This article is dedicated to the officers and men of the Canadian Airborne Regiment; still they fight, to keep us proud and free.
Canada is blessed with ideal conditions favouring the covert storage of firearms. Guns can be concealed almost anywhere. As a result, many of the problems associated with covert storage which arise in smaller or more heavily populated countries are not applicable to our vast and varied terrain. Many of the hopes and plans of our opponents to enforce an oppressive and lawless regime are based on faulty assumptions and erroneous technical extrapolations garnered from these other places. But they will not work in Canada, certainly they will not work on Canadians.
The preferred orientation for underground storage is to stand firearms in permanent vertical containers. However, excavations in many areas of Canada might encounter stony, rocky or permafrost subsurface strata that limit or preclude a vertical installation. The aim of this article is to describe what can be done in such circumstances that might require techniques and tactics beyond the normal, to ensure that your firearms and munitions are safe from the effects of deleterious weather and subsurface conditions, and from the advanced search techniques of those who would like to steal them.
The devices which can be employed to locate Subterranean Arms and Munitions (SAM) sites can employ active or passive means. Current and foreseen technologies are:
ACTIVE PASSIVE
Electromagnetic Dogs
Radar Other animals
Sonic
Ferromagnetic Detectors
Originally developed as a means to detect land mines, metal detectors are now sold openly as a commercial item. These devices generate a magnetic field which interacts with ferromagnetic metal objects buried underground. This magnetic field induces eddy current activity in the buried object, which in turn generates a magnetic field emanating from that object. The effects of this induced electromagnetic activity can be detected by the locating device.
Modern metal detectors are light and easily wielded by one man during operations. They make use of advanced signal processing to detect the presence of an object, to indicate direction and depth, and to calibrate the system reactively to account for changing soil conditions and composition. They also permit sensitivity to be adjusted so that smaller objects not of interest are not detected. The capabilities of these devices is such that a detector in the hands of a skilled operator passing within three or four meters of a Subterranean Arms and Munitions (SAM) site may well detect it, depending on various factors and conditions. The means to defeat metal detectors and other similar devices will be discussed.
Radar Detectors
The widespread prevalence of sophisticated mine detectors on the battlefield in the latter half of the 20th century led to the development of non-ferrous and all-plastic mines. To counter this threat, surface penetrating radar (SPR) was developed to make use of the capabilities of ultra-wideband radar. These devices employ a radiating antenna to direct a powerful beam deep into the ground, with a capability well beyond the depth of interest to arms cachers. SPR is capable of producing an image of metallic and non-metallic underground objects or cavities. The radiating antenna can be made small enough to be considered man-portable or semi-portable. However, the need for a large power pack and complex signal processing equipment complicates the problem to develop a truly man-portable SPR device.
Sonic Detectors
Anyone familiar with fish finders knows that sonic devices are capable of detecting sub-surface structures, even under hundreds of feet of water. The technique is also used by geologists using the reflected energy from surface or sub-surface explosions or mammoth vibrators to define underground formations. Ultrasound devices generate quite acceptable images of unborn babies, as we know. We are not aware of a practical sonic device suitable for locating objects such as arms caches, but the technology could be developed for special applications.
Dogs already are used to detect firearms at airports. We know they have the capability to detect human beings buried in avalanches, even at a depth of two meters or more. It is safe to presume that dogs and possibly other animals (pigs are used to sniff out truffles in France), can be trained to locate arms caches.
Your best protection overall depends on this simple fact: if authorities don't know where to look, they don't know where to find. Once you understand the full meaning of this basic principle, then you have little to fear from the fancy gubbins and equipment searchers might have to deploy against you.
If by some chance the authorities manage to obtain information as to where your cache is hidden, that does not necessarily mean the game is tilted greatly in their favour. By making their search more difficult or more expensive than they are able to justify according to the value of the target that you represent, you are still likely to come out ahead. To conclude otherwise is to assume the authorities don't know what they are doing with their budgets or that they are unable to assess priorities correctly. And if that is true, overall we have that much less to worry about.
Your first line of defence is to position and camouflage your sites properly as a protection against potential searchers whether or not they have sophisticated search equipment. Also, the value of proper timing and tactics to approach your sites will deny authorities the information they need to begin a search. This is the second component of your defence. The value of good tactics cannot be understated and will provide you with the greatest of confidence and considerable peace of mind.
