Constructing a Permanent Underground Cache, by JIR

…a couple of feet down. If not, you may still be ok if you use enough plastic to divert surface water around your cache. You can test your site by loading a cache drum or (perforated) bucket with a little cotton cloth (I used a couple of white bath towels), bury it using the same techniques you will use for your cache and leave it a year or at least leave it through your local wet season. When you dig it up and inspect, there should be no water damage to the towels and no evidence of water on the inside of the drum. One of my pails (buried in a flat, sort of wet forest floor) flooded in spite of the plastic sheeting, but the one buried into a slope had no sign of moisture at all. The ground water had passed over the top of the sheet and…




My Ten Year Caching Experiment, by Joe C.

…our small cache with a small bag of desiccant, several pictures, a folded up local newspaper, my daughter’s old charm bracelet, a rap music CD, some silver eagles, some pre 64 silver coins, water proof matches, a new Bic lighter, an old small .25 automatic pistol I had purchased in the mid 70’s and rarely used with a box of ammo, toothbrushes, floss, mirror, combs, flint and steel, scissors, tweezers, 50’ of para cord, a Buck folding Hunter, Gerber Multi-tool, sharpening stone, a box knife with several spare blades and a few 9 hr candles. It was fairly full with the newspaper taking up most of the excess space. (Note, I didn’t originally make an inventory, this list comes from after cache retrieval.) Once our cache was assembled with the slip fit lid clamped down I was still a bit worried if the cache was sealed. Being my typical overkill…




‘Twas the Night After SHTF- Part 2, by H.C.

…well under the radar, you might get away with burying it on your property. Keep in mind that if they think you have stuff, they will be swarming your property looking for evidence that you have hidden or buried a cache or two. Hide Many Caches Many small caches (buried or hidden supplies) are much better than big ones. This adage applies, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” If a cache is found, your encasement breaks, or weather gets to it, you will still have plenty elsewhere. Hitting the Road To Hide Your Stuff If you hide your stuff on public land, remember that the public is on those roads too. Never park near the entrance of the trail to your cache, and never walk a straight line to your cache. Also, do not ever walk the same way each time to your cache, because it beats down…




Cache and Carry, by Highlander

Like many of you, I consider having buried caches a critical part of being prepared. However, I don’t have the land or finances necessary to bury multiple 55-gallon drums full of food, guns, and ammo miles from my house, and in a time-sensitive situation spending an hour or two digging up a huge cache may not be possible. I’m not saying that larger caches are a bad idea (I have a few spread around), but like all of my other preparations, having a multi-layered approach makes the most sense for me. I live in a rural-suburban area, with 1-2 acre lots, and lots of woods and lakes within a few miles of my house. I plan on bugging-in and have taken steps to enhance the security of my house and land in a disaster scenario, but I also want to be prepared in case I’m forced out of my house…




PVC Survival Gear: How to Make It – Part 1, by J.H.

…waterproof variety) to seal any leaks. I haven’t had an issue with leaks in any of my caches. You want to be absolutely certain that your cache will not leak (especially if there are electronics or other items that will be severely damaged by exposure to moisture inside). Now, having made sure your contents slides in and out smoothly, set the package aside. Paint the cache, and clear coat it. Remember to keep the plug in when you paint it. Secure the contents in the cache and make sure the threaded end is nice and snug. I have been told that you can use petroleum jelly in the threads for better opening in cold weather, but I have not tried this myself. Now all that is left for you to do is to find a place to hide your cache, dig a hole, and bury it. Just be sure you…




Preparing for the Inevitable American Gun Ban- Part 3, by Rector

…tell no one. No one can be interrogated, tricked, or surveilled successfully, if they don’t know the location of the cache or even of its existence. Leave a sealed letter attached to your will with your attorney for your designated inheritor of the cache. Keep your fingerprints off the cached items, including ammunition and interior gun parts. Place the cache off of your property but in a place that you can monitor without criminally trespassing or jumping through hoops. I personally like to be able to drive by my cache locations and ensure that they remain unmolested without having to hike through the forest in the dark of night. Be creative. Distribute your cached material in several locations and never visit them sequentially if you can help it. Consider the trigger points that would cause you to pull the items out of the cache. Know the circumstances under which you…




‘Twas the Night After SHTF- Part 1, by H.C.

…want to address the actual how-to’s involved in actually building a cache container for your valuables, as there have been many articles written about how to do such a thing on SurvivalBlog. You can find it all over the Internet, too, if you wish to learn more about how to build a water-sealed chamber for your preps. Search “Cache Tubes” and “Cache Boxes” to find many legitimate containers for safely burying things. Reluctance Issues That Keep Us From Securing Our Stuff The intent of my article is to first, bring to view the reluctance issues we have that keep us from securing our stuff, and also to think ahead when actually doing it. The only thing worse than not hiding your preps, is hiding them poorly! Common Arguments About Caching Let’s address common arguments about caching first. Fear of Burying the Goods Because They “Feel” Safer Next To You Having…




