Does This Happen Often?

[+gchance]

I placed a cache in the middle of last week near work. I used some tree branches to hide the cache, with explicit instructions to camo the cache as good as they found it. I wasn't there on Friday due to a funeral.

 

On Thursday, the person I would have expected to get FTF says he spent 40 minutes looking for it and finally gave up, but would be back soon to look again.

 

FTF was on Friday. So was second, third, & fourth. Over the weekend, 3 or 4 more people found it.

 

On Monday I decided to go check it out. I saw the cache from 50 feet away, it was just sitting in plain view on top of a branch. No camo to speak of, and if a breese had come by, it surely would have fallen into the brush below.

 

I put it back where I originally had it, camo'ed in a similar fashion. Two more people have found it since then.

 

So how often does this happen? Should I just forget about people having the courtesy of putting things the way they were originally? Did I ask too much of the cachers?

 

Greg

[+cudlecub]

I had one of my caches that moved all over the howitzer (sp?) gun it was attached to. Each time I visited it, it was in a different location. Cachers would call me because the hint could even lead Helen Keller to it, but it never seemed it was replaced in the same place twice. After an hour and half hunt for it one day, I finally archived it. It's was the case of the mysterious moving micro coming to an end.

[+GEO.JOE]

It happens, but not necessarily all at once.

It could have just been the last finder was too lazy or in too big of a hurry to replace it correctly.

However, if each finder changed one little thing when they re-hid the cache than it is a completely different hide by the time the fourth person re-hides it.

Some caches are easy to get back in the exact same place, but some other hides take finesse. They also take remembering exactly the way the cache as hidden and camouflaged. In the excitement of finding the cache they may have quickly grabbed the cache without studying the way it was hidden.

I have been guilty of re-hiding a cache that someone else retrieved. I have no idea how it looked when they found it, but I try to replace it in a manner that represents the difficulty rating of the cache.

Geo.Joe

[+Night Stalker]

I have also had finders who thought that the hiding place of one of my caches was to difficult so they moved it to an easier location. Not sure what they thought the difficulty rating of 3 was there for.

[+Car54]

We actually lost this cache due to the same problem. The cache sat inside a fork of a tree and was camo'ed by a piece of thick branch wedged into the fork. As the now archived cache page stated, the cache was completely visible without the camo.

 

This was one of our first hides and fortunately we lived literally around the corner from it. I say "fortunately" because every time it was found during its 14-month life, we'd go over there to see if the camo needed replacing and 98% of the time it did. The stout branch was almost always left sitting at the base of the tree, leaving the cache vulnerable.

 

Finally, one day the inevitable happened and the cache got muggled. Sadly, someone lost their child's travel bug as a result. We will never again place a cache in such a way that its security depends on the ability? willingness? courtesy? of fellow cachers to replace the camo.

 

Mrs. Car54

[+briansnat]

So how often does this happen?

 

Way too often. And if it isn't left out and exposed or moved to another spot, people take it upon themselves to hide it way better than you intended, turning what is supposed to be an easy hunt into a difficult one.

[+Jhwk]

I would say, out of all the finds I've had this winter, over 75% have been found fully exposed. I usually leave a note when I log it about the condition it was found in. I try to "hide" it again so it is not sitting out in broad daylight - I do not move or reposition, it's not my cache to move...

[+Miragee]

There is a cache here that a finder decided to take the cache owner too literally when they stated in the description, "hide it better than you found it."

 

They moved it and hid it so that no one, not even the cache owner, has been able to find it . . .

Edited January 19, 2006 by Miragee

[Zoptrop]

I have 4 caches and one of them gets moved around a bit regularly, but the other 3 stay in place for the most part. I check on them a couple of times a month and generally have to re-build decoy piles and such quite often - which brings up a good point: if there is a "pile" or other "thing" that looks like it may be a cache, but isn't, then it's probably a "decoy" and putting it back like you found it is greatly appreciated!

[+Zzyzx Road]

I think we had a similar problem...We were FTF on a local cache (hidden in some viney stuff on a fence) and the hint said to not look up. I was having a blonde moment and thought down, so I rehid it about 3 feet up from where it was supposed to be. Two more people logged as a DNF, then the owner (whom my GC partner knows) noted that it was muggled and he replaced it with a second. Then a well-known cacher in our area found it, the first one! With our sigs on the log. She rehid it better as she said it was out kinda visible. Then someone else found it. Then my partner's daughter's team found it - took the swag item I left in the first time around.

