The Solitary Man’s Refuge (4 page)

The morality has changed in this country though or
has it? The “Gun Preppers” those young ignorant types
that store only shot and shell and very little sustenance
are an enormous danger that he thought about at times.
Nothing wrong with being classified a gun prepper if you
are just enjoying choosing and stocking a variety of
weapons for different tasks. The problem is when
someone becomes fixated upon having the biggest
baddest gun to the detriment of their food preps and
fantasizing about a video game shoot-um up version of
societal collapse. Some of these young idiots go out of
their way to say they are going to take the stuff from true
preppers because they invested all their time and energy
in negatively observing our efforts to teach the public to
get prepared. Little Johnny Rambo survivalist types will be
a scourge, if a community does not in some cases hunt
them down and prevent them from robbing others just
because they think they can.

Don had many years of experience and formal
training that taught him that, generally speaking, most
folks will give you the shirt off their back when a disaster
occurs and work diligently and kindly to remake a
community. Then you got the A-holes who have been
waiting for just this kind of moment to loot a store or the
sex offender that is going to take advantage of a bad
situation to get his jollies. If the poo hits the fan, expect
that a big sorting out of society will occur and until the bad
eggs and predators are dealt with, it is not going to be
safe. It might be a rude awakening for some folks who are
unprepared just how nasty humanity can turn if offered the
right circumstances.

Don was prepared for his own basic safety and
well-being and able to fend for his close family, what was
on the minds of others was what worried him, however.
Cannibals, Zombies, Mutant Ninja bikers, etc. that other
preppers referred to were not the cause for him to worry. It
was that simple 100 yard shot that was aimed at him when
he was tending his garden, because someone wanted his
preps or his garden because they had not prepared for
their family. He had long since put away that fear as
something you could prepare for, but he was well aware of
its potential threat. His personally prepared analogy of the
situation was simple:

Make yourself as irreplaceable to others as you
can be in the post apocalyptic community. Be ready to
form a community or get together like-minded people in
order to protect others and be protected by them. Don had
already added to his PREPPER LIST the need to add a
few dozen more 110 Conibear traps. They were a cheap
and effective means to forage for sustenance. The internet
survival trapping Guru Bruce “Buckshot” Hemming had
always told folks it was the best ONE survival trap ever
made.

Don had put the knowledge that age and
experience had given him to expand on another notion for
his little piece of the woods. He remembered the lessons
he had learned in a book he had read called the Rural
Ranger that had said similar things regarding traps and
snares and had studied in detail the techniques of using
this modern day steel body kill trap.

He related well with this authors disdain for the
cruel and inhumane leg hold traps often used in the fur
industry and never gave them a thought, except to look at
their form and function should he ever run across some.
What Don had come to realize regarding his neighbors
was that people watched animals in their area quite
frequently and learned their habits? Whoever he could
outlive for a while on this little road would be to some
extent extended if he gave them some hope and skills and
the use of a few traps.

Trapping is an art. Its different trap set for every
animal and environment. But many of his neighbors had
been observing the seasons and the squirrels etc. in their
own backyards for many years. A lesson or two with Don’s
donated traps to the neighbors and some success on their
part might just keep the wolf from his door. A sack of
grain, a few traps, and a guided hunt or trap line setup run
possibly and this clan of the cul-de-sac would keep a
civilized mindset and the peace he hoped because
everyone should be eating somewhat regular.

He had many more survival skills as well as
possible preps to share with friends to insure his safety
and security. It was a question of timing. Too early of a
conversation and you are letting it be known you got shit
they might want, too late and those so called friends are
desperate and vindictive because you allowed them to get
so low. This was a challenge of timing and disclosure that
Don had not decided upon yet.

He had foreseen as well as noticed that when
power was out for any length of time, which was when
everyone usually was checking on each other or being
outside more so they could be engaged in conversation
with neighbors. It was the knock at the door as things
became worse and the inevitable question of do you have
anything to share or spare for a starving family that he
dreaded.

