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Muggles


Ichabod

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Just look them deep in the eye and say BO!.. No seriously - as long as you don't run off screaming when someone passes by you should be fine.

 

I try to look as calm and aware as possible so people wont think I'm a burglar or something. :unsure:

 

Most importantly - be sure noone stares at you when you try to re-hide the cache.

 

Happy hunting!

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Shoot 'em, stuff 'em and use them as travel bugs! Actually, the couple of caches that I've found there have been some around. All I've done is act as normal as possible. If you act like you have a direct purpose and know what you are doing, people tend to leave you alone. It also helps if you can distract them a little, kids or small animals will do that for you.

 

Doc

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I lost a cache to muggles cuz a cacher wasn't careful. He went and did the cache anyways with the muggles close and it was picked up. ... Now, if muggles are present, I respect the cache owner and I don't seek it out. I'll either make another attempt some other day or I won't. ... even if it is a FTF, I've left them.

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Like team Beer, I dont care about the muggles.

I take a clipboard with me and go right ahead with the hunt like they weren't even there. Sometimes I will wear a big tape measure.

It's a dead give away if you act sneaky and be looking around to see if anyone is watching you.

After I' m done I will back off and watch for a while to see if anyone was watching me, and checking things out.

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This happened just yesterday, as I was signing a logbook; my GPSr and several swag items spread out on a big rock next to a walking trail. I look up and there's a guy and his dog staring at me.

"What'cha doing down there?"

"Birdwatching," I said, "and taking notes."

"You saw a bird down there?" he said, suspicious.

"Nope, a nest. Wanted a better look."

"Oh. You an Audubon member?"

"Just an amateur."

He took another look at the McToys, then turned and left, shaking his head.

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Face a tree, with your back to the muggles, and rest your thumbs on your belt, just above your zipper. (Now imagine looking at yourself from thier angle.)

 

(Okay, I made that up, but it might work.)

or say real loud, "97, 98, 99, 100!! Ready or Not Here I Come!!" turn around, tag them, and run like crazy!!

 

:D:D:D

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Try wearing wrinkled clothes and messing up your hair.. then start talking to yourself as you look for the cache. If people stare at you start swating at imaginary flies and start to yell. You might also want lunge at imaginary people near the muggles. That should clear the area free for you to search in peace. But if you see the police or the men in white suits, RUN!

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Actually we just do our normal thing. People tend to let us be. Twice on our first 2 caches ever we were signing the log when about 3 people and a dog walked by. The dog came to say 'hi' and we played with him, the owner came by nodded and kept walking. We never try and hide or anything.

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I almost always have at least one dog with me when I'm caching. When you have a dog, you may as well be invisible to most people. The only time I've had someone come up and ask me a question while I'm out caching was questions about my dog (can I pet your dog, is she friendly, what kind of dog is that...)

If I was in an area with muggles around I'd most likely put a baggie over my hand and pretend I was looking for something my dog left behind...I bet people would stay away. :D

I figure if anyone every asked me what I was doing I'd say my dog lost her tennis ball, or that I was trying to clean up after the dog. Dogs make great excuses!

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It always concerns me when people say that they are not concerned worried about being seen caching. I think that this attitude is disrespectful to the cache owner and your fellow players.

 

In my opinion, it is our responsibility to be as stealthy as possible to not give away the cache to the view of non-players. By not being stealthy, one risks having a curios person walk off with the cache. This ruins the game for all that come after you.

 

To answer the question posed in this thread, in a muggle-rich environment, I generally try not to approach the cache until I am pretty sure where it is hidden. Then I make every effort to extract the cache without being seen, take it away from the hide location, and return it without being seen.

 

The reason that I take it away from the hide location is so that if someone gets curious about what I am doing while I am examining the contents and signing the log, the cache is not necessarily endagered as it would be if I were to, for example, be sitting on the stump that the cache was hidden in.

 

When surveying the area for possible hide locations, I'll be talking on my cell phone or typing on my pda. Maybe, I'll just be resting from my brisk walk. Either way, I'm just a normal guy using the location in the same way as everyone else there.

 

When I remove the cache and replace it, I try to hide my actions. If the cache is near ground level, perhaps I will appear to be tying my shoes. Maybe I will use a fence to stretch against and remove the cache hidden on it. I'll drop my pen and pick it back up, with the cache.

Edited by sbell111
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This question comes up quite often. It never ceases to amaze me. Personally, I deal with muggles in the same manner that I deal with anyone else.

 

Once in awhile, when I'm in the supermarket, I see (gasp) other people!! Would you like to know how I deal with them? It's quite simple. I continue on my merry way, minding my own business as if I'm not doing anything wrong.

 

I use this approach because I'm not doing anything wrong.

 

I think that our own paranoia feeds a need to justify our existence.

 

The answer is to stop being so paranoid! You have as much right to be there as anyone else!!

 

Why aren't there as many threads here that deal with "Methods of interrogating muggles?"

 

We don't need to answer to muggles. If muggles look at us sideways, let them look! Enjoy it, make a game out of it. We owe nothing to nosy morons!

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I have to agree that while in general I tend to just be honest and forthcoming with the "100 reasons why geocaching is cool and you should try it right now" speech when muggles ask what I'm up to, I still do my best not to draw attention to what I'm doing.

 

TheWife and I try our best to be descrete when we are out, although, as others have mentioned if you LOOK like you know why you are out there, people tend to assume you have some reason to be.

