Zombie Recon - How To Spot Zombies

Before you engage in combat with Zombies, you and your group of survivors will need to know all about their combat capabilities.  If you are sheltering in a fortified position, you'll need to know where Zombies are located in proximity to your group and if they pose a threat to your stronghold.  This is where Zombie Recon comes into play.  You need to find and observe Zombies before engaging them in any way.


According to many self-defense experts, if a mugger gets within 21 feet of you, there is a good chance he can jump you before you can produce a weapon for self-defense.  Just as it is important to recognize suspicious characters from a distance, you'll want to recognize zombies before they get too close.

Zombie Photo By Jeremy Keith from Brighton & Hove, United Kingdom (The evil eye  Uploaded by Fæ) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Recognizing Zombies

Once authorities and the media have alerted you to a genuine Zombie threat, you'll need to know how to recognize a Zombie.  A Zombie can be recognized at a distance by the way that he or she moves.  Zombies typically move with a plodding shuffle. Sometimes they walk with an odd gait due to broken bones, injury, or rotting muscle and connective tissues.  However, Zombies will take the most direct path towards their intended victim and move in a straight line with purpose.

When you scan a landscape, first you spot movement, then identify the human figure, and then note the odd movements typical of Zombies.  A good pair of binoculars can allow you to verify that the target figure is actually a Zombie.

Visual verification of characteristics such as a pale gray palor, rotten flesh, lacerations, open wounds, and visible entrails should suffice to complete the identification.

Practicing to Spot Zombies

While there is no outbreak of Zombie contagion today, you can still practice to spot Zombies.  Whenever, you are eating fast food in a parking lot simply look around.  Scan the sidewalks, the parking lot, look for people moving a hundred or more yards away.  You'll notice unnaturally skinny people slowly shuffling along.  Many of them are called vegans and they really do need to get a little more protein.  You'll also see homeless people who have been beaten down by life's tragedies and often mental illness or substance abuse.  Many of them walk in a slightly unnatural manner.

Zombie Photo - By Nicholas Gemini (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

You may also notice other potential threats.  For example, there's that guy in the brand new car with tinted windows that's been sitting for a long time by himself.  He might be a drug dealer.  (Don't watch him for too long.)  The key is to develop your situational awareness and street smarts.  In the short term, you'll avoid potential interactions with criminals.  In the long term, you'll be a little more ready for the Zombie Apocalypse.