Why Bury? A mirror of How to Bury Your Stuff dot com

How to Bury Your Stuff: The Ultimate Guide to Burying Your Valuables

Because no one can take what they cannot find
Why bury? I’ve been asked that question countless times over the years and my answer is always the same. Because if done properly, it’s the ultimate security for your valuables; not only is it cheaper than any alternative but nothing else is as secure, period.
Hiding your valuables under your mattress or in your sock drawer does not protect against fires or natural disasters like tornados. Safety deposit boxes can be costly in that they are an ongoing expense. They can only be accessed during the bank’s business hours and depend on functioning electricity. Home safes are expensive; they do not always properly protect your valuables against fires or floods and can be easily defeated by any intruder with the proper cutting tools. By burying your valuables underground, one can guarantee that his or her most precious possessions are forever protected against theft, fire, extreme weather, most natural disasters and even the collapse of the electrical grid.
Prior to around 1998, anyone who buried anything underground was considered paranoid by mainstream society. The Y2K or “Millennium Bug” changed that. This was the belief that on December 31st 1999, all computer systems worldwide would crash. Survivalism or “Prepping” as it is now called, started to become more popular. Tabloids like CNN started to push scary stories about new diseases and imminent natural disasters. Television shows and movies geared around apocalyptic themes grew in popularity, and sensationalism combined with mistaken beliefs about the Mayan New Year would push worldwide survival spending past $500 billion during the 2012 fiscal year.
I originally created this website with the intent of helping everyone in every demographic group secure their most valuable possessions. But I am not naïve, I realize that the majority of my visitors will be survivalists and doomsday preppers. This brings me to another reason for burying your possessions; an apocalypse of some sorts. Collapse of the world’s economy, zombies, post peak oil, Fascist gun confiscations, WMD’s, disease or pandemic, mass starvation and civil war all seem to be included in today’s popular ideation.
Before I ever heard about something called the World Wide Web, I had already been burying stuff for about 15 years and I had never lost anything that I put in the ground. One common myth on the Internet is that it’s illegal to bury, hoard or cache survival gear and valuables. This is a complete falsehood since churches, youth groups and schools do it all the time; only they call their caches “Time Capsules.” In addition, the term “geocaching” is a term that defines what’s described as a popular outdoor activity in which participants play a high-tech game of hide-and-seek.
Since the day I first discovered the Internet, I’ve also seen much chatter about how burying stuff is such a waste of time and about how easily the government can swoop in with it’s superior technology and locate everything in the blink of an eye. But in reality, I can remember several instances during my life where a small plane like a Piper or a Cessna disappeared over the American or Canadian Rockies. Despite massive search and rescue operations, a few of these small aircraft have never been found; and these crash sites were ABOVE ground.
The fantasy is that the government knows all and sees all. Using the population of the United States as an example, no government has the ability to constantly monitor 320 million people all at once, (although it certainly does try) nor does it have the resources to scan every inch of U.S. soil. And if no government is capable of finding a buried stash, then neither are thieves, hackers, delinquents, drug addicts or looters. Even the most massive illegal drug farms are either discovered by human intelligence or accidentally stumbled upon by local law enforcement officers investigating an unrelated crime; not located by superior government technology as many would believe.
To this day, there are many “treasures” (safes and even entire bank vaults are still missing from heists; millions of dollars in cash and gold bullion from stagecoach robberies, etc) lost in the old American West that have been buried for more than 100 years and have yet to be discovered.
Simply put; Burying is the ultimate security. Period.

About Me

Why this site is different

Because no one can take what they cannot find

Hello, my name is Dave and I’ve been burying stuff in the dirt for more than 30 years. In order to prevent novels, cassette tapes and knives from being confiscated by my parents, I started burying them in the woods of western Pennsylvania when I was about 10 years old. Since then, I’ve buried my stuff in the forests of South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana; and in the city parks of Washington D.C. and Charlotte, North Carolina. I’ve never used a safety deposit box and over the years I’ve also helped advise other people about burying their valuables in New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia and Missouri. I’m proud to say that after 30 years of digging in 11 states, nothing to my knowledge, not one single item that I’ve ever cached underground has ever been lost.
Although I can boast that I’ve never had a buried item lost or stolen, I cannot say that I’ve never had anything damaged. I must admit that I’ve made mistakes and learned from them. On two different occasions, I’ve been rushed or careless only to later return to my cache and find rusted knives or waterlogged books. Diligence and patience must be observed and I’ll only be showing you my proven tried-and-true methods. I’ve never used Pelican cases and I’ve set up this website as a “Poor Man’s Guide,” offering the cheapest methods first.
Pelican is the only flashlight that I will use; they make excellent products and if you can afford to buy their waterproof storage cases with the current state of the economy, then kudos. But you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on a box when you can spend hundreds of dollars on stuff to put in the box. On this website, I will show you how to use Tupperware containers, Zip-Loc baggies and a few bricks to easily accomplish the same task. I will also explain how to use empty US military-issue ammo cans to shield your buried electronics from EMP and how to use sewer pipe to safety bury just about anything that will fit inside it.
The content of this website was not outsourced. I’ve personally written every word and I plan on adding more, a lot more. One doesn’t see very many knowledgeable websites dedicated to burying items underground and over the years, I have only seen a few pages myself. Some of these sites have good advice and some do not. If you are an experienced survivalist, then you may not learn very much from my site as I’ve geared it toward beginners. If you are a beginner, then you should know that the reason this website is different is simply because I am here. I am not normally a boastful person but I have been stashing stuff underground for a long time … and I am very good at it.
Please be aware that I will not knowingly help any person break the law or commit any crime. You should also know that I am new to prepping, I don’t even own a gun. I prefer archery or crossbow hunting and aside from a few extra AA batteries, I don’t hoard much of anything at all. Although I am in the process of making the transition to survival prepper, my current buried cache consists only of a few personal items and a single HDD containing my laptop’s backup files; which I will use as a step-by-step guide on this website.
If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to click on the Contact Me page of this website or message me on Twitter.
This is something that I’ve been doing for most of my life; it’s an activity that I enjoy and I will gladly give helpful advice or accept constructive criticism. My intentions are quite simply to help you protect your valuables and I plan to be personally available online as frequently as possible.

