Distractions For Muggles.

[Artista]

My son and i have been out a few times, and it seems ineveitably, someone ends up watching us during some cache. We have worked out a code for when we see the cache (if it can be readily seen - ie: a magnetized cache under a public trash can, or a pile of rocks) "whoever finds it says: "Did you hear what Darren (my 5 year old) did the other day?" That alerts us to the fact it was seen, and then we come together and work out a plan to distract any muggles (usually my job) while my son gets the cache. Any good ideas? Yesterday, a UPS driver was taking a break, parked, pointed right at the cache. Watching every move we made. Unfortunately, we were wandering around a planter in the middle of a parking lot. for no good reason. Any help would be appreciated.

[twjolson & Kay]

Dangle something shiney? Pretend to throw a tennis ball?

 

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[+The Leprechauns]

Covering fire from automatic weapons works on all but the most persistent of muggles.

[WH]

Wear one of these while searching and watch the muggle vanish:

 

[+C&C+COMPANY]

I hit my head repeatily and mudder things under my breath

[+AtoZ]

If someone puts a cache in a really public area then just "dadgum the torpedoes" and find the cache that is the final conclusion I have come to. If you want a cache in the middle of Grand Central station then I'll find it. Besides a memeory charm always works.

cheers

[+tabulator32]

Sometimes ya gotta come back later.

 

A buddy and I sat five feet away from an altoids tin for about 10 minutes while we waited for park traffic to clear but people just kept walking by. We finally came back after doing some more caches.

[+Mach 5]

I have found that you can continue your search, and do everything almost as if the muggle wasn't watching (you do not want them to see you grab the cache or put it back, obviously). You would not believe how little attention people are actually paying you. You think they are watching you closely, but probably not.

[+beopots]

We used a hackey sack once, then 'oops dropped it over by that tree!' or 'oops kicked it over by that foot bridge....' it worked really well.

 

...and people don't come near when your feet are flailing thru the air wildly!

Edited July 21, 2005 by beopots

[+tabulator32]

I have found that you can continue your search, and do everything almost as if the muggle wasn't watching (you do not want them to see you grab the cache or put it back, obviously). You would not believe how little attention people are actually paying you. You think they are watching you closely, but probably not.

Its the "probably" that is the keyword.

 

I did a cache a while back that had a few pedestrians in the area. I thought I had been very careful to retrieve and replace the cache without anyone seeing me. The next cacher that tried the cache left a DNF and the owner went out and archived it until he could replace the cache.

 

I don't know if my activity contributed to the cache being muggled but I probably should have been more careful.

[+briansnat]

I wet my pants and pour Campbells Chunky Beef Vegetable soup all over my shirt. It clears the area.

[+Mach 5]

Use a smokescreen?

 

*poof*

*cache disappears*

*poof*

*cache appears*

 

No one saw a thing.

[+ohgrl]

Dangle something shiney? Pretend to throw a tennis ball?

 

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Just be sure you arent easily distracted by such things

Edited July 21, 2005 by ohgrl

[+budd-rdc]

I try to blend in, and let time be on my side. Most people will start ignoring if you just stand there and look around casually.

 

Find an activity to do to make yourself belong there. Read the cache description sheet, your PDA, newspaper, etc. Prop up the hood of your car and check the fluids. (If the car is positioned strategically, the hood is a great visual block, by the way)

 

Sometimes, if a muggle stares, I stare back if the person doesn't look too crazy. The muggle will usually "stand down" and go elsewhere.

 

The most important part is coming up with a distraction in parallel while grabbing and replacing the cache. You'll have to be creative there. I've dropped a pen or paper, picked up a nearby litter, etc. Sometimes, good old fashioned quickness is appropriate.

[+Greymane]

Wear one of these while searching and watch the muggle vanish:

 

Sorry to get off topic for a minute, but I can't help it. I recently retired from the Navy and was a nuclear technician. Once, one of our guys thought it would be funny to wear a set of Anti-Cs (anti-contamination clothing . . . see above) in the nearby town around Halloween. It did NOT go over well (but certainly distracted a lot of people!).

 

Personally, I always find smoke grenades to be good cover. As an alternative, you could have a member of your team streak across the parking lot.

