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Muggle....how To Avoid Detection


Kemo_Sabe

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It really varies. Sometimes the old fake tieing of the shoelace is needed to get caches at or near ground level, sometimes you pretend your GPS is a cell phone and yak away at it, sometimes you take pictures of the area like your a tourist and sometimes you have to walk away because the muggle won't go away.

 

How you deal with the muggle is again situational. Occasionally somebody shows a genuine interest and you explain it to them and they will join up, I've had a couple. Sometimes you just make up an excuse or I often tell people that yes its a GPS and I use it for navigation and so I won't get lost. Pesonally, unless someone is clearly hostile, I find most people are willing to be friendly and that works well.

 

JDandDD

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I use my gps unit like a phone with a camera and pretend Im taking pictures. I also cache with my dog, at 85 pounds, he is a great muggle deterant. I have yet to go paperless and try and look like Im doing something offical nearby the cache. If I notice people paying attention I either wait or come back. If it is someone of the homeless type I usually come back or wait in my car. If it is someone out in the woods, usually they are hiking or jogging and wont stay long. Like the previous posters - it all depends on the person. I stopped to talk to one guy, about places to walk our dogs, he noticed the gpsr and asked about it. I found out he was a weatherman from Canada, and he said his kids would love geocaching but he was so sick of computers he could hardly look at one, and was taking a break from anything electronic...

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Uh duh... Duh! AMAZINGLY, most responders up till this point have forgotten to mention the most basic and obvious course of action, so let's dive into it right now, as follows:

 

Most GPS receivers have a little red button on them. When you briefly depress and release that button, you (and the GPSr) become invisible to all geomuggles for three minutes. On some GPSr models, if you hit the button twice in rapid succession, you become invisible for 10 minutes. I also hear talk in the forums that some newer models of GPSrs have a little button bearing a shilouette image of a man on it. Apparently, if you aim the top of the GPSr at the geomuggle and depress this little button briefly, the person is immediately (and permanently) removed from our world (apparently transported to an alternate universe where geocaching does not exist) without a trace.

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My advice is to act like you belong there, and that you are doing nothing wrong, because you AREN'T doing anything wrong. People who lurk suspiciously tend to attract attention. People who walk around like they know what they're doing usually are left alone.

 

Hey, if I can calmly set up a tent in a busy rest stop parking lot, in full view of a McDonald's drive-through window, without a single person asking a question, then you ought to be able to hunt for an altoids tin.

 

cb2f1714-e8fa-48fb-927a-3f7a54444acf.jpg

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So, I've encountered muggles in my humble beginning. I was hoping to get some tips on how to be stealth in a "high" muggle area! Also, what to say to muggle's if your found?

 

I NEED TO BE :ph34r: ! or, :mad: !

 

Please? :ph34r:

I would start by looking for caches in low visibilty areas first. Once you become proficient with a GPS, and are familiar with many different hiding techniques, then you should start looking for caches in high visibilty spots. New cachers tend to walk in circles, while following their GPS' . This technique sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

With lots of experience, you almost always "know where the cache" will be hidden. Most high visibility caches are hidden under Lamppost covers, or underneath newspaper racks/payphones, under park benches. I can usually spot the cache location as I drive/walk up. By knowing where to look, you won't stand out as much.

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I've gotten in the habit of carrying a clipboard, pen and cellphone. Making small notes to myself even while carrying a gps in high muggle areas have been completely ignored so far. Muggles usually think you're a surveyor or something similar. If I'm asked directly, I just tell them I'm trying to figure out how to use a gps and I downloaded some coordinates off the web to see if I could find the matching locations in reality. They just shake their heads and walk away. I'm telling the truth and they're none the wiser. :ph34r:

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I put on my official geocaching anti-muggle hard hat complete with Groundspeak logos .... and sometimes grab a clipboard. If confronted by a muggle, I say I am conducting a survey of poisonus snakes in the area .... "Have you seen any?" Usually I have the place to myself in short order! :ph34r: ImpalaBob

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Carry a clipboard and wear a hardhat - nobody will look twice at you.

 

If somebody asks - tell them you are "just looking". Mostly because you are.

 

I sometimes carry a local botany guide and small notebook with specimens in it. Great cover for poking around the bushes.

 

However, best advice is just act natural and do your thing because you really aren't doing anything wrong. If somebody asks - tell them the truth.

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In urban areas you could just start yelling at buildings and arguing loudly with an invisible person. Keep looking for the cache while yelling that you "know it's here somewhere because the voices said it was here". People will leave you alone.