So which one is really missing and are there actually two now? I feel really bad, and since I don't live in the area (partner does - she went back and refound it and rehid it) I am going to her place to recheck it once and for all. Maybe we will find the second one too...and email the owner...once again...with my sincere apologies...and mumblings of my own stupidity...

[+StarBrand]

I recently got a log on one of my caches that read something like "This cache is quite exposed and can be seen from a long distance away". The cache page clearly states that it is well camo'd with natural coverings and may take a while to find. I contacted the cacher that wrote the log and asked him if he re-hid it better. He said no because he thought maybe it was supposed to be hidden that way. Sigh........

[+Zzyzx Road]

That is exactly why I felt really bad. Some of these we have found (and they are an oh-so-precious-few) have NOT been hidden where the description lists, and I have tried very hard to make sure they go back to the original wishes. This one was another bit of frontal-lobe flatulence, and I (we) tried really hard to get it back to it's spot.

 

One I did yesterday was visible from the grassy area, and was supposed to be under a bush, which it was, but not to the better hiding abilities the cache owner is known for. So I moved it 6" over to the left where the shrubbery was a little bit thicker. That way some oaf with his dog (this was a dog park, due to all the landmines) wouldn't spot it while walking by. Since I was able to basically walk right to it, I didn't think that move was harmful.

[+Renegade Knight]

It happens quite often. If you look at a kids bedroom and realize that these people grow up into adults it's easy to see that not everone makes the transition to putting things away.

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

There is a cache here that a finder decided to take the cache owner too literally when they stated in the description, "hide it better than you found it."

 

They moved it and hid it so that no one, not even the cache owner, has been able to find it . . .

Can't the cache owner in that case at least try to contact the last finder to learn where it was re-hidden?

[+RockyRaab]

That's why I gave up adding "Please re-hide it the way you found it" to any cache description. If ONE lazy/stupid cacher leaves it sitting out in the open, EVERY cacher after that will do the same! After all, that IS the way they found it.

 

That would continue until the thing is muggled, of course, and then nobody ever knows what really happened.

 

On several occasions, I've been guilty of not taking a careful enough look at how a cache is placed - and then was unable to get it back in exactly the same way. But I always tried to at least get the thing out of easy view.

[+sbell111]

The original final location for Great Caesar's Ghost was a hollow tree. The ammo can fit right inside and I had a piece of wood that was the right size to cover the hole. At first glace, it just looked like the bark was missing. After every find, I had to go back and replace the wooden cover. It was never put back correctly, which led to the cache being muggled.

 

Eventually, I added a stage and hid it next to a tree, covered with sticks. I was forced to make the cache less interesting.

[+briansnat]

That's why I gave up adding "Please re-hide it the way you found it" to any cache description. If ONE lazy/stupid cacher leaves it sitting out in the open, EVERY cacher after that will do the same! After all, that IS the way they found it.

 

I've used "please re-hide in a manner consistent with the difficulty rating".

[+ParrotRobAndCeCe]

My cache got re-hidden in a somewhat different place from where I originally hid it. On my last maintenance visit, I almost had to DNF my own cache

 

Originally, I had mixed feelings about this - on the one hand, I had trouble finding my own cache, but on the other hand, the finder that re-hid it actually hid it in a much better place that I had not seen before, so it is better off where it is now.

 

I found out afterward that the re-hider did what I think is the right thing, and sent me a message indicating that he/she had found it out in the open and placed it where they thought it probably belonged. They also included a description of where it was so I could locate it. Of course, I didn't read the email until after I went to visit it myself

[+Sagefox]

I think we had a similar problem...

Hey, We've been on the Zzyzx Road!

 

So how often does this happen? Should I just forget about people having the courtesy of putting things the way they were originally? Did I ask too much of the cachers?

 

Happens a lot as you have seen here. You kinda hafta think about how much effort and money you are willing to put into cache replacements when you hide a cache that needs special attention by each finder.

 

There are two common actions people take at a cache find. Some like to make the container easier for others to find so they will leave it more exposed. And then others like to cover the container that those wrong-thinking cachers left too exposed.

