How Do You Search Without Looking Too Obvious?

[Mr Walker]

The Bandar are often a great help. These days no one questions the most outrageous behavior from children and you can practically pull a G.Z apart without raising an eyebrow. If that's not subtle enough for you , or your kids are too well behaved, just use the direct approach. I always reply when asked, "just trying to find some geo-spacial coordinates," and if pressed, "there's supposed to be a survey peg around here somewhere." Neither of these are out right lies, and usually satisfy muggle's curiousity. Now extracting the prize unobserved. That's another matter!

[+Red_Devil35]

"I work for the DNR, we are doing a count of the snakes (spiders, scorpions, etc) in the area. Oh look, there is another one!" ...crashing off into the underbrush...

[+DaMoores]

Once when I had a heard of gawkers around the cache. I'll made some casual comment about not seeing any rattle snakes "Today"

 

I got some room real quick.

[+CJOttawa]

How about being conspicuous?

 

I carry about a dozen geocaching brochures with me.

 

Last time I was caching with friends, we attracted attention of some muggle teens who were just "hanging around." They asked what we were looking for and we told them, explaining the whole game and giving them a brochure.

 

One had a GPS at home so there may be some more cachers in the area now.

[+GreyingJay]

I second the trash bag idea.

 

One time I was looking for a cache that ended up being right beside a huge "WELCOME TO XXXVILLE" city sign. The sign was among a garden and a number of trees. When I drove past the sign, there was an unmarked van parked right beside the sign, so I went to a nearby shop and waited it out. I wasn't actually sure what the people in the van were doing -- they could have been cachers, I suppose, but I never saw any other logs that day. They did have cameras and were taking pictures. I figure maybe landscapers or some kind of survey engineers.

 

That gave me the idea for the perfect cover, though. When they left, I drove my car right up to the sign and parked on the grass in the same spot they did. Conveniently, that day I wore khaki-coloured pants and a matching dress T-shirt, which made me look somewhat like a city park official. I brought a trash bag and started picking litter up off the garden, made my find, signed the log, even took a few pictures, and just drove away when it was all done.

 

The other cover I've used is a picky nature photographer looking for the perfect red maple leaf.

 

Frequently, especially with urban micros, the trick is to just be natural. Sit down on the steps or wall, rest for a few minutes, maybe look at your watch like you're waiting for a friend, whatever. When nobody's looking -- yoink! -- and do the same when you put it back. On a busy summer day downtown, nobody notices.

 

If you've ever learned any magic tricks, you know that magicians frequently rely on misdirection. They show their left hand, they stare intently at their left hand, they talk about stuff while waving their left hand, all the while secretly pocketing the coin with their right hand, which nobody is watching because everyone -- including the magician -- is focusing their attention on the left hand. Same thing applies for Geocaching. The other day I extracted a cache from inside a crevice in a stone wall, slowly, carefully, while calmly watching something going on across the park in the opposite direction. People look at what you're looking at.

Edited August 1, 2006 by GreyingJay

[+BoggyWoggy]

This is an interesting question...

While caching in Hawaii, we ended up at the Univ. in Honolulu. Without knowing it, we were being watched by a muggle from a window in a nearby lab. He came out and asked what we were doing. I hesitated to answer, thinking about being a true secretive hunter...but, then he said, "You do realize you're on government private property, being that this is a research lab for marine science." Well, of course at that point, I explained what I was doing with my husband and 2 teenage children. The guy got really excited and said, "I've heard about geocaching but didn't really know what it involved!" Well, hallelujah! The guy is now hooked and has actually contacted me, now that we're back on the mainland. Our family DNF'd the site we were hunting for...so he let me know that he got so excited after talking with me that he went right out and bought himself a GPS that night! Then, he logged onto the website, found the coordinates, and searched for the cache! He found it, sent me a message, including a photo, and thanked me for turning him onto this cool thing! We'll never be back in that part of HA, so I was glad to feel a little resolution about the fact that we didn't find the cache. So...here's my point...yeah, yeah, yeah...we want to be a secret society, but dadgum! It's so great to educate others, sometimes, especially if it gets them off the couch and back outdoors where we all should be right now!

 

Whip out a trashbag and start picking up the litter. Nothing will get you ignored faster.

 

Use the Hide and Seek a Cache link on www.geocaching.com.

 

 

I would never have thought of doing that...(trash picking).

 

The second question I had, with your answer of "hide and seek a cache", well, I've tried that. It doesn't help.

 

 

Thank you, though, for the first tip!!

[Mayax]

With GPS in hand, tell them you're searching for lifeforms on your tricorder.

[+NatureGuy360]

These ideas sound good for most people but as a young man who is trying to attract the ladies I just cannot see myself walking down the street holding a clipboard and wearing a bright orange vest.

 

Although playing make believe by getting all dressed up with an I.D. badge and a hard hat doesn't work well for me I have found a lot of success by looking less "official" and more natural.

 

Garmin makes a GPS receiver that is designed for runners and can be worn like a wrist watch. Even though it is not the most ideal unit for Geocaching it has still come in very handy for those high muggle areas.

 

You all have come up with some very clever ideas! I'm going to have to write some of these down.