 

We had to abandon a cache today because a muggle was practically standing on it and WOULD NOT MOVE! :ph34r:;)

 

 

[edit: spelling]

Edited by switchdoc
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Why aren't there as many threads here that deal with "Methods of interrogating muggles?"

 

We don't need to answer to muggles. If muggles look at us sideways, let them look! Enjoy it, make a game out of it. We owe nothing to nosy morons!

Actually, the thread was asking for ALL methods of dealing with muggles, so any strategy (or non-strategy) seems valid enough for me.

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In my opinion, it is our responsibility to be as stealthy as possible to not give away the cache to the view of non-players.  By not being stealthy, one risks having a curios person walk off with the cache.

Oh, I don't know. I believe that those people who hide caches in the busiest places possible probably enjoy replacing their containers once a week. Otherwise, they'd have picked a better hiding spot. ;)

 

While I always look around before I make a grab, I really just tend to ignore those caches that are in high muggle areas. I don't like them, so I don't do them -- unless I'm with a few friends. In that case, we're going to get it no matter what, because it's there. Psychologically speaking, the "group think" kicks in and the fear of getting caught diminishes. People tend to be a little more brazen when they're in a group with like-minded individuals. Funny how that works. :ph34r:

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But lately for more urban micros I just do it. Don't even worry about muggles. You'd be surprised by how many people just don't care what you're doing.

That's my attitude. If a cache owner insists on putting a cache somewhere where this is an issue, its his problem, not mine. I'll take reasonable precautions, like moving away to open it and sign the logbook, but as far as retreiving the cache, I just go for it.

Edited by briansnat
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We don't need to answer to muggles...We owe nothing to nosy morons!
Some things to keep in mind when posting:

 

Respect: Respect the guidelines for forum usage, and site usage. Respect Groundspeak, its employees, volunteers, yourself, fellow community members, and guests on these boards. 

 

Careful, those nosey morons of which you speak might be somebody's mother! ;):ph34r:

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This is a great thread.

Some of the best fun I have is making up the stories to tell muggles. I'm glad to know there are quite a few kindred spirits out there.

 

And yes, I do abandon my search if there is any danger of being spotted-- but I get to soften the disappointment by BSing some nosey muggle.

 

Did you ever run into one of those guys that dress all "official" looking? You know, with the aviator jackets with lots of colorful patches and khaki pants who insist on giving you the third degree. They are usually the best ones to jerk around. One of them will probably shoot me someday.

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I take my kids caching with me and a soccer ball. In grassy areas we can just let the kids kick the ball around while we survey the area and narrow down the location of the cache. One or two of us will go for the cache while the other two provide soccer playing cover.

 

Kids are also handy for things hidden under park benches. If I'm laying on the ground looking under a bench, it would look really odd. If my 7 year old is doing it, it just looks like a kid laying under a bench for fun. (Ok, they probably think I'm a weenie parent for letting my kid play under the bench, but I know I have a purpose.)

 

If we are in a wooded area, the kids gather sticks/leaves/rocks. We look like we are just on a nature walk gathering items. If someone approaches us, my oldest knows to come over saying, "Look at this cool rock mom! I'll go find more!" So they assume that I'm just letting the kids explore.

 

M.

Edited by wdfod
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Sometimes they'll pay attention, sometimes they won't. The Outlaw (my hubby) has this great tree inspector routine he does when walking thru an urban park to a cache ... he pulls out his PDA and becomes a "tree inspector" ... stops at each and every tree between himself and the cache, and "makes some notes," sometimes picking up a little dirt or mulch and dropping it in the breeze or rubbing it between his fingers ... this works best on the easiest caches because he can inspect his way right through picking up the cache and moving away from the hiding place to log it. Once he's done, he takes a few more notes in the area of the hide, slips it back in, and makes his exit, with or without a few tree inspections depending on whether he thinks anyone is paying attention. He maintains that after 4 or 5 trees, everyone has either left or is asleep. :ph34r:

 

On a trip to Nashville last April, we stopped to do a cache that was hidden in a hole in a rotting fence post behind an office complex. A whole table full of women taking a break was about 25 feet in front of the van, and we wondered what to do. Wayne asked, "do you have a measuring tape?" Sure enough, our escort did. Wayne and Trey (Treyb) got out and proceeded to measure the fence spans and posts, all the while Wayne "taking notes" in his PDA, while Trey snagged the container and logged it. A little more measuring and a comment like "I think we have what we need," and we drove off leaving the ladies to think the fence was about to be repaired/replaced. I thought Abbysgrammy was going to bust a gut laughing! ;)

 

I think even with a large number of caches under our belts, one of the things we are most guilty of is not moving away from the area of the hide. If you spend as little time as possible at the hide location, it is much safer from prying eyes ... they will spend their time looking where you WERE instead of at the hidey hole. One of my New Year's caching resolutions is to never log a cache within 20 feet of where it's hidden.

 

Summary? As others said, "look like you belong," and stay away from the hidey hole as much as possible!

 

Happy Trails!

Candy

Edited by Moosiegirl
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You know, generally I don't act any differently if muggles are walking by--unless you're acting suspicious, people generally don't pay much attention. However, in the spirit of this thread I thought up a great way to get rid of muggles who won't go away so you can snatch the cache:

 

"Hiya Brother! Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior?"

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