I used the gentle approach with my wife. She is now conformed. 🙂

However, when it comes to hunting with fire arms, she isnt too keen on it. So the next best thing I did....

Archery, it is targets, and for me its hunting as well, and if you get to a range it makes for social gatherings or just getting out of the house.
Dual purpose and is relativly inexpensive.

I also used a gentle approach. I've been at this for several years now and she definitely see's the financial gain by stocking up on things when they are on sale. I've always been into camping so have that covered. But firearms were somewhat difficult to get to pass. But shooting at the range is a 'hobby' - if I ever have time to go.
Get your PAL. I agree with Hilltop, hunting is a skill that takes years to get good at - I still suck! But working on it.....

I never said much about hunting to the boss.
When she started seeing one article after another about how contaminated our meat supply is and asking "just where do we get meat where we KNOW what is in it, where the animals are treated ethically?" that was my chance to point out the benefits of wild game. Free range, organic, a natural life and a much more humane end than when nature takes it's course. There are no rabbit retirement homes.

If you eat meat you can't hide behind that styrofoam package and say you aren't partly responsible for the taking of a life. I'll go as far as to say when you get it from the supermarket you're also partly responsible for the torture of that animal.
Mass production chicken farms aren't a pretty place.
Are we that removed from nature we no longer understand the natural cycle of things? Things die so others live. Know yourself and your place. Respect for the life of an animal does not mean going hungry.

Having said all that, in the last few years I've expended close to 1000 rounds of centerfire at the range and probably more than twice that of .22 rimfire. Yet the last half dozen times I've been hunting I have not fired a single shot.
Shooting is not hunting.

Professor I could not agree more with your post.

I too have shot hundreds of rounds down range but in the last 8 years I have fired one shot hunting. Clean miss and I kept the brass as lesson learned reminder.

Most people today (and a lot here) hide behind the package on the store shelf. The treatment of that animal that now rests in the meat section had a life and death of pure Hell. I encourage you to watch a few documentaries or videos of what goes on in the packing plants. Find one about the method for sexing baby chicks!

Those that do not hunt because they believe it is cruel need to understand the length hunters go to insure a clean quick kill. After the animal is harvested the real work begins preserving, cutting and transporting the meat.

If you do not hunt for ethical reasons I can understand that and I hope you are a Vegetarian. As a prepper you have to get your head around the fact that some animals die so that others may live. This is fact regardless whether you hunt or raise animals on your land.

Sorry about the rant but the professor touched a nerve. LOL

HTP

As I am planning on a bit of home butchering over the next few weeks, i am well aware of just how out of touch most foks are, a perfect example of this is seen in the stores and again this week, when kfc annouced the are taking their chicken in five thousand stores to boneless, so often now folks are not just buying their meat in the stores but the new big thing is to make it boneless as well, would not want the consumer to be able to see what part that is attached to, now would we..

The comment about chicks is valid, but in many ways that same thinking in regards to only females have value runs in other animals as well.

It strikes me as funny that many females won't hunt or slaughter farm stock, but have little to no qualms about fishing or preparing fish or meat for the table.

For instance, my wife won't kill a chicken or turkey, but she'll dress out and prepare the one's she buys from the shops. She'll fish all morning, baiting her own hook and occasionally taking a fish off hook (she's working on touching live ones) but she refuses to pull feathers on a chicken or skin a squirrel or rabbit. I guess that might come in time, as her comfort level broadens. Suppose that's the key - small steps and patience required.

As far as prepping goes, she has no problem in having jarred food (home canned) in the pantry and enjoys having say a year's worth of tomatoes put up. But she thinks it's a tad nuts to go the step further and store some water or put dry goods in pals to store like the tomatoes. I would gather that other wives (or husbands) not on the program are just this way as well.
I will say the wife does enjoy saving a buck or two on food (or stuff in general) on sale. Maybe that's a good start to getting them to work the plan.

I think the best way to convince someone to prep that thinks its a bad idea is to talk about what has happened in the past. Bring up the big blackout from a decade ago, when we lost our power grid for a couple days, but mention that it could happen again, only last for longer than 2 days, especially if it happened during the winter and the weather would delay the power being restored much longer than 2 days. After she see's the point, and prepping for such a thing is smart, then bring up new senario's that are not far fetched.

As far as not getting a PAL but wanting a way to provide security, I would look into getting a bow or crossbow because they are very lethal compared to a 495fps pellet gun, and no lisense is required to buy one. If you want to hunt however, you need a hunting lisense. A 495fps 22 cal pellet gun will allow you to hunt small game if shtf, and is effective at close range on a animal like a squirrel or rabbit, but not effective for security. A $30 Gerber machette would be much more better for security, but a crossbow would be the best choice if you had no real firearms if shtf.