[+Polk Street Bandits]

I use my GPSr as a cell-phone, and then "drop it" nearby the cache. It usually works - people don't pay much attention to me unless I have the dog along.

 

Where I struggle is looking for a micro or some other small cache out in the open. There aren't many inconspicuous ways to search for something in a 15ft circle with out looking weird.

[+wandererrob]

I've been pondering this as well. I was after a micro in a park a couple of weeks ago. I found it, I was staring right down at the hiding spot, but had to abandon it b/c people showed up with their kids and were watching. I'll be back this weekend to finish the job

[+StarBrand]

Actually kids are great for distraction - you get the cache and let your child distract. Tell them to sing loudly or fake a minor injury or just dance in circles. Kids acting strangely tends to grab a lot of peoples attention. Just time it well.

[+Ladycacher]

I Geocache with my two boys 4 and 7. They make GREAT distractions for muggles. For instance a 35mm canister was hidden under a rock at a Baseball complex. It was FULL of muggles! My sons pretended to play around and under the rock..looking for the geocache. Then we did one that was under a bleacher, they pretended to play under it until the goecache was found.

 

Mostly muggles will watch what they are doing and not care about me, or I will tell my kids where I think it is and they will go "play" by it.

[+dinotodd]

I thought I was the only one who pretended to talk on the GPS like it was a phone. :-)

 

My daughter and I like to look like we are looking for her lost earring. We wander around muttering about how "your earring is probably gone now." Someone offered to help the other day. I got the impression he was looking for the same thing we were though.

[+sbell111]

Generally, if I can't blend in and be ignored, I'll try to wait the muggle out. If that doesn't work, I try again another day.

 

Often, you can snag a micro without looking out-of-place. Lean against the fence, Bend down and tie your shoes. Accidently drop your pen.

 

Those cachers who can't be bothered to use stealth to hunt an urban cache ought not hunt those caches. They also might consider reviewing the Creed, if they prescribe to it.

[+geognerd]

Once a friendly muggle asked if I was looking for vegetables while I was seeking a cache in a wooded area. So if you're up on your botany and you see something edible, you can say you were just looking for veggies!

[Eubi]

If you have kids, no problem.

 

If I'm alone, I like to wear an orange vest, hard hat and carry a clipboard.

[atroxatrox]

Bring a dog with lots of food in it.

Bring a bunch of small plastic bags.

Search the cache wile picking up the poo.

No one will bother you that way.

And if you can't control yourself and scream "Found it!" they will

just think you are a very responsible dog owner.

Make sure the dog is ugly and repelling or you will have people all over you

asking if the could cuddle the dog.

[+deimos444]

a hundred pound Golden Retriever who thinks his job is to jump up and lick every person he meets.

add a poop bag and say don't step in that.

it's huge!

worked great today in a parking lot.

after he jumped on two of them they realized it was no joke and moved along.

[+Team GPSaxophone]

Wear one of these while searching and watch the muggle vanish:

 

Sorry to get off topic for a minute, but I can't help it. I recently retired from the Navy and was a nuclear technician. Once, one of our guys thought it would be funny to wear a set of Anti-Cs (anti-contamination clothing . . . see above) in the nearby town around Halloween. It did NOT go over well (but certainly distracted a lot of people!).

 

Personally, I always find smoke grenades to be good cover. As an alternative, you could have a member of your team streak across the parking lot.

By Halloween it's too cold to go streaking around here

[+wimseyguy]

I find that a gruff scary sounding "hey whattya you lookin at?" does the trick nicely.

 

I have also been known to pick up trash and tell them I have 200 more hours of community service left to do.

That ususally end the conversation nicely.

[Artista]

I too have found the hardest part is looking for a micro in a 15' radius. Looking over, under and around. I might try the vest/hardhat/clipboard idea. We use our code (see above) when someone sees it...very handy in group situations.

 

What can we use as an excuse/reason for 5 ppl searching..any ideas?

[+ADKcachers]

What can we use as an excuse/reason for 5 ppl searching..any ideas?

Dang! I know I dropped those keys around here somewhere.

[+hiker49]

Well, you might say you thought you lost something. Of course, one of the caches I found was hidden underneath a pay phone in an extremly busy parking lot, and my friend had the idea of leaning against the pay phone with his hands behind his back and reaching for the cache once he spotted it.

