That’s why the modern prepping movement is so important. We are the only ones, with a few notable exceptions like the Amish, who are training and equipping ourselves to live in a world where we don’t have all that high tech available to us.
That’s not to say that we should ignore technology altogether. There are a number of ways that I and others have written about using technology to help us survive. But there’s a huge difference between using that technology to assist us and being dependent on it.
Being able to use your phone’s GPS to find your way is great; it’s easy and it’s convenient. But if you don’t know how to use a map and compass, you’re in trouble if something happens to your phone. It all boils down to how well we are able to survive without it.
Related: 5 Maps You Should Have At Home
If we’re going to do our best at surviving in all situations, then we need to look at everything we have around us, from the viewpoint of how we can adapt those things for use in survival. Most of us do that all the time, sometimes even without thinking about it. But there are some things we just take for granted that we won’t have, so don’t even consider. Yet those items could be useful too.
That was my attitude when someone gave me my first drone. While most people think of a drone as a toy, unless they’re a professional photographer, I started thinking of it from a survival viewpoint. But then, I do that with pretty much everything. Nevertheless, I found some very practical uses for my drone.
Perimeter Security
We all know the risk of someone attacking our home during a time of crisis. With 98% of the population running short of supplies, we can be sure that we’ll be at risk of attack, even if that attack means nothing more than someone sneaking over our fence to raid our garden.
Keeping watch in all directions can be time-intensive, at a time when we’re all going to have trouble getting everything done that we need to. Being forced to put several people on guard duty can really sap necessary manpower from our team. But one person alone can’t necessarily watch in all directions.
This is probably one of the best places to put a drone to work.
It can be used to perform a perimeter patrol, watching to see if anyone is trying to break in. Better yet, it can range beyond our property’s border, looking for those who may be headed our way.
Any group doing so would be suspicious and could then be watched to discern their intentions, while the team gets ready to defend the home.
We might fantasize about being able to arm our drones and use them in a more direct defensive role, we’ve got to be careful about that. While the larger commercial drones could work in that capacity, there are some real risks in using a drone in that way.
Besides there being laws against the use of autonomous weapons, which might be applied by the courts, it’s extremely easy to misinterpret someone’s actions and attack them prematurely, even though they aren’t yet a threat.
Scouting Missions
Besides home security or security around your survival retreat, the big use of drones is for scouting missions.
Being able to send a drone out to find out important information for you, allows you to avoid putting any team members at risk, save time, and gather more information.
Scouting was the original military mission of drones and they are still excellent at that task.
Related: 3 Non Lethal Booby Traps From An Army Vet
Looking For Potential Threats
Essentially the home defense task I mentioned above is a scouting mission; but that one hasn’t a limit to just the home.
If I was on a bug out and looking for a campsite for the night, I’d break out the drone to do my looking for me. Not only can it cover more ground than I can, but the bird’s- eye view of the drone will also help to find any potential threats in the area. This use can extend beyond that to looking into any potential situation, scouting out potential threats.
It doesn’t matter if you’re scavenging, going to the market to do some bartering or just visiting another team member, being able to look ahead provides the means of finding potential threats, before they are a threat. Then an informed decision can be made about whether to continue as planned or take a detour.
The number one lesson of the Army’s National Training Center is “reconnaissance, reconnaissance, reconnaissance; find the enemy and don’t let them find you.” I think that’s a good attitude to have in a post-disaster world as well. The best fight, after all, is the one you don’t have to fight. You can’t get hurt in that one.
Finding Resources
Scavenging will become a major skill and pastime during a long-term survival situation. If we are going to ever manage to put society back together, it will require finding what resources are available around us and figuring out how to put them to best use.
Warehouses, shipping centers and factories will all have useful things, which can be used to help rebuild society. Searching for those things can be extremely time-consuming though.
Here again, a drone can be helpful in scouting out things before we even set foot in an industrial area.
While the drone may not be able to get inside of locked buildings, it will be able to look over the property, giving us some indication of whether there is anyone around and possibly find some inventory that’s stored outdoors, giving us an idea of what might be inside the building.
Some resources may not be visible, except from the air. A house I used to live in had a canal running behind it; so I had a ready source of water if the city water went down. But if I hadn’t been told it was there, I wouldn’t have known. There was no indication of a canal there and it was difficult to get outside the back fence to take a look.