General Tips on Caching Underground

General Tips

For Burying your Electronics, Guns, Documents and More!

Because no one can take what they cannot find

First time burying something underground? Feeling paranoid? Don’t worry, burying valuables underground used to be considered crazy or extreme; but since the Y2K and Mayan apocalypses, survival prepping has gone mainstream. If you’ve never considered this option before you will quickly find that there are dozens of survivalist websites, forums and blogs to get you started. Best tools for digging? …in my humble opinion, are shown in the photo below. A small hatchet, a small flat pick, a mattock and a shovel should be all you need. Although I have never needed them, in some situations you may also find post-hole diggers to be useful.
A common term used to define an underground stash is “cache” and here are 10 tips, just some suggestions to consider in order to give your valuables maximum security.
1 – I would feel remiss if I didn’t state the obvious. Do not tell anyone where your cache is, no one, period. Not your spouse, best friend or child. That one person who you really really trust will tell someone else that they really really trust and so on. Ensure that no one follows you to your caching location and do not repeatedly travel back and forth. Do not draw any maps or directions; the only directions should be the ones locked away in your own memory. If you can help it, don’t even tell anyone that you have a cache at all. Be creative and build multiple caches as backup or you could even ‘mark’ a false location as a dummy cache.
2 – If you are concerned about hackers or electronic surveillance then don’t use your Garmin to locate your hiding spot. When digging or checking on your underground cache, do NOT take your cellphone with you. Leave all of your electronic devices at home, including your digital camera. You do not want any electronic record of you ever having been at this location. Also remember that your vehicle’s Tom-Tom, OnStar or LoJack can also be your undoing.
3 – Remember “High and Dry” and stay away from lakes, rivers, valleys and any flat area of ground. The water table of any flat area, regardless of elevation, can hold large amounts of water for an extended time. You want to dig on hilltops, hillsides and ridges; far away and above any body of water.
4 – When choosing a location, try to find a place as close to home as possible but far enough away that it cannot be found by simply sweeping your backyard with a metal detector. If you live in a rural or suburban area, then this should be easy enough. If you live in a strictly urban setting, then you may be forced to choose a location that requires driving some distance. In an ideal situation, you want your cache located on or near a hilltop, in a wooded area within walking distance of your home that is unlikely to be disturbed by construction or logging companies.
5 – You’ll have to research your location’s “frost line” (those who live in Calgary will have to dig deeper than those who live in Juarez) and try to place the top of your container at or below that depth. I’ve buried above the frost line before and never had problems; but if you’re not checking your cache at least once a year, then you will want to get below the frost line. Burying above the frost line means extreme changes in temperature that will cause something called ‘frost heave.’ This can not only actually move your items around, but can cause condensation inside your containers. Frost heave can also crush your containers.
6 – Do NOT ‘mark’ your spot. Do not pound a stake in the ground, put a big rock nearby or tie a rag around a tree. Markers like these can not only be found by others, but they can be moved. Depending solely on a marker to find your underground cache could lead to disaster. You just need to ‘know’ where it is. Pick a certain tree, curve in the ridge line or an outcropping of rock and remember it. Also, you will want your underground cache to be located somewhere that no one who knows you would ever associate with you. Do not bury valuables near your favorite camping spot, your favorite fishing spot or near your deer hunting tree stand. Keep in mind from the very beginning that if your cache was to be discovered, you’d want everyone who knows you to think, “Really, he hid his stuff there?”
7 – I’ve traveled considerably and every small town that I’ve ever lived in had rumors about a nearby creek where the water flowed uphill. While constructing, arranging, placing and covering your cache, actually picture the water running uphill and remember that this is a scientific impossibility. Water flows downhill and this is the basis for what I call my “Bell Method.” The Bell Method is based on the fact that you can take an empty drinking glass, turn it upside down (like a hanging bell) and push it down into a bucket of water. Anything attached to the bottom of the glass would remain perfectly dry. I started using this concept during my teenage years and no matter how deep underwater (within reason) there will always be a pocket of air inside. In the following webpages, I’ll go into more detail about the Bell Method and include some photographs.
8 – Insulate whatever you are burying against rapid changes in temperature. It’s useless to waterproof something only to have moisture condensate inside your sealed container. Take an empty 20 ounce Coca-Cola bottle, rinse and dry it out completely. Screw the lid on tight and alternate placing the empty bottle in the freezer, then outside on a hot summer day and back in the freezer again. Sooner or later, if you continue to do this, moisture will start appearing on the inside of the bottle. This is the exact same thing that can easily happen to all of your ammunition, each circuit board, each paper document and each firearm you bury underground. Burying below your area’s frost line and using temperature insulation is critical.
9 – Steel wool will rust very easily. Buy some fine grade (0000) and place a piece of it with whatever you are burying. Say for instance, that you dig up your cache once a year and check everything out. Every year you should place that exact same piece of steel wool back into your container(s), if the year ever comes when it suddenly has rust on it; then you know that you have a problem.
10 – Lastly, I want to reemphasize my first tip. Do not tell anyone anything about the location of your underground cache. Burying your valuables keeps them absolutely safe because of the single solitary fact that no one knows where they are. If your geocaching is the result of a group project, then make damn sure you can trust your fellow preppers with both your property and quite possibly your life; furthermore, whether you are digging in an urban, suburban or rural environment remember that there are probably more people watching you than you realize. Use common sense when traveling to and from your location, wear camouflage or dark clothing and try be quiet when digging. Be sneaky, dig at 4:00am during a full moon without using a flashlight or be creative; only visit your cache during a severe thunderstorm.