Oh! That was you! I thought it was some wacko. Yep, gave him a wide berth. I may have to try this...

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Take it one step further, and get one of those safety vests to go with your hard hat like the highway crews wear -- talk about fading into oblivion ...

I place a lot of extreme caches in urban areas, and also hunt the same type of things. When doing so I almost always wear my hardhat and safety vest, the needed tools on my belt, and carry a clipboard. And, my car has magnetic signs on the doors and rear reading "VXP Geo Engineering and Service"; I even carry business cards and a website for the business. However, if someone does approach me and ask, I also carry small folding cards as well as trifold flyers explaining geocaching. However, no one has ever yet approached me while I have been wearing my work gear; no one has even looked twice.

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There are times when I bicycle while geocaching, and I have found that while looking for a low-lying, urban micro or small cache, I make it appear as though I'm messing with the bike chain or something like that while I'm really looking for the cache. Once you retrieve it, it's easy to just sit there and act like you are holding something you brought there with you.

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If you hit them on the back of the neck they will be knocked out just like in the James Bond movies. Than you have no problems. Or you could spend several years developing ninja like steath skills. Personay, where I'm caching dictates what I'm wearing. In a park or what ever jeans T-shirt backpack, they ask what I'm doing I tell them I'm looking for scorpions, spiders, .... for my colledge degree. I've done the safety vest and hard hat thing, a suite and tie once. The most important thing is always have some believable line of crap to throw at them, so they think you should be there.

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I've also heard that you can simply kill them and eat them. Saves on groceries and takes care of the muggle problem at the same time.

Please try to exercise more responsibility in your postings such as this one. I am amazed that you do not know, or are ignoring the fact, that most muggles are very toxic and therefore ingesting their flesh can result in serious illeness or even result in transforming (regressing backward) into a muggle oneself. Thus, your rash suggestion is very irresponsible! Repent!

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Went out yesterday to do some caching. :( Had plenty of muggle's out there. But I didn't panic...using everyone's suggestions, I just hit my invisable button and............for some reason it only works at home while I'm reading the forums. :) So, I just acted B) and went :D ! On one cache a mail man said "what are you doing?" :) I said "my wife lost her earring(the only thing I could think of) last weekend and she wanted me to go find it. :rolleyes: The guy said "good luck, that's like looking for a needle in a hay stack!" Which it was, because the cache was hard and I logged a DNF.....my first one :D !

 

On another cache a walking muggle said "what drugs are you on?" :( At first I didn't understand what he said, before I could answer he was already down the street a bit. But before he was totally gone he said "do you even have a job?" :(:( aaaaa....that was fun! It kinda made me :( and made me :( , because the guy was such a jerk and was so quick to judge, but I blew it off and found the cache!

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My advice is to act like you belong there, and that you are doing nothing wrong, because you AREN'T doing anything wrong. People who lurk suspiciously tend to attract attention. People who walk around like they know what they're doing usually are left alone.

 

Hey, if I can calmly set up a tent in a busy rest stop parking lot, in full view of a McDonald's drive-through window, without a single person asking a question, then you ought to be able to hunt for an altoids tin.

 

cb2f1714-e8fa-48fb-927a-3f7a54444acf.jpg

Pitching a tent next to McDonald's with a giant ELF Base Camp sign may get you a visit to the local FBI office!!!

 

Earth Liberation Front

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Uh duh... Duh! AMAZINGLY, most responders up till this point have forgotten to mention the most basic and obvious course of action, so let's dive into it right now, as follows:

 

Most GPS receivers have a little red button on them. When you briefly depress and release that button, you (and the GPSr) become invisible to all geomuggles for three minutes. On some GPSr models, if you hit the button twice in rapid succession, you become invisible for 10 minutes. I also hear talk in the forums that some newer models of GPSrs have a little button bearing a shilouette image of a man on it. Apparently, if you aim the top of the GPSr at the geomuggle and depress this little button briefly, the person is immediately (and permanently) removed from our world (apparently transported to an alternate universe where geocaching does not exist) without a trace.

Everyone needs to remember the South Park episode with the ninja weapons. The GPSr cannot make clothes invisible, so you need to be naked for it to work!

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My #1 rule is to not look like I'm trying to sneak around. I've used the clipboard many times and try to make it look like I'm checking lights or something.

 

If you are noticed and questioned being honest is the best way of handling the situation. The caveat to this statement is that you can't often trust youngsters to not be destructive to the cache after you leave.

 

Fellow hikers and folks with families are often fascinated to find out about this amazing treasure hunt. Mall security guards are less than happy to know about it, thus the rules that are supposed to keep caches off of private land.

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I've also heard that you can simply kill them and eat them. Saves on groceries and takes care of the muggle problem at the same time.

Please try to exercise more responsibility in your postings such as this one. I am amazed that you do not know, or are ignoring the fact, that most muggles are very toxic and therefore ingesting their flesh can result in serious illeness or even result in transforming (regressing backward) into a muggle oneself. Thus, your rash suggestion is very irresponsible! Repent!

I'm so very sorry. I feel so dirty now. Yes, I know muggles can be toxic. I was just trying to "thin the herd" so that I might be able to get another FTF. Don't hate me. It was programmed into me by the "numbers people". They made me this way. Blame them.

 

(Heh, while folks are all looking for those rotten "numbers people" who corrupted my innocence I wll snag many FTF honors and defeat them all! I will prove my superiority (or perhaps my "butheadedness") by scoring more FTF numbers than all of them. Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa......) Oh, wait.... did I say that out loud? Pay no attention to the weirdo typing this message.... I mean that earlier message..... I mean..... oh crud..........

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Others have covered the topic of avoiding muggles. It can be hard. I've usually been lucky so far, but my worse experience was at Ft Zachary Taylor in Key West. I was looking for about 4 Letterboxes there, and it was hard to do so with all the muggles around. (a bit harder with LBs, as you have to take some time to stamp in the logbook and in your journal).

 

As to what to do if someone asked what you are doing (which I'd as yet had to deal with), I carry a small supply of geocaching & letterboxing brochures with me. This way I can give them one and maybe make a new convert. You can get this at this site and I think at the Geocaching U site.

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No one's mentioned the magic muggle repellent yet. Nothing like the old cheroot. From This muggle-infested cache.

 

I had some other plans in the general area so this one worked out nicely. Boy, you aren't kidding about the muggles. I pulled up and figured this was a lost cause today with all of the rugrats and their nannies in the park but I decided to try my luck anyway. I sat down to play some chess with a four year old and try and assess the situation from there. The four year old beat me in 10 moves but at least I could spot the first cache from that location. I pulled out a Havana and non-chalantly lit up as I removed the micro. Heh heh, makes the muggles scatter every time. Read the instructions and realized I didn't have my compass. Retrieved my compass from the car which was close by and proceeded to point B. I had to do a double-take at the final location but everybody had run away from my fumigant so I wasn't bothered at all. This was your first cache? We are impressed.
Edited by Sputnik 57
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My advice is to act like you belong there, and that you are doing nothing wrong, because you AREN'T doing anything wrong. People who lurk suspiciously tend to attract attention. People who walk around like they know what they're doing usually are left alone.

 

Hey, if I can calmly set up a tent in a busy rest stop parking lot, in full view of a McDonald's drive-through window, without a single person asking a question, then you ought to be able to hunt for an altoids tin.

 

cb2f1714-e8fa-48fb-927a-3f7a54444acf.jpg

What did that sign orginally say? It looks Chopped and Shopped. :rolleyes:

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;) I didn't see old cheroot...but I read the log from geowyz... ;) That works in a smoking zone.

 

Do most of you just stand around and watch for the perfect opportunity?

 

Example...there's this cache in a rest area. It's in or around one of those free hotel guide stands. Next to the security guard's "shack". So, I got the security guard(looking for suspiscious activity), trucker guys, kids, tourists, and many more. I have to admit I'm a bit nervous. What would be your best :rolleyes: to this cache?

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This reminds me of when I was metal detecting a few years back. My wife was playing with our kids in a park and I was swinging my detector with headphones on. Some older kids were watching me and my wife overheard them say, " that poor, poor man. Lets go put some money in the grass so he can find it."

so, unknown to me they went about "salting" the park with thier pennies .

My wife was amused...

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Everyone seems to agree that you need some kind of "props" like a clipboard. Me I have at least 2 GPS recievers, a Palm pilot, digital camera, and a cell phone.

You can play games on the Palm if you need to wait out a muggle- Take pictures of the area- MOST IMPORTANT to me is the cell phone- I'll stick that to my ear and walk around slowly to zero in on the cache- No body pays attention to a guy with that much on-person electronics- obviously a computer geek.

Clip board is a great idea-

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Face the nearest tree, and place your thumbs on your belt, just above the zipper, and just stand there, feet spread at shoulder with or wider, casually.

 

 

May not work well if your female.

 

Although, if you are female, it would go hand in hand with the above comment about wandering around in circles talking to the invisible "friend."

Edited by eta526
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