How to make a stash
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I have a few stashes, but mine are a little different I expect. Since I spend most of my time in my woods and I'm basically a lazy sod, I tend to stash tools around the place to save me having to walk a long way to fetch a billhook/saw/bottle of water/etc 
I do stash food there as well for those days that I forget my lunch. I don't think I would leave a stash anywhere else unless there were a regular spot that I went to and cold be sure that it wouldn't be stumbled across by others.
Tengu's right ofcourse about many native peoples leaving things for future visits, but they didn't have glass bottles, tin cans and other things that stay there for a long time and can cause serious harm to wildlife when they get discarded or rotten through (I have particular dislikes for those who leave tin cans around an WATCH an animal pick it up and walk off, for example)
I do stash food there as well for those days that I forget my lunch. I don't think I would leave a stash anywhere else unless there were a regular spot that I went to and cold be sure that it wouldn't be stumbled across by others.
Tengu's right ofcourse about many native peoples leaving things for future visits, but they didn't have glass bottles, tin cans and other things that stay there for a long time and can cause serious harm to wildlife when they get discarded or rotten through (I have particular dislikes for those who leave tin cans around an WATCH an animal pick it up and walk off, for example)
I shared a 'stash' with an unknown other in some woods on the Yorkshire Coast. I'd spend many days living out there, watching badgers and deer and such. I'd always take something with me and select from that and the stash. What ever I didnt use I left.
When I'd go back the stock would have been rotated with some of my stuff gone and other stuff in its place.
The only other person, apart from dog walkers and the occasional forestry worker, I saw was an old fellow with his life on a bicycle. Whenever we met he'd simply go the other way.
When I'd go back the stock would have been rotated with some of my stuff gone and other stuff in its place.
The only other person, apart from dog walkers and the occasional forestry worker, I saw was an old fellow with his life on a bicycle. Whenever we met he'd simply go the other way.
I used to stash things when I lived on Epsom common when I was young.
over time other people always found it and ether trashed it or helped themselves.
A good tracker will always find your stash, I myself have found a few.
over time other people always found it and ether trashed it or helped themselves.
A good tracker will always find your stash, I myself have found a few.
The only things i've ever stashed in the woods is the body's of those Co-workers who really try my patience... 
yeah used to build "Den's" in the woods used to do loads of them. don't see em anymore tho.
yeah used to build "Den's" in the woods used to do loads of them. don't see em anymore tho.
Change "heavy metal container" to "thick-walled metal container". I can just see some poor fellow out there trying to get his hands on some depleted uranium to build a stash box. Then he ends up in prison, with cancer, and its all my fault. Thanks Nagual. I hope I got this posted in time!
carry it in carry it out will leave any cut timber stacked ready for the next person but that is as far as it goes for me
I'd rather not leave anything in the woods, but for dedicated camping spots that are a trek from the car park, I think a good shelter for heavy tarps and such is acceptable if you own or know the land owner. Otherwise, I'm in the "don't leave your stuff in the woods" camp.
tis what I have an understairs cupboard for.
Hmm, thought that was for locking away unruly children?
Could do, but I'm in a bit of Rush.....
A serious question directed to the OP, why a stash?
I'm with mrs_ursus on this one, 'leave no trace' is a good ethos, and quite incompatible with acting like a hamster.
I'm with mrs_ursus on this one, 'leave no trace' is a good ethos, and quite incompatible with acting like a hamster.
It's a troll question.
Disclaimer: I'll hold my hands up and apologise if I'm wrong.
As to why make a stash. In the instance I described above I was spending many days a week over a number of weeks in the same woodland.
The stash was left up a monkey puzzle tree near the remains of a building. This was my base camp and would return to it or spend a number of nights there. Having things around me with which I was familiar lent a homelyness feel to my stay. As described above, the stash was shared by an unkown other (who liked chocolate) and I think didn't spend much time with people. In a way I felt I bringing some human kindness to some one who maybe didnt experience much of it. On the other hand it could just as well have been a forestry worker. Why then leave fire wood or other goods?
While now I agree with the leave no mark philosophy I was merely reminiscing happier times.
The stash was left up a monkey puzzle tree near the remains of a building. This was my base camp and would return to it or spend a number of nights there. Having things around me with which I was familiar lent a homelyness feel to my stay. As described above, the stash was shared by an unkown other (who liked chocolate) and I think didn't spend much time with people. In a way I felt I bringing some human kindness to some one who maybe didnt experience much of it. On the other hand it could just as well have been a forestry worker. Why then leave fire wood or other goods?
While now I agree with the leave no mark philosophy I was merely reminiscing happier times.
