Hunted

Stevie777

Native
Jun 28, 2014
1,443
1
Strathclyde, Scotland
IIRC Billytheblade on this forum and his mates run a Manhunt Exercise if anyone was interested? Put our collective money where our mouths are?

As i know billy and his mates and know the area they frequent like the back of my hand, even tunnels that aint on the map, that's a challenge i could very well be up for.

Just as long as it's not a, turn your back and count to 10 with our eyes closed type of deal. I would be expecting at least an hours head start. Catch me if ye can Boys. ;) :headbang:

In fact, it's probably not a good idea as i wouldn't know when they got tired of trying to track me down and buggered off home. There has to be some time limit.


Maybe i would make a better pursuer than the pursued :confused:
 

Jared

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2005
3,570
746
51
Wales
Anyone that knows. How effective if at all would Mylar be for hiding from FLIR? Like for example a space blanket lined jacket?

Read a while back about Afghan insurgents using those Grabber All Weather blankets (IIRC) to evade FLIR
 

BillyBlade

Settler
Jul 27, 2011
748
3
Lanarkshire
Steve-I owe you an apology mate-we ran a course a pair of weeks ago and I thought I invited you. Turns out I need to brush up on my PMing skills. I thought you'd went dark.

We have one on in December if you fancy it. We have international students coming again if you like the idea of listening to some experiences from off this wee island.
 

Stevie777

Native
Jun 28, 2014
1,443
1
Strathclyde, Scotland
Steve-I owe you an apology mate-we ran a course a pair of weeks ago and I thought I invited you. Turns out I need to brush up on my PMing skills. I thought you'd went dark.

We have one on in December if you fancy it. We have international students coming again if you like the idea of listening to some experiences from off this wee island.

Give me a Shout nearer the time billy. I working away from time to time just now. wont know until the week before if i'm here or there. Cheers.
 

cranmere

Settler
Mar 7, 2014
992
2
Somerset, England
Problem with living off grid in a big city is facial recognition software. We're led to believe it isn't already installed into the government/council owned cctv cameras
They were boasting about the system that was installed in Bristol a few years ago, saying that it was capable of tracking people around a large area of the city centre by using facial recognition software. Plug in a known photograph and Bob's your uncle. I'd be very surprised if the security services didn't have that facility all over the country. I'd be wearing a wig right from the start because my hair is very distinctive and difficult to disguise.

I don't know how many people are aware of the cameras on motorways but surely everyone is aware that they can track phones? Although watching the programme it would appear that they don't. Even if they do I suspect that they have no idea how much we are tracked and recorded all of the time, and just how powerful it is as a tool. If you have GPS turned on your phone provider can produce detailed records of everywhere your phone has been. Even with the GPS off you can still be tracked within half a mile or so at all times. The moment they identified a pay-as-you-go phone you're located. And using an ATM is an immediate trace. 1984 really is here in many ways.

Most people are also unaware of just how much information they leave on the Internet and how useful apparently trivial information can be. Your Internet trail is probably the hardest to deal with because you just can't get rid of most of it. I used to have fun finding things out about people who challenged me and some of them were shocked just how much I could find without using any more than their public posts and a little Googling. One thought she was genuinely anonymous and had indeed done a pretty good job, however she had used the same distinctive screen name online in two places and that led to all sorts of other information including her real name. Even though she was careful what she put online she couldn't control her friends, who were happily posting on their blogs things like details of her birthday party including her photograph, pictures of her children etc. Put that together with some throwaway comments from her about where she did her shopping and a club she frequented and I ended up locating her house to a specific street, knew that she had kids and knew the school her kids went to, where she worked, her identity on an S&M forum (she was horrified that I found that), a photograph showing her car number plate, her ex's identity and address, plus a whole collection of trivia which could be useful to someone trying to track her. I'm not a spy, just someone who has worked with databases and has a knack for thinking out of the box, if I can do that sort of thing then a professional tracker would have access to far more.

Given that it's pretty much impossible to get rid of your Internet trail then my tactic would be to work out what would be out of my usual behavior patterns and therefore difficult to predict. Get rid of your computer by all means because that would at least slow them down in accessing some of your passwords etc.
 

boatman

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 20, 2007
2,444
8
78
Cornwall
Move next door. Boring though.

There was a thriller novel where the three villains would kidnap someone and then release them to be hunted on an island. One of their more successful victims hid under the floorboards of their hut HQ. The twist was that the villains were hunted down in turn by a loner who lived completely off-grid and was indifferent to the fate of their victims but took exception to their proximity and disturbance of his way of life.
 

Jared

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2005
3,570
746
51
Wales
If you know that you're going to be stripped of kit and cash before going on the lamb then some prep in the months ahead by setting up some cashes and stores before hand would be a good idea? Would give you an edge that the producers wouldn't know about. Though trailing a cameraperson along with you would give the game away.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

Isn't the camera person the one phoning in whenever they make "a mistake". Like being seen by cctv cameras, using ATMs, or making phone calls home.
 

BigX

Tenderfoot
Jan 8, 2014
51
0
England
Move next door. Boring though.

That's actually the logical approach: Cranmere's right about your web history being a weak spot, but going to ground staying with someone you've never had email/facebook/text contact with - say a neighbour or an old school friend - then staying there, not making calls, using ATM, etc would make you pretty much untraceable.

