As an example of how dangerous a 'stringed weapon' can be - one I have used was 150lbs draw - a small light target arrow completly shattered the side saftey glass in a car door and shattered the other sides into it's designed laminated form when broken. Indeed - they should be treated with respect at all times.
Also compound bow strings if they broke due to poor maintanence during use will leave you knowing it. Reports are from bow specialists I have spoke with - they will take a finger off. I take their word on this.

As for the poll online if you MAX out everything you only have

This includes 200 gallons water STORED currently per person.

A well, river, spring, lake or a pond .00 miles from your home with the means to purify.

250 lbs meat, 800 servings of veggies and fruits, 200 lbs grains and 700 MRE's PER PERSON, not family!

Also having a garden, livestock, fish and orchard and the canning, jarring, dehydrating and year round gardening.

Extreme cold (Canada's prairies are extreme and Nebraska would be cool.)

Rural living with a bunker or safe room (Sorry buy your basement with a lock is neither of these, no matter how much you may think it is).

Gas power, solar, wind and hydro with 700 gallons of fuel.

Heating the home I took all of them again with wood, wind, solar and hydro (4 cords wood and 800 gallons propane)

Wood stove, propane stove and solar cooking with 4 cords wood and an additional 800 gallons propane (thats right, I am at 1600 gallons propane now)

BOL...everything maxed out including specialized training with SWAT experience. 5+ guns all standardized with 1000+ rounds PER weapon.

All the security enhancements including body armor, night vision, non-lethal weapons, surveillance and NBC protection gear.

20+ people in the group which are all survivalists (yeah right) If 20 people can live in the woods with a pack for an extended period of time they are specially trained thats for sure.

Stored antibiotics, med supplies and medically trained (Sorry but your first aid is not medically trained IMO) Also checked EMT as experience.

Both short and long range radios checked.

BOV is an EMP PROOF 4X4 with fuel to destination and is diesel.

All the bartering items were checked. Ammo, food, silver, medical, tobacco and alcohol. This means you have excess to what was checked above.

On a scale from 1-4 I checked a 4.

99 total points and 24 months to live. I think I could live a heck of a lot longer on all of this, don't you?

Farmgal must have a whack of supplies to reach 16-20 months. Good for you. 🙂

24 months is the maximum you can score. I take that to equate to being self sustainable. If anyone scores 12 months or more on this survey you are in very good shape.

Farmgal must have a whack of supplies to reach 16-20 months. Good for you. 🙂

I do have a good amount of things but trust me, I have lots of ways and things to go!

I was thinking about your comments and I just don't think very many folks could get full points on many of these things, and I am unsure how to rank different things, your medical points, We certainly don't have a EMT, However I did choose more advanced training, which is true only to a point, while both DH and I have had a number of wilderness training weekends, (the perks of living in the north and working in mining/pipeline camps) but I gave us more then basic, not so much because of that training, which while good and I do have alot of good books, I gave us the medium, because of my yearly training in regards to vet tec courses, I tend to take and the regular medical care required, I need to know how to give needles, use sub-q fluids, check pregancy's, turn babies, pull babies, neonatal care, which brings up a interesting point for me.. so how is taking a really well done Neonatal puppy/small animal care course/seminar transfer into useful, well you learn how to make and prepare a full neonatal care kits which just happens to also include how to make and use oxygen, something that could be switched over for newborn babies or someone who is needing oxygen care etc.

http://www.myrasavantharris.com/

http://www.myrasavantharris.com/index.php/store/product/15-oxygen-regulator

Many, Many of the course I have taken as part of my continuing education in regards to farm/animals have skills and information that can be transferred and I get to use these skills more then I have ever used my offical "emergancy" human training I have taken.

A second example that would be in regards to butchering, I know that this is going to sound kind of funny but in the past two weeks I have been asking all the local farmers and hunters how many of them still do their own butcher and let me tell you, its been eye opening, many of them are not, at least the hunters are field dressing, which is more then I can say for the farmers, I asked at least a dozen local to me, and while they are all raising animals, none of them had any butchering skills or tools to do so.. only one hunter had what I would consider the basic's.

So getting back to the having a wack of stuff, there is a good example, I have my regular kitchen, but I also picked up a full steel two sink/counter, and I am still on the hunt for more steel or butcher blocks though the farm sales or the goverment surplus sites etc, I do have a good qaulity power grinder, but what about if no power, yes I have a hand grinder as a back up, but I don't think one would cut it, if I had to do a larger amount of meat, I would have extra hands and extra hands need to be doing things don't require to much skill, and grinding is a perfect one, so point in fact I have six full sets of clamping grinders, plus a few non-complete ones for parts.

