Where is best to live in a SHTF scenario:Rural North or South (POLL)

[pscipio03]

Not sure if you would consider Michigan North, or Mid-West. My vote would go any place that has fertile land and a good stock of wild game. Luckily, Michigan has all of that, as does Ohio and Indiana. Winters can be harsh, but with enough wood (plenty around here), we'd be fine. Trust me, I dodge herds of whitetail every day on the road.
Many of the other states like the Carolinas, Georgia and some other southern areas have great land for specific crops, but not much in the way of full sustainability like grains and corn can offer. Plus, these grain crops attract deer and other wildlife for meat.
Population of Cali is too much. You'd be fighting for whatever resources you find. Plus, depending on where you are, fresh water isn't exactly readily available. I'd move north to either Wash or Oregon.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[GetSmith]

For 12 to 18 months with your preps you have an ideal location. If society wasn't restored at that point I would head down south after that point. By then population density would not be a problem as 90% of people would have been returned to the earth. The soil would be rich and the remaining 40 million people in the US would be forced to band together to form a new society. Life would be much more hopefull at that point, the key is to survive that first 12 to 18 months as there will be no community,society,or humanity for those not prepared.

[pgrass101]

I would suggest on the out skirts of a small rural town. Preferably one with a hydroelectric dam near-by.

My idea homestead would have a clean water provided by a deep well and either a solar pump or an old fashion wind mill, with at least 5 acres of good soil that can be planted and rotated to pasture. There would be a small established orchard at least a 10 acre wood lot to provide fuel for heating and cooking. I would build an outdoor oven and rocket stove (you don't to be cooking on a fire in doors in Alabama in August).

Plus a barn and chicken coop

[oakchas]

Suntzu, you're right, probably... no one going north.

I hope to retire to more moderate climes as well...

There is no one perfect place... One Second After seems to me a good description of a long term (one year duration) SHTF scenario. Patriots seems a good description of what might happen in a civil war.

It happened in Argentina...

[Jeanlouise]

For 12 to 18 months with your preps you have an ideal location. If society wasn't restored at that point I would head down south after that point. By then population density would not be a problem as 90% of people would have been returned to the earth.

This reminds me of the book, "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. It's the most despessing, disturbing post-apocalyptic book I've ever read. It made me think that the lucky ones are the ones who go first. Of course, that book is about massive destruction where society will never really recover, not temporary disaster that you can wait out if you're well stocked and smart.

[RKflorida]

I suffer when it's hot, so the fact that there is no such thing as a wood burning air conditioner decides it for me. Probably get pneumonia in the cold and die anyway. Your choices become more limited as your ability to do for yourself becomes more limited. A Sterling engine could be a power source using wood, but I haven't looked into external combustion is quite a while.

[Arborigine]

I would take over a main food distribution warehouse. Here in the forest, fires will be started and run wild, the game will run off. Texas mightbe best, nothing will drive off the wild pigs.

[pir8fan]

Rural south by far. Milder weather (for the most part),longer growing season more diverse ecology, especially in the coastal areas of VA, NC, SC, & GA.

[ghost tracker]

(*With all Admiration & Best Regards to my Northern Brothers & Sisters.)

I was 16 years old before I learned that "damn" and "yankee" were...two words.

[whoppo]

A very good point, although you have much larger critters to worry about.

Yeah.. but they're tasty when cooked right :)

[ghost tracker]

Remember the Jessie Winchester song lyrics in "Nothing but a Breeze" (1977)

"Me, I want to live with my feet in Dixie
And my head in the cool blue North."

God Bless this whole (big ol') country. We've got choices that Liechenstein can only dream about!

[atctimmy]

I think that the answer is that there is no answer. Humans are remarkably adaptable and will flourish is either warm or cold climates. If it were me I'd choose the North, but then again I'm from the North and I know my way around up here. If you are from the south you'll choose the South because it's what you are familiar with. It's really a no brainer. You go with what you know.

The only real problem I see with survival in the US is in the South West. With no electricity there will be no water. No water means lots of people are going to die.

East of the Mississippi water is abundant from North to South. Food is relatively easy to obtain and the human body can survive on some pretty skimpy rations. Water on the other hand is the key to life. You either have a good source of water or you're dead.

[atctimmy]

Rural south by far. Milder weather (for the most part),longer growing season more diverse ecology, especially in the coastal areas of VA, NC, SC, & GA.

I wonder about a greater threat of disease in the warmer places. Mosquito carried infections could pose a serious problem, do you think? Without medicines and immunizations would the South become deadly?

IIRC a lot of the new world explorers fell victim to disease in the warmer latitudes.

[CaveJohnson]

I hate hot climates and the south has more deadly animals, so I'd say north myself.

[Caertaker]

I was 16 years old before I learned that "damn" and "yankee" were...two words.

I'd like to vote for the rural South. My entire family was born there and I now own the family farm. I visit every year but I was born in the North. People who knew my family are kind enough to my face but in their eyes I'm a Yankee and always will be. I was once told the following joke: Do you know the difference between a Yankee and a Damn Yankee? (Of course I didn't). Punchline: A Yankee comes down and visits and then goes home. A Damn Yankee comes down and stays. There is a couple who purchased a farm near mine 40 years ago. Everyone knows their name by now but in conversation they are still referred to as the people from Boston.