How to bury your stuff; 5 Methods

How To Bury: 5 Methods

to Guarantee the Safety of Your Valuables

Because no one can take what they cannot find

Here are 5 methods that myself and other survivalists have been using successfully for many years. They can be used by themselves, but since multiple redundancies are best, they can also be used in any combination that you desire. I’ll start with the cheapest first and progress to the most expensive, but you should be aware that money invested has no bearing on the integrity of your cache. If constructed properly, each of these is just as reliable as the other.

The Bell Method

The Bell Method is something that I thought up and named when I was about 12 years old. The concept works on the simple truth that water cannot run uphill and in 30 years of digging, this is the least expensive way I’ve ever found that can guarantee 100% that your gear or valuables stay dry. If you are on a budget, then use the Bell Method. It’s based on the fact that you can take an empty drinking glass, turn it upside down (like a hanging bell) and push it down into a bucket of water. Anything attached to the inside of the bottom of the glass will remain perfectly dry.
A hanging bell is represented by any upside down container that is constructed out of a single piece of plastic, aluminum or galvanized steel. Any size or shape Tupperware container or plastic storage tote should work just fine. Choose your container and another container big enough to hold the first.
Dig a hole in the ground appropriately sized for the larger of the two containers, as the larger container will be used to make the bell. Make sure to measure your depth to allow for your area’s frost line and the height of the container. As you can see by the photo below, lay the lid in the hole and weight it with rocks or bricks.
The primary purpose of these rocks or bricks will be to keep your smaller container up towards the bottom of the upside-down larger container (the top of the bell) and out of the water. The Bell Method includes these rocks or bricks through the assumption that your bell may not be perfectly level and perpendicular to the pull of gravity. Even if you use a leveling tool, changing temperatures can shift, pivot or move your bell causing it to lose it’s perfect level. The rocks or bricks allow for some water to enter the bottom of your bell and hold your precious valuables up out of the water. In the example given in the photograph, the second Tupperware container would float toward the top of the bell in the event that water entered the cache.
Also note that should a torrential downpour of rain literally saturate the ground, the air bubble inside the bell will create a very powerful positive buoyancy. It is critical that you bury your container deep enough that the weight of the soil is heavy enough to hold it down; if you must bury this shallow then I recommend placing rocks or bricks on top of the bell for added weight.
I would not normally use a storage tote of this size; only doing so as an example for this website. If the bell is not deep enough (6 inches or so) and not heavy enough, it can actually bob to the surface by slowly breaking through a thin layer of soil; so bury it deep; at least 18 inches for larger containers; but use common sense when deciding on depth versus the strength of your bell. For example, if you are burying at a depth of 5 or 6 feet, a Tupperware storage tote like this one will most certainly collapse from the weight of that much dirt. Consider using a plastic drum or buying a pickup truck’s fuel tank from a junkyard.
I’ve had people in New Jersey, Missouri and Tennessee inform me that their underground bells had only been slightly dislodged after as many as 8 years underground; and that their precious cargo was in perfect condition, just as it was the day that they buried it.
On my ‘Tips and Tricks page’ I show several containers that can be found around the house or in the garage that make excellent Bell Method candidates.

Surplus Ammo Can

Surplus military ammo cans are the best! They are not as cheap as they once were but are still very affordable. The ease of opening and closing the can is the greatest thing about them. You don’t need silicone, grease or epoxy to seal them and you don’t need tools to get one open. Just pop it open and pop it closed.
Don’t purchase the new plastic kind and don’t buy a used one that is rusted or severely dented. The original issue “old school” metal ones from the Vietnam era are the best. When buying surplus ammo cans, inspect the rubber seal on the lid. Ensure that this gasket is intact with no damage or dry-rot and you’re in business.

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on 30 Caliber Ammo Cans <<

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on 50 Caliber Ammo Cans <<

One cool thing about metal ammo cans is that they function as excellent EMP shields or Faraday Boxes. They are in fact, specifically designed to shield ammunition and AP mine detonators from EMP while on the battlefield. Any electronic devices placed inside the closed box and NOT touching the metal body of the can will be protected against electromagnetic surge of any kind.
I use ammo cans when I’m burying from depths ranging from 3-5ft deep or when I’m burying for long periods of time. There’s not much else to say about them. They are inexpensive, tough and will more than likely remain watertight long after we are all dead and buried ourselves.

PVC Pipe

This is a popular method used by preppers and survivalists worldwide. Buy a piece of 6” PVC conduit or sewer pipe and some rubber endcaps. You’ll also want some epoxy resin and some wheel bearing grease or Vaseline.
Cut the pipe to fit whatever you are burying and allow yourself a little extra length; better to be too long than too short. Personally, I use epoxy resin to permanently seal one end with a rubber endcap. After loading my valuables, I use grease or Vaseline to seal the other end, the “door.” I then mark each end and out of sheer habit, I bury the section of pipe with the permanently sealed end slightly uphill of the door. This is probably unnecessary, just a habit of mine. In this photo, they used threaded endcaps.

If you are planning on leaving your cache unattended for more than 5 years, it won’t hurt to spray paint the entire thing with a good enamel or cover it with a plastic sheet. I do this to prevent dry-rot on the endcaps and once again, this practice is also probably unnecessary and just another one of my paranoid quirks.
Don’t forget to stick a screwdriver in a Zip-Loc baggie and bury it with your PVC pipe. Amusingly enough, I can personally attest that without a screwdriver, a knife or a dime, they are frustratingly impossible to get open.

The FoodSaver Vacuum

These vacuum machines usually run from $80 to $200 and use plastic bags that are designed to prevent or postpone freezer burn in frozen foods. These things are not cheap, however you will find they are quite useful in the kitchen, and they really do seal permanently. Here’s the cool thing though, you can use them for anything at all; if it will fit in the bag, it will seal it.

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on Foodsaver Model V2244 <<

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on Foodsaver Model V3835 <<

You can dump in whatever you want. Handfuls of bullets, USB flashdrives or even paper products like a ledger, diary or photographs, then simply seal the bag. I’ve included another photo and my only advice about this method would be to try to use desiccant if possible.