Finding Bug Out Routes
We’ve all seen the images of highways turning into parking lots during a bug out. Interestingly enough, most seem to have been taken by a drone. The aerial vantage point makes things much clearer, than they are at ground level.
That same vantage point can help us get an idea of how far the traffic jam extends, whether the exits and side streets are clear and even find alternate routes.
We’ll be able to see things that others can’t, giving us the advantage. Granted the range of any drone has a limit, but it’s more than you can see, standing on the ground.
Related: Emergency Bag to Keep in Your Car in Case of an EMP
Hunting
Drones can be used to help find areas where game is active. That’s not the same as finding the game itself and keeping an eye on those animals until you can close and shoot.
I doubt that would work in most cases, as deer and other game animals tend to be rather skittish. But if you can find the areas they feed in, that saves you time on the hunt. It’s kind of like using a trail camera, but can cover a wider area.
Of course, there’s a good chance that much of the hunting that will happen during that time will be hunting of cattle and hogs.
While I’m sure the farmers and ranchers will try to stop that, shooting more than a few would-be rustlers, I’m also sure that people’s hunger will drive them to keep on hunting for the domestic American cow.
Cattle and hogs are much less likely to be startled by the sound of a drone, making it an easy way to find the desired animals and steer you to where they are.
A Few Details Before You Buy A Drone
While I’m sure that a drone will be a very useful survival tool, I’m also sure that some drones are nothing more than toys. Depending on what you really need, those toys may not be up to the task. There are a few key things you should consider, when looking at a drone to buy.
- Battery Life – Most small drones have a battery life measured in minutes. They’re not the type of thing you could have on perimeter patrol for an hour or more. It would be more like the drone making a lap or two of the perimeter, then having to bring it in for a battery change. Larger drones have bigger batteries, giving longer battery life.
- Recharging – Regardless of what sort of drone you have, you should have the ability to recharge the battery, even in the case of the grid going down. Some sort of solar recharging station would be ideal, with a battery backup.
- Range – How far can the drone go, before you lose control over it? Here again, there’s an advantage of buying a more expensive unit, as it will be able to range farther afield, while still staying under your control.
- Video Capability – Pretty much all drones have some sort of video capability, sending a video feed back to your control console or phone. But not all of the smaller ones do. Video quality can vary extensively too, so know what it is, before you buy.
- Stability in High Wind – Small drones are unstable in high winds, as they can be blown all over the place. While larger ones can have this problem too, they have more power available to them to overcome it.
As with anything else you buy for survival, you’ll definitely want to take some time to become proficient in flying your drone. They’re not as easy as they look. But with a little practice, you can use them for barnstorming (that might be useful when spying on the neighborhood).
You may also like:
What Happens If You Put Silver In Milk?
Do You Know Why You Should Never Put A Tall Fence Around Your House? (Video)
How to Turn Your Android or iPhone Smartphone Into A Satellite Phone
How To Set Up Your BlackOut Kit
Over my house makes a good target.
Spy in the sky.
Might be a good thing but will attract unwanted intruders when they see your drone and come and pay you a visite.
Has its good and bad.
Maybe one with a pistol or some way to spray acid on unwanted things. That I might want.
Watch out for killer drones, they do exist. Look it up. They are called, Autonomous killer drones. That’s why they have to have a picture of your face. So the AI drone can find you in a crowd and preform its job.
There watching you any place that you go. Just like the GPS tracking device in your phone. You show them every were you have been and all your personal information that you keep on your device. What’s funny, you allow them to come in and use your phone as they see fit. You said it was okay for them to do what ever they want to your phone. This happens when you hit the ALLOW button. Read the fine print in the CONTRACT that you just allowed…
Be very careful when you get your drone, it just might be watching you.
Why do you think all this technology was made. So you could have a better life, NO…
To have CONTROL OVER YOU.
So keep going along with the narrative.
Wake up people.
Watching you, I am, says the camera, all camera’s. There every where. You can’t hide any more because they will see you.
But as I have heard before. Most all people want to be controlled.
Turn off the system and watch how many people go nuts because they don’t have technology any more. They could not make it one week with out it. That’s Control.
