A sad way to be right.

[shadowwalker]

A buddy called me about a very sad thing that happened. One I told him how to prevent, but he didn't take my advice.
He called here and said someone had found one of his stashes of stuff. Dug it up and took the contents. He said it was before this last snow that hit here a couple of days ago. He barely noticed the hole. He drives by everyday to work.
No, that isn't the sad part. In every stash of stuff he has maps of other ones. Not all of his stashes but if you went and kept digging them up, you'd eventually get all. Yes, he did that. He is now got another stash buddy to go look at the other sites tomorrow. I am laid up and can't go, even to just ride, seems ladders will fall if not positioned right, and if I overextend my balance. Well I am not a kid anymore, I couldn't just get it up and shake it off. Ha,ha.
He got over 55 sites with stuff ranging from the size of three five gallon buckets stacked and buried-15 to 18 to a site, 55 gallon drums, 1-300 gallon poly tank. I helped on a good amount of these burials. It took us over 11 years to do this with time and money for contents when we could. It covers a area of probably 60 miles by 100 miles in area.
There is everything and I mean everything you might need in them as a whole. Now for the really sad note. We also had a summer that we took a several loads of cement bags up to a site on one of his relatives land surrounded by National Forest lands, and built a house in a canyon that just needed us to cover the side of a granite overhang. When we were done we had a two room "house" with over 950 square feet total.Doors, oven/fireplace,windows. It was by (100 yards away) a year round creek that was over 6 feet across and 2 to 6 feet deep. And defendable. With a way to high ground to cover the canyon tops and all of the bottoms. We also buried 3-300 gallon polytanks there with real good stuff. He's did a real good job on the maps with GPS coordinates included. This is well concealed but, if you know it's there you can find it.
At the very least these stashes have to be reburied. But up here eveythings covered with snow and frozen now. But when it starts thawing and roads are passable, it will be a race for sure. And I will be able to help then.
Now I also have stashes, some in and around the areas of his, and I do have maps with them, but I have a system and markers to tell me where the maps are buried from the stashes. I feared something exactly like this.

[beebopcop]

I hope that your worst fears are not realized. Thats a lot of work to see go down the tubes. How did the first sight get discovered? Did someone talk?. I'm sure it has been discussed, but if I were in you and your friends positions I would set up on the next obvious spot and hope to catch the scoundrels. I'd do it every free moment I had within reason. Again, sorry to hear your bad news and I hope things work out for you and your friend.
beebopcop

[nicnap]

Wow. Sorry for that. That stinks.

[methusaleh]

While I understand your willingness to help your friend, and while you seem like an honest person, this reminds me of a very wise saying...

Two can keep a secret if one is dead.

In other words...some things just should not be shared with anyone...

[bullpupm2]

Dead Men Tell no tales.

While I understand your willingness to help your friend, and while you seem like an honest person, this reminds me of a very wise saying...

Two can keep a secret if one is dead.

In other words...some things just should not be shared with anyone...

+1 If and when the scoundrel is found. THe easiest way to keep the other caches hidden is to fill in one of the discovered stashes with the individual who had the map to the location.

[shadowwalker]

This guy and me were tight until he got divorced and got this new wife. I do have about 22 sites by myself and after this probably will try in a nice way to take back as much of my origional stuff as I can when we start reburying the stashes.
I've known this guy since 1972 good,bad,both sides of the law and back to back and carring out the dead so to speak. I would have trusted this man to sleep in the same bed as my wife all night and not touch her. Like I said until he married this last gal. Nuff said on that part. He might find this site someday, ha,ah, ha.
Me and his first wife are still tight and always will be. I'd trust her no question. She just makes bad choices in men, now.
Your right, along time ago a man in a club told me that about two men keeping a secret. That's why when I do something I might not want to get around I do alone or I don't do it.
I don't think the first wife did any talking or took it. She did two years in prison for my buddy. Won't go into it, but that is where we (me and him) started kinda parting ways. She shouldn't have went, the could have manned up to mistakes.
My money is on his second wife, she is like my first wife (who was gone before we started this endevor)social position,money,children, husband. And in that order.

[barkingowl]

Wow... That's a bad blow. :(

[civiliansoldier]

I gather from the discussion that these stashes are buried in areas open to public access? Or in the least on land not owned by you or your friend. Correct me if I am wrong. So, having said that, If you are going to put things in a place where you run the risk of someone else finding it you should prepare for the chance that you may lose said stash just like you talked about above. I am not saying it is right. I am just saying that in a case such as this that is the risk you must take. If it were me I would have kept my goods either on my own property or in some of my predetirmined rally points. Around here we have alot of swamp land so it is easy to stash stuff without leaving any sign that the land had been disturbed. Just my opinions.

[Dracos]

What a disaster! I have lost stuff to bears and rats. Never people. Sorry for your loss.

[TheUnboundOne]

Shadowalker,

My apologies for your loss. Although a piece of a person's life is always lost with theft, try to reassure yourself with the fact that there is no piece of property that ultimately can't be replaced with time and effort.

Situations like this are a very good argument for always having not just a "Plan B," but a "Plan B Through Z" that is uniquely yours and no one elses.

I don't tell everything about my survival plans even to other Survivalists and I don't take offense if others have survival plans that they don't want to reveal. As long as no initiation of force or fraud to take anyone else's values is involved, I say that personal secrets are no one else's business. In fact, if someone is trying to protect values from predators, then secrecy is to be expected. If I were one of the Dutch hiding Anne Frank in the attic Secret Annex, you can best believe that I'm going to be stocking up on Depends for myself if that's what it takes to keep a secret.

Telling all to anyone not only risks yourself if the person is untrustworthy, but it can risk the safety of the other person if they are trustworthy yet known to be privy to your secrets. Your enemies could kidnap your confidant and torture them for your information or ransom them until you reveal it. This is one reason why I never tell my computer passwords or my Social Security Number even to my own parents.

Always look for alternatives in ways to achieve your goals, and that includes alternative associations, friends, relatives, and contacts. Yes, Preparedness and Survivalism are easier in teams, but don't put your full reliance on any one individual or group. Even when the individual or group is trustworthy, they may not always be able to be there. Always have and aquire cross-training in many skills and always team up with others who do the same.

Most of all, always look at and learn more about the world around you to find out how things can be used for the survival of you and your loved ones.

If you know the lay of the land, the flora and fauna, and how they may be caught, hunted, raised, grown, and used, if you know how to use the rejected and wasted things found in the city and the country, then you never have to do without, even if everything you have is taken away from you.

A man who knows how to use what he finds to his benefit can be the king of the world on a pile of garbage and can give a big Johnny Cash send-off to anyone who would betray him:

[shadowwalker]

Thanks, all for the kind words. Oh, we'd NEVER bury anything on public land that is probably not legal.
I always figured when I buried my stashes I was running the risk of someone or something finding it. That's just the game rules, as far as I'm concerned. Just means I didn't do a good job, right?
So far nothing was found at the spots they could actually get to. He said it was someone that found the spot as they had the dirt out of the hole on a pile about two feet from the hole. That is what called his attention to it. His stuff is always 1 1/2 feet deep at the top.