However, the skillful use of countermeasures provides you with a vital third line against any search, should the authorities manage to gather sufficient intelligence to operate against one of your sites.
If somehow your basic tactics fail you in some way, then you will have been wise to prepare your sites to withstand a determined search by a potentially well-equipped team. Your objective in making these , the more thick he is going to hit, the better. The more hills, the bigger the high country, the better off you will be. Make him walk up one side and back the other, then all over again. Up the coulee, down the coulee, through the brush, through the bramble. Who's to say he can even push through that stuff, let alone wield a detector while he's at it?
What sounds like a good idea to play with the fancy toys isn't going to seem so great after 15 minutes in the place where you want that searcher to look. Give a keener 30 minutes, maybe less and the seeds of doubt are going to sprout. And it won't take the short side of an hour for the facts of life in the bush or back country to sink through to even the most ardent would-be searcher. This stuff is tough slogging. Results, uncertain at best. And if they don't know where to look, they don't know where to find.
Still, in many circumstances, it would be negligent of you not to harden your site with countermeasures as best you can. If a target is missed or overlooked somewhere in the area already covered, the searcher will spend the rest of his time looking for something that isn't even there. In this respect, it is important for searchers to believe that you might have taken all possible precautions. This will add the strong possibility of a missed target to all of the other frustrations with which they must contend. Countermeasures play on the psychology of searchers to help to take the edge off the search. (Should I go around the bush, through the bush, or just say I did?) Especially if the searcher feels he is out there tired, bored, and fly-bitten, just to keep the politicians happy but little else.
If your site is perfectly camouflaged kilometers back in the woods, hundreds of meters from the nearest ATV track, in the middle of absolutely the most inaccessible thick with no trails in or out, and surrounded by swamps...then the need to employ special countermeasures will be negligible. You might be lucky to find such a site yourself.
However, as you consider locations closer in, more thought has to be given to countermeasures. Any search is bound to be more organized in proximity to a road or track. Also, bear in mind that vehicle-mounted devices such as SPR can be employed along the margins of roads and ATV tracks. As a rule of thumb, the closer your site is located to roads, tracks, open country or civilization, the more elaborate the countermeasures you should consider.
Distance
The farther your SAM site is located from points of easy access, the less effectively the area can be searched. And searchers don't like wasting their time in unproductive searches. In addition to budgetary limitations, there will be a natural inclination on the part of searchers and planners to avoid areas which are not likely to produce good results.
The value to locate your SAM site outside your property line arises partly from tactical requirements, but primarily it has to do with legal considerations. And the law is changing. Once Bill C-68 passes, every last vestige of the legal protection you once enjoyed to stop or to prevent police from searching your property or your neighbour's property, will be taken away from you and from all Canadians. However, it will still be important to conceal your guns off your property. Even under C-68 or any conceivable law, this action will provide you with important legal protection by precluding any possibility that you might be deemed in possession of firearms only by right of them being found on property which you own or occupy.
Sanitation
Dogs can be trained to sniff out specific substances and ignore others. It is advisable to keep your site scrupulously clean, and to police it carefully before you leave. Don't discard or bury any of the objects or materials you use; paper, oil, grease, plastic, old strips of sealant, desiccant, etc. Bag everything and carry it out with you, every time. Don't eat, urinate or defecate anywhere in the vicinity of your site. Be very deliberate while you attend your site. Get in, get the job done, and get out.
Of course, if you hide your guns in or near a garbage dump or similar source of olfactory insult, sanitizing the location is not required.
Obstacles
In addition to large features such as muskeg, coulees, creeks, thickets, and so on, consider the value of obstacles right at your site. Consider how fallen trees, brush, woodpiles, and rocks will act to frustrate or to prevent the proper handling of detection equipment, and cause a tired operator to want to look some other place where it's easier. In the North or anywhere that stones cover the ground, small rocks can be piled over top of the site and still give a natural appearance.
Cover/Overburden
Materials such as brush and logs or any object such as a large rock placed right over top of your SAM site can help deter electronic searches. Or use a caterpillar to pile logs, brush, earth or rocks to cover your site under many feet of debris, preferably in an area where this kind of work is going on or where such a pile will not seem out of the ordinary. Maybe somewhere in a long line of cleared brush would be best.