Pelican cases

Pelican Products was founded in the 1970′s.  They make versatile and superior waterproof cases worthy of respect; and they are also priced accordingly. Sorry, but if you want “the best” then you’ll have to pay for it.

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on Pelican Case Model 1600 <<

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on Pelican Case Model 2975 <<

Pelican makes a variety of cases in different sizes and shapes that come guaranteed and under warranty. You can buy a case fitted for your external hard drive or for your favorite rifle. They make specialized and general purpose containers in almost any size you could possibly desire.

How to bury paper products

Currency, Photographs and Documents

How to Bury Your Stuff: The Ultimate Guide to Burying Your Documents

Because no one can take what they cannot find

If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend reading my General Tips page before burying photographs or documents.
Whenever the subject of burying money arises, I always say the same thing … Don’t do it. Don’t bury paper money. “Paper” money is not actually paper, it’s cloth and cloth will mildew, mold or rot very easily. Not only is this a bad thing for the obvious reasons, but intentionally causing damage to United States currency is a crime.
If you insist on burying money, at least use Sacagawea dollars, Susan B. Anthony silver dollars or any other metal coin. Again, I would not recommend this route, exchange your cash for gems or precious metals. It you are a survival prepper, then you are probably already aware that in the event of an economic collapse, civil war or any variation of an apocalypse; currency will be worthless anyway.
Burying paper documents like birth certificates or real estate deeds can be tricky. The most likely damage will come from moisture and that moisture will most likely damage the paper itself, in addition to ruining even the most permanent ink. You’ll need some aluminum foil, Saran Wrap or any other brand of plastic food wrap. For the purposes of this tutorial, I’m using the map shown below to simulate any important document or manuscript.

Using the photos as a guide, separate each individual sheet of paper with plastic wrap or foil. If you need to fold a sheet of paper, fold it over a piece of plastic wrap or foil so that the paper doesn’t touch itself. After this, I recommend Zip-Loc and ONLY Zip-Loc brand sandwich bags, throw in some desiccant if you have any and then squeeze out as much air as possible. In the following sequence, I’ve folded the map twice; each time placing foil between the paper, trimmed the edges with scissors then placed the folded map inside two Zip-Loc bags.
The same goes for photographs. You don’t want them physically touching each other and you’ll want to keep them away from air as much as possible.  After squeezing out the air, double up your protection by placing your Zip-Loc bags in an ammo can, water bottle or Tupperware container.
Since air contains moisture, the “hands-down” best method of burying photographs, documents or paper is to use the FoodSaver vacuum machines. Unlike external hard drives or small handguns, paper products like documents and photographs are flat, making the FoodSaver vacuum machine the perfect tool.

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on FoodSaver Vacuum Sealing Kit <<

When it sucks the air out of the bag, paper products allow the machine to remove virtually all air, preserving your items almost perfectly in a permanently sealed wrap. This is the best way that I’ve ever found to bury paper documents. Here’s a photo of my own birth certificate, folded around Saran Wrap, my laminated student ID Card and packed with a single packet of desiccant. This particular photo is part of a larger project explained on my webpage entitled “My Personal Cache” where I am actually burying an external hard drive along with several other personal items.
When burying books (should you desire to hide a ledger, etc), I’ve always just squeezed out as much air as possible. If you have the time and energy, place a piece of Saran Wrap or aluminum foil between EACH page; when burying books for long periods of time, this time-consuming and frustrating process can make the difference between salvation or disaster. Make sure to dig below the frost line and follow the guidelines on my General Tips page; and it wouldn’t hurt to dig it up once a year to check your cache.

How to Bury Your Guns and Ammunition

Firearms and Ammunition

How to Bury Your Stuff: The Ultimate Guide to Burying Your Guns and Ammo

Because no one can take what they cannot find

If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend reading my General Tips page before burying firearms or ammunition.
When burying firearms and ammunition, the key is to prevent moisture from damaging either steel or gunpowder. Obviously they need to be waterproofed completely so as to not allow contact with rainwater. Unfortunately, air also contains water and it’s going to be tough to absolutely isolate an entire firearm or a box of cartridges from any and all air. This is why stable temperatures are so important and why I constantly stress burying below the frost line and using some sort of insulation.

Keeping desiccant with your ammunition can be a lifesaver when storing ammo above the frost line or for longer than a few years. After sealing your desiccant and ammo together, you’ll also need a temperature buffer. Use dead air like a beer cooler to insulate against condensation or wrap your sealed ammo up in a cotton towel. Drop the wrapped up towel into an ammo can or Tupperware or Rubbermaid container. When using plastic totes, I recommend sealing the lid with silicone.

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on Desiccant Packs <<

Using desiccant with firearms isn’t as critical as long as you’re digging deep. I always instruct people to just “over oil” the weapon and wrap it in an rag before sealing it inside a watertight container. It is however, more popular to grease your firearm thoroughly. Before doing so, remove anything made of wood (stock, grip or forearm), unload it and make sure that you dry-fire your weapon, you won’t want to leave the hammer-spring under tension. Ensure that your magazines are unloaded and your firearm’s action or slide is forward.

Completely coating/injecting a firearm with wheel bearing or white lithium grease is the most popular and effective way of preserving your guns, just be sure that you have the materials necessary to remove the grease. Keep in mind that removing any type of grease from any firearm will probably take more than a few moments; if you personally feel as though you may need your firearm quickly, then consider an alternative to grease.
Greasing firearms or purging your caches with nitrogen is probably a good idea if you intend to leave them underground for more than a couple years. Packing plenty of desiccant or silica-gel is another option; every little bit helps. When deciding on which method to use, consider how deep you are digging and how long the cache will be left unattended. If you are storing your firearms and ammunition below the frost line, then the “extras” aren’t really necessary.