[+Colorado Cacher]

With shotgun slugs & Flechette rounds..................

[+deimos444]

With shotgun slugs & Flechette rounds..................

ever try a beanbag?

[+Dancing Penguin]

Try using an "invisibility cloak". If you wear a reflective vest (green or orange) that a highway construction or utility maintenance person would wear on the job, and you carry a clipboard (especially the aluminum box type), you'll virtually disappear (except for the child, of course). A hardhat would probably be too noticeable, but anything that makes you look official does the trick.

[+Dhalihalama]

Pretend a contact lens fell out of my eye.

[+Sparrowhawk]

Easy stuff. Both of you wear this:

 

 

And you carry a garbage bag.

 

If you find the cache, pretend it's another piece of garbage and walk off bored. Then wait for the geomuggle to split before putting it back.

Edited July 23, 2005 by Sparrowhawk

[+hikergps]

Turn your eyelids inside out, eat some soap chips, and chant "Your going to die!" over and over. Respectfully borrowed from Bill Cosby.

[Bullsfan80586]

We try to look for caches in the forest. When there is a muggle path near the cache site, we stand like the deer do and they don't usually see us. Once, when we emerged from the forest after finding a cache, my daughter said, in a loud voice, "Well, I guess we'll have to buy a new frizbee for the dog!" Uh...We were in the forest and had no dog!

Edited July 23, 2005 by Bullsfan80586

[idratherbeinthewoods]

I've only had one muggler experience. A teeny bopper thought that the only place she could get reception on her cell phone was sitting on a long rock wall near the cache. So I sat about 25' away and slooowlllly inched my way towards her.

When she realized what I was doing, she left in a hurry.

I later told my wife what I did and she pointed out that I could have ended up with a face full of mace!

[clemtigr81]

I have taken lots of pictures with my GPS while waiting on muggles to pass. I have also carried on MANY fake conversations using my GPS phone. They never know the difference but it passes the time and looks like you are really doing something. You know how people walk around while talking on the phone? Thats what you do. Has anyone done this before?

[+murfster]

Old headphones taped to a GPSr makes it look like an MP3 player (I-Pod).

 

Just put a little swing in your walk

 

Murfster

[+Gecko1]

Bring your pvc pipe and backpack and watch them run.

[+the hermit crabs]

Once, when we emerged from the forest after finding a cache, my daughter said, in a loud voice, "Well, I guess we'll have to buy a new frizbee for the dog!"  Uh...We were in the forest and had no dog!

You should have glanced briefly around as if searching for the absent pup, and then responded, "And a new dog, too!"

[+KKTH3]

Wear one of these while searching and watch the muggle vanish:

 

and with the suit, carry a bucket filled with neon-green glo-sticks. Every now and then, with a sleight of hand, pretend to pull one out from a bush or from under a bench and exclaim "I knew I could find you, my precious! I could feel your energy"

[+Fergus]

You could try shooting anyone watching. I hear that works great.

[+deimos444]

You could try shooting anyone watching. I hear that works great.

Please use your camera and then ask them where they live.

[+narkedfrog77]

ya'll are too funny i am gonna have to use some of those ideas!!!!!

no guns, just cameras!!!!

[+captnemo]

I was trying to get a cache in the middle of an off-road campground once, so I picked up my rock hammer, walked around picking up rocks, hittting them with the hammer then dropping them. After a few minutes I was part of the background so I picked up the cache went back to the car made the trade then started the pickup, hit, and drop the rock thing until I was back to the cache site then I just put it back whil picking up another rock.

[+lordfishman]

I sometimes hide my keys in my hand then if someone notices me I bend down and pull up my keys and look "happy"

 

Works sometimes,

 

I do like the Ipod or MP3 player idea, GPSr tend to be too big for cell phones nowadays.

 

One day I am tempted to say, the probe should have landed around here somewhere! Just to see what kind of reaction I get

[+rwtink]

SO if I wait long enough in one location...all caches will come to me???

[+One of the Texas Vikings]

I have also carried on MANY fake conversations using my GPS phone.  They never know the difference but it passes the time and looks like you are really doing something.  You know how people walk around while talking on the phone?  Thats what you do.  Has anyone done this before?

 

If I tried that, one of the muggles would walk up and say:

 

"Mister why are you talking to your GPSr ?"