Remember to push that ALLOW button.
They are reading and logging all data, even what you wright on here.
NSA they are the ones that are collecting your data. O and a picture of your face and hell y’all gave them your DNA when you fell for that fake vaccine bull shit.
Fear is what they used on yall.
No drones. Invasion of privacy.
Facial Recognition works better with Social Distancing… Fewer Mistakes whilst Training the AI Systems. Cell Phones help pinpoint individuals for specific targeting.
I have been thinking about drones for some time now, but I have no idea of which one to purchase. A follow-up article on what to look for concerning the capabilities of different drones would be very helpful. List brand names and model numbers as well as battery life, etc.
Hunting-
So basically, you are telling people that it is okay to hunt cattle, etc. belonging farmers and ranchers it they feel the situation warrants it.
Why should that be ok to do?
Would it not be better to try and reach an agreement with said farmer or rancher to acquire an animal?
Remember, people have a right to defend their property, lives and home.
To be honest, if I find anyone not of my family, hunting on my property, they will be warned. After that, the outcome is up to them. I am fairly confident my neighbors feel the same way.
He’s not saying it’s OK; he’s saying is that is what will probably happen.
Ummmmm yeah so …. no. I’m not using a drone post-shtf, don’t want a drone, don’t own a drone, am not going to buy a drone and I’d better not see a drone over my property, my animals or me. IMHO drones are going to be red flags to be eradicated, to be tracked-down and investigated post-shtf, to be destroyed … to be looked-upon with contempt as one would look upon a spy or a predator or someone looking to steal from you or do harm to your loved ones or you. Seeing or hearing a drone will be a warning sign that someone is watching and then there will be no choice but to track down that someone … whomever or whatever and wherever that someone is … and that’s not cool to think about – what happens next. Might make for an interesting scene in a post apocalyptic flick though.
My one argument about drones is what happens when someone shoots it out of the sky? We had that happen here a few times. niio
Any drone worth a damn has built-in kill switch in the software. Why do you think you need to register the damn things with the manufacturer, and have a cell phone attached to the controller. Whoever the enemy is will be able to disable most commercially made drones in an instant. Your only channce is if you build one from scratch.
Hard for the government to track me via cell phone.
Why?
Haven’t had one is YEARS.
I don’t do anything personal online.
No banking, nothing.
One time a cell company told me that I was a ghost LOL
Have a zero credit score too (haven’t used credit in years either.
About drones – when SHTF, you can bet that anything in the air will be shot at or shot down. That is for others safety.
Others might use aerial drone combat too.
so are the “off limit” places built in to the firmware of the drone?…it’s not like an electric fence, so if the grid was down it could then fly in those off limit areas?
I’ve seen video on the AI killer drones. We need conversation on how to defend against them.
Spike
I have watched the man that developed the AI drones and it is a nasty little death drone.
I no I would not want my pic in its site.
I will say that at the time I saw the video. It made a unique sound and could move very well thru all areas. It also showed that if there is an obstacle in its way, it calls others to blow a hole for the others ones to procced.
They said that you could buy these killer drones for a price of 25 million. If I remember right. A little high for me.
That was a while back. So watch out giving your pic out there. Like on face book, and any where there is camers. Walmartgov has more cameras then any other store. Just pay attention and look around just whatch your face. Smile your on camera.
This is going on right now with drones, from china. I think that China is watch us also. Just like every one is.
I try every day to avoid every camera I see. You should do the very same.
I wonder how the entire country being masked up plays with the facial recognition software? I would say a red flag would be when the government says take them off (and prepare to be hearded…) As much as I hate the masks maybe they are not such a bad idea for another reason.
I have that video downloaded on my PC. I was thinking 25 million bought a plane load of them. Enough to kill thousands of pro Trumpers.
spike: Slaughter-bots. Sci-Fi come to life in a neighborhood near us. Right now, they can make them as small as a mockingbird. https://www.foxnews.com/tech/uc-berkeley-professors-slaughterbots-video-on-killer-drones-goes-viral we do live in interesting times. niio
This link leads to the same video I have downloaded. It came to me via email. Scary stuff. Some people have poo-pooed this video but I’m in the camp to believe the Govt. has technology far beyond our imagination. The technology in this video is a matter of fact, it’s just putting it together by someone evil to do this very task. You can also bet that our enemies have it also or will soon get it. Isn’t life exciting!
