A Decade of Preparedness: The Zombie Hunter Turns 10!

Ten years.  I am quite blown away. 

In the beginning I was a young dad working to protect his family. 

There is a lot to reminisce about when I was new to all this. I was in my early 30's and wanted to get myself together. I needed to get strong, learn things, and be prepared. 

And just like that, it is now October 30, 2020. 

Its quite unreal to be writing all of this in today's situation. If I knew back then about our "new normal" and everything that led up to it I'd be both amazed, horrified... but not surprised!

I have much to be grateful for. My family has been safe for this span of time. We continue to grow in many ways. We were able to help a few friends and family through various calamities. 

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To celebrate this wonderful milestone I would like to share a short summary of this blog: 

TEN YEARS OF ZOMBIE PREPAREDNESS!

The Early Years: 2010 to 2014

Here's a link to 2010. Its quite the time capsule!

This blog was born when I began my firearms training armed with my Para-Ordnance P16.40 and Benelli M3T. These are now venerable designs but remain at the top of my list for sheer firepower and reliability for over two decades of use. 

I got into competition shooting intensely and worked hard to get into shape. I was an athlete in my highschool years and was determined to become the first and best defense for my young family. 

Looking at the photo again I would deem myself more than adequate if the home came under any sort of attack. With what I know today I could see us doing alright against most forms of danger. 

These were the years of putting together what I had and making do with numerous limitations. I had to start somewhere.

My wife could also blame Max Brooks for the extreme measures we had taken to prep the family. His book played a gigantic role in my endeavors and continues to serve as a trusted guide to this day. It is nice to know that his father and legend Mr. Mel Brooks is doing fine right now. 

that autograph someday

Birth of the Prepper Culture & 2020 Vindication

It was a fringe movement. People would get ridiculed for being called one. Family members didn't pull punches either.

I never relished it but: I TOLD Y'ALL SO

And then the coronavirus happened. Saw it early as December 2019.

All the stuff I wrote then paid off THIS YEAR: 

• The giant water tank I have in my back yard that came into play during COVID-19 Lockdown

• Canned food was still good, the boxes of MREs, water that lasted us more than a month!

• Here's a favorite: my military gas masks and respirators when Taal Volcano and Coronavirus happened

• Radios when the power grid went down

• Our medical supplies and skills came in handy in more than a few times!

• I even bartered some of my ammunition for food. COULD YOU BELIEVE THAT? 

bullets for mushrooms

 my friend was worried about security so I gave more than they asked for

I could go on all day about the useful skills we learned and honed. My family is healthier and smarter. We shall continue on this trajectory. 

BLOG FAVORITES: TZH SURVIVAL STRATEGIES!

These are some of the most popular articles. The Survival Strategies form the essential topics and objectives that we had worked on at home. 

click to expand

You know what? I've been using good old PAINT for all my photo editing work. Its free!

BLOG FAVORITES: THE SMASHING COCONUT TEST

click here for the good stuff

Coconuts are a good way to simulate the human skull. Remove the husk covering it and you'll have the hard shell that is nearly as good as the real thing. If you can punch through it then you have a viable zombie killing tool. 

We've covered pellet guns, a melee weapon, arrows, and firearms. I'll be adding a few more this year. 

The Blogger Community 

Becoming part of the community a of writers was an unexpected but enriching experience.  I began as a solitary survivalist and found that there are many wonderful friends to be made.

I am quite fortunate to have touched base with excellent writers such as Ashley R. Pollard, Charmaine Clancy, and Adam Baker. Staying in touch with these lovely people over the years is one of my cherished experiences. 

We even got to sample zombie related music from a DJ. Cool stuff!

The horror film and writing culture also drew me in. Much of my time was spent getting to know the finer details of classic and modern creepy movies. Monsters of all sorts, not just zombies. There are tons of awesome blogs on this who are going strong. One of my favorites from when we were new to this blogging thing is The Real Queen of Horror. I'd leave comments on her articles many moons ago 'coz she makes great reviews.

Check her out, Zena is super cool!

10 Year Stats!

click on the photo to expand

Its amusing that most of my readers come over looking for firearm information. The USA is my top audience and that is no surprise. 

I also get a few hundred page visits from Russia and the Ukraine. I know its some shady bot thing and I still have no idea why they come over in big hordes of activity about twice a year. 

So if they're from Eastern Europe and in big numbers, they're all kinda sus. 

Zombie Craze

Undead this and that. The Walking Dead comics and TV Series, Doomsday Preppers, the World War Z movie. Bullets for zombies, the biohazard logo. 

There were zombie walks or marathons too. That was super cool. Halloween saw more walking dead than ever before. 

Everybody and their mothers joined in. Suddenly we bloggers were invaded by big media. I didn't mind This was when the genre had finally hit the mainstream. 

Marathons in general were also casualties of 2020

The Silent Years: 2015-2018

I wasn't able to make a single article in the year of 2015. I was heavily engrossed in IPSC practical shooting and a lot of work related things. I went abroad to join the USPSA IPSC Nationals. The year before that I was in New Zealand for the Australasia Handgun Championship as well. 

This period was quite hectic! Writing was sparse and I always carried a little guilt for not adding much to the blog. There was much to be posted and they stayed on draft for months or years. 

The good news is that I stayed in touch with a few fellow writers using other social media outlets. 

Refinements

A lot of improvements came to us in this time. Mrs. Zombie Hunter and I were engrossed with fitness and education. Our daughter had grown quite a bit. She's into sports and martial arts. Today she stands nearly as tall as her mum. All of this makes my head spin!

Our combat readiness had gone through years of refinement. From budget-friendly, to today's high-speed uncompromising standards. It can be seen in the choice of firearms that I had collected over time. Some I sort of regret, but most of them I remain happy to keep. 

chronology: upper left to right and then lower left to lower right

My combat loadout has come a long way. I tried to avoid trends and those tactical fads. This required research and patience on my part for every acquisition. We needed to put our best foot forward at any given time. 

The lower right hand photo is the latest evolution and the belt is very low profile can carries only the bare essentials. 

Better exercise routines also made me lose a lot of weight and its evident in these photos. There was a time when carrying all of this on my back was unfeasible but now I run a dozen miles on a good week and train in full 60 pound kit at least monthly.

These quiet years were spent turning theory into reality. 

Here is my daughter who has grown up really fast.

awwww

The Present: 2019-2020

"Who would expect that we would be hit by a global pandemic?"

"Taal Volcano covered 10 million people in ash"

"The world is turning against china"

"Mindless looting in Portland and across America"

"Flakka drug turned people into flesh eating zombies"

"Prepping is the new normal"

These are today's headlines. A decade ago people would have called me crazy. It pains me to say that I was right and I never wanted any of this to happen. Here we are today with this gigantic mess. 

I was going to write more during the early part of the Pandemic but kept myself busy helping my family and others. We donated a lot of our spares to people who needed them. 

As of this writing the whole world needs more Survivalists. We need to not just get by, we need to thrive. It is hard because a lot have suffered horrible losses this year. 

Hope for the Future

I like to tell my daughter that these trials make us stronger. Just like the stories I heard about my grandparents during the second world war. They left us important lessons so that we can learn and do much better. 

All these years I wrote with hope in my heart that someday my daughter and her little ones would look back at this journal and say that they're living in much better times. That the zombie apocalypse did not come to pass and the coronavirus crisis was the worst of its kind.

To my good readers, you have my dearest thanks. I hope you are well and continue to find my journal a useful guide.

So here is to another ten years of survival! May 2030 find all of us in much better times. 

Stay vigilant!