Covert WILDERNESS Storage

**Sourdough** · 10-29-2008, 11:59 PM

In the arctic if you bury your camps, then you can't get them 7 or 8 months per year. Sometimes when we crash aircraft or run a wee bit short on fuel, it is nice to know you can swing over to the Kugrugluk Camp and spend the night. But if it is buried in the winter you are S.O.L.

We use 55 Gal. Drums with the snap ring tops. Now here is the trick. Bury the 55 Gal. Drum "BUT LEAVE THE TOP 12" ABOVE GROUND". This keeps the water out and you still have access 24/7/365. Then "BREAK" off brush to hide the top. If you cut brush it is obvious something is hidden.

We keep fuel, pots & pans, even the wall tent in the drums. You can spray paint the top 12" local camo if you want.

These drums are thicker steel than regular fuel drums, and are bear proof. I still sprinkle mothball about.

Bears love plastic drums and fuel cans and 15 Gal. plastic barrels.

**crashdive123** · 10-30-2008, 06:49 AM

You say - "when we crash an aircraft" - so nonchalantly. Kind of like it's a normal, everyday happening. Now I understand the pre-flight checklist a little better.

**wareagle69** · 10-30-2008, 07:20 AM

.i have done the same thing hopeak but with 5 gallon plastic food grade buckets, carefully marked on map and bush terain so if out and lost/stranded will help make survival a little more comfy. funny(strange) but true story i used to run with a guy that was very extreme but a couple miles out from each prison in ohio he stashed a few buckets like thishe always said just in case( beowulf don't need to read that part) but i did admire his thinking, thats where i think i remembered the idea

**Sourdough** · 10-30-2008, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by crashdive123

You say - "when we crash an aircraft" - so nonchalantly. Kind of like it's a normal, everyday happening. Now I understand the pre-flight checklist a little better.

Crash, I am sure you know this, however some may not. Most all of our landings are on creek bottoms, river beds, fields, Mountain tops, boulder patch, rivers, lakes, snowfields, glaciers, etc. If you good you can land on wheels on the ocean and high speed taxi to the beach. Even at airports we try not to land on the paved runway, as it eats up the tundra tires. The landings are "Controlled" crashes.

**crashdive123** · 10-30-2008, 02:06 PM

Yeah, I know. I just love the stories of bush pilots. Not sure if I told this before or not. I had a roomate many years ago that was a pilot. One of the mags that came in the mail had a story about Alaska Bush Pilots. It relayed the conversation between the pilot and a small airport control tower. It went something like this.....

Pilot: How about turning on the runway lights?
Tower: The airstrip is closed. It's too foggy to land.
Pilot: I'm running kind of low on fuel, please turn on the lights!
Tower: The airstrip is closed, you'll have to divert to........

about five minutes passes

Pilot: Please turn on the lights
Tower: Look pal, I don't know how many times I have to tell you....the airstrip is closed!
Pilot: Oh - I've already landed, I just need the lights on to try and find out where the tower is.

**Ole WV Coot** · 10-30-2008, 02:26 PM

You guys have more nerve than I do. In a coal mine have been a mile inside where you could scrape your hardhat bill on the roof and touch each side by putting your arms out and didn't bother me but you bush pilots are NUTZ. I don't like to fly at all anymore, especially choppers.

**Sourdough** · 10-30-2008, 02:31 PM

Back in the 80's and 90's the FAA said, "Security...? what security". So they started fencing all the airports in one horse towns and villages, for security. But you go to any bush village and everyone in town, and I mean everyone knows the top secret security code to access the gates to the airport.

$130,000.- Super Cubs everywhere, no key needed to start. Just flip three switches and go.

**Rick** · 10-31-2008, 06:28 AM

I watched a great show once about a guy that repossessed airplanes for a finance company. Great job but he often didn't get a chance to do his pre-flight, which I thought was a little dicey. Like Hopeak said, he'd just hop in and go, especially if the owner was around.

**nell67** · 10-31-2008, 07:12 AM

Repo'ing airplanes....

**Rick** · 10-31-2008, 07:04 PM

Hey, Hopeak. Didn't they used to have landing fields scattered about with little shacks that had tools and spare airplane parts? I thought the FAA did away with them but seems like they were scattered all around up there.

**Sourdough** · 10-31-2008, 07:20 PM

Rick,

Not that I ever knew of, maybe after WW ll, for a short time, as most of the runways were built to ferry aircraft to our dear sweet lovable buddies Russia. and so the runways are 3/4 of a fuel tank apart.

**Rick** · 11-01-2008, 06:57 AM

Thanks!! .........

**prybry** · 11-04-2008, 03:13 PM

I know a guy who has his survival cache hid in the woods behind his house in one of those big blue screw top barrels... buried similar to what you said, only 6 or so inches sticking out of the ground. He uses one of those land scape rocks you can buy to hide stuff in your yard (well heads, septic vents etc..) just drops it over the head and throws some brush around it.

I was hunting with him one day and walked past it a half dozen times and never picked up on it until he walked over and lifted it to check on it while we were there.

Nice thing is, once you know it's there... it's real easy to find.

I was somewhat suprised he showed it to me... pretty trusting type.

**Freki** · 11-09-2008, 08:33 PM

I don't have any gear stashed away yet, but that's mostly due to me working out sizes and locations of said cache's. They'll Mostly will be used to store food and water. Some spare gear and the such.

as for the planes and what not, I was in air cadets when I was a kid. The flying was awesome in old bulldogs they seated like a spitfire. Very good for the imagination of a young kid in flight gear and rig on... anyway! I always remember the pilot saying if I go "bail bail bail" jump outta the plane, I'll already be gone. And I can always remember thinking wow and being gob smacked at how this guy just said it like it was a normal thing!