One Tb At A Time

[+the hiking zirafa]

Once we were geocaching again, the person before us took 3 TB's and 2 geocoins. We were a little bit mad , because there was nothing left for us. Is it an idea that you can only take one TB and one coin at a time. So there is something left for the next one.

Can this be arranged or do we believe that all kinds of geocachers are good doing?

 

the hiking zirafa

[+BlueDeuce]

I watched a cacher pick up my daughter's bug along with several others and carried them through 14 states (so far). They had bug parties and visited such places as Mount Rushmore and the 2nd oldest cache. (The goal of my daughter's bug was to travel far and visit many caches. )

 

Do you think it would have been more fun for my daughter to have her bug sitting in a cache waiting until everyone had their turn holding it or to take this rare and amazing journey?

 

The point of travel bug is travel and sometimes we will miss the chance of grabbing one, but I'm pretty sure another will be coming along pretty soon.

[+Bear Paughs]

I watched a cacher pick up my daughter's bug along with several others and carried them through 14 states (so far). They had bug parties and visited such places as Mount Rushmore and the 2nd oldest cache. (The goal of my daughter's bug was to travel far and visit many caches. )

 

Do you think it would have been more fun for my daughter to have her bug sitting in a cache waiting until everyone had their turn holding it or to take this rare and amazing journey?

 

The point of travel bug is travel and sometimes we will miss the chance of grabbing one, but I'm pretty sure another will be coming along pretty soon.

 

Well put.

[+miss_butterfly]

I normally only take on bug in a cache to leave the other for someone else to find... in this case i usually take the one that's been there the longest, to get the TB moving.

 

However, hypothetically, i would take more than one TB, if they had a specific mission that i really think i could help with.

 

i also agree with what BlueDeuce said. The TBs could've been sitting in that cache for ages and for all the other person knew, it might've been ages again before anyone else visit it. I guess that's the risk we all take, we don't know when the next cacher is going to come along.

[+Teamcoz]

If there are three bugs in a cache and I know I can help them along on their journey, I will take all three. We are new to this but I have seen alot of posts by owners of bugs that always say "travel bugs are meant to travel, not sit in a cache". Other cachers have no idea that you are going to come along later in the day or the next day or even next week. We just consider it a lucky surprise to find a TB that we can take and help it on it's journey.

[+Bill & Tammy]

This is another thread that proves there are many misconceptions about how TB's work. I am afraid they are too often treated as trade items and not what they are suppose to be, a side game to geocaching.

 

1. You don't have to leave anything to take a Travel Bug, if you can help it along on it's journey absolutely take and log it. You also don't have to trade a bug for a bug. I think this is a main reason bugs tend to languish in caches for long periods.

 

2. You should never swap a trade item for a Travel Bug. The bug doesn't belong to you and is not "legal tender" for trade to get an item from a cache. How often I see this happen and it leads to a dwindling of trade items or "swag" in a cache. If you wish to leave an item when you take a bug, that's fine, but it would be a gift to the cache and not a swap for the bug.

 

3. You can take as many bugs as you think you can help move. I am so sick of seeing Travel Bug hotel rules that are contrary to this. The bug hotel owner does not own the Travel Bugs and has no right to impose false restrictions on them and their movement. Keep the Travel Bugs moving! Time may be of the essence on a bug's mission as well.

 

4. Log the bug! If you don't know how to log it using it's individual identifier, don't take it. You should also the log it's movement as soon as conveniently possible.

 

Thanks and carry on

[+The Leprechauns]

When I come across multiple bugs in a cache, I'll ask myself a number of questions:

 

1. If the bugs have goal sheets, can I help any of them meet or further their goals?

2. Have any of the bugs been stuck in the cache a long time?

3. Is the cache a remote ammo box halfway up a mountain, or a TB hotel just off the interstate?

 

Based on my answers to these questions, I will then take anywhere from zero to all of the travel bugs. If I have something to drop off, and the cache is suitable, I will drop off one or more trackables.

[+joefrog]

2. Have any of the bugs been stuck in the cache a long time?

3. Is the cache a remote ammo box halfway up a mountain, or a TB hotel just off the interstate?

 

 

#2 and 3 are why I picked up two bugs yesterday from a cache that hasn't been found since April. It was a puzzle cache, but not an overly difficult one. I was at a loss to figure out why it had only been found once!