[+Davispak]

You have to remember that these things are out in nature and there is wind, rain, animals, and yes cachers that can affect cover of your cache. We just had a day where the wind was gusting around 50 MPH. That would remove just about any small cover you put on something, considering it tore down trees. I say that if they give a decent attempt to cover thats about all you can ask.

[+Miragee]

There is a cache here that a finder decided to take the cache owner too literally when they stated in the description, "hide it better than you found it."

 

They moved it and hid it so that no one, not even the cache owner, has been able to find it . . .

Can't the cache owner in that case at least try to contact the last finder to learn where it was re-hidden?

They did, and the cacher-in-question posted a note on the cache page about revisiting the site . . . but I don't think they ever did.

 

The generous cache owners just put out another cache in the original location . . .

[+edscott]

That's why I gave up adding "Please re-hide it the way you found it" to any cache description. If ONE lazy/stupid cacher leaves it sitting out in the open, EVERY cacher after that will do the same! After all, that IS the way they found it.

 

I've used "please re-hide in a manner consistent with the difficulty rating".

I LIKE that phrase. I am going to "muggle" it .. thanx..

[+Riddlers]

Ourselves and another team spent 45 minutes climbing all over a very steep hillside looking for a cache that clearly said, hidden under branches and pine needles between two trees, just off the path. We looked and looked. Then in one of the logs, it said, we looked a long time and finally found it. Wanted this to be even harder for the next cacher so we removed any clues of where it was hidden. We felt like the one who found it and rehid it took something from us. We were not very happy and the cache owner was not happy when he found out as he had gotten several no finds. No one had found it since the rehide and nearby caches have 7 logs each since then.

Edited January 21, 2006 by Riddlers

[+CamoCacher]

I recently got a log on one of my caches that read something like "This cache is quite exposed and can be seen from a long distance away". The cache page clearly states that it is well camo'd with natural coverings and may take a while to find. I contacted the cacher that wrote the log and asked him if he re-hid it better. He said no because he thought maybe it was supposed to be hidden that way. Sigh........

This can be hard becuase not everyone prints out the sheets to read and they go from memory. I know until I get a PDA all I have is the coords in the GPS and anything I can rememeber.

[+Zzyzx Road]

I think we had a similar problem...

Hey, We've been on the Zzyzx Road!

I always thought of it as a funny sign in the middle of nowhere. Then I found an article somewhere that it used to be the last entry in Webster's dictionary AND it is a species of butterfly. THOSE things made me like it more...THEN I was contacted by fisnjack who explained to me how it came about:

 

The ZZxzx road that I was referring to was named by an early radio preacher

that had bought an old army base. He upgraded it and over the years

brought out derilicks and winos from LA and SF dried them out and got them

back into society.

Back in the 1960's you could drive in get a meal for the

whole family for a donation. About that time the government decided to take

the properety back and the old man fought them in the courts for another 12

years The old man finally died a broken man in Las Vegas.

The place went

back to ruin and as far as I know there are still a couple of buildings

being used by reaserchers from the university.

 

Kind of neat little bit of history, huh?

 

I also read once something about a phone booth out there that you could call from, and it would show up on the bill as Zzyzx...

[salmoned]

There is a cache here that a finder decided to take the cache owner too literally when they stated in the description, "hide it better than you found it."

 

They moved it and hid it so that no one, not even the cache owner, has been able to find it . . .

No such thing as "too literal", "hide it better than you found it" is an open invitation...

[+JohnnyVegas]

It is not all that uncommon I have had trouble finding my own caches while doing maintance checks. I replaced one that I thought was missing. Then someone loged that they found two of them 60 feet apart. Sure enought there it was about 60 feet from were I placed it.

Edited January 26, 2006 by JohnnyVegas

[4wheelin_fool]

Most often new cachers with good intentions leave the cache exposed in an attempt to make it easy for the next cacher. Check the logs on many muggled caches and 2/3 of the time or more the last finder will be someone with only a few finds. Ive started to camo my lock'n'locks with bark and clear outdoor glue in anticipation of this. Sometimes the weather is the culprit, or people caching at night who may think it is hidden well.

[+Robespierre]

Advice: lower your expectations - it's JUST TOO HARD for some people.................. and CHECK OFTEN.

 

I have tried to make it "foolproof," but fools are pretty ingenious. Hope it makes you a better cacher on your finds, though.