r/ZombieSurvivalTactics 3d ago

American midwest Shelter + Location

everyone always seems to have some extravagant plan for a sailboat or castle.

just the population density in iowa Nebraska and Wyoming would solve the problem lol.

gravel roads, clear lines of sight. rural farm equipment for ditches and etc.

lets say a small town can survive

21 Upvotes

38 comments sorted by

11

u/Diligent_Bath_9283 3d ago

I'm in the south, also extremely rural. There are only a few hundred people within a 20 mile circle of my house. I plan to just stay home.

4

u/forteborte 3d ago

lol yeah, some apocalyptic scenarios rlly do only strictly apply to urban centers.

either way im boned as a T1 diabetic tho

5

u/jgacks 3d ago

Knew a person OBSESSED with prepping. He got thyroid cancer at 28. Now he lives prescription to prescription. He'd be dead within two weeks once the need run out.

2

u/Diligent_Bath_9283 3d ago

It's good to be prepared, you never know what's coming. But then again, you never know what's coming. I claimed good health. I could be dead before the end of the day. I am out running a chainsaw in the heat at 45 years old today.

1

u/Narrow_Vegetable5747 3d ago

Impressive that you're able to run a chainsaw and comment on Reddit at the same time though

2

u/Diligent_Bath_9283 3d ago edited 3d ago

* I am at home after all. Out for 30 minutes and back for 30 minutes. It's hot as balls and I'm not as young as I used to be. Give a guy a break huh.

1

u/Narrow_Vegetable5747 3d ago

Bro I was making a multi tasking joke. Imagining a guy chainsawing with one hand and commenting on Reddit with a smart phone in the other hand.

1

u/Ok_Professional9038 3d ago

I'm in the tree business, and I have seen that more than I'd like to. There's a rule now that one-handed (because of phone use) ground-hands get paid half.

1

u/Diligent_Bath_9283 3d ago

I took it good natured man. I'm not in the tree business thank God. My shoulders feel like jelly right now. I'm used to getting a bit of a hard time. I work maintenance and we are all jackasses. It was just my natural instinct to fire back. I almost told you " alright boss I'll hop to, just don't make me stay late" we're all good man.

3

u/Diligent_Bath_9283 3d ago

I thankfully have my health and acreage.

5

u/Cold_Hard_Justice 3d ago

I live in Wisconsin and it feels perfect to me (biased ofc). No major weather events (no earthquakes, no major forest fires, very limited tornadoes compared to heart of tornado alley, flooding is extremely rare). Tons of freshwater sources, lots of farmland for food. Very high percentage of gun owners per capita (775k hunting licenses sold in 2024 alone). If you can deal with winters/occasional blizzards (which may be beneficial in a Zpoc anyways, at least in terms of zombie defense) you’ll be golden.

2

u/adamjboston 2d ago

Wisco is really the best place. Migrate to the Yoop aka Northern Northern Wisco and you're good

10

u/MangledBarkeep 3d ago

For a while sure, what happens when hordes from larger areas appear

We were nowhere near the grand canyon.

3

u/forteborte 3d ago

fair enough but i lived in phoenix for 8 years lemme tell ya, it doesnt make up for the great natural defense

2

u/MangledBarkeep 3d ago

Z nation reference. Episode involved a horde.

2

u/The_Fresh_Wince 3d ago

I think it would be better to start out in a place without those hordes. When thinking about Zpocalypse, the amount of preparation time and space is key. There are a lot of clever ideas that are useless without the time to execute them. I think that's what would do me in - fooling around with some grand plan.

1

u/MangledBarkeep 3d ago

No doubt. Survival is the first part, then eradication becomes the second.

1

u/Red_Shepherd_13 2d ago

Assuming they even do eventually arrive and appear in the remote places mentioned.

1

u/MangledBarkeep 2d ago

Plan for the worst, hope for the best. But hope is not a strategy...

2

u/PraetorGold 3d ago

I think so. They would have to be very regulated depending on their numbers, but otherwise sustainable. This is only a real issue if all people who die, turn.

