+Faith the Aquariaqueen Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 (edited) I have only been caching for about 6 weeks, we have searched 4 caches for their TBs and they weren't there....frustrating! We haven't gotten one yet. We are going to the Grand Canyon and wanted to take one/some along with us. Do I contact the cache owner or the volunteer in our area? Edited June 28, 2005 by Faith the Aquariaqueen Quote Link to comment
WH Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 The cache owner's have the ability to boot missing bugs off their cache pages using the "mark bug as missing" option. I would try them first. Quote Link to comment
+prm Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 It's been my experience that people log their finds at wildly varying time windows. I log everything same day, unless I'm somewhere where there's no Internet connection (like my hotel in Naples after a recent trip to Pompeii). Sometimes it takes people several days, or even weeks, to log that they picked up a bug. TBs also tend to go missing. Keep trying! You'll find some eventually (usually in a cache where there are no bugs listed yet... ;-) ) Cheers, Phil Quote Link to comment
+Greymane Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 I had one go missing for over a year, then it suddenly reappeared. You can never tell with these things. I would give it a week for them to get posted. Quote Link to comment
+SNSPRT Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 I have run into the same thing in caches around me. So I've start to check the TB's page themselves to see when they were placed in the cache. If there has been more then 5-6 visits to the cache since the TB was placed I question if the TB is still there. This system seems to work around me. Pete Quote Link to comment
+Markwell Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 If you KNOW the bug is not in the cache, as the owner of the cache involved or as the owner of the bug, you can Mark the Bug as Missing. Marking a Travel Bug as missing doesn't really affect the TB itself. It's not archived or unavailable. It just means that the owner doesn't know where it is (or that the cache owner that has a bug listed in his/her cache KNOWS the bug isn't there). The next person that finds the bug can grab it. No harm, no foul, no bogus miles (as was the case with the Travel Bug Graveyards). Quote Link to comment
+tozainamboku Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 The travel bug indicator may be left on the cache page for any of number of reasons: 1. Newbie doesn't realize the travel bug is special. Takes the bug as if it was a normal trade item and never logs that he took the bug. 2. Cacher takes the bug drops it in their bag with the intention of logging and forgets that he has the bug or can't find it later so it doesn't get logged. Or simply forgets to log the bug transaction. 3. Cacher takes the bug and moves it to another cache. Forgot to write down the TB# so can't update this online (OOPS!) 4. Cacher who took bug hasn't logged it yet. As stated above some people don't log their finds right away. Perhaps they are on vacation and don't have internet access. At a popular cache, the bug may have been taken earlier the same day. 5. Someone made a mistake when logging cache and bug got logged into a different cache then where it was actually placed. 6. Bug kidnappers. Rare, but does happen that someone intentionally takes bug and doesn't log it. Quote Link to comment
+hukilaulau Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 I think you are asking how you can tell if there is really a TB in the cache. The fact that you've gotten several responses telling you WHY there might not be a TB there is a sign of this GC.com reality: most members and staff do not consider fixing this flaw a high priority. This was so frustrating to me I almost gave up bug hunting. What I did, though, was to start paying more attention to the logs and dates. I look for caches where the bug dropper notes when he left the bug and there have been no finds since then. This works pretty well. Otherwise I just hunt for interesting caches and if there is a bug there I take it, usually even if I don't know what the mission is. I will at least move it SOMEWHERE, and i think most bug owners are happy with that. (I do have about a dozen now, but I am traveling soon and they will all be in caches within the next seven days.) Quote Link to comment
+geekster Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 As some of the other posters mentioned, some cachers don't log the bugs in a timely manner, me, I usually log them the same day, there is no excuse whatsoever for taking more than a day or 2 to log the bugs, if you don't expect you can do it in that time frame, don't take the bug, the only exception being a bug in a very, very remote cache. Quote Link to comment
+The Leprechauns Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 As some of the other posters mentioned, some cachers don't log the bugs in a timely manner, me, I usually log them the same day, there is no excuse whatsoever for taking more than a day or 2 to log the bugs, if you don't expect you can do it in that time frame, don't take the bug, the only exception being a bug in a very, very remote cache. Well goody for you. I see that most or all of your finds are pretty close to your home area. Of the 1400-something caches I found, the *average* distance from my home to the cache is 385 miles as the crow flies. Are you telling me not to pick up travel bugs while I'm on a long roadtrip, if moving them across the country helps them meet their goals? If you want me to log all my bug finds within a day or two, send me a free laptop computer with wireless access and then maybe I will. Quote Link to comment
+hukilaulau Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 As some of the other posters mentioned, some cachers don't log the bugs in a timely manner, me, I usually log them the same day, there is no excuse whatsoever for taking more than a day or 2 to log the bugs, if you don't expect you can do it in that time frame, don't take the bug, the only exception being a bug in a very, very remote cache. Well goody for you. I see that most or all of your finds are pretty close to your home area. Of the 1400-something caches I found, the *average* distance from my home to the cache is 385 miles as the crow flies. Are you telling me not to pick up travel bugs while I'm on a long roadtrip, if moving them across the country helps them meet their goals? If you want me to log all my bug finds within a day or two, send me a free laptop computer with wireless access and then maybe I will. You do all that traveling. You've been geocaching for 3 years. And you can't find computer access within 2 or 3 days of picking up a TB? I doubt it. But if so I would agree that you're part of the problem of so many caches listing bugs that aren't there. I understand that you don't agree with us on how significant a problem it is, but I hope you become aware that some of us DO consider it a serious problem, not just the previous poster whose thoughts you dismiss so flippantly. Quote Link to comment
+geekster Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 Well goody for you. I see that most or all of your finds are pretty close to your home area. Of the 1400-something caches I found, the *average* distance from my home to the cache is 385 miles as the crow flies. Are you telling me not to pick up travel bugs while I'm on a long roadtrip, if moving them across the country helps them meet their goals? If you want me to log all my bug finds within a day or two, send me a free laptop computer with wireless access and then maybe I will. hmmm, how about 2 words instead - "internet cafe", anyone who travels so "extensively" should be familiar with that phrase Quote Link to comment
+Glenn Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 Well goody for you. I see that most or all of your finds are pretty close to your home area. Of the 1400-something caches I found, the *average* distance from my home to the cache is 385 miles as the crow flies. Are you telling me not to pick up travel bugs while I'm on a long roadtrip, if moving them across the country helps them meet their goals? If you want me to log all my bug finds within a day or two, send me a free laptop computer with wireless access and then maybe I will. hmmm, how about 2 words instead - "internet cafe", anyone who travels so "extensively" should be familiar with that phrase Internet cafes are an option when you are in or near a large city. Particularly on the coasts. But as you get closer to the farmlands of midwest internet cafes get fewer and fewer. Wireless access points are harder to find too. Quote Link to comment
+Jeeping Family Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 IHOP and Panera Bread jump out at me. Just a matter of eating at places that help you. Quote Link to comment
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