Backcountry Gear cache

[Bcoonce117]

Does anyone ever leave gear up in the high country for future trips to same area? Past year I found myself leaving a few items behind if I planned on coming back in a few days. Or also if I had an animal to pack out. (Still planned on coming back for more hunting)

Last year I had a healthy stash of snacks. A chair and a couple miscellaneous items that I would keep stashed deep in the timber.

This year I was thinking about taking a little in every scouting trip. A few luxury items because why not lol. A backpacking cot, a chair, extra fuel canister, and some snacks. Oh and a can of spam because fried spam in the backcountry doesn't feel so unhealthy lol:

 

[Doghed]

I leave gear hanging within the same season, but I've never left things in the backcountry until the following year.

 

[Soj51hopeful]

I’ve done it. Left my tripod, tent, water bag, etc tied in a tree. Stuff I don’t need on the hike in and I know I’m coming back next weekend. That’s about it though I haven’t left anything more than a week without looking at it.

 

[justinspicher]

I have left most of camp in a spot and come back a week later for the season. I only do that if it’s a long hike into a place. I don’t enjoy it, I also expect to come back to my spot and my gear is gone.

 

[YellCoAR]

Way to long between tag draws to even consider that option. All my back country hunting is as a nonresident.
But that is a good idea to carry a few things when scouting you could leave behind if you found a good area.

 

[Legend]

It is not legal on public land. Think what the place would look like if everyone started doing it. There would be buckets in trees all over.

That said I have tried and the damn rope broke, the bears made a mess, and I had a pack full of garbage.

 

[Jimmy]

I know someone that has done that for years. Not supposed too, and I don't. I tell myself what would I do if I packed in and the tent, sleeping bag, pad, and other stuff were all ruined. But that's one law broken that I'm just a little bit jealous.

 

[Poser]

I've done this quite a bit. I always do a really high, double rope hang where my bags are at 12-15 feet in the air and 10+ feet laterally clear of any trees or limbs. -never had any issue.

I do have one area that I end up in most years during a Oct season and I have considered semi permanently stashing a wood stove.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Every gear cache I have ever found in the wild has been chewed into pieces by rodents, sun damaged and disintegrating, or rusty. It's pretty evident that most people don't return to them despite their intentions when leaving it. Last October I found a dry bag someone left under a rock ledge with 2 way radios, a tent, and a pair of pants. Rodents had chewed through the dry bag and then chewed up and scattered the tent and pants. The radios and batteries were rusted and corroded. I get tired of packing out people's trash.

 

[Bcoonce117]

I leave gear hanging within the same season, but I've never left things in the backcountry until the following year.

Yeah I brought it all out last day I hunted there

 

[Bcoonce117]

I have never left anything for over a week and always hang high in a tree about 8-10 feet off the actual tree. I never leave anything I can’t live without. And I always pack out all my trash and other peoples trash if I can manage.

 

[Poser]

Here’s someone’s cache from some years back. This is a spot that I have camped at multiple times during archery season. Thing I can’t figure out is where they set up these cots. There are 2 tiny flat spots that are just big enough for SO Silex tents (and they aren’t particularly comfortable) and that’s it. There are some old rotten poles laying around that suggest a wall tent but there’s nowhere around that you could set a wall tent up. There is an old mining operation about 400 vertical feet up the slope, but no remnants of a horse or mule trail to access the area. My only conclusion is that these guys had excavated a camp out of the hill side snits long since eroded.

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[Bcoonce117]

Yeah I don’t like that. I hate finding trash. I was gonna bring a backpacking cot that only weighs about 4lbs. Just a luxury/ comfort item. But it will be leaving the back country once I don’t plan on coming back.

 

[Beendare]

I have found gear stashes....big wall tent, stove...even whisky that had been there for many years and now it's junk that a bear tore up.

 

[Bugger]

I’ve dropped off gallons of water on scouting trips to use later and not have to hike it in for the hunt. Never had a critter mess with it and it’s easy to hide, plus if you don’t use it all it’s easy to empty them and take the trash out.

 

[mtnrunner260]

Not caching but left 95 BTX, kowa 77, ELs and tripods on a ridge during a sheep hunt for part of packout.
Was glad there was no one around.

 

[BBob]

Here in S AZ we’ve buried water and canned meats during pre season scouting and from one season to the next we planned to hunt. We’ve left the stashes from one year to the next as well. They’ve even survived fires intact.

 

[Huntndog]

I left a huge bull elk in NM last year that I hope to go get later this year!

 

[Geewhiz]

About 10 years ago I found an area that I knew I was going to be spending a fair bit of time in. I hiked in 2 nice folding camp chairs and stashed them to use whenever I'm in there. They are still there and I use them multiple times a year. Its awesome to have an actual chair to sit in and glass from after hiking in several miles.

 

[2531usmc]

Sounds like a pretty great way to trash up the back country……