If you are burying a rifle or shotgun and can afford Pelican cases then I suggest getting one, they have an excellent reputation. If not, PVC pipe will do equally as well provided the weapon will fit inside the tube. Remember that if you’re not greasing your firearms to always wrap them in something; a blanket or some bath towels, don’t just toss it in a piece of PVC pipe. As soon as I can, I plan on adding a step-by-step instructional page about burying long guns.

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on Pelican Case Model 1750 <<

If you are burying a pistol, I recommend the military-issue ammo cans. Handguns are much easier to deal with when caching underground since they are much smaller; this equals less digging and easy covert transportation to and from the cache site.

Want my personal advice on burying a handgun? Oil the hell out of it, wrap it in a T-shirt and drop it an a military-issue ammunition can with a good rubber seal and bury it BELOW the frost line but no deeper than 5 or 6 feet. It sounds too simple and I’ve had people question this advice over the years; but never had any complaints from anyone who’s followed it.
In the first photo shown below, I show a Remington 1911 R1, a box of 100 .45 caliber cartridges, an ammo can and two cotton T-shirts. If I were burying this gun for less than three years, I would simply wrap it (and the ammo) with the T-shirts just as you see in the second photo. Dig it up every couple of years to oil it thoroughly and you won’t have any problems. I’ll go into greater detail about using surplus ammo cans  on a separate webpage.

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on 50 Caliber Ammo Cans <<

Take care when burying optical devices like rifle scopes, binoculars or night-vision optics. Use desiccant generously, make sure you use plenty of temperature insulation and make sure it’s waterproof.

The very best way to bury ammo?…In my humble opinion, loose cartridges and desiccant sealed with a FoodSaver bag; then temperature-insulated with a towel and waterproofed again inside another container. I would advise this method if you’re burying above the frost line or you’re intending to leave the ammo underground for many years. The photo below is just an example, obviously one could put more than twenty rounds in each bag.

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on FoodSaver V3820 <<

On this page, I’ve mentioned several popular methods of caching guns and ammo underground and if you’re new to the idea of burying firearms and ammunition, then this may all sound confusing. Are you wondering which one would I use? Which method is simple yet still works? Which method have I personally seen 100% positive results when done correctly? The answer is PVC pipe for long guns or military surplus ammo cans for handguns. No grease and no nitrogen; just oil the weapon and wrap it in something cotton; blankets or T-shirts. I’d seal my ammo in FoodSaver or Zip-Loc bags with desiccant and pack even more desiccant around the firearm.

I would bury the cache between 4 or 5 feet down and feel comfortable leaving it for 8 to 10 years. If it was a blued-steel gun (like the 1911 shown above) or any older firearm, then you will find surface-oxidation or discoloring after that long, but the gun would still shoot. if it was a newer gun like a Glock or any stainless-steel gun, it wouldn’t look a bit different.

I don’t recommend leaving any underground caches unattended for more than a few years. The soil moves and the landscape changes. Come back after 10 years and you may not be able to find your cache. If you are unable to dig up your guns and check them out every 2 or 3 years, and if you need long term storage, then you might consider grease, cosmoline or nitrogen-purging. Need them to go undisturbed for 20 or 30 years? Then I’d recommend completely covering AND injecting grease into every crevice of your firearm.

Ready to dig? Break out your storage tote, PVC pipe, beer cooler or ammo can and place your wrapped guns and ammunition inside. When burying guns and ammunition underground for longer than five years, I recommend adding about 12 inches to whatever frost line is suggested for your area; but just dig as deep as comfortably possible. The deeper you go, the stronger your containers must be; but the trade-off in depth is worth the extra work to reach more stable temperatures.

How to bury electronics

Electronics and Digital Devices

How to Bury Your Stuff: The Ultimate Guide to Burying Your Electronics and Digital Devices

Because no one can take what they cannot find

If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend reading my General Tips page before burying electronics or digital devices.
Use caution when burying electronics, not because of the risk of damaging a device but because some digital devices that you may want to hide can be electronically tracked and located. It would be terrible to lose precious metals, firearms or important documents to theft because you agreed to hide someone else’s cell phone (for example) with your cache. Only hide your own electronics and digital devices, and ensure that they cannot be physically tracked.
The same rules that apply to properly burying firearms, ammunition or documents also apply to electronic and digital devices. External optical drives and any other electronics devices with moving parts, including something as primitive as a VCR, must be buried below the frostline. My own personal experiences include 2-way radios, cassette tapes, USB flashdrives, external hard drives and one of my laptops. I can tell you two things for certain when it comes to burying laptop computers. One, you want a Pelican model 1085 like the one listed below…

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on Pelican Case Model 1085 <<

…and two, you MUST bury your laptop below the frost line. You should place it in the Pelican 1085 with as much desiccant as possible. Then I would recommend wrapping the case with a towel and using silicone to then seal it in a Tupperware container, eventually turning the Tupperware container into a Faraday Box and then using the Bell Method to protect the second container with a third. I do recommend using the Pelican 1085; however on this website I will be recovering my own HP 2000 series notebook which was buried last year without using a Pelican case or desiccant. I plan on leaving it underground for exactly one year and documenting the entire recovery project in order to demonstrate the protection that my Bell Method can provide.
The Bell Method is explained on my webpage entitled How to Bury, 5 Methods and a Faraday Box is basically the same as a Faraday Cage; except that when burying EMP shielded digital devices, one must remember that water and the ground will both conduct electricity. It may seem extreme to some individuals to shield electronics from electro-magnetive pulse but please keep in mind that NNEMP weapons are not the only things that can fry your circuit boards. I’m not an expert on the subject, but it’s my understanding that the Sun’s ever-increasing solar flares can just as easily destroy your buried electronics or digital devices.
If you are planning to bury an external hard drive, feel free to check out my webpage entitled My Personal Cache, a Step-by-Step.