When I was a kid me and my mates used to stash food at a place we used to camp and leave handy firewood for people. We had a bit of a swaps system going with someone for a while but then unfortunately someone else found it and we turned up one day to a pile of tins and hot embers in the fire. I guess if you use somewhere a lot it's ok as long as it isn't anything that can harm the wildlife, but these days I like to think that I could travel fairly light and carry everything I need. In most places if you're prepared to do some searching and are staying more than one night you don't really need to take too much food.
As a lad our camp sat next to a small river. We'd catch Trout, Rabbits and Squirrels and eat them with other bits and pieces that we could forage. We had to take food too because we were always in the same place and didn't want to take all the stock from natures supermarket but if you're only visiting and the area is remote it should support you.
If you can't fit your camp in a large pack then you need to start improvising more kit IMO!
As a lad our camp sat next to a small river. We'd catch Trout, Rabbits and Squirrels and eat them with other bits and pieces that we could forage. We had to take food too because we were always in the same place and didn't want to take all the stock from natures supermarket but if you're only visiting and the area is remote it should support you.
If you can't fit your camp in a large pack then you need to start improvising more kit IMO!
He can't answer you, he's been banned.
I agree with the leave no trace ethos, but strangely what most of us are actually talking about are Cache's.
Cache's are by their very nature in line with Leave no trace ethos, they are situated near to indentifiable points, not necessarily blatantly obvious points, but identifiable ones which are going to be permanent. They are camouflaged so that other people or animals cannot raid or appropriate what you have left there. By their nature they have to be both off the beaten track and accessible along the lines of a wonky bend on a little used footpath.
Invariably the planning and siting of a cache is a complicated issue and the larger the cache the more complicated the planning becomes.
If the cache is dug in what are you going to do about the spoil?
Waterproofing and condensation, could this be an issue?
Insulation, are there objects in the cache whose performance is reduced by the cold?
Perishable items, food batteries and all the other things that we take for granted have shelf lives, when will they require replacing with fresh items?
Before someone brands me as some post apocalyptic survival nut job, I will point out that I have used caches whilst serving in the Army, I have had to find them, I have depended upon them for supplies, I have had to dig them in and I have had to camouflage them. I know the amount of planning that goes into situating a cache that I may not be the one to have to find, it ain't easy.
I've used staches for years but tbh I've moved away from using them. Usually vegetation totally covers your stache site eventually or the forest gets unexpectedly felled and u lose your reference points for them. Even large boulders get moved in forest ops.
Gps may make this easier to manage. Most folk naturally make then near an identifiable obvious feature. This is a mistake. It's the least obvious places that are less likley to attract the attention of anyone likely to find your stache. I've used everything from a long clothes line with rocks as weights at each end and a drybag attached to it. One end is thrown into deep water, then the other is stretched taught and thrown in. It's retrieved with paracord and a treble hook made out of fencewire. It can't be seen or found except by you.
Field drains are good too, esp the old stone condies, or even the clay pipe ones now rarely in use.
A word of caution, pals and I used to hide a fiew things wrapped in a cammo tent sheet high up in the forked bowl of a huge beech tree in a very remote forest in the hills south of Aberfeldy. It wasn't on a track, it was in the middle of a sitka plantation with a few others nearby. The next time we went up, my mate nearly lost his hand when he climbed up for it to retrieve it because someone had placed a set fen trap inside the tarp as a surprise... so be careful your not observed or its not found, you may get a surprise.
The fishermans staches in white plastic lidded buckets I regularly find on Rannoch moor ALWAYS get emptied by me. Hopefully they'll get fed up leaving them pmsl
Gps may make this easier to manage. Most folk naturally make then near an identifiable obvious feature. This is a mistake. It's the least obvious places that are less likley to attract the attention of anyone likely to find your stache. I've used everything from a long clothes line with rocks as weights at each end and a drybag attached to it. One end is thrown into deep water, then the other is stretched taught and thrown in. It's retrieved with paracord and a treble hook made out of fencewire. It can't be seen or found except by you.
Field drains are good too, esp the old stone condies, or even the clay pipe ones now rarely in use.
A word of caution, pals and I used to hide a fiew things wrapped in a cammo tent sheet high up in the forked bowl of a huge beech tree in a very remote forest in the hills south of Aberfeldy. It wasn't on a track, it was in the middle of a sitka plantation with a few others nearby. The next time we went up, my mate nearly lost his hand when he climbed up for it to retrieve it because someone had placed a set fen trap inside the tarp as a surprise... so be careful your not observed or its not found, you may get a surprise.
The fishermans staches in white plastic lidded buckets I regularly find on Rannoch moor ALWAYS get emptied by me. Hopefully they'll get fed up leaving them pmsl
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