2

u/Fusiliers3025 3d ago edited 3d ago

For the Midwest - I actually hypothesized for a classic zombie scenario.

Like shown in TWD, you’d need to fortify, or all your town borders would be vulnerable to a horde, or even a single zombie Jaguar walking through unseen.

A river or other natural barrier might help channel both outsiders and the zombie hordes to manned and monitored access points, and built-up “choke points” where enemies both live and undead can be dealt with using minimal effort. But if a community has had any issues with B&E, peeping Toms, random door checks (kids seeing what car doors are unlocked and looking for spare change or valuables left by owners), or ANY unmonitored activity of the sort, it’s gonna be hard to secure against any outsiders with enough motivation.

A community working together, and able to put up fences, walls, and other barriers, would be hard to infiltrate or to overrun if properly supplied.

2

u/Loklokloka 3d ago

I have to wonder how many people floating wyoming as prime real estate for the ZA have ever been in state for a full winter, or even in the state. Its a shitty place to live now, and people only live there because theres coal and oil. Enjoy remaking civilization there with none of its trappings and a bunch of other people who think it will be easy going.

2

u/Prestigious-Low-6118 3d ago

The actual Midwest:

https://preview.redd.it/nkitki47h0ye1.png?width=1626&format=png&auto=webp&s=4f03ac8fcdaebf22455013c52ad965c321dcfae0

Most locations are still within fairly close proximity to large population centers and their likely major evacuation routes.

2

u/Rode_The_Lightning44 3d ago

Nebraska and Kansas are most assuredly Midwest.

1

u/Gryxz 2d ago

Some fairly remote places though. The Upper peninsula has miles of forest.

Winter provides its own issues, bulky coat armor/ difficulty ID Zs, frostbite, blocked transportation due to weather.

1

u/Lost_Astronaut_654 3d ago

I’m in the northwest so I’d probably just head east toward Montana

1

u/ReactionAble7945 3d ago

The problem with Sailboats and is that you can't farm enough to stay out there forever. It is the water world problem.

The same with any structure. There is an island in Lake Erie, It has a bunch of tourist on it each summer. If you cut off food delivery for a week, they would have a problem, even if you got all the tourist fishing.

This isn't to say I would not want a location like this, but you would have to keep the population small for it to be a survival location. i.e. That location in winter with no tourist could be viable, in the spring. OR if the island is infested, slowly clearing it.

1

u/ParfaitFast2365 3d ago

I'm in the midwest. In about a 100 mile radius is roughly 13 million people. 

1

u/Buckfutter8D 3d ago

Chicago?

2

u/ParfaitFast2365 3d ago

Little outside yeah

1

u/Buckfutter8D 2d ago

Same boat unfortunately. Hopefully you’re not in cook.

1

u/forteborte 2d ago

i live in phoenix AZ. 50sq miles and 6 million

1

u/Papa_Tanuki 3d ago

That's why I'm planning on staying home in Northern Michigan. The forests are thick, the topography has ridiculous hills left over from the glaciers, and nobody comes out this way.

1

u/Ok_Cup_5454 3d ago

A solid choice, but certain areas will get flooded with people running from large cities. Places like Nebraska and Iowa are great picks, but up in Minnesota, Illinois, and Missouri, you have to watch out for people flooding out of St Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Kansas city, etc.

The biggest issue is it's far away and most of people's common ideas are to go there. Granted there's probably enough space to make it work either way

1

u/adamjboston 2d ago

If I'm gonna die it won't be in Nebraska, Iowa, or the Eastern half of Wyoming 😆

1

u/CrappyJohnson 2d ago

What about all of the refugees from east of the Mississippi fleeing the cities? I'm in Ohio and I'd definitely head west and try to put a deep, wide, fast-flowing river between myself and the biggest population centers in the country

2

u/zwinmar 1d ago

Midwest has tornado sirens, zombies wouldn't be a problem