I am a huge farm sale gal, and so you just never know what I will end up with in my stores, like the time I came home with hundreds and hundreds of balls of wool, for less then .01 cents on the dollar and the lists of things like that go on.. just the other day, I was talking to DH on just how many copies of garden tools I felt was needed in each one, plus replacement handles for storage, I am certainly not going to go out and buy them new, but I would be happy to have 6 to a dozen of most of the commenly used tools if I can find good quality ones at the local sales for pennies on the dollar..

Anyway, I guess what I am trying to say, is that I think its a never ending process, and I don't think we are anywhere near prepared as I would like

I absolutely agree no matter how long you have been prepping it is a never ending process. It is funny that you mention butchering. That is something that I had not considered that people do not do these days. Many years ago I learnt the basics of butchering from an "underground" butcher who would perform services to local farmers (and hunters) who did not want to deal with "red tape". My son brought home nice deer a couple of days ago. Right now it is hanging in a cooled area of the basement. Next week we will butcher it and freeze the meat. We will get the job done, perhaps not elegantly but done never the less. I am not big on sausage, just as well as we only have a hand grinder. That is time consuming hard work. Luckily it not something we do on a regular basis or I would be looking for a power grinder. Taking turns makes it a little more palatable though. Thinking back 30 years ago it was common for the hunters that I knew to butcher their kills. When I think about it, today I only know of one other who still does it and he is my age, i.e. no spring chicken.

As for garden tools make sure you have a good supply of rakes. I am really hard on them for some reason. I have spares but get through at least one per year. I think I have only broken one spade recently. One of my favorite tools for working around here is what miners term a muck rake. It is a short handled, pick ended semi-shovel. That is the best way to describe it but is it great in this type ground around here which is boulder clay. I have three of them plus pare handles. The ends always get bent and worn from hitting rocks so every year I have to grind some off the end to make it usable. Last week I cracked one at the handle end and it almost broke right off so that I had to weld it back. It won't break again!

I do a lot of work by hand during the summer. My son who is a contactor thinks I'm crazy but I do it for the exercise. To me it does not matter how fast the job gets done because these are not time critical projects. I love doing things buy hand and always fell a real sense of accomplishment when they are finished.

I believe that in a post SHTF world it will only be 50% about what you have. IE food, tools, etc. The other 50% will be about what you know and what you can do. THAT is what will keep you alive. The knowledge and skills of doing MUCH MORE with MUCH LESS. Using cooking using your stores. Today you turn on your stove, put the pot on and cook (boil) the crap out of stuff till it is edible. HIGH use of energy. After an event... how will you minimize the use of irreplacable energy...IE Naptha gas, propane etc. What will you do to maximize your "return on investment". The time to learn and practice that is now... not after. Occasionally have a SHTF weekend. Use what you store and your post event tools and utensils. Keep track of what you use in all aspects. Also look at your processes for doing things. At the end examine ways to improve efficiency.

JAB

I absolutely agree no matter how long you have been prepping it is a never ending process. It is funny that you mention butchering. That is something that I had not considered that people do not do these days.

Must admit - that had not occured to me either. Most of the farms I know once had a 'Meat-House' or a 'Meat-Safe' this was were the butchering was done on properties down here.
Now - I don't know many who do butcher their own. Supermarkets are replacing butchers here on a big scale - lo's of butchers have closed down - those left should manage to continue.

Guess me changing tact to more 'Hunter-Gather' style than storage dependant may present more opportunities and benifits to dress other peoples game or stock.
This could be a good way to assist in my own sustainability - as a roving butcher.
Being a survivor also requires making the most of opportunities presented to you - no matter what form or type. You should always be flexible.

You I tried to watch that show here in Canada but for some reason it's not on nat geo is there something I'm missing

Ya I can't find it too?!

My PVR is showing some repeats for sunday and other future dates , but no new season..

S02E09 was pretty good. There were some great fortification buildings. I liked the castle.

I like this show. We know it has some extremes. After I figured out the global economic picture is very bleak. I was bummed for 3-4 days and then we saw a ad for doomsday preppers - we watched a few episodes. It just made sense - just in case. All the pieces falling into place. I'm grateful for those who are brave or foolish to get the message out.