How to bury a laptop

How to Bury a Laptop – A Step-by-Step Guide

Because no one can take what they cannot find

In October 2012, I purchased an HP model 2000 laptop with the new Windows 8 OS and like many other customers, immediately hated it. I fooled around with it for a day or two, decided it wasn’t for me and had a friend install the Nadia release of Linux Mint. At the time I was toying with the idea of launching this website and since it was purchased as a spare computer anyway, decided to do a little experiment. On the fifth of November, Guy Fawkes Day 2012, I cached the new HP notebook in my girlfriend’s garden and left it there for an entire year. I had never buried an entire computer before and thought it might make a good test for my Bell Method.

Usually a step-by-step guide would normally follow a certain chronological order but I’m afraid that the order is going to be reversed for this project. Please note that I am documenting a recovery, not a burial. I did not use desiccant or even waterproof containers; the computer itself was not sealed in any way and was not even placed in an air-tight container. In this instructional, I will be showing exactly how it was done and exactly how effectively and easily my Bell Method can be employed. Below you can see a photograph of my girlfriend’s garden where the computer has spent the last year.

Because of rain and storms, I was unable to retrieve the laptop on the exact anniversary of the fifth of November. It’s now two days later and here goes; I’ve retrieved my geocaching tools from the garage and now it’s time to commence with the digging.

After about a half an hour of back-breaking labor (yes, I’m getting too old to be digging holes) I’ve uncovered the bottom of a large blue Tupperware storage tote that I used for a Bell. Inside the Bell is a clear plastic Sterilite tote that contains the laptop itself.

After more digging, prying and some tugging, I was able to remove the large tote from its hole and open it up to show exactly what I had done a year ago to protect my new laptop. The photos below show how the cache was arranged before I dug it up and retrieved it. The top of the Bell (bottom of the tote) was about 12 inches down and I used two concrete stepping stones to keep the smaller Sterilite container above any water that might’ve entered the bottom of the cache. As you can see in the following photos, water and dirt did in fact enter the bottom of the Bell. For the record, using the stepping stones was completely unnecessary since the laptop’s clear Sterilite container would float anyway; and yes, I tested it with the laptop in the bathtub last year before I buried it.

The laptop itself was wrapped in bath towels to act as insulation against rapid changes in temperature. The wrapped notebook was then placed inside a smaller Sterilite container which was covered in aluminum foil to help shield against EMP or any other electrical surge. Although aluminum is commonly used by preppers to shield against EMP, I strongly recommend using it in conjunction with copper mesh. Copper is the better conductor and is a better material for the construction of a Faraday Cage.

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on copper mesh <<

Once liberating the aluminum-foil-covered Sterilite container from the blue tote, I removed the aluminum foil and carried it inside the house WITHOUT opening it. I placed it on the floor of our spare bedroom for 24hrs to allow for a slow temperature adjustment after bringing it in from the cold. If it can be avoided, never bring electronics, ammunition, documents or firearms into a warm house from cold weather without insulation; the rapid increase in both temperature and humidity will cause condensation to form in places that you don’t want moisture to be. This condensation won’t cause any immediate damage but will eventually shorten the life of your computer, firearm, digital camera, ammunition etc.

The following day, (8 Nov) after much anticipation and apprehension, I opened the Sterilite tote, unwrapped the notebook from the bath towels and powered the computer up. The battery was completely dead so I had to plug it into an AC outlet.

As experienced as I am with caching all sorts of items underground, this was my first involvement with burying an entire computer for an extended period of time. Since I had already mentioned this project on another webpage, I felt a noticeable amount of pressure when I hit the power button. Apprehension quickly gave way to relief when the machine immediately booted just as quickly as it did when I first purchased it. Here’s a photo of the HP with today’s Yahoo’s homepage.

I transferred several random files around, tested the optical drive, opened Chrome and Firefox then hit up a couple of the more popular websites. The machine functions flawlessly and here’s a photograph of today’s (8 Nov 2013) New York Times webpage.

My first experience with the Bell Method was placing cassette tapes or books inside Zip-Loc bags and super-gluing them to the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket. I was about 12yrs old and I would bury the buckets upside-down to hide them from my parents; (yeah, I had a weird childhood) and since then, I’ve never had any damage to any of my belongings whenever I used the Bell Method. The Sterilite tote that I used in this project is not air-tight but it is durable and quite handy for all types of things.

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on Sterilite 15qt containers <<

I consider this project to be a shining example of how well my Bell Method works. Not only did I NOT use the revered and acclaimed desiccant or silica-gel; I didn’t use any waterproofing techniques including float-bags, silicone sealant, plastic bags, dry-boxes, pelican cases or sealed containers of any kind. In fact with the exception of the bath towels, the laptop was even open to the air. I didn’t purchase anything in order to complete this project, only using things that I found in the house or garage. The key was burying below the frostline and ensuring that I had a one-piece Bell that kept water from running up into my cache. The other important factor was the bath towels wrapped around the machine and the dead air space between the two containers acting as an additional temperature buffer.

The blue tote will have to be thrown away. It’s hard to see in the photos, but one side was caved in a little from the weight of the soil. As I mentioned on one of my other pages, storage totes this large are not ideal for caching underground. In just one year, the soil had packed very tightly and made it difficult to retrieve. In addition, I managed to crack the tote with the mattock while digging it up and then I broke one of the lid latches when pulling it out of the ground. However, it should be noted that my cache was intact before I retrieved it; the damage was the result of my carelessness with the mattock. In retrospect, it would’ve saved me a lot of time and trouble to just cut a hole in the bottom of the blue tote, pulled the Sterilite container through and reburied the broken tote.

The trade-off of using household products for this experiment did involve digging a massive hole in the ground in order to properly bury the cache. Retrieving it yesterday and then refilling the hole was even more work; I have a sore back that could’ve been prevented with a few investments. Pelican Products makes several cases specifically for laptops and they are well worth it for the convenience. If I ever bury another notebook, I’ll use one of these and save myself a lot of digging.

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on Pelican 1095 <<

These laptop cases are surprisingly affordable and can not only be used for caching underground, but on a daily basis for work or school. I’ve read about people dropping their notebooks while in these cases and reporting no damage to the machine at all.

