decay much much faster in the hot sun than in regular conditions. That’s a pro for the desert to me.

16. jerms369 on 29 May 2009 at 5:06 pm #

    I would go somewhere that is cold where the zombies can’t work with the temperature… In “I’m Legend”, mountains with rivers and trees, plus cold weather is a perfect place to hide.

17. KillerB on 22 Aug 2009 at 4:16 am #

    What about artic conditions? Ever think about that? NOPE. OK here is why. Lets say they are truley dead but animated. Then they area still made of flesh and flesh is mostly water. If I went to that same schools as you guys then water freezes at 32 deg F. Frozen Zombie is going to be much easyier to “Kill” than if they can move. SO here is a place for all you samuri sword ninjas out there. So I am heading north to that dreaded place called Canada and holding up there. After one or two winters the fucking Zeds will be no more. Bears will eat them in the summer and winter will freeze them in the winter. So at a minimum I should have a few cold months to go around hunting and gathering like the world is still alive………….

18. Semper Cogitant on 15 Nov 2009 at 12:47 pm #

    My ideal place to hold up would be in the higher elevation forested areas of Eastern Washington. Food everywhere for the taking, mostly lightly populated, but you’re never far from civilization so you have access to the things you can’t forage for.

    One huge advantage is winter. For half the year or more the Zs will be frozen and no danger to you. You’ll be able to build up defenses and supplies in relative safety.

19. Scav Dingo on 24 Apr 2010 at 6:37 pm #

    ..a terrain type very suitable for all applications that isnt covered is the plains; a grain-belt region has the ability to have many natural resources and high potential for crops, also farmland is usually flat and offers high visibility across much distance.. ..the plains are home to much wildlife as well, deer, rabbits and pheasants (bird game) predominately, and most farms have a body of water close by in form of a creek or stream, pond or lake, or water well.. usually near rivers and such, forestry is found, providing wood for supplies.. ..plains offer the most advantages for any terrain type, suitable to live off of, and defend..

20. big bear29 on 19 Nov 2010 at 9:04 pm #

    Well I live in central Texas and the area I’m in is considered part of the great plains . This area can grow different crops for most of the year , the winters are fairly short and mild , rarely does it get down into the teens in winter and sometimes it has even hit ninety degrees in december . Also there are a $#!* load of wildlife here , deer , rabbits , wild hogs , quail , some duck and geese , plenty of turkeys and there are no shortage of snakes in the area which can be cooked up for food , you would be suprised how good shake-n-bake snake tastes . Also there are plenty of homes in this part of the country that still use well water and with the amount of wind this area has a windmill or two could provide you with all the power to run your home and defenses .

    So while some of you are running into the mountains and forests to hide or the far north to freeze your butts off I’ll stay down here in the sticks .

21. big bear29 on 13 Dec 2010 at 9:28 am #

    Regardless of where you decide to evacuate to you need to have a little checklist of what it CAN NOT have in the area to make it viable for long term survival .
    1. No large cities within a minimum range of a hundred miles . You don’t want to flee the zombie hoard of one area to just wind up facing an even larger hoard somewhere else .
    2. No chemical factories or storage facilities within at least two hundred and fifty miles of your sanctuary . Once the power goes down these facilities while be ticking time bombs just waiting to go off . These facilities can store flammable gasses and substances or toxic chemicals , when these leak into the surrounding enviroment it could cause a massive fire or a chemical cloud that will wipe an area clean of all life and leave the water and soil poisoned for a long time and unable to support life .
    3. No nuclear reactors . It might take up to two weeks for the reactors to go critical and have a melt-down but eventually it will happen . When that happens the radioactive fallout will spread for hundreds of miles depending on the speed and direction of the wind , while this fallout likely won’t be as bad as what happened at chernybol a fallout is still bad news . Most of the reactors in the u.s. are in the eastern half of the country which will make that area a wasteland .
    4. Don’t setup down stream of a dam . Without constant maintenance a dam will eventually burst taking out everything down stream of it .
    Some of the “experts” claim that dams could last for hundreds of years , I personally think that they are full of more crap than a sewage treatment plant . These dams require constant tlc or the dam will eventually shut down , now the flood gates should operate automatically and let out the build up of water but if they get blocked with debris the water won’t be able to escape and the water can just build up until either the blockage gets swept away or the dam eventually bursts , I don’t plan on standing around down stream to find out which one .

    I’m sure that people can add to this list but this is just a basic list for now .

22. big bear29 on 03 Jan 2011 at 11:54 am #

    Just putting out a little info here . The first time there is a fire during the outbreak and there are no firefighters around to stop it there will be collosal damage . We are talking about a fire that could burn up large portions of the state or in some cases burn across several states . In my area there are alot of grass fires every year and it can take the firefighters several hours or sometimes days to put it out depending on how much stuff there is to burn . In an outbreak without firefighters around large portions of the country would simply go up in flames . This would make grasslands and forests difficult to survive in but not impossible if you keep the plant life chopped down and far away from your bunker/safe house . The suburban communities that you see around large cities would likely just turn into giant bon fires so that is one place you would not want to be .

    If you want an example of what I’m talking about just look for some of the videos of the forest fires in california . Those things can burn forever . Fires are a natural part of the ecological cycle , they burn up the dead plants and trees and allow new life to take hold . But people have been interfearing with this cycle for a long time and because of that some forests and grasslands will simply turn into raging infernos the first time they get set on fire and no one around to stop it .

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