Olhunter has it right. You will have to engage the intruder (s). One man can cause extreme mental anguish to a family by shooting a young member, injuring someone far enough from a building to make recovery a deadly affair or killing someone through a window. The intruder does need to be careful about his transit in and out, and take his sweet time verifying his approach plans, but he has a luxury you don't - foreknowledge. I'll take the intruder's side every time unless there are:
Good, or just nosey neighbors
Dogs, and not just one or two house mutts
Too few avenues of approach or lanes of fire
I can come back from different approaches, use the rising or setting sun to hide me, disable vehicles, wreck propane storage, puncture solar arrays, place holes in your roof in winter.....
To keep your place safe, you will need patrols and a very hard heart - and a great deal of luck. If I were to take the side of the homesteader, I'd want people around me.... cooperative people that won't turn on me when the situation encourages it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by olhunter
It's 'lose'...but whatever.
He's right. I can sit out there at 300-400 yards and pick you and your group off at will. You will be paralyzed until you come out and stop me. I will see you coming and move out until you get tired of looking and when you go back home, I'll start up again. I know where you are and you have no idea where I am. The only thing I would fear are dogs. I can hide from you, but not dogs. Will you have trained dogs? And you have to be willing to sacrifice people to get me. Are you ready for that? Will you post OP's and LPs? The military figures casualties into any plan, but will you?
The point is, you can't just hunker down and build bunkers and hope to survive. It's REALLY REALLY hard to defend a fixed position from a determined attacker. A casual, untrained, poorly armed group will probably give you little trouble, but the trained and determined person (or group) will take you down. You will always lose unless you are willing to go outside the wire and hunt them down effectively and take casualties. Because they will inflict casualties before you get them.
Look at history. All castles, no matter how well defended, always fall. It's just the nature of a fixed position. You simply cannot hold out forever.
The best defense is either a coordinated, well armed, well trained group willing to take proactive action (and casualties) or keeping a very low profile so you don't become a target. And being willing and able to bug out when you're getting overrun if you do become a target.
Just nailing plywood over your windows at your tract house and sitting in the kitchen with your 870 and your case of MRE's is not going to work when I want to take if from you.
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