I think that this project has shown how cheaply and effectively my Bell Method can be used with guns, books, electronics, ammo, documents, medications, laptops, or camping and survival gear. And just for the record, I don’t recommend caching valuable items in your garden or flower bed. Last year, I had to dig quietly at 3:00am in near-total darkness to prevent my neighbors from seeing me bury a huge bright-blue storage tote in our backyard; and I’m sure I got some weird looks yesterday while I was digging it up. Stick to wooded areas.

Well that’s about as detailed of a description as I can give, but should you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to click on the Contact Me page of this website.

How to Bury Food

Because no one can take what they cannot find

This website is dedicated to the protection of your most precious belongings by providing you with the information necessary for safely caching valuables underground. When one normally hears the term “valuables,” one doesn’t normally think of food. Food is something that the average American takes for granted; most of us have at least a few meals or snacks readily available in our homes. Food can easily be found in grocery stores, restaurants, department stores, gas stations or the vending machines at work. Digging the spare change out of your car’s console can quickly get you a couple cheeseburgers at McD’s or a few Snickers bars from a convenient store. Hunters and fishermen can find food, gardeners can make food and if you really get desperate, you can swing by a friend or family member’s house for a bite to eat.
With the rapid upswing in food prices and inflation, more Americans are turning to hunting, fishing and gardening as a method of easing the grocery bills. Survivalists and preppers are even stockpiling large amounts of food in anticipation of higher prices, food shortages, natural disasters or an economic collapse. Some experts have indeed predicted massive food shortages in the near future and with that in mind, I’ve decided to write a post about caching food underground.
I’ve been burying things underground for about 30 years and I can assure you that caching food anywhere outdoors presents a problem like none other. Smell. Smell is not an issue with guns, gold, knives, photographs, hard drives, blankets, silver, ammunition, vehicle titles, laptops, or camping and survival gear. Animals, any and every animal, has superior olfactory senses and can usually smell food from great distances and through several feet of dirt. Once an animal “catches wind” of food, they will usually stop at nothing to reach it.
This brings me to two important points about burying food. One; you should cache it inside a steel or aluminum container. The PVC pipe caches that I’m so fond of are worthless because any number of mammals from mice, squirrels, raccoons or coyotes can chew through the rubber endcaps if they smell your food. The same goes for Tupperware or Rubbermaid containers and Lexan dry-boxes. Animals can be relentless and while many preppers do use plastic containers to successfully cache their food, I personally wouldn’t advise it. Depending on how much food you keep in stock will dictate what type of container you use; military surplus ammo cans, old pickup truck toolboxes and steel 55 gallon drums are ideal; provided you keep them from rusting.
The second important point is that the food needs to be factory sealed inside it’s original container. Don’t open, un-zip or un-seal anything and don’t try to bury any type of jerky or cubed beef steaks; I can even smell that stuff through the package. Dehydrated foods are the best; if I remember correctly, they have a shelf life of 25+ years and have no detectable odor when left in the original packaging. These two qualities make them the number one candidate for long-term underground storage. The photographs below show two examples of a popular brand of dehydrated foods. I’ve personally eaten these, they are filling, tasty and easy to prepare.

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on Mountain House Pro-Pak Dehydrated Food Packs <<

 >> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on Mountain House Dehydrated Food Bucket <<

Another good option is military issue MRE’s. They are rated for a 5-year shelf life but I know from personal experience that they remain edible for much longer. Like dehydrated foods, they are not cheap, but they are made and packaged specifically for long term storage. They are also loaded with energy-packing vitamins and nutrients.

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on Single MRE Packs <<

>> Click here to get current pricing and reviews from Amazon.com on MRE – 12 Packs <<

There is a third option for burying foods that is just as viable as dehydrated foods and MRE’s; canned foods. Whether you buy canned vegetables and spam from the supermarket or can your own vegetables from the garden; canned foods do not have expiration dates, only “best-if-used-by” dates. Remember that if you’re using glass canning jars, you must bury below the frost line to help prevent breakage or cracking of the glass. If you are storing only metal cans that you bought from the supermarket, feel free to cache them in PVC tubes or plastic drums.
Unless you’re storing dehydrated foods, you’ll want to rotate your stockpile of foods if possible. Always check the seal of a glass jar by making sure the lid isn’t “popped” and don’t eat from a metal can if it’s swollen or bulged out. Pack your glass jars with old bedsheets or bath towels to prevent damage while moving your cache.
I chose “Because no one can take what they cannot find” as a slogan when I started this project simply because in 30 years no one has ever found anything that I’ve buried or helped others bury. But animals are different when it comes to burying food because they can find your cache. As I mentioned before; food smells, and the worst mistake you can make is to underestimate an animal’s sense of smell. If a raccoon for example, smells some beef jerky in a 50 caliber ammo can, he’ll dig it up and drag it away. Just because the raccoon can’t open the ammo can won’t prevent the loss of your food cache. I knew a guy in Tennessee who buried food in ammo cans, then chained and padlocked them to a large tree root before covering them. It’s an unlikely occurrence and an amusing recollection, but something to consider nonetheless.
My last tip would be to suggest placing mothballs inside your can, box or drum with your food; then scattering mothballs in the hole before placing your cache. Mothballs are the greatest thing for repelling any type of creature; insects, reptiles and mammals alike will steer clear for quite some time.

