Burying Stuff

Discussion in 'General Survival and Preparedness' started by Meat, May 9, 2016.


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  1. Meat

    Meat Monkey+++

    Hi. I'd like to attempt this soon. I've been reading about it but was wondering if anyone here has tips/advice? Thanks. :D
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2016
  2. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

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  3. hot diggity

    hot diggity Monkey+++ Site Supporter+++

    Always keep recovery in mind, digging with your hands, or improvised tools might be necessary. Be prepared for loss...to water, discovery, development, and poor memory.

    If you don't know the ground, test dig an area and observe the water table changes over a season when possible. A hole that is dry sand in the fall could be half full of ground water in the spring.

    Keep your mouth shut about anything you have buried. ;-)
     
  4. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Tips and advice. Hm. What are you looking to bury? And yes, as hd suggests, knowing what the ground holds as a surprise would be well worth a test hole. Whatever you put in the hole has to be heavy enough to overcome any tendency to float.
     
  5. UncleMorgan

    UncleMorgan I like peeling bananas and (occasionally) people.

    Another thing to consider is recovering your cache at night and/or in a hurry.

    One way to assure easy recovery is to pack everything in medium-small nylon bags, and attach the bags in sequence to a nylon strap. Then you just feed the bags into the buried container, leaving the pull-strap on top, and seal up the container. After opening the container, you leave it buried and just extract the bagged contents.

    Because opening a tightly sealed container can be difficult at night/in the rain/in a hurry, you might consider putting the container (e.g.: a capped pvc tube with attached back strap) inside a slightly larger tube that is open at the bottom end (for drainage) and only covered at the top, for easy opening. The larger pipe keeps the weight of the soil off the smaller tube, allowing it to be extracted easily. Also, because the cover of the larger tube (a flat piece of aluminum, for example) can be only a few inches deep in the soil, it can be quickly dug up by hand. No shovel required, and very little time.

    Generally, you can cache a lot more for less in a fairly large pvc tube, but if the ammo can is what you need, go for it.

    One other thing: A watertight plastic thermos jug can make a spiffy cache bucket--at the cost of a couple of bucks from a thrift store.
     
  6. VisuTrac

    VisuTrac Ваша мать носит военные ботинки Site Supporter+++

    Burying would be a good idea especially with recent disasters up in Alberta.
    Houses and every single thing inside the structures. Turned to ash.
    I think I'd like to have a small subsurface cement box that I could toss some stuff in an emergency if I couldn't take it with me.

    Don't know how long the dwelling fires burned but if the only thing left standing on your property is a big ol' fire proof safe sitting there all proud where your garage use to be ... probably isn't going to be there when you get back.

    Just thinking out loud.
     
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  7. Meat

    Meat Monkey+++

    Thanks for the replies. I've got a sweet steel box on the way. Pop said it would last 100 years in the ground. He's one of the original preppers. :D
     
  8. marlas1too

    marlas1too Monkey+++

    bury a small folding shovel (wrapped of course) near where you buried your stuff and remember where it is -mark the spot on a map and put something over to mark the spot IMHO
     
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  9. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    I have several buried caches all done in heavy PVC 8 inch Pipe with the ends glued on . I buried two marlin 60 rifles with 500 rounds in each one. Dug them up 10 years later. They were like the day I planted them. You have to saw the cap off of one end so I buried a cheap hack saw in an oil soaked rag in plastic wrap. I went ahead and buried them again . You can fill a pipe with a lot of stuff and they are easy to bury as you just dig a shallow trench. Always remember to hind your cache in an area you know well but one that other people do not frequent often.
     
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  10. Meat

    Meat Monkey+++

    I've thought about pipe since I have an endless supply. Cool post. :D
     
  11. natshare

    natshare Monkey+++

    If you're burying PVC pipe, an inexpensive (and easy to carry/conceal) wire saw will cut through it. It will take longer than a hacksaw blade, but it's more easily carried in a bug out or get home bag, imho. A few things to remember, though, about caching on public property, or unoccupied land:

    - swing past the cache areas every so often (without being obvious about it, of course!), to make sure there's no signs of future building happening. Just because there's no building(s) there now, doesn't mean there won't be in the future! If you catch it before any new buildings are occupied, your chances of a successful recover are much better than after new residents/businesses move in.

    - while you're at it, look for signs of opportunistic (human) digging, or even possibly animals taking advantage of that soil you were so nice to have loosened up for them, to build their den next to. Can you imagine trying to recover cached property at night, during a bug out situation, and having to deal with a pissed off momma critter, whose den you're disturbing??

    - bury more caches, with less "stuff" per cache, and you're likely to lose less, in a bug out situation. Even though you might think no one saw you bury your goodies, doesn't mean you weren't seen. Or that someone won't stumble upon the cache accidentally.

    - finally, look for signs of where water might flow, in a flash flooding situation. Needless to say, the most well dug and concealed cache isn't going to last long, without discovery, if a freak flash flood uncovers it! Remember, too, that acts of God can drastically change the layout of the land. What you used as landmarks when you buried your cache, might not even exist, after a flood, brush fire, or tornado. Talking to people who lived in the town I'm at now, when a rather destructive tornado hit in the late 70's, told me that entire neighborhoods were wiped clean.....street signs, trees, EVERYTHING that might've been previously used as a landmark! They spray painted the street names on the curbs, at the intersections, to help people find their way back to where their houses once stood. :eek:
     
  12. budgetprepp-n

    budgetprepp-n Monkey

    I have a tip,,,,Bury it where a metal detector won't find it. Like dig
    back under or beside the culvert pipe at the end of your driveway.
    It would be easy to find when you go back for it also.

    Or right next to/under medal mail box post.
     
  13. BlueDuck

    BlueDuck Monkey+++

    I have a buried cache made with a slightly smaller trash can inside of a larger trash can. Learned that using a buried trash can for a small root cellar. The inside can makes it easy to bring up the whole load of goods without standing on your head while trying to recover your stuff. Bring it up, take what you need and lower it back down, and cover it back up..
     
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  14. Meat

    Meat Monkey+++

    Success! That was kind of fun. :D
     
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  15. Meat

    Meat Monkey+++

    I had an inspector out to see my progress. A nice colored fella named Petey. :D
     
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  16. arleigh

    arleigh Goophy monkey

    I have some large ammo boxes, but first I have to give them and test and see the kind of vacuum they can hold.
    If they pass, then it's just a matter of loading and burying .
    I've also got a 6' length go PVC pipe 6" in diameter with caps at both ends .
    It's generally not a good idea to rely on memory ,for where these things get buried ,
    When the spanish first came to california and mexico they were after gold ,and the mines were not marked but paintings were produced that gave clues as to their location . some clues can only be seen at noon time during a certain time of year and the shadow of the sun. some markings did disappear due to erosion but few remain and among them were actual numbers and some were actual figures and there was a story that went with each picture or set of pictures and if your didn't have both you wouldn't know where to look for the next clue, or have warning of eminent danger.
    The spanish used the indians (Slavery) to do the hard work and the killed them before they took the treasure home .
    Some of the stories of certain mines are real, but many are myth deliberately to mislead the other fortune seekers.
    Point is your map might be best written in such a way that only your family can under stand . They are taught the story as a favorite event that is repeated exactly the same, each time. Little ones don't need to know what it means necessarily but that it has some importance. Remember the movie with Ven diesel "The Pacifier "
    It may sound elaborate, but when times get really serious these things count.
     
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  17. DKR

    DKR Raconteur of the first stripe

    Special Forces Caching Techniques — TC 31-29/A

    Some time ago (1951 to about 1959) , the US set up so-called "Stay behind" networks here in Alaska.
    US Trained Alaskans As ‘Stay Behind Agents’
    Fearing invasion, the U.S. once trained Alaskans as "stay-behind agents" - CBS News
    US trained Alaskans as secret 'stay-behind agents'

    CIA studied Alaskan Stay-Behind efforts for tips on waging guerrilla war

    While getting the cold shoulder from the FBI might had ended the CIA’s formal involvement in the Alaskan Stay-Behind plan, declassified documents show that several years later the Agency was looking at the Cold War contingency as a learning opportunity - particular in regards to burying weapons caches.

    According to an April 1955 memo, an individual with a redacted identity visited someone known only as Identity A on the 19th of that month. Presently, all that’s known about Identity A is that they were “charged with caching activities within the Territory of Alaska and the Aleutian Chain.” In their meeting, they discussed how efforts to cache supplies had gone so far, and the various problems that emerged - caches buried under ground tended to be a lot of trouble to bury, monitor, and ultimately retrieve, especially with melting permafrost six feet under.

    The article goes into more detail, stating that a grave is likely the best cache point owing to the abilty to quickly locate and the fact that graves are rarely disturbed.

    I poked into this hornets nest back in 1992, before the program was declassified. I had seen an article on a so-called stay behind net and caches in Alaska.
    I asked the Elmendorf Base Historian, via a FOIA, about that kinds of radios were included in the caches (turns out to be the AN/GRC-109 with a GN-58 for power and yes, I have one.)

    That resulted in a very tense telephone call from an OSI agent about my query. That fact that I got the call confirmed the existence of the both nets and caches. I explained I had seen the article and was curious about the radios used, being a collector at the time. I guess it didn't help I was in Alaska at the time.

    Anyway, I was told to drop it and I did. The program was declassified after the last named stay-behind agent had passed away.

    A strange bit of American History.

    ETA
    These are all over Europe and to this day, folks dig up caches on explosives and weapons
    Operation Gladio - Wikipedia

    U.S. negotiates with Austria to dig up CIA arms caches Hidden weapons meant to combat Soviet invasion

    Anthony Cave Brown, an author who has written extensively on intelligence matters, said one favored location for the stay-behind caches was Allied war cemeteries. Few locals would pay attention to people digging in a graveyard, and the cemeteries were often cared for by a retired serviceman.

    The RS-6 Radio Set | N6CC

    yes, but I sold it some time ago.
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2018
  18. Wildbilly

    Wildbilly Monkey+++

    Local history and genealogy are interests of mine. Years ago I surveyed a number of small, inactive cemeteries. Do you have any idea how easy it would be to add an extra grave to a cemetery? Cemeteries are protected from development and very few people visit them. Also you can easily explain frequent visits and having tools (saw, shovel, sling-blade, pick, etc.) as inspections and maintenance.
     
  19. Tempstar

    Tempstar Monkey+++

    "I have some large ammo boxes, but first I have to give them and test and see the kind of vacuum they can hold.
    If they pass, then it's just a matter of loading and burying ."

    20mm cans will allow the sides to suck in at about 15" of vacuum. .50 cal cans will pull down to 30", but the porosity of the seals won't let it hold. I have tried it on several and the best I got one to hold was 2 days. I was told that they are designed to breathe somewhat to account for altitude changes, making them not a great container for underground storage.
     
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  20. Wildbilly

    Wildbilly Monkey+++

    I would think that pulling a vacuum on an ammo can would break the seal. Have you considered pressurizing the ammo can instead? Just try not to blow up the ammo can. One psi or less might do the trick. Nitrogen would be best.
     
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