Embalmed Animals for Cache Containers?

[mrbeachroach]

Anyone come across any old dead animals from hunting that have been embalmed and turned into cache containers? Is this againsed the rules for a container or Do you think it is kinda unique? Im thinking of starting a cache called animal kingdom and want to use them for camo caches what do you think? Funny or just plain Weird?

Edited June 24, 2008 by mrbeachroach

[+syfun]

Anyone come across any old dead animals from hunting that have been embombed and turned into cache containers? Is this againsed the rules for a container or Do you think it is kinda unique? Im thinking of starting a cache called animal kingdom and want to use them for camo caches what do you think? Funny or just plain Wierd?

 

embombed? do you mean embalmed? and that's not the same as stuffing and mounting as in taxidermy.

 

I think if other animals don't get them, the weather and elements will.

[+flydad]

In the Chicago area -- in the daylight, thank heaven ! -- I ran across a very interesting cache in a fallen and rotted tree. There was a hole in the end and another hole just above the interesting part of the cache. As I look in the end, what do I find but a very ugly looking yellowish dog/coyote head with a perfect pair of eyes glaring at me ! ! ! ! Estimated animal weight in the 15 to 25 lb range.

 

(FYI, there are an estimated 2,000 coyotes living in the Chicagoland area, and I have run across them trotting around in some of the caching areas out there.)

 

After jumping back and taking a moment to collect myself, it occurs to me that there was no noise, scuffling sounds, or visible movement in the quick moment we were "eye to eye." I look again in the end of the log, but with my face about 3 feet further back than it was the first time. Hmmmm . . . still no movement, still ugly, but now looking as if it were staring into space beyond my right shoulder. By golly, it looks hairless !

 

Going to the hole just above "the interesting part of the cache," I see a non-moving perfectly formed canine head with a strap attached where the atlas vertebrae normally is located ! In using my walking stick to pull the head out . . . no way am I going to reach my hand in there ! ! ! ! ! ! . . . I discover the darned thing weighs about 5-7 lbs, much more than would a skull of the same size, and pulling it out, the strap pulls out a nice-sized cache box hidden further into the log.

 

As near as I can guess, this might be a creamy yellow taxidermy head "manikin" with fake -- but very real looking -- eyes set perfectly in binocular vision. No hair or skin that would make a tasty dinner for our wild friends.

 

This in one very memorable, very attention getting cache. I'm really glad I found it at 10:30 in the morning and not at dusk or dark ! . . . . and not wanting to ruin the fun ( ! ! ! ) for anyone, I will not give the waypoint or name Anyone else found this one ? ? ?

 

Now for another surprise ! . . .

 

I was caching at the end of a short road going to the eastern edge of a large reservoir southeast of Leesburg, VA. As I park at the cul de sac, my GPS shows GZ about 50 feet over my right shoulder. From inside the car I think I can see the hidey-hole in a dark fallen tree. I leave the GPS in the car, walk around the back, pass some bushes, and focus on the hidey-hole . . . . that is, my brain is seeing the hidey-hole about 6 inches across. My eyes are receiving the whole scene, but my brain is processing only the hidey-hole near the ground.

 

As my eyes get to about 8 feet from the hidey-hole, I wonder . . . what is that white thing near the middle of the hole ? ? ? I looks like bone . . . My brain starts to process the top edge of the hidey hole . . . by golly, that looks like hair . . . in fact, there's hair all around the hidey hole ! ! ! Brain begins to process the rest of the scene . . . . Yikes ! I'm standing at the left foot of a poached black bear lying on its back and weighing about 125 lbs ! ! ! The white thing is the lower part of the sternum where the gall bladder was taken. Three of the paws are missing . . .

 

(I did report it to the State Game Commission, and when I took a grandson back out about a month later, the remains had been pulled about 100' back into the woods. I never did find the cache . . . )

[+wiseye]

I had a cache called "Sleeps with the fish". It was a fishing pole leaning against a tree with a dissicated catfish on the end of the line. A bison tube in the fishes mouth held the log. It lasted over a year in the wild before the fish went missing. Great fun.

[+briansnat]

Found one in a deer skull once.

[+Walts Hunting]

We got one called "Den Mother" that is garded by a stuffed skunk.

[+CYBret]

It kind of reminds me of this NPR article I read a few weeks ago.

 

CIA agents have used hollowed-out cavities in freeze-dried rats to store money or information. Agents leave the loaded rat in gutters for other agents to pick up later.

 

My first thought was (of course), "I wonder if that would work as a cache container."

[+J-Way]

Anyone come across any old dead animals from hunting that have been embalmed and turned into cache containers? Is this againsed the rules for a container or Do you think it is kinda unique? Im thinking of starting a cache called animal kingdom and want to use them for camo caches what do you think? Funny or just plain Weird?

Maybe someone else should emphasize the difference between "embalmed" and "stuffed". To embalm something is to drain out the blood and replace it with embalming fluid (formaldahyde, I think?). All the flesh and internal organs stay intact. While embalming does slow decomposition, the animal will still rot, will be squishy, and will get quite stinky.

 

A "Stuffed" animal is one where the skin (fur, scales, whatever) has been removed, cured (similar to a leather or fur coat), and placed over a mold. Fake eyes are glued in place.

 

Either way, a cache in a dead animal is pretty morbid. But a stuffed animal "guarding" a cache... that could be funny. Say, a stuffed rattlesnake, or a skunk (already mentioned).

[+infiniteMPG]

We have caches hidden in hollowed out bones, eye sockets in skulls, and various things like that but haven't done the full fledged animal routine as even sun dried and bleached bones get hauled off by critters. We do make regular visits to the decorating shops as they often get molded plastic or painted plaster animals that are pretty life like handle the weather and other critters don't seem to bother them. Like at sites where someone comes up on a tree and has to circle close around it. An angry looking squirrel figure hanging off the trunk just overhead gets a good jump outta people. Seen turtles, frogs, rabbits, snakes, all kinds of critters you can use.

 

I think it anything had any animal biological scent or material left on it, it would be quickly snagged by some other woodland critters or at the least, fire ants.

[knowschad]

I know of a cache in a hollow log that is covered with fake fur. You have to reach in to grab it. Gets some great reactions!! I also know of one that was a fake fox, also covered with fake fur (I presume it was fake) posed like it was sleeping in its den. I found it when it was pretty new, and it was great, but I went back with a friend about a year later and it was pretty much dead meat (pun not intended).

[mrbeachroach]

With all this great info, where do I go to get a STUFFED animal? OR molded over? Thanks

[bogleman]

this would be a good start