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Caches are the ultimate back up plan because everyone wants to hide their “stuff,” but hiding it effectively is a different matter. Yes, everyone wants a set of diagrams and ideas, but you should have a plan before you implement your construction. Let’s outline some basic principles and considerations first that it would do you good to keep in mind.
A Word to the Wise
Firstly, OPSEC (Operational Security) is paramount with any kind of project such as this. You must keep everyone out of the loop: nosy, big-mouthed neighbors; prying relatives; overly curious co-workers; ad infinitum. You can’t “advertise” what you’re doing and expect any measure of success. What you place in what we’ll call your “storage room” is your business and your business alone. The only ones in the loop with you should be ones you can rely on absolutely to keep their mouths shut.
The Perfect Location For Your Cache
You must take time to find the ideal location on your property for your storage room. Be advised: there are local cops, the Sheriff’s department, the IRS, ad infinitum ad nauseam…an endless “conga” line of creeps who can metamorphose and metastasize almost instantly overnight with a full-blown tyranny. They have everything at their disposal courtesy of your tax dollars: infrared scanners, metal detectors, drug and bomb-sniffing canines, etc.
That said, if you think you are going to be able to hide something from them right next to the house, you had better think again. They’ll sweep the entire area with a fine-toothed comb…with you there or with you in matching silver bracelets, being “chauffeured” to jail. You can optimally hide your supplies by doing two things:
1.Throw them a bone
They must pick up something and can’t leave empty handed…I’m not talking about anything illegal, mind you, such as drugs or bombs. I’m talking about if they wish to confiscate your weapons, etc. when the government morphs into tyranny. Throwing them a bone means you should give them a few things. One or two rifles, per se, and a couple of pistols, along with some ammo.
For anyone who disagrees with this and recites the “when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers” line, go ahead…they will. They’ll either do that or worse. You won’t be able to face them and defeat them head on. It’s better to lose a small part than to lose it all.
If you can’t part with your firearms, consider hiding some less innocuous items like tools, food and/or old clothing.
2.Have your storage room in the most unlikely place to find it that you can.
You know your own property. It’s going to be up to you to know these unlikely places, and whether it is feasible to use them. Let’s go over some ideas and general spots:
- Near the septic tank: Yes, indeed, that septic tank can be a perfect cover for an “adjoining structure” in the form of a concrete tube or cubicle set into the ground right next to it. You can really make it look good by ensuring they both physically touch, and then throwing some cement in the “joint” to make it appear as if they’re one structure.
- Farthest points on the property: The “four corners” and adjacent spots…the greater the distance between the storage room and the house, the better.
- Surface running water camouflage: a small stream or creek flowing across your property? Stick that storage room under it. You temporarily divert all or part of the creek…sink that storage room underground, and then allow the stream to return to its normal flow. This method is best done with a “cache” rather than a walk-in storage room, for obvious reasons…you won’t be able to get to it rapidly.
- Under something innocuous: A children’s swing set, or a decorative fountain/goldfish pond in your front yard.
- Under/near a stone wall, panel partition, or fence: Not a “normative” place for the “normal” people to look.
There are several decisions you must make before you undertake all of this. Most of them deal with structure and logistics. How much stuff do you want to store, and what? Are you going to close it off in the manner of a cache, or are you going to make it more accessible? How much time and labor are you willing to put into it, along with money? If someone else is building it…are they reliable in terms of keeping their mouths shut? Even more: Will they take what you have if they are given the opportunity? Or in a SHTF situation, might they “show up” on your doorstep to take what you have?
You can’t rule out any of these possibilities. You may also want to screen off the area that is most visible while it is being built. Part II we will have some diagrams for you to use and 3 different ideas for a storage vault/structure, modifiable by size and only limited by your imagination or the resources you can afford. You’ll have to consider it all: the nosy neighbors, friends, and relatives, and the governmental “pests” in all their taxing and enforcing forms. Until next time, keep your powder dry and well-hidden! JJ out!
Best place to cache supplies, etc is far away from your property and far away from property of all family and known associates. My suggestion is to find a place in a public forest, maybe in a hidden cave or a well on an old abandoned farm site. Maybe dig out a place into the side of a hill near the top of a ridge in a remote area. Preferably under a rock ledge. You will have to most likely carry all your stash into your hidden location by foot at least a half mile off any trail or road. With ground penetrating radar placing supplies on your property must only done as a way to deflect attention from your real stockpiles. If you place all your supplies on your own property you will lose them. Keeping your stockpiles will require a lot of effort on your part.
Yes, I agree with you. A place so unlikely that few would be interested in going there. Record the GPS locations of each hidden cache and save it using premium encryption software.
When “They” (military/gangs/hungry neighbors) come for your guns and whatever, they will just wipe you out, take your women and kids, and whatever else they can easily find. There are going to be too many other soft targets out there, so spending all day hunting your property will be a waste of time for them. Best idea is to take a stand, make them pay for even showing up at your place, because you won’t get ahead by being compliant. Of course, this is speaking to a genuine SHTF situation, whatever may be the cause.
I’m sure only preppers are reading this.
and the FBI, NSA, CIA ABC EFG etc ~ matters not, what matters is that YOU do what’s necessary to protect what’s yours. They already know who you are!
Dot, I like your idea except not many are ready to get together and “throw the trash out”. I would, but I also need assurances that others would not back out when the time came. Alexander Soltzinestine said in the beginning of his book’Gulag Archepelago ‘ all that has to be done is have a small group resist than another than another, and at some point the so called authorities would have to back off and wonder if their next ‘action’ might be their last.
I would like to suggest a simple option for serious people . The Samson Option . Study it ! Implement it ! How many can you take out and still be protected from the old pillars coming down . Remember Masada !
Rather than “throwing them a bone”, how about throwing them some hot lead? It’s due the cowards out there who keep offering ‘bones’ is why the trash never gets taken out and things just keep getting worse.
The reason ‘they’ made asbestos a health hazard is their imagining technology cant ‘see’ through it. Buildings etc. So that old sheet you were wondering what to do with it now has a special place on top of what ever you buried. Satellite imagery can see several feet into the ground for long barrelled objects. Nothing ‘sees’ through asbestos.
No your right, but it does see a blank spot!
As you said, “that old sheet” of asbestos, if you’re lucky enough to still have any, is a very valuable tool for fireproofing, or for use in building a ‘hotbox,’ where whatever it contains can be ‘removed from existence,’ without destroying your other valuables.
There’s a simple “bone” that can be thrown ‘away,’ and even if it’s only used for creating a false trail to lead investigators, ‘alphabet soup’ devotees, and other ne’er-do-wells AWAY, so their harm to you and yours is mitigated, it’s done its job.
The government, along with its associated tentacles, has an exceedingly long reach, but tying up as many of those grasping appendages as humanly possible, with false pretenses, is practical, and it’s also a dismal necessity.
We have found that you can place your caches on your own property if you are strategic about it.Yes,do comply.Willingly give them an inexpensive firearm and the ammo for it.If your caches are metallic items,note where your caches are buried, then bury random size and shape metallic items all over your property.A buried metal pipe looks like a rifle/shotgun barrel to a metal detector or ground penetrating radar,doesn’t it?The detectors they use will go crazy because of all the metal you buried,that they will most likely give up in frustration and walk away.The larger the property,the better.They are not going to spend hours digging up one yard.