Hi. New to the forum and prepping as well. Great advice in this thread. I agree that bow and arrow is a good alternative to firearms. I VERY foolishly did not take advantage of the grandfathering of firearms licences. Oh well, we move on. I am looking into the bow thing. There is a really good place in Richmond called thar hunting and fishing store. Their bow cilincs fill up very quickly and they have a range as well. Excellent selection of bows and firearms and they are friendly and knowledgeable. Check them out. As for meat, we do not grow animals for food anymore but we have been told wr grow food. Difference is totally psychological amd makes people not think about eating a once live animal.
Really if the shtf you cannot rely on the govt to help with anything. Convincing someone of that can be difficult. And just how long would we be civil to one another when water and food become scarce?? Not long and people will do some nasty stuff to protect their own family. One must do it for yourself. If you know and run into other preppers you know, then you could trust them. Otherwise trust noone.

hi, this is my very first post so bear with me.
My situation is a little different in that my gf is supportive as long as I do most of the work. She just wants to go about her daily routine of being a mom for her 6 year old and making ends meet. I respect that, although I do wiish she would stop accusing me of being obsessed. Sometimes she surprises me by coming home from shopping with items she found to put in our bug out bags. We each have one, which she bought us as Christmas gifts. I adore her for doing that.
I did the responsible thing of getting my PAL and I now own several guns. I took a big risk in buying her a .22 rifle for Christmas not really knowing how she would feel about it. She does not yet have her PAL and I hoped it would inspire her to go get it. She seemed to really like the gun but shows little desire to take the course so it just sits in the cabinet. I really want to take us all camping...minimalist style, but she prefers the cottage and a warm bed over sleeping in a lean to, so it's a really tough sell for sure.
All this to say I wouldn't try to force feed anything on her. Baby steps maybe. Keep prepping as you normally would and should the SHTF she'll be more than greatfull for all of your efforts

Hi Everyone. This is my first post so I just wanna say I like the site a lot and hope to learn and share on here.
Seems to me that there are some people that are confused about air rifles and PAL.
I think that main confusion is between .22 LR ( long rifle) and .22 pellet
In order to own air rifle WITHOUT PAL it must shoot under 500 fps. Any gun you can buy in Canadian Tire is legal to own without PAL. Don't worry since no one will sell you something you cant own without PAL.
Also if you wife allows you to get PAL I think you should not hesitate. Worst case scenarion you can buy air rifle that shoots 800-1000 fps and you KNOW that you can kill that rabbit on the spot without alerting anyone.
Also on person made a great point about trying to hunt now since it takes a lot of skill. I've just started hunting about 2 years ago and didn't have too much luck. Few rabbits and a turkey is all I got and went out hunting A LOT.
Hope this helps.

Thanks Pustolov !!! I think that should clear up the .22 confusion.

Keep on with the hunting. Spend enough time in the bush and you will be successful.

Have you ever done something that you have regretted? Done something that seems to come back and back again to irritate the living @%$# out of you? Well I did, it is I guess a little thing but it keeps coming back to offend me. I should be the grown up, I should be more understanding but I can’t.

A while back, April 5th to be precise I answered a question that someone posted in this thread:

I would need a PAL for both the .22 and .177 right?

No you do not need a PAL for a regular air gun. The high power versions that require a PAL are not very common and tend to be expensive.

No big deal I was scanning the posts, doing what Mods do, saw the question, knew the answer, so I replied. No big deal right? Well once I had done that I get notifications of new posts to the thread, again normally no big deal. So what is my problem you may ask?

Well let me spell it out. I am married and my wife is into prepping so no convincing needed. She is as dedicated to the lifestyle as much as I am. Our prepping is a joint venture. No problem there at all. So what is my problem? Well I will spell it out my wife has a name it is Michelle. That just about says it all!

The title of the thread is “Convincing the wife”. I own a home which at times is referred to “the house”. Michelle drives a car which we refer to as “the car” and I have a truck which is affectionately called “the truck”. These are all possessions so using “the” grammatically as a definite article is appropriate. I am not a person that holds political correctness in high esteem. Also grammar scholars may disagree with my interpretation on the application but I consider that referring to one’s life partner as “the wife” is disrespectful at best. When I hear someone refer to “the wife” I feel the hairs on the back of my neck go up ............ but then that is just me.

...but I consider that referring to one’s life partner as “the wife” is disrespectful at best. When I hear someone refer to “the wife” I feel the hairs on the back of my neck go up ............ but then that is just me.

And ME /// 23rd

If any of you who are having difficulty convincing family members to be prepared, show them the news from Alberta. Despite best efforts of the city of Calgary, and they do seem to be as prepared as any municipality could be, many people were caught in the "it will never happen here or to me" scenario. Totally unprepared to evacuate. This would be a good start in prepping. Start small with enough supplies for each family member for several days. You don't need to go the whole hog right off the bat. Start with something small that makes logical sense to them and build slowly from there.

Good advice. In fairness there is little the Provincial Government can do when you are looking at the evacuation and temporary relocation of over 100,000 people. It is totally beyond their scope. You are on your own to depend upon yourselves, family and compassionate strangers. Be sure to point that out to all your family members and all your neighbours.