Materials
Plastic containers and components cannot be detected by metal detectors, and are among the most difficult items to locate by other means. Eight-inch diameter plastic plumbing tubes provide an ideal and relatively inexpensive stock material, for which end fittings are readily obtainable. These components can be sealed permanently at one end with an appropriate glue or solvent, and at the other with a threaded cap or a slide cap sealed with grease or weather sealant.
Since radar detectors are active devices that depend on the reflection of radar energy bouncing back from the target, the radar cross section of your SAM container can be considerably reduced by eliminating radar-reflecting geometries in the design. Composite or plastic materials are inherently less radar reflective than metals. Also, specialized radar absorbing materials have been developed. These three elements form the essential components of passive stealth technology used to conceal modern aircraft from radar detection. And you can use them too.
Rounded and curved geometries are much less radar-reflective than angular, square geometries. The best radar reflector you can devise is the square corner formed by three right-angle metal plates. This kind of geometry you want to avoid. Square or rectangular containers with flat sides are the most easily detected. Lozenge- shaped cylinders with rounded tops and bottoms, and curved or bulging sides, amongst the least. Other geometric patterns could be even more effective, but not very practical since stock materials are not normally available in the required tapered shapes.
Don't worry about radar absorbing materials for now. This is a more complex technology with geometric considerations relevant to the frequency of radar employed. Using plastic containers instead of metal will help.
Remember, your best defence is to locate in an area where cumbersome vehicle-borne radars are difficult to deploy. Also, you can take comfort in the fact that these radar devices are very expensive. Because of these limitations, they will probably remain as specialized equipment, and it is not likely they will be encountered in any great numbers. And if somehow that happens and radar does becomes a credible threat, then you should be aware that more effective countermeasures can also be devised.
Underwater Sites
If both ends of a cache tube are glued permanently shut with your guns inside, then you will have an ideal container for indefinite storage underwater or in swampy ground. This arrangement is so good you won't even need a desiccant, which in these conditions would be absolutely useless anyway if the seal fails. Always test this arrangement for leaks by submerging the sealed tube completely in clear water and observing for air bubbles. Storing your guns in water or swampy soil acts to defeat radar penetration. However, wet ground is more susceptible to sonic locators. Of these two, radar is the more effective and it is capable of greater resolution, so probably it merits the greatest precaution.
Be advised: pack your underwater tubes with a lot of guns and ammo or some other weight, or the tube can retain a lot of buoyancy and float or drift along the bottom. Cache tubes may be weighed down internally with rocks or whatever and sunk to the bottom. Or, they can be anchored or buried in the mud, sand or rocks on the bottom. If your cache tube is in clear water and visible from the surface, camouflage it with a rumpled and suitably coloured cloth or canvas sleeve, or move to deeper water.
Your guns can be retrieved by diving or by a rope or clear fishing line tied to a clear plastic bottle floating below prop level. These invisible submerged buoys work well to enable frequent retrievals, but should be located in weeds or other cover to preclude detection by fish finders or on the end of a fishing hook. In this respect, they fall under Murphy's Law and are recommended only for retrievals on remote lakes or unused sloughs.
Ballooning
To complicate an electronic or animal search, one option is to balloon the target presented by your SAM container. In technical terms, the signature of a target that is ballooned can still be detected. However, the aim of ballooning is to render that signature indistinguishable amongst the clutter caused by the jumble of similar targets all about. This is accomplished by hiding your container in an area littered with or covered by materials, objects or substances from which the signature of your container appears to be just one more pebble on the beach. For example, a SAM concealed in or near a garbage dump to defeat canine detectors. Or in a suitable land fill to confuse metal detectors and radar.
The possibilities to balloon your SAM site are endless. However, you are cautioned not to select an obvious feature, at least not one that is sufficiently isolated or unusual that an investigator might conclude it should be intensively searched. Or one that is so small it does not really balloon the target, but might serve to attract attention and which, because of its small area, could be entirely dug up as the method of search.
