Backcountry Gear cache

[htlt_surfboards]

Ive got two experiences with this. First was my hunting partner killed a large bear when we were 20 miles from the truck which is a good story he wrote about on here if your interested. We had to leave all of our gear out there to be able to get the bear out and planned on coming back for it the next weekend. Well wouldn't you know giant storm rolled in and washed out the road you have to take to access the area. It was a little more than a month before we could get back in there. I was super nervous that whole month because it was thousands of dollars of gear we had left out there (spotter, sleeping bag, tent, the whole deal). When we made it back everything was fine except his backpacking pillow had somehow gotten wet and froze solid which was pretty funny.

Second experience was from this past season in an area I hunt every year but has no water. Usually the week before season I will pack in my water for the next week and stash it so I don't have to carry that and camp. In the 2023 season I packed my water in and then in the following week the forest service closed the area down so I couldn't hunt there that year. This year I planned to hunt there but couldn't make it out before to do my normal water drop. I was nervous that my previous years water wouldn't be there and then id be left stuck so I decided to pack water in and assume it was gone. Glad I did because the water was in fact destroyed. I use those foldable 4 gallon cubes and all had been torn to pieces by what I assume was a bear. Don't worry everyone I packed out my own trash.

 

[yak]

I've found several cache's over the year. I'm not opposed to it assuming they get it out of there in a timely fashion and keep it neat and tidy. On one occasion, we got 2ft of snow and I was forced to borrow from somebody else's cache of tarps that I had discovered to make it through...borderline survival scenario. I put them back before leaving the area.

 

[Pony Soldier]

For many years, I put a camp in in september and took it out at thankgiving. It wasn't a problem as there were endless camping spots and very few people. I was in about 4 miles. When I pulled out I only left a pile of split wood, my stovepipe, a table top and occasionaly a gal of white gas.

When the fire went through I went back and picked up the metal I left. As backpackers I would think the potential for garbage is much higher and as a NR even more so.

Over the years I have left a number of long term camps. I never left metal items and all looked like old campsites from the 30s if you could find them within 3-5 years. Most remnants included trails, privies, bridges, corrals and spring development. No nails were used. Only baling twine. Much like the camps established by the forest service for trail maintenance in the 30s. I have found a couple hollow stumps filled with jars of matches, salt pepper, and flour and a stove from that period.

 

[RS_Non-Res]

Only heavy stuff. We stashed about 100 pounds of climbing gear several miles in. Went back there a bunch of time over a few years. Projects done and we hauled it out.

 

[11boo]

I cache the stove setup, 10 gal of water and 3-4 bags of woodchucks a week before moving in. No reason not to, only a couple hours from home.

Any foodstuffs would be very likely pillaged by rodents or bears. Every time I’ve left canned food that’s exactly what happened. My stuffs only up there a week or so.

Sucks coming across a long abandoned caches tho. Lots of trash, one find was a pretty nice cast iron tent stove. The tent left behind was rotted. Big pile of rusty tin cans.

 

[taskswap]

I do this for "certain things". I typically hunt Rifle 1 in an area that I've come to know and enjoy that's about 4-6 miles "in". I usually do a pre-opener scouting hike to get a sense of where the herds are. The opener is a Sat so I usually hike out Wed/Thu to scout. When I do, it's a day hike so I'm not as worried about my pack load. I'll almost always throw a gallon jug of water in my pack and "cache" this near where I (often, but not always) camp when I spike out. It's REALLY nice to drop 8+ lbs from my pack-in load from that one thing.

On trips where I'm 100% sure I'm going to "spike out" I'll also bring my tent, kitchen kit, and a few other things. I won't fully set up camp, but I'll drop a duffel with those items where I plan to camp over the next few days. That cuts my weight, but still lets me change my mind if I want to hop over the next ridge or something. Easier to hump everything another half mile than all the way in.

I've never had anything stolen, nor have I left anything behind. I typically hunt a wilderness area, so even when a ton of people are roaming around, it's still easy to stash a duffel where it won't be seen or messed with. Even still, people tend not to do that there anyway. I suppose it's different if you camp by a trail head or parking area with a lot of strangers. I know everybody's experiences have been different, but at least for me, once you're 4+ miles back, it doesn't matter if you're straight, purple, or an alien. People help each other out and don't mess with each others' stuff.

I don't leave trash in the woods, not even a paper napkin.

 

[archeryisking]

I just wrapped a trip in some "wilderness" country that was loaded with caches. Chairs, tents, grill grates, stoves, etc. Actually kind of hurt my heart to find cache after cache as we moved around the area. One spot we found a petroglyph, which I thought was pretty awesome. Two ridges over we find the modern petroglyph, a thirty rack of empty Bud Light cans. That was the "trashiest" wilderness area I have ever been in.

 

[goathunter]

Question is are you willing to risk someone packing it out? You can't exactly report that someone stole your illegal cache.