Do you just flat out lie to those that come to you to
seek your help, how much of your preps would it be
advisable or prudent to share? Could you lie to a starving
child? Wood smoke and food smells travel long distances.
Some of this smell is distributed as a commonplace
occurrence now in a circumstance where everyone relies
on the same fuel sources. Otherwise, the smell of cooking
is a telegraph, a dead give away, a reason you need to
post a guard or have caution approaching a neighbors
place. Who writes at what time of day or when someone is
forced to go begging for food? Who writes the time of day
when a desperate father picks up his shotgun with murder
in his eye to take by force from a neighbor the food his
family so desperately needs? The thread of humanity is a
frayed and sometimes indiscernible attachment to morality
that can break for any number of reasons.

Group speak as a concept, community, the village
or whatever communication form registers in ones
conscious, is the basis of civilization and the laws or
morals we hold dear to reign in acts of thievery and
violence. Humanity survives because we band together
and use our wits and talents to overcome adversity as a
group. Safety in numbers has always held true in the past
as it does today. The reason for this is not physical. It is
based on shared knowledge. When to plant, how to craft
marketable goods, cures for ills, and sharing of domestic
animals etc.: this is what insures a community’s survival.
To create a world we all wish to live in is one that requires
deep thoughts and open hearts by everyone in
cooperating as a community.

When Jack and his logging crew began clearing his
land, the noise of the excavator and bulldozer brought over
one of his neighbors looking to get some similar work done
on his own property.

Bobby was a short wiry man of about 60 who
owned a couple of small fishponds right at the beginning of
the road Don lived on. Bobby was one of those fellas that
liked to talk a lot, but Don didn’t mind as he enjoyed finding
out about the neighbor and what he knew about the
community. It was Bobby who had pointed out the wild
huckleberry bushes that grew in abundance in Don’s
woods that he didn’t know he’d had before his visit. This
time of the year when the leaves hadn’t come out yet on
the trees and most bushes foliage made it difficult to
identify things, but once Bobby pointed out the unique
almost leafless green stems, Don started spotting the
bushes for himself everywhere to his delight.

Bobby had said the huckleberry bushes should
have had buds or flowers on them already unless perhaps
the deer were eating them off. Don and he had decided
though that maybe Bobby’s bushes had started to bloom
early because his were in direct sunlight in his field,
whereas Donald’s were in the shade of the under story of
the woods. Deer certainly could be a culprit though. There
were tracks and trails all over the place on Donald’s
property. Don had spent the mornings of the past three
days that it took the crew to clear his land looking over the
fresh soil for tracks and signs before the crew showed up
for work. Animal signs were everywhere, but he took
particular note of the coyote tracks that sometimes
followed the deer closely as they moved through the trail
system.

So much for any ideas he had about raising and
free- ranging some chickens in his backyard. That was
okay though; he had been scouring the internet for chicken
tractor plans and had about decided he would give one a
try to help keep down the weeds and bugs in the orchard
he was going to put in. With this many deer about though,
he had better start thinking about protecting his orchard
from their marauding and had come up with a neat
solution. There was a company that made a single wire
solar-powered electric fence that came with bait that was
going to be his solution. Unlike other fencing, the fence
itself does not have to provide a strong barrier. The electric
shock that results from the deer touching it acts as a
strong psychological barrier, not a physical barrier. Baited
and Electrified fencing has been tested and recommended
by major universities with a high degree of effectiveness.
Deer will be effortlessly attracted to bait stations around
your fence. When any deer licks the bait they will receive a
mild, safe, yet startling correction that will train the deer to
stay clear of that area.

The Wireless Deer Fence is an inventive variation
on this type of fencing. The system doesn't use fencing as
such, but uses posts that are baited with scented pellets.
The deer are attracted to these posts and receive a mild
shock, discouraging them from approaching the area in the
future. The baited posts are positioned on deer paths,
around vulnerable plants, or around special areas like
gardens. The deer then avoid the area. (This device is not
as effective as wire electric fencing, but it may be enough
for your area).