The other alternative would be to do a 'Rogue Male' (classic 'hunted man' novel where SPOILERS the guy on the run literally goes to ground: finds a hidden spot in rural England, digs a hole and stays there)

...But presumably they've been told they have to keep on the move as sitting in someone's spare room with the curtains closed isn't great TV.
 

BigX

Tenderfoot
Jan 8, 2014
51
0
England
I think I'm the only one left watching this - which is fair enough, given that it really has jumped the shark with the hunters using 'real time' CCTV and ANPR, which THEY SAY AT THE START THEY DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO. And AS IF Dr. Ricky would take a train straight into London. Sigh...I know it's 'reality TV' but...it COULD have been interesting.

Still, I did like the new lads from the Midlands, who when faced with the call that the hunters were on the way, grabbed those two vital bushcraft essentials: whiskey and a chocolate orange.
 

dewi

Full Member
May 26, 2015
2,647
13
Cheshire
The problem with the program runs a lot deeper than is evident on the surface.

The ANPR network is a system that works both with fixed camera positions and mobile camera postions, but it relies on the human element to interpret what comes through and in this case, they claim not to have access to the real ANPR network, yet use it to track an individual in a car that isn't registered to him, wasn't captured (as they claim) at an earlier site, nor was it anyone he texted, contacted or was visibly known to. The only way they could have gotten the real time data was the camera man. There is no other way.

Point being, its destroyed the credibility of the show, completely. What they claim to know is virtually impossible and what is left is essentially a propaganda exercise. A program dedicated to saying that the state knows all and anybody can be caught.

If that were the case, there would be no unsolved crime, there would be no criminals on the run... and do the searches yourself, but they claim to have used social media to track individuals... really? That should have left a trace that anybody could follow.

Interesting concept, but blown apart by the usual media bluff. Shame as I started this thread in the hope that there was an element of self-preservation, a part of it that would touch on being outdoors away from the 24/7 surveillance and perhaps a showing of what could be done by the knowledgeable and persistent.
 

reddave

Life Member
Mar 15, 2006
340
48
stalybridge
So. If you 'got the call' what kit would you take ? Can't be money as that's checked for, a chuffin great rucksack with loads of kit dangling off it is a tell tale. Would you head for the hills or have the audacity to mooch around city centres, using hotels and eating in places with high traffic. Towns also have internet sites so you could monitor twitter, facebook et al for when the wanted pictures go up so you'd get out of that area.
It seems that to go rural marks you more as new faces are remembered for longer, whereas if you wear a wide brimmed hat in town and 2 changes of outfits, you can 'blend' or at least be less easily spotted as 'the guy in the grey sweatshirt'

Or to really throw them off, get an easyjet ticket from up north to holland, train down to calais, then 1 hr ferry to dover and away in the south coast. Are they likely to have that kind of access ? A lot of immigration workers don't seem to be that quick at locating people, do they ?
 
Last edited:

Stew

Bushcrafter through and through
Nov 29, 2003
6,611
1,407
Aylesbury
stewartjlight-knives.com
So. If you 'got the call' what kit would you take ? Can't be money as that's checked for, a chuffin great rucksack with loads of kit dangling off it is a tell tale. Would you head for the hills or have the audacity to mooch around city centres, using hotels and eating in places with high traffic. Towns also have internet sites so you could monitor twitter, facebook et al for when the wanted pictures go up so you'd get out of that area.
It seems that to go rural marks you more as new faces are remembered for longer, whereas if you wear a wide brimmed hat in town and 2 changes of outfits, you can 'blend' or at least be less easily spotted as 'the guy in the grey sweatshirt'

Or to really throw them off, get an easyjet ticket from up north to holland, train down to calais, then 1 hr ferry to dover and away in the south coast. Are they likely to have that kind of access ? A lot of immigration workers don't seem to be that quick at locating people, do they ?

Change any distinctive features - Ricky Allen's glasses were very distinct. Either contacts or just some differnet shaped ones and his posters would have been useless, I think. Add in a wig for him as well.
 

dewi

Full Member
May 26, 2015
2,647
13
Cheshire
In my defence, I was washing the dishes at the time... I watched an old Dad's Army episode instead. :D
 

reddave

Life Member
Mar 15, 2006
340
48
stalybridge
my wife was gasping for breath watching the 'prepper' with 3 rucksacks looking, to all intents and purposes, like a pack mule. When he stopped and said he couldn't walk up the hill, she damn near wet herself. She was still heehawing with laughter whilst at WC to prevent mentioned crisis becoming an event. We were both gutted when he was caught at Birmingham bus station. He must have been on for comedy factor. Another week with him would have put the ratings through the roof, and put them on the comedy channel.
As wife pointed out, he must have had a 6 man tent. She said her car would've struggled with his load.
 

Ahjno

Vice-Adminral
Admin
Aug 9, 2004
6,861
51
Rotterdam (NL)
www.bushcraftuk.com
Or to really throw them off, get an easyjet ticket from up north to holland, train down to calais, then 1 hr ferry to dover and away in the south coast. Are they likely to have that kind of access ? A lot of immigration workers don't seem to be that quick at locating people, do they ?

Not seen any episode (not aired overhere), but would that be allowed in the game: crossing international borders?

My experiences with the UK is there are a lot of CCTV cameras around in large cities and anything public transport (more than overhere).

Personally I'd make sure I'd be somewhere where are plenty of people of the same age: disappear in the masses. So maybe even suit up and blend in with hundreds of others in The City. Grow a beard (or shave it of), cut and dye my hair, glasses, etc.
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE