After publishing Operational Cache Part 1: Quality of Selected Equipment, I received a few emails questioning why a cache would be needed in the first place. Although in years past I felt the need for a cache really wasn’t there times are changing.
Here are a few reasons to have a cache(or several):
Property Destruction – If there is some type of destruction to your property having a cache located somewhere would at a minimum provide some supplies. In this case a cache located at someone’s house or at a storage facility may be best.
Gun Confiscation – In the book series Days of Noah the main character Noah Parker is charged with a crime – teaching Christian beliefs in a public school. This in turn creates a tidal wave of governmental intrusion in his and his family’s life. DSS comes into the home to investigate that Noah’s children there are in no danger. After all – dad was charged with a crime(never mind innocent until proven guilty). Part of the standard practice of the investigation is to REMOVE ALL FIREARMS FROM THE HOME. Noah’s wife had buried a cache under the corner of their shed containing a pistol “just in case.”
This is not very far fetched in the real world where the Constitution seems to become more and more irrelevant to governmental agencies with each passing day. A cache containing firearms at a minimum will help protect your ability to protect yourself and family.
SHTF/WROL – Probably not the most talked about reason for having a cache. The SHTF happens and you’re on the way to your bug out location. Along the way and in the area around your retreat area supply caches are buried/located. These can be accessed for resupply or supplying others. There are many scenario’s around this one.
Robbery – If your home is robbed and all weapons are taken a cache could provide an avenue to gain a method of self protection quickly. In this case weapons are the main area of concern. It is doubtful anyone will come steal all your freeze dried scrambled eggs and bacon.
Bugging In – This is not just staying at home it is getting home. Let’s say you are at work and something happens. Having supplies buried/located along the route could mean the difference between life and death. Distance from home and geographical factors play a big part in whether a cache would be truly beneficial. I work 20 miles from home. If I wasn’t able to drive home I have what I need in my Jeep. No cache is necessary. If I was 40 miles? That might be different.
There would certainly be a peace of mind knowing that those supplies are there…waiting….in case they are needed.
Part 3 coming soon.
JR
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Thank you!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this Rourke. A very well thought out and comprehensive argument for having one. I was wondering if anyone has ideas of how to hide / locate / camouflage cache’s.
Brad M – sounds like another part of this continuing series – “how to hide / locate / camouflage cache’s”. Stay tuned.
I hadn’t really thought about it, but John you are right. What if, and this is a rare thing, but what if here in the upstate my home were hit by a tornado? My supplies would be gone. Perhaps a cache would be a good idea.
I’ll look forward to part 3 and hold my comments.. I’ve been playing with commercial 12 in thick walled PVC .. made to be buried.. with seal-able screw on cap pieces.. My primary concern is hiding and not being able to find them .. not me .. but others .. GeoCaching would work unless electronics are out. I can come up with several possibilities .. but I am interested in what you have to say on that… bad planning could be a very expensive or catastrophic mistake if you count on it and it is not there.
goingray58
It happened to me. I have some valuables buried right now that I cannot locate. I know where they are within 1/2 section. Someday they will surface. Everything I cache these days is intended to stay that way for the long haul of at least a decade (hopefully). I have learned a lot playing the industrious squirrel for more than 40 years. These days, I photograph the cache contents and make a list with serial numbers, description, and the like. When I have determined the cache location, I take photos of the undisturbed area, of the hole for the cache, and then when all covered back up. Using a steel surveyor’s tape, I measure distances and bearings to temporally invariant objects (large rocks, trees, etc.), and record both the distance and pace information from the cache to the witness item. Next I create a Word document with description of contents, drop in the photos, and print. On the back I hand draw the witness distance/bearing information relative to the cache and may add a copied and marked section of a topographic map of the cache area. The document is then laminated. I generally make two copies. One copy is added to my cache recovery cache. This recovery cache has a surveyor’s tape, compass, small hand axe, short shovel, small tarp with hole in the middle to fit over the top of the cache when unearthed, gloves, brush saw, gorilla tape, machete, and all regional cache documentation lamented sheets. Of course the recovery cache is in a most secure area and at a place that is unforgettable even to me. This master cache holds the key to all of my caches in that general area. Too much work you say, too vulnerable, to which I respond I have about $10k worth of some very nice things somewhere within 1/2 section (1/2 square mile) that will likely not see the light of day again during my time on this mortal coil (I’ve even used a backhoe to wreck whole areas while searching for the wayward cache). Oh, during recovery of a cache following excavation of the top end of the cache tube, the tarp is affixed around the exposed end of vertical cache tube and taped to the tube. The cache is then opened. The tarp keeps dirt and the like from tumbling down into the newly opened tube. Once dirt rolls downhill into a cache, the tube has to come completely out of the earth to remove that dirt, hence my adoption of a canvas ‘cape.’
PR
good stuff PR .. thanks
I’ll see what you guys write up…
I live in the flat lands of the Mississippi delta.. or nearly so .. land marks are trees at best .. and they don’t really stay always .. If you use roads .. you have traffic to worry about and possible discovery. about the best I can come up with is square geometry off of roadways in tree lines, which do seem to stay.. and minimum 18-24 inches deep to avoid farm equipment.. I do think I’ll apply a medal or medallion that a metal detector might find .. and plant a false flag above it, just in case. I like the record cache and the “cape” is an excellent idea thanks.
The delta poses similar problems to the Texas panhandle, which is where my missing cache is located. Between farm equipment and flooding the only suggestion I have is to locate at least one temporally invariant landmark such as a corner witness post, something fixed to the earth in concrete, etc. Flatness makes surreptitious cache placement difficult as well. I was happy in Texas until a friend pointed out that flat land is perfect terrain for the battle tank. Having seen the Abrahams in action, I wasn’t long moving to unfavorable terrain.
PR
Rourke -exc, ideas.We have a couple of mini stockpiles for just in case.I believe that a home fire or tornado or flood are all good reasons to do this besides the other reasons. Lightning
PS Its also good to do this with money