Screening
A screen is intended to cloak your SAM so that it cannot be detected at all. Examples of screens are steel-reinforced concrete pads, metal gratings, Texas gates, barbed wire heaps, pipelines, etc. In some areas with high iron or metal ore content in the soil or substrates, metal detectors can be surprisingly ineffective. Again, the possibilities are endless. Don't pick a site that would be obvious to an investigator, and bear in mind that a screen can be highly effective against metal detectors but won't necessarily do much to defeat radar. Your best defence against radar is to locate in places where radar is difficult or impossible to deploy.
Deep Burial
The deeper an object is buried, the more difficult it is to detect by any means, electronic or otherwise. That seems fairly obvious. But deep burial is not as difficult to achieve as you might suspect. And retrievals from deep burial sites don't have to be any more difficult or time consuming than is the case normally. Guns hidden in cache tubes in old wells or abandoned mines or at the bottom of bodies of water provide some examples of deep burial.
In the high country, the existence of a cave, fissure, or hole known only to you can provide a valuable substitute for the absence of good digging. Even if the entrance hole is very small and unapproachable, there is no need to check it out by actually entering it or looking inside. Indeed, a difficult approach to a small and naturally concealed opening no bigger around than the cache tube you intend to use, provides an ideal spot for these purposes. But any hole will do.
Under these circumstances, no more is necessary than to suspend a cache tube at the end of a sturdy rope attached to a suitable anchor. Consider that the rope will be under constant strain. It may also be continually wet or damp, and exposed to cold temperatures much of the year. To counteract rot, mildew and strain failure under these conditions, use the thickest, strongest, best quality rope you can get at least 1/2 inch or more. Check the rope's condition on a regular basis, especially along the top section between the hole (look for chafing) and the anchor. This is the part most prone to biological and chemical failure, since you will want to conceal this section under earth, moss, lichens or organic debris. A rock cover might provide a less challenging environment, so long as it blends naturally with the background.
If you are concerned about rodents attacking your rope, you may have to consider a protective sheath along the upper portion or even the entire length. This could be a length of either flexible or hard plastic or copper tubing. If you think rodents are that much of a problem, you could suspend your cache on a chain, noting that you will sacrifice some degree of protection from metal detectors and possibly increase the difficulty to achieve a noiseless retrieval.
For mere mortals down on the flats, if you cannot find a suitable natural or man-made hole, don't feel that you are left out of the deep burial business.
Drill or dig a hole to whatever depth you wish. This can be done with a well driller, a manual or power post-hole auger (with extender bar), or by hand if you are up to it. Insert a large-diameter plastic tube the full depth of the hole, with a water tight cap on the bottom and with the top a foot or so below ground level. You may have to connect two or more lengths of tubing with standard connectors if you go to 15 or 20 feet or more.
A smaller diameter cache tube can now be inserted down to the bottom at the end of a rope. Or you can suspend your guns in a net or bag, or through the carrying handle or whatever, since you will be sealing the top end of the long tube as you would normally, thereby turning it into a big cache tube. Always check your knots and the condition of your rope. Make sure the top of the rope is tied securely to a ring bonded firmly inside the cap, or through a hole if you can drill one without compromising air tightness. If guns are likely to catch and bind at the junction where long tubes are joined together, be prepared for the frustration of working them past this obstacle, or use an internal cache tube. Retrievals with this type of arrangement are every bit as easy as for a conventional SAM site. But your guns can now be 10, 20 or 30 feet under.
You are cautioned against using any kind of desiccant (eg. salts) which could harm gunmetal, since an upset or spill at the bottom of a long tube would be extremely difficult to clean up. Silica gels would be best for this particular application.
Shallow Burial
Shallow burial is not a countermeasure. But if you opt for shallow burial, you should give some extra thought to countermeasures since a shallow, horizontal orientation is the most vulnerable to detection.
There are some occasions when shallow digging will be the most tactically sound option. Usually, however, shallow burial is undertaken because normal digging is not possible. In the North, the permafrost substrate imposes a barrier which can be difficult and time consuming to overcome. A similar digging problem exists in the high country and throughout the Canadian Shield. In these circumstances, even after careful selection of ground, you might easily encounter rocks or boulders or even bedrock just a few feet or inches down. In these circumstances, you have the choice to try for another hole elsewhere, or to opt for shallow burial.
