# Prepping / Emergency Preparedness > Bags, Kits and Vehicles >  Someone's cache got found.

## Billofthenorth

Skip ahead to about 25 minutes into this metal detecting video (not mine). They uncover someone's cache which appears, from expiration dates, to be about 15 years overdue for replacement.

There's a lesson for cachers, not just in how to do it but what the contents should be. Hopefully it belongs to no one here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWgIopyNO_k

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## natertot

Note, don't stash metal so the detector guys can't find it!

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## Wise Old Owl

Nice video shared it with my metal detector friends.

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## crashdive123

> Note, don't stash metal so the detector guys can't find it!


Or be smart about it.  Bury it a little deeper and as you cover it put a piece of metal (like claw hammer) above it so if detected they may stop at that.

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## kyratshooter

Or cover it with rebar and pour concrete over it!  Access from the side.

If you are on a farm you can also use the old "dump sites" that were the final home to every tin can and rusty metal object for the past 200 years.

Due to the expiration dates I would propose that particular hoard was part of someone's Y2K stash.  

Also good to know that a 5 gallon bucket and heavy garbage bag will stand up to 15 years underground!  I did not see any water damage at all.

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## Billofthenorth

After watching a lot of metal detecting videos I have a few ideas that might work to put them off a cache. It looks like fun by the way so I'm not putting down detectorists.

 These folks have their main detector which alerts them that something is down there. They start to dig and then use a pointer to pin point where the item is, in the clod of dirt, still in the hole etc. Even when they've found something, as long as there is a signal they are likely to keep digging. Things like an old hammer or axe head are trophies of a sort to many of them and will encourage them to explore further.

 I would suggest metal shavings, old nails and scrap metal, bottle caps, pull tabs and cans, foil etc widely scattered on the surface as more likely to have them decide it's not worth their time. If the area looks like its been heavily detected already (lots of little unfilled holes), it might do the same.

Not being a detectorist myself, I can only go by what I've seen online. It appears that at the moment the better detectors can reach down about a foot or so. This is from a couple of comparison charts I saw from 2011. The capabilities will probably get better with time though, so a three or four foot range may not be out of the question in the future, assuming they aren't there already. 

Unnecessary metal like handles should be eliminated where possible. Metal items should probably be as deep as possible and on land where detecting is not legal or in an undesirable location, bull pasture, shooting range impact areas, swamps, ponds. Farm fields get plowed up exposing relics including arrow heads so out in the middle of one might not even be a good location. Places with lots of trees and thick brush would be my choice around here, but falling trees pull up stuff with them sometimes. Ground with a lot of rocks or bedrock close to the surface could be good if you find a deep crack that's not too obvious.

 Old landfills and junk piles are just the sort of place many people will go looking for treasures. Old privy holes and cellars, fence lines, building foundations etc are prime locations. Anyplace where something was and isn't anymore should be suspect. These folks are interested in the history as much as the 'treasure'. As a last resort including a note asking anyone that finds it to leave it there might be a good idea. I saw a video recently where a large geocache was uncovered and they respected the request to replace it.

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## hunter63

I was kinda surprised at the lack of water damage as well.

Besides keeping buckets sealed, condensation also seems to create moisture from temperature differential?
Maybe burying it would help......But a 55 gal drum sitting in a shed did have surface rust on the inside....when sealed up with supplies.
No special treatment of the metal or air (inert gas) was done.

I guess I didn't catch any mention of who owned the land......so anything buried on public or some one else's land is fair game. IMO.

Don't want to lose it.... don't put it next to a historic site....or bury at you own risk.

As far as depth goes..... lot of the sensitivity has to do with size of target and how good of a unit you have (Money).
Mine is a Garrett older model, and can find big stuff like car parts at 2ft., coins and pop-tops at a ft.
was about $300 buck at the time.

Mostly use it to find brass on my little shooting range when the auto loaders fling the empties everywhere.

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## finallyME

I saw one guy hide one under his concrete pad with an AC unit on top.  You dig down and sideways.

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## hunter63

> I saw one guy hide one under his concrete pad with an AC unit on top.  You dig down and sideways.


Oh, sure....tell everyone about it.......guess I better move it.

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## crashdive123

Note to self......H63 moving his cache.........check next to outdoor shower and holding tank.

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## Wildthang

Have you guys seen that show called the diggers? I watched about 15 minutes of that show and went out and burned my metal detector!
Do all detectorists go completely bonkers when they find an old coin that is barely worth it's weight in metal, let out a mind numbing scream, then run through the woods doing back flips as they yell at their partner what they found?