CrazySquirrel: Had a long talk with my youngest son about taps and listening in and so on. It seems they always know where he is. He has no phone, no vehicle, likes to walk. I told him, outside of voodoo, I’d have to ask were you ever chipped? One of his uncles was an officer in Army Intel. the kid trained under him, but wound up leaving the Army. He got up, walked out of the room and to his bottle of vodka, chugged some and came out. It’s entirely possible he was chipped without knowing it. He has no idea how long something that small would last but said, yes, it can be done. And, might have been because of places his unit had been sent to. niio
Sorry, If an EMP or CME caused our blackout, drone electronics would probably be toast.
PJ: I agree. In an EOTW situation such as an EMP, drones will be toast along with the toaster.
With a CME, perhaps, perhaps not, but you had also better be prepared with a protected solar array and batteries for charging the device.
No one knows for sure how much damage an X category CME will do to isolated electronics. There is lots of speculation about how much damage, some educated, some just wild guesses but until we have that unhappy experience what gets damaged and what gets by-passed is unknown.
I think the most accurate statement is: The more miniaturized circuitry the item has the more susceptible it is to transient high voltages. It is miniaturized circuitry that makes drones possible.
There are so many variables with regard to what will and will not survive that I think anyone making a blanket statement about what will or will not be damaged is just guessing and hoping if he tells the lie often enough some people start to believe it.
An X class CME is a dead certainty. Just this year we have had two small CMEs bathe the earth. One had more impact than was anticipated according to SpaceWeather.com because another small CME followed the path of the first one which gave the second one larger impact than it would have had if it had been a solo eruption.
We are entering into an eleven year period of high sun spot activity, so we can count on having more CMEs impacting earth through 2031.
It could be the planes that constantly fly overhead. They are the F-B-I
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/spies-in-the-skies
Go to: http://www.flightradar24.com
and click on the plane circling over your home. It will show you the absurdity of them continually circling overhead for hours.
Red
Have you tried to see if you can get some kind of a chip scanner to see if he is chipped.
red ant: he will when he can contact friends. niio
A simple over the counter metal detector would probably find a chip. Like the kind they use in airports. I know they can pick up those tiny imbedded anti theft tags so it’s not a stretch they can find a chip. I bought a wallet once and every time I walked out or IN a particular store it would set their alarm off. No I didn’t buy the wallet there. It drove me and the store workers nuts trying to figure out what was setting the alarm off. Finally one day we did the “process of elimination” and found it buried in the side of the wallet under the cowhide it was made of. Up to that point I had no idea it WAS the wallet. So IMHO you can probably find a chip imbedded under your skin as they are usually JUST under the skin.
In the age of these contraptions, one should also make sure one has good window coverings! Sky lights are a no no. trategically planting a few extra trees also not a bad idea
CC: Sky lights use opaque glass and come with blackout shades, if you want that. In summer, adding a far and using it after sundown cools the house pretty fast. Trees? Always! Drones have gotten attacked by hawks, eagles, owls and even pigeons 🙂 Around here, accidental loss of a drone by pellet gun is getting common. 🙂 niio
You’d need a big-assed Faraday cage for a drone, controls, and solar charging panel…
Interesting topic! Another great use for a drone is to investigate the source of the smoke drifting past your home. I’ve written here before about uncontrolled fires being one of the biggest threats after the SHTF. There will be no firefighters to come to the rescue. A drone would be great for every day normal times. Using a drone to find out how far away that wildfire, or local house fire is, or just a burn pile, would sure be useful. To compliment that, one should have some electrical stuff too. Like, at least some gulf cart batteries, and a few solar panels to charge them. Then one can run their drones, electric chain saw, etc., etc., etc. Electrical tools are much quieter than gas powered, and they never run out of gas. Yes, the right kind of event may destroy some or all of your electrification – or it may not. Regarding drones, fly a smaller one high, and it will be hard to see, and never heard.
I would be interested in one for fire spotting.
Living surrounded by Natl. Forest like we do would be a great use for it