Thread: stashing gear in the bush

If you are going to do this, make sure it is well concealed, and that you do carry everything out when your sick of your spot. If you are using a drum, make sure it is water tight, and store nothing wet. Nothing. Condensation cannot occur unless there is dampness in existing gear. And please, if you do decide to dig a hole the size of a 100 litre plastic drum, for heaven's sake, fill it in once you are finished with it. I nearly fell down a square hole like this walking through the bush. Not a pleasant experience.

think of this hunters what are you leaving if its food- what are you coming back to -stuff thats way past used by date - really have you really done yourself a favour - tinned maybe okay water okay but I have gone thru stuff we have flown out and dumped and a jar of marmite was about it -

I leave

Rope
Part gas canisters
3 rounds of my primary big game rifles ammo
A pair of laces
Any left over dried well packages food
Some matches or a lighter
Candle
Water bottle
Boot laces
Foil
Spare plastic bags
A pillow case for meat
Cup
Spork

I don't leave gear necessarily where I camp buy somewhere strategic well along a route where it gives me multiple options on the way in or out to pick up or drop off supplies.

Now that I have an InReach I can decide to stay longer and inform my wife.
Hunt through to a stash and pick up extra supplies.

And apart from the buried one in the Kaikoura's they all come out eventually or I give the info to a protégé who will use the area once I've shown them around and how to hunt it

the difference mate is you are thinking about what you stash and others know where so often just left and dumped

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

the difference mate is you are thinking about what you stash and others know where so often just left and dumped

Yeah I get that

Big difference being strategic about having stuff there for a change of plans
And being a lazy #### and leaving your gear behind

So is it fair game to pull out what appears to be an abandoned gear, probably leave at the road end for a time, before dumping?
Also, does anyone here perhaps think they know who might have left this stash off Kumeti road up along the Raingauge ridge line track, back a little way from the perennially popular lookout?

It's pretty obvious when it's just gear left behind and not a well conceived stash.

I found an abandoned camp last year with a 2 man tent and gear left behind just in a heap.
When I went to pack it all up I found the receipt for the tent and gear from Torpedo 7.
My guess was walk in and camp or hunt and walk out with none of the gear they had brought or their rubbish.
All the dried meal bags left behind empty were T7 price labeled.

Gear is so cheap now some people will just leave stuff everywhere and never return.

I took a photo and told the local DoC office and they had been told about it and were intending getting it out when staff were in there.
Sad thing is it was only 1 hour from the road end and less the 5kg of gear and rubbish !

I dont think I’ve ever left a stash.
Trouble is you cant count on it being there when you go back so can only leave stuff you could really survive without at a pinch. I dont carry much stuf like that.
If I need a tent or a sleeping bag or a gas cannister then I REALLY need it and carry it in and around with me.
A good option is to leave good stuff at a hut and hope others will do the same for when you need it. I do this a lot with has cannistrs and carry out the empty one, leave a half empty one there.

Making stashes seems to be a very instinctive thing for humans, like cutting tracks or building huts and the effort put in is way out of proportion to the use you ever get out of it.

We have a couple of 'primo' spots we hunt that are difficult to get to, and the older we get the less we can carry...knowing the pack should be full on the way home, so have stashed sleeping bags, bivvie bags, gas cookers, medical supplies etc in a big screw top plastic container. To keep everything dry inside you need the bottom 200mm of another container to use as a roof space over the top of the screw top to prevent the gathering of water etc. Digging them into the side of a hill is preferable to digging them into a flat spot for drainage reasons. Then the whole lot is covered with 200mm of soil, leaf litter, deadfall etc. Even when you tell someone its 'over there' they can't find it. It means you can head out the back knowing that other 2 and 4 legged visitors of the shelter haven't made off with the basic necessities of a week in the bush.

Whiskey should keep pretty well over time ,stashed away in the bush .

Originally Posted by Friwi

Whiskey should keep pretty well over time ,stashed away in the bush .

......you must have looked in the bottom of the barrel

Temu sell the the silica gel moisture absorbers, x100 for less then $5. They work well.

They often close access tracks during winter here. Knew a bloke who had a stash but not all that common here.

But ive seen a couple walking along closed tracks pulling a trolly/cart full of gear. Lol.

Haven't seen it but a few use push bikes or electric bikes.

Save the silicon gel packs from all the various internet orders. Handy for your gear storage and gun safe. Flextail do a range of vacuum seal bags, which work really well for compressing dry clothing to go inside an airtight sealed blue drum.

My mate and I had two 10 litre plastic containers under a hut in Canterbury about 6 yrs ago with Kovea gas cooker, packet of AA batteries, some canned food and other minor gear. The contents were stolen and one container eventually found about 30 metres away in the surrounding bush lying on the ground. One of the containers was labelled with my name/contact number under the screw on lid. Oh and I do stoat/rat/possum pest control for DOC. Such wankers out there. The same wankers that left their rubbish at huts for others to carry out. That's another story.