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## Rick

You should watch the English show The Detectorists. It's a hoot. It's on Netflix.

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## Billofthenorth

> You should watch the English show The Detectorists. It's a hoot. It's on Netflix.


We just found that last month and watched the entire season. Now, anxiously awaiting the next season to come out on netflix!

From what I saw I guess a paddock could be a good cache location.  :Smile:

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## hunter63

Some people are easily entertained.......?

Does a good job on spent brass.........but never really found too much of value.

Did find out good places to look......after a festival, near booths, around volley ball courts, side lines of baseball and football fields...

Any place where some one would leave wallet change, jewelry....etc.

Did find a couple of pair of children's glasses?...How does that happen?

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## Rick

Are you kidding? My kids could lose themselves, bikes, wagons, homework. The only reason none of my kids lost their glasses is they didn't wear them.

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## NJHeart2Heart

> Skip ahead to about 25 minutes into this metal detecting video (not mine). They uncover someone's cache which appears, from expiration dates, to be about 15 years overdue for replacement.
> 
> There's a lesson for cachers, not just in how to do it but what the contents should be. Hopefully it belongs to no one here.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWgIopyNO_k



LOL!! I love the "It's not dead"... whaaaa???? "It's not ALIVE either.. it's just not dead"   :Smile:

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## LowKey

I'm thinking you want to put it below frost line, at least around here. And hope you don't have to dig it up in February...

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## walks.in2.trees

Lmao...Nothing says "stealthy" like a cigar... That's like calling a skunk stealthy

Sent from my SM-T817V using Tapatalk

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## Wildthang

I wonder if you just buried a cache deep, and threw handfuls of old rusty nails in as you covered it up, that a detectorist would just think well, nothing but rusty nails here?

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## cranky1

Nowhere is 100% safe.

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## DSJohnson

Very interesting and intriguing.  I would love to talk with whoever buried the buckets.

I sure wish I could find the barrel I buried in 1974......  We have found all four walls/stems walls of the rock foundation. It measures 30' X 60'.  The current owner has actually given me a key to the place so I can go out there just about any time I want.  My son and I have dug several holes inside the foundation. My former co-worker has a box full of stuff he has found with his metal detector.  We found part of a concrete foundation or something concrete anyway when we first started probing it was about 4 feet below ground level.  I think it must have been some part of a drainage system (Old dairy barn) or something like that.  Anyway after 40 or 50 hours over the last three years I have pretty well accepted the fact that I am not going to find it.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...t=cache+barrel

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## incide

Just steal other people's stuff, that's ok?

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## kyratshooter

> Just steal other people's stuff, that's ok?


Yep, WSF rule #47, if you find a cache and the food is out of date by more than 10 years it is yours to play with!

WSF rule #48, always put a roll of TP in the bucket in case the finder decides to eat the out of date contents.

It's the right thing to do.

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## Rick

Rule 49. If their stuff is better than yours, swap it out. This ensures the fittest of the specie. Sort of like rule 48 above.

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## pete lynch

> Spent sometime in San Francisco
> I spent a night there in the can
> They threw this drunk man in my jail cell
> I took fifteen dollars from that man
> 
> Left him my watch and my old house key
> Don't want folks thinkin' that I'd steal
> Then I thanked him as I was leaving
> And I headed out for Bakersfield


Buck Owens

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## hunter63

> Just steal other people's stuff, that's ok?


Yup, called treasure hunting....If you have permission or public property.

Now what was your address....?

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## kyratshooter

I just had to cancel a good post about treasure hunting and the IRS.

It's that time of year.

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## Ohio Rusty

I keep all the rings, jewelry and money I find with my metal detector. I have a whole plunder drawer full of stuff I've found.  Finders keepers, losers weepers ??
Ohio Rusty

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## hunter63

Found 3 hot wheels cars, kid girls glass, about 3.89cents in change.....10000 pull tabs, nails, cans, and a bunch of syringes....
Ad said...You will get rich!....
So far I think it cost is more for the 6 AA batteries that it take......
But Hey, nice day sunshine, go to the beach bird watch...what's not to like.

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## Graf

In Michigan the frost line is 48", Iv'e had cache only 18"-24" so still accessible under snow and frozen ground. Use schedule 40 PVC, glue the caps on, never had a issue contents always dry.

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## Rick

I should have you do my next plumbing repair.  :Blink:

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