Has any of you really buried a survival cache ??

There were many proposed ideas for prepping or survival. A survival cache was one of them.
I never buried one, but stored some stuff in my father's house some 100 miles away.
Being an urban guy, it was all I could or want to do.

How about you guys??

It isn't a buried survival cache, but I've built emergency kits for my wife's and my cars. Eldest Recombinant DNA's vehicle also has such a kit.

My loose network of friends look out for each other. I know whose doorstep I can appear on unannounced and be welcomed.

As for burying a cache, I could see a use case for that if my house were more isolated.

A lot of my stuff is buried beneath the usual household clutter...

yes, once buried a rifle, ammo, food, clothes, first aid, etc on some rural property.

first i taped it all up inside heavy duty garbage bags then in a 3x3x3' military "water-proof" aluminum box.

came back a few years later to find it had leaked. serious damage was done.

so if doing this, be absolutely sure its really water-tight.

the other thing i learned was that dirt compacts tightly above and around the container over time. it took much much longer to dig out than i had planned, and needed more than bare hands to do it, so should have hidden digging tools nearby (and above ground too).

Prep and packaging are the keys. Know the shelf life of your supplies under those conditions.

If you do Geocaching you will understand a lot about emplacing and recovering them, as well as planning and documenting the location.

I have used cache's on many occasions.

Being nomads, we frequently need to leave things securely in one area that are forbidden in another. Longest I have left things for real is about 7 months, although I have done some small tests that have been 3 years.

The best reference I have found is;
TC 31-29/A
Special Forces Caching Techniques
U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES
CACHING TECHNIQUES
U.S. ARMY
JOHN F. KENNEDY
SPECIAL WARFARE CENTER

Links change so I won't post one. Just google it.

If storing a weapon, I usually remove some vital part and put it someplace else. Although this has caused me to have to buy a new bolt for a semi-automatic when I failed to properly record the location data. Lesson learned....

I suggest you try caching something, perhaps in your own back yard. Doing is the best way to learn, and it is not as easy as it sounds.

I haven't plaeced a cache, but, as an archaeologist, I have discovered, and excavated, at least one. It was a stash of items, clearly ceremonial in nature,that was in well nigh perfect condition after a burial of about 700 years.

It was placed in a totally dry environment, so I would say - the drier the surroundings for your cache, the better.

If I buried a cache I imagine I'd forget where it was an it would probably be found in a few centuries by an archeologist!

I watched some survivalists bury their caches and they proudly filmed it for YouTube. One guy said he was going to be smart and not reveal even the general location of where he buried it. He took great pains in concealing and covering his tracks. But then he proceeded to pace off the location of the cache from X tree and Y bush.

So I asked him - if a fire were to rip through the area, could he find his cache again? >>crickets<<. He had no GPS coordinates, only visual reckoning. I wonder if he ever found that cache again (it was a big chest buried several feet down and must have been worth a couple of grand).

Yes, GPS coordinates are important! Do the Walter White thing -- bury your cash in the dessert in plastic barrels that cannot be corroded. Do it in the middle of the night. Do it yourself. Do not use Huel and Koby, or they'll be in Mexico. All I'm sayin'. Rent a car. Wash it thoroughly afterwards. Pick a piece of land that will not be developed. Get the GPS coordinate. Then store the coordinates in a clever way, like as numbers on a lottery ticket.

I learned everything I need to know about caching on Breaking Bad.

We did it long before GPS existed.

Keep in mind that some rented cars have GPS trackers.

keep in mind that your GPS might not be functional (ie: gps has dead batteries, you forgot to bring it, dropped it, EMP, hackers, etc )

If your GPS isn't working for whatever reason,as long as you have the numbers, just plot the location on a decent topo map. You may need to convert the numbers to the relevant vase line, and it won't be as accurate, but it will get you in the ball park and you will have a reasonable chance.