Is anyone else outside my area having problems with local media having scavenger hunts for MONEY that end up with caches being looted or removed (muggled in the truest sense)?
We have a local radio station that has an annual contest with clues to find a check for a progressively larger amount as the thing is unfound. By week 4 we have a logrhytmic loss of caches, even ones out in the woods, in the thorny stuff. Last year I lost 6 and so far this year I am at 10 lost in 3 weeks. Luckily we have a large number of caches placed by various locals, but the cache losses go up each year with the contest taking people into the areas we had thought safe for caching. Now we have muggles tearing bushes and hedges apart in parking lots, parks, library and courthouse grounds (always when there are no police around of course).
Has anyone found a way to keep the caches findable for cachers but not muggles?
And how have you dealt with the sponsor of the hunt. Last week it was up to $4000 and they were tearing the stones off of pillars at the Vietnam War memorial, trying to get into the helicopter (20 feet up), pulling trees over to pull caches out of the trees, and driving all over where there weren't roads. At one park there were 20 cars showed up when the clue was given, turning trash cans over, pulling plugs out of rock walls, tearing painted signs off of posts.
Any help? Or should I stick to ones out in the cacti?
Cache On, ya'll.
Bill in W. TX.