[+InHope]

2. Have any of the bugs been stuck in the cache a long time?

3. Is the cache a remote ammo box halfway up a mountain, or a TB hotel just off the interstate?

 

 

#2 and 3 are why I picked up two bugs yesterday from a cache that hasn't been found since April. It was a puzzle cache, but not an overly difficult one. I was at a loss to figure out why it had only been found once!

 

Can I piggyback a question on here? I'm traveling back to Iowa and plan to take my brother out. I noticed there are several TBs in the area, all in different caches. Would it be appropro to take a couple of those? I figured if some are trying to get out east, I could take them back to Indiana with me and place them there.

[+BlueDeuce]

2. Have any of the bugs been stuck in the cache a long time?

3. Is the cache a remote ammo box halfway up a mountain, or a TB hotel just off the interstate?

 

 

#2 and 3 are why I picked up two bugs yesterday from a cache that hasn't been found since April. It was a puzzle cache, but not an overly difficult one. I was at a loss to figure out why it had only been found once!

 

Can I piggyback a question on here? I'm traveling back to Iowa and plan to take my brother out. I noticed there are several TBs in the area, all in different caches. Would it be appropro to take a couple of those? I figured if some are trying to get out east, I could take them back to Indiana with me and place them there.

 

Sure why not? It's what the owners want. Move them bugs.

 

BTW I'll have those cache recommendations for you a little later. I'm in the middle of making a birthday cake for cmilk.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Can I piggyback a question on here? I'm traveling back to Iowa and plan to take my brother out. I noticed there are several TBs in the area, all in different caches. Would it be appropro to take a couple of those? I figured if some are trying to get out east, I could take them back to Indiana with me and place them there.

 

That is not unusual. We picked up six or eight bugs in north Jersey/NYC to take to Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine with us. And we picked up an equal number to take back to Jersey with us. Sometimes bugs just need a change of scenery.

 

On set was a pair of bugs that want to go to Roswell, NM, but got taken to NJ from Texas. We dropped them in a Motel near Providence Airport (RI). The cacher who picked them up is from Utah, and will take them there. That's a lot closer to NM than either NJ or RI!

[Mr.Yuck]

This is another thread that proves there are many misconceptions about how TB's work. I am afraid they are too often treated as trade items and not what they are suppose to be, a side game to geocaching.

 

1. You don't have to leave anything to take a Travel Bug, if you can help it along on it's journey absolutely take and log it. You also don't have to trade a bug for a bug. I think this is a main reason bugs tend to languish in caches for long periods.

 

2. You should never swap a trade item for a Travel Bug. The bug doesn't belong to you and is not "legal tender" for trade to get an item from a cache. How often I see this happen and it leads to a dwindling of trade items or "swag" in a cache. If you wish to leave an item when you take a bug, that's fine, but it would be a gift to the cache and not a swap for the bug.

 

3. You can take as many bugs as you think you can help move. I am so sick of seeing Travel Bug hotel rules that are contrary to this. The bug hotel owner does not own the Travel Bugs and has no right to impose false restrictions on them and their movement. Keep the Travel Bugs moving! Time may be of the essence on a bug's mission as well.

 

4. Log the bug! If you don't know how to log it using it's individual identifier, don't take it. You should also the log it's movement as soon as conveniently possible.

 

Thanks and carry on

 

OK, first of all, The OP is from the Netherlands, so It's impossible for me to tell, even with bad Babelfish translation, the cache in question. Don't get me wrong here, I'm in lockstep with the usual TB forum response to this question; and Bill and Tammy's post, which I'm quoting above, should be pinned at the top of the forum

 

But an incident like this does need to be looked at on a case by case basis. This could have been greedy and/or clueless individuals who shouldn't have taken all the bugs and coins. I still remember a local incident where a newbie on his first day of caching (found 3 caches that day) cleaned out a non-TB prison TB hotel of all 5 of it's occupants. A month and a half went by with no activity, and he attended an event, but no bug were brought. After 2 1/2 months of no activity, and an email from an owner of one of the TB's, (a local who had just started the TB in the hotel) they were all dropped off at another TB hotel, also a non-TB prison, less than 15 miles away. I just checked, and that person never logged another cache, and hasn't logged in to the website in over 1.5 years.

 

But hey, if he figured out how to retrieve 5 TB's into his hands on his first day of caching, and properly dropped them 2 1/2 months later, I guess you can't complain