Constructing and Finding Hiding Places, By Eli in The Southwest

…if you conceal them well. Metal detectors are becoming more commonplace, so be mindful of this. If it is a long term cache, leave it. Don’t check it every month and leave telltale signs or a path in the grass or freshly dug dirt. If you are concerned about metal detectors, place some old pipe fittings in the dirt above your cache and below the ground level. Fence tubing can be used. If building a wall, you can fill a cinder block with goods for long term storage. If you need easier access, remove a specific cap piece on top of the wall. Like wise with a 4×4 fence post.  These can be drilled nearly hollow then capped with a decorative piece.  Bird houses can be filled, or built with a false floor.  If building a raised bed garden, filled PVC tubes can be laid in the bottom. How many…




PACE-BB: Distribute Your Guns

…am interested as to why a person would attempt to “bury” or in any way conceal your defensive firearms. What is there purpose? Why do you even own them? The second amendment, I am repeatedly told, was included in the constitution to dissuade abuses of the people. If at the moment your liberties are being violated you decide to bury your weapons In the soil that your supposed to be defending, why have them In the first place? SaraSue Generally yes, the k9’s are trained to specific tasks. And no, there won’t be enough of them. SaraSue Another excellent read: https://www.trevorloudon.com/2021/02/we-had-a-color-revolution-under-color-of-law-but-we-can-still-reclaim-our-country/ ant7 “are looking for an easy bust, not a protracted search” you’re projecting the present into the future. 1) if all the gun owners are burying their guns they’ll have all the time they need to search as long as it takes. and they will. 2) they’ll make the…




Picking the Imperfect Retreat Location, and Making the Best of It, by Michael C.

…can eventually return and retake your retreat. Even in the city you can find somewhere to bury a small cache of items like this to keep you equipped and on the move to the next cache, then the next cache, etc. It takes a little planning but not a huge outlay of resources. But again there some outlay in the form of labor. If nothing ever happens you dig them up and use the items for daily use. Nothing lost but lots gained if they are ever needed in extremis. As I said at the start, this was not meant to be all-inclusive. My intent was to get you thinking, and to possibly help those in situations like mine–where I realize that I cannot put my family in the “perfect retreat” situation. What I can do though is give them the chance, with some luck and God’s help, to survive….




Letter Re: Long-Term Caches

…the earlier comment of not to bury stuff on your own property, Burying it on your brother in laws place presents it own set of problems. My brother in law completely freaked out when I suggested that I was going to bury some PVC tubes out in his back 40. OPSEC was totally blown. Mustang0268 Metal, atmosphere and water all contribute towards some rate of metal corrosion, more commonly known as rust. Corrosion mechanisms could be described, simply, as a oxidation of metal, in which a metal oxide deposit (rust) is the by-product. Avoiding rust, or corrosion, is a function of eliminating as many of the contributory factors as possible. Metal should be cached with some kind of surface barrier to oxygen, and ideally water. Oil is an example of such a surface barrier, as are several other products of this type. Oil will shed water, but a different “physical”…




Letter Re: Storage Underground or in Humid Climates

…fill big culvert pipes. Use your imagination. If you are burying containers you will want to defeat metal detectors. It isn’t practical to dig to China with a backhoe to go real deep, someday you want to dig that back up, and then you might only have a rock to scrape the dirt. So your cache may be found unless you can fool the detector. Consider burying your cache in a junk area full of scrap metal. A few junk cars with old pipes, barrels, anything strewn about will help. Bury some metal around as well. Nothing obvious, just a few pieces of junk to discourage people from looking any deeper. Stacks of old pallets, lumber, all kinds of junk can make a good junk pile as a distraction. You could even stash some old tools [hidden above ground or buried just below the surface] to help dig up your…




Attitude Adjustment, by Dena M.

…WROL situation. When you’re prepping to bug out and/ or funding is lacking your best friend is going to be caches.  Clearly you cannot fit all the gear you need in a backpack. However, you can have a years’ worth of food and additional ammo if you take the time to bury caches. If you have joined a group that is even better. The caches should be on several different routes to the retreat location and you have the option of pre-positioning gear at the retreat. In addition, remember when I said you can cache items to build upon later? I wasn’t kidding. It may sound absurd but let’s take a minute and discuss this. Lets’ say before the collapse you made valid efforts to secure four acres of land but did not have the funding to build yet nor could you finically afford to move to the middle of…




Learning 52 Skills: Applying a Purchasing Plan Approach to Learning New Skills, by Seth T.

…improve your night vision. Orient with compass instead of landmarks.   20)   Make a cache outdoors. It doesn’t have to be anything special, or crazy. Even if it is a PVC tube with only a roll of silver dimes, choose a location, landmark, construct the container, and bury it.  If you are afraid to bury anything of value, try tissue paper which is a great test to see how waterproof you can make it. If you already have made one, try to construct a hasty one from supplies on hand.   21)   Make a hidden cache inside your house.. Even if you don’t hide anything in it yet, construct it.   22)   Improve your relationship with your neighbors.  Some of you may laugh at this, but a lot of people wave at their neighbors, but don’t even know their names. If this is you, introduce yourself. If you are already on good terms, bring them…