If you decide in favour of shallow digging, the first thing to do is to reassess whether or not you want to keep on digging at the same spot or maybe change areas. Now that you have selected the shallow option, your choices for a suitable spot and area will probably expand and you should reassess on the basis of available cover, camouflage and obstacles, rather than ease of digging.
High quality, side-opening hermetic gun cases suitable for shallow burial are available on a commercial basis. For you to fabricate your own side-opening case is not recommended, but you can try if you wish. The design problem is to achieve a guaranteed airtight seal the full length of the case all the way around the circumference. Good luck. On the other hand, side-opening commercial models are available which provide this assurance.
If you can find enough depth to bury a top-opening container at an angle of not less than 30 degrees from the horizontal, then you will find it is possible during retrievals to dig out the top end, remove the cover, and slide out your rifles or shotguns without great difficulty. However, if there is too little depth to do even this, then you may have to lay the container completely flat on its side in a trench as deep as you can dig it.
In this case - and this is the big disadvantage of horizontal installation - you will have to dig up the whole container each time you make a retrieval. Not only does this take time, but you will probably end up with the maximum disturbance to the overburden each time you recover or replace your guns. And that can mean delays, frustration and increased risk of detection. However, if you are not going to make frequent retrievals, none of this is a big problem. And it can take less time to install a container in a shallow horizontal trench than to install it vertically.
If you are unsure whether or not a particular spot is the best location for a permanent vertical site, then you might opt for a shallow installation on your first trip in, at least until you get to know the area. There is some advantage to wait until you drop your first animal before deciding on the location for a permanent site. Or, it may be that your intention is to keep all your options open, and to move your SAM site around each time you retrieve your gun. In these scenarios, a horizontal installation makes good sense. And moving your site each time enhances your security to counteract the vulnerabilities normally associated with a horizontal installation. In addition, a horizontal installation or a container buried at some angle off the horizontal can be well protected from detection by ballooning or screening the target. For example, a SAM container alongside or angled under a pipeline or metal culvert.
Dogs - Tactical Aspects and Countermeasures
This section supplements tactical information previously released. You may refer to the January 1995 FFF document "Strategic Thinking for Troubled Times".
Dogs pose the greatest threat if they are deployed against you while you are at your site or within a period of up to 12 or so hours after you depart, depending on weather conditions. If you have reason to believe dogs might be used, you would be well advised to make a wide arc several kilometers upwind from your site as you approach it, with the beginning or some other part of your trail passing close enough to your site that you could hear or observe dogs or searchers on the trail. Your site should be located far enough away and downwind or at least cross-wind to the trail so that you can see and hear without being seen, heard or allowing the dogs to get your wind. For greater assurance, your buddy can watch the trail from a concealed position while you work at your site a considerable distance away. Your lookout can then make a beeline to warn you if he observes any dogs or searchers passing along the trail.
If that happens, you and your buddy will be involved in a race against time. There is no need to panic. You are in control. You have two objectives. By far the most important is to throw the dogs off your scent trail that leads to the SAM site. The other is to make good your departure from the area without being detected, or alternatively to arrange a natural or at least evidence-free encounter with the police.
If you or your buddy doubles back on the trail as far as you can taking care not to run into the dogs, you will be able to lead them on a merry chase. Urine works well. But it is not essential, especially if you are hot and lathered up. Hopefully, you can produce a bagful on the spot (the proverbial nervous one), poke a drip hole, and off you go. A second person or any number of people doubling back not quite as far can do the same thing starting at different spots. The aim initially is proceed unseen and unheard for as long and as far as you can with the dogs in olfactory pursuit.
While this may or may not work, it stands a good chance, and under the circumstances it is likely to be the best one you could have. The alternative to these kinds of tactical skills and precautions is to risk getting bushwhacked or else to flee, leaving a fresh scent trail that leads straight to your SAM site.
The longer you stay ahead of the dogs, the farther the distance and the longer in time they will be led away from your site. That is the objective. So what if they catch you? Orienteering and extreme wilderness running are legitimate sports. Make it obvious when they do catch up that you are qualified and equipped for these pastimes. Keep up the chase as long and as far as you can. Make sure you have a map and/or compass not only for appearance sake, but to find your way out of the bush if you manage to get away. Plan for success. The value of a pre-arranged time and rendezvous point with your buddy should be obvious. In the end, the searchers may well succeed in catching up to you, but you have motive for being there, and what evidence do they have to the contrary?
