Basic Retreat Defensibility

Are you interested in purchasing a piece of property out in the boonies to set up a potential retreat or bug out location? Do you already have such a piece of land, but are waiting for funds to build up houses? Are you already sitting on what you think is a pretty good retreat location, complete with house, but something is nagging you about the design? If any of the aforementioned are true, this guide is for you!

This guide will describe basic retreat defensibility. What we aim to do here is to educate you on the aspects of terrain and layout that influence how defensible – or not – your potential retreat location might be. It’s important to not confuse this with our security guide, which deals mainly with hardening doors and windows and securing your home. Consider that by the time an intruder has reached your home, you’re already in the fight for your life. With a remote retreat location, we want to put the terrain to work for us. We want the land to naturally defend our home; we want to pick a location, in short, that will be easy to defend.