Guide to surplus military issue ammo cans

Guide to Military Surplus Ammo Cans

Because no one can take what they cannot find

One of the most popular methods of caching underground is using military surplus ammo containers. On this page, I’ll be talking about the “old-school” Vietnam-era 5.56mm, 30 caliber, 50 caliber and 20mm ammunition canisters made out of steel. They are rectangular shaped, constructed as a one-piece box with a hinged, removable top with a locking clasp and a handle.
There is one very good reason why these steel ammo cans are popular with survivalists and preppers; and that’s quite simply because they work. They have a rubber seal around the lid and provided that you don’t get one with a bad seal, it won’t leak … ever. For what it’s worth, I’ve messed with dozens of these things over the years and I’ve never even seen one with a bad seal. I always instruct people to check this gasket when purchasing a military surplus ammo can; but even if you buy one with a bad seal, all you would need to do is run a bead of all-purpose silicone over the cracked or dry-rotted seal before closing it. The only time I’ve ever told someone to scrap one was because it was dented so badly that the box itself was deformed. Ensure that the lid closes properly and you’re “good-to-go.” An easy way to check for sure? Dunk the closed can as deep as you can in a swimming pool or stream for about 10 minutes; the whole time shaking and turning it underwater, then check for water on the inside.

Another big plus is the ease of opening and closing, you don’t need tools to open or close them. Just pop the clasp and poof! you’re done, no screwdrivers or grease. Another added benefit is that they are already camouflaged, almost always painted in the traditional olive-drab matte green that is truly difficult to spot in the brush. The paint is tough and although they will eventually rust, you can take comfort in the fact that military-grade ammo cans take a very, very long time to rust all the way through.
The above photograph shows a 50 caliber box that was recently excavated after being undisturbed 24 inches underground for 4 years. A friend of mine used it to store a Sig model 229 with 300 rounds of Federal 40 caliber JHP. He didn’t use desiccant and since the gun was undamaged and the bullets fired just fine, I’ll assume that this is a “good” can and show you how to restore it. The little bit of surface rust that you can observe in the photo is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about, there is only slight pitting in the metal and my friend could’ve left the ammo can underground for another 4 years with nothing to worry about.
Although I mentioned that a little rust won’t hurt, I’m more than a bit “meticulous” when it comes to caching. My friend replaced this box with a newer one, reburied his Sig and gave me this ammo can; and I want it in the absolute best possible condition should I decide to use it. So here we go … you’re gonna want a wire brush (the longer the bristles, the better) some sandpaper and some isopropyl alcohol.
Remove the lid from the box and scrape all the outside surfaces. You will want to use the wire brush to dig as deep as possible into any pits or crevices. Sandpaper is fine for the flat surfaces as long as you remove as much rust as possible from each and every part of the box and lid. When you’re done, use the rubbing alcohol and a couple of clean rags to remove every bit of dirt, dust and grit.
After you’ve successfully cleaned your ammo can, you’ll want to paint it. Spray primer on it first if you want, but in my experience the spray paint primers don’t stick any better than the paint itself. For this ammo box, I picked out a can of Rust-Oleum textured enamel in flat pewter. I can’t tell you how many coats of paint I sprayed but I used more than half the can of paint.
I put a couple extra coats of paint on the bottom of the box and all the way around the bottom about an inch up all four sides. If you’ll scroll back up to the first photograph of this box, you’ll see an extra layer of caked-up mud and rust along the bottom of the ammo can. This is the result of a plastic “bell” that my friend used when he cached it four years ago. I’ll explain in more detail shortly.
Well here’s my finished product. I removed as much rust as was possible, thoroughly cleaned it and I feel pretty confident about the paint job. My next step was to rummage through the garage and find a tarpaulin; the tarp itself is in good condition except most of the grommets are ripped out. I laid my freshly painted ammo can upside-down in the middle of the tarp and cut a rectangular section out of the tarp.
The rectangular section is trimmed down so as to allow me to wrap the ammo can in such a way as to create a bell shaped cover for the box; leaving only the bottom of the box open. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend my web page entitled “How to Bury; 5 Methods” as it explains my Bell Method a little more thoroughly.
Please take note that in this photo, the ammo can is upside-down and the masking tape that you see is on the bottom of the box. I’ve already cut a second rectangular section (identical in size to the first) out of the tarp and wrapped it in the exact same manner (with the tape on the bottom of the box); making a two-layered bell to keep the ammo can dry. Note that I’ve wrapped it so that the only openings in the tarps are on the bottom of the box.
When you bury your surplus ammo can “right-side-up,” the openings in the tarp with the masking tape will be on the bottom. The weight of the soil will keep the tarps in place and since it’s impossible for water to flow uphill, your ammo can will stay dry until the tarps rot enough to leak. In my experience, two layers of a typical tarp like this one from Wal-Mart, should keep most of your box dry for the first 1-4 years. (depending on climate, annual rainfall and depth)
My friend used garbage bags when he cached his Sig four years ago and they rotted quickly; this is why you can clearly see a ring of rust and mud around the bottom of the ammo can in the first pic. This is also why I put extra coats of paint on the bottom, because the bottom of the box will get a little wetter. An alternative would be to use an upside-down Tupperware container or a junked vehicle’s fuel tank as a bell but that means more work by digging a bigger hole.
I might also note that making a “bell” to keep your ammo can dry is only for long term storage and might be a little extreme. A lot of preppers don’t cover their military surplus ammo cans with anything; they just drop them in a hole and cover with dirt. There’s nothing wrong with this method. As I mentioned before, these cans are water-tight and they take many years to rust. Just off-hand as I’m typing this, I can’t ever remember hearing about anyone losing anything that they put in them.
Here’s what it would look like going in the ground. I’m not actually burying this can so you’ll have to imagine caching it a little deeper. In this photo, the top of the ammo can is about 8 inches below the surface. I just dug this hole as a demonstration, I would triple that depth to about 24 inches if this cache was staying in the ground. The frost line here is 15 inches but that varies, you’d have to research the frost line for your location.
That’s just about everything you need to know about military-grade surplus ammunition canisters. Don’t be afraid to buy one that’s a little beat-up; if it’s got a little rust or a few small dents that’s perfectly normal. Every ammo can that I’ve ever used or seen anyone else use looked just like the first photo on this page and it’s just hard to go wrong with them.
You can use these cans to safely bury anything that will fit inside them; handguns, hard drives, ammunition or valuable documents. I recommend them to everyone because they are affordable, quick and because they do their job quite well.