You might be able to lose dogs in swamps, but in general you should count on them catching up to you eventually. Police train two kinds of dogs, those with a temperament to find little kids in the bush and attack dogs with a temperament to detain, injure or kill. If searchers let dogs run free, they will close the distance quickly and in this case you must be prepared to kill them as best you can. Releasing any dog to run free is a major escalation of force, and provides clear evidence of the intent or negligence of searchers to inflict grievous bodily harm. Any gun or blade weapon can do the job. A silenced .22 is best.
If dogs are kept on the leash, then it is advisable NOT to kill them, nor should this be necessary. Engaging any target in proximity to the searchers would escalate the situation to an explosive level and place you in grave danger. You would do well to avoid these kinds of all-or-nothing stakes.
If these unfortunate circumstances develop while you have a gun out of the ground, you have the choice to hide it or to bury it expediently together with your shovel and any other items, in the vicinity of your SAM site. Under most circumstances, this should be the wisest course of action. Or you can take the gun and/or the other items with you. It all depends on whether you think the dogs will be left to run free. Plan to chuck all of these items into a swamp or hurl them as far off your scent trail as you can or dispose of them some other way, once you have covered a respectable distance from your SAM site. You may or may not be able to recover your gun later. But no gun is worth what it will cost if you are caught with it.
If the dogs are kept on the leash, at some point you are going to have to dispose of your gun before you are seen with it. You would be wise to make this decision well before you reach the end since the vicinity of your capture will be one of the areas most thoroughly searched.
The interesting aspect of dealing with a canine search team once they get on your trail, is that you don't know if the dogs are going to be running free, and the searchers don't know if you are armed. If they think you might be armed, they will be reluctant to let the dogs run, since this increases the likelihood of dead dogs and of you getting away. At the same time, you can be kept guessing whether or not the dogs are going to be unleashed. As a consequence, you may have difficulty deciding exactly when is a good time to get rid of your gun, if you have one. But this uncertainty on your part keeps the searchers guessing too.
Over and above the canine factor, the operations against you could get very sophisticated. For example, they might possibly include aerial surveillance with Thermal Imaging (TI) equipment. Keep your priorities straight. It's the dogs that can find you site, not a helicopter. And helicopters have to find you before they can start tracking. They might be able to land a rappel team, but a helicopter can't land in heavy bush or operate effectively in bad weather. Night flying even with the necessary night vision equipment is risky in wooded and/or hilly terrain, and helicopters have a limited loiter time as little as two or three hours on station. So unless a helicopter is shooting at you, it might be able to annoy you, it might harass you, and you are unlikely to shake it. But keep in mind that your job is to lead the dogs and ground search team away from your site by extending your scent trail as far as you can. So what if there is a helicopter overhead?
There are many possible scenarios and variations of scenarios. But let's get back to reality. And reality says that if you are careful about when and how you visit your underground sites, you won't have to worry about engaging in this kind of cat-and-mouse brinkmanship. There are thousands of guns in the ground now, and we know of no occasion where the authorities have been able or even inclined to mount this kind of intensive operation only to locate a personal arms cache. In the unlikely event you are targeted and if you are sloppy, it could happen. Even so, adequate contingency planning and precautions will give you the confidence to know that whatever happens, it ain't over till its over, and the ending doesn't have to be a bad one.
The threat environment discussed in this article describes a "spy-vs-spy" world in which advances in concealment technology and tactics constantly create a demand for improved locating technology, and vice versa. At this time, the search capability of the police in Canada is inadequate to cope in any way with the developing situation. So if you are just getting started as an arms cacher, there is no need to concern yourself with elaborate countermeasures. Concentrate on the basics. Become skilled in site selection, how and when to approach a site, and how to keep it sanitized and inconspicuous. It is true that we have laid out a worst-case scenario. But that was to show you there is a lot you can do under virtually any circumstances. This is survival. On the other hand, the reality of the new life for those already living it is that things are far more serene and peaceful than you can imagine. And so it could be for you too.
With persistence and preparation, let us face the outrageous plans and punitive laws of our unbalanced and ballistophobic rulers. Look past their strength, gaze into their weakness, and remember the golden rule of the arms cacher:
"If they don't know where to look, they don't know where to find."
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