The basic idea is that deer are attracted to bait
stations around an electrified fence. When any deer licks
the bait, they receive a shock that trains the deer to stay
clear of that area. Peanut butter works well or you can use
Scent caps. These are metal pop bottle caps with cotton
inside them and a strand of soft wire for wrapping around
the rope. Apple scent is a concentrated scented liquid
inside a squeeze bottle with a lid that enables precise
drop-by-drop application.

Some folks use commercial Deer repellant to try to
deter deer. Some folks even mix their own formulas. High
success rates have been reported using a mixture of 20%
eggs and 80% water.

The single rope fence he was going to get should
work, but if need be, he had another trick up his sleeve
called a 3D fence. It’s two vertical fences of electrified rope
set 3 ft. apart. They combine to make a barrier that has
both depth and height. The rope is supported by Fiber
Rods and /or insulated wood or steel posts. An energizer
is connected to the rope to provide the essential pulses
that instill fear in deer. Scent caps are attached to the rope
at intervals to induce deer to touch the rope with their
noses.

Experts tell us that deer have “landing anxiety”
before they decide to jump over something. So, when
facing a fence that has height, length and depth (thus 3D)
deer are more tentative than with a fence that’s only “2D”
(tall/wide but not deep). Why? It seems that the depth
perception of species with side-of-the-head eye placement
(deer, horses) is less than for species with both eyes in
front (cattle, humans). That is why deer are tentative when
they see a 3D fence and are likely to stop...slowly walk up
to the fence...check the fence with their nose...and receive
a strong electric shock. The pain encourages deer to find a
less risky “restaurant,” trail or bedding ground.

For his normal garden fence he was going to save
his money and just go with a 5 ft. 2”x 4” inch wire mesh.
Some folks get 7 ft. deer fencing that is either poly or steel,
but that was an expensive proposition he didn’t feel the
need for or have the money to consider. His 30 plus years
of gardening told him the deer usually stayed out of shorter
fences unless they were starving. Deterrents such as a
couple pie tins suspended together on a wire so they could
rustle was added to this setup and worked well, too.

After the logging crew left, Don set about making a
list of Lowe’s store purchases for delivery. He calculated
he could fit in 13 raised bed boxes measuring 12` x 4` into
the area they had cleared for his garden and he had
figured out how many treated 2” x 6”s he would need. He
could have used cheaper decking type boards to make his
beds, but he figured that since he was going to stay here
permanently, he might as well spend a bit extra and get
better lumber that would last longer.

He calculated he needed 26 (4 ft) sections and
decided to let Lowe’s cut 8 ft. boards down the middle for
him. It only cost a quarter a cut to do this and for that price
it was a big labor and time saver. Funny how an 8 ft. board
is longer than 8 ft., but that’s not a problem as long as they
did the cut evenly for him. He figured out what boards he
needed for fencing gates and added a few more 4 ft.
sections to build some small 4’ x 4’ boxes for his orchard
and enclose his berry plants. Lowe’s had a ‘6 months no
interest plan’ so he went for it and got all his lumber, gun
safe and tiller delivered for 59 bucks. He was going to
make damn sure he paid that Lowe’s bill off before the
interest kicked in, too. This way he got everything he
needed now, but had time to pay for it without getting
sucked dry by exorbitant interest charges.

When everything got delivered the next day, he set
about building his raised bed garden boxes and nailing
them together with outdoor rated ring shank decking nails.
He only put two nails in each corner so he could straighten
the boxes later and get them more level after he filled them
in with dirt. Banging against the boxes with a wheelbarrow
while he was filling them was sure to cause some
problems he knew, so he left the third nail for last after he
completed filling them all. Even having the lumber already
cut, it still took him the better part of a day to build and site
the boxes in place. He used an old trusty framing hammer
for ease of driving a nail and the extra reach it gave him in
performing the task. He had Jack deliver him an entire
dump truck load of topsoil mixed with composted horse
manure for $250. Jack said he would layer it up like
lasagna when loading it to help mix the dirt up. After Jack’s
driver dumped it, he looked at the huge pile and all the
boxes that had to be filled by hand and wished Don good
luck jokingly and pulled out wondering if Donald was
actually going to attempt the hard task alone.