+geocacher_coza Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 (edited) Just "lost" my second cache in less than a month. This is definitely a sign of what is happening in our country. Why can't muggles just leave a cache alone? To a muggle it must just be a lot of useless junk so why steal the cache? It seams like the geocachers must now use stealth more than ever before so that nobody can see what you are doing! With so many marmite muggles around we are bound to loose cache more often. Maybe we should fortify our caches like we fortify our homes-- 8ft walls, security guards, dog, electric fencing, etc. How many caches have you lost in 2006? Post here! Edited December 29, 2006 by geocacher_coza Link to comment
Guineafowl Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 I must agree, I've lost one cache this year and was quite upset about it. What do you think they do with the stuff? What upsetted me most is that the cache had a TB in, what do muggles do with them, do you think they display it on they mantlepiece? Link to comment
+Metro Nomad Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 Firstly, a lot of muggles can't read. And if they do, they probably don't understand the hi-tech language. It's not only Marmite Mugglers, there are an increasing number of Milky Bars that don't know the difference between a cell phone and an eTrex Legend C. I've often used my eTrex to pretend that I'm busy with a call.. Eventually we will end up camouflaging and hiding a cache to the extent where we won't be able to find it ourselves to do maintenance. Happy Hunting! Link to comment
+geocacher_coza Posted December 30, 2006 Author Share Posted December 30, 2006 The one I lost at "Peace Treaty" had two TB's in it. Like I said before. To people that do not play the game it must be "junk" SO why bother with destroying and taking the cache? Link to comment
+GlobalRat Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 It's never nice losing a cache. Even more so when there are TB's or coins in the cache and as the cache owner you have to send off a "Dear Johnny". To echo Metro Nomad... muggles come in all shapes, sizes and colours. A cache will never be 100% muggle safe, and making a cache so is part of the challenge. There are some ingenious containers being placed by creative cachers, but even these are not muggle proof. There's the interesting case of Brick's Cullinan cache. The contents were removed and placed in a ziploc bag and replaced at the cache site. The "muggle" took off with an expensive piece of Lock n lock. A very picky muggle With most of my caches I normally place a dummy cache, some of which have been in the field for 6 months, and regularly visit these to determine their muggle proofness. But even these best laid plans guarantee nothing. I had two caches disappear within the first week, even though the dummy caches survived 6 months, and both were visited weekly. I also try visit a site at different times of the day and week to determine what the muggle traffic is like. Remember you may place a cache at 09h00 on a Saturday and it looks dandy. Unbeknown to you though, the site is used as an environmental impact study site by the old ladies from the Tuesday Forum. Or a day after you place a cache a muggle takes up residence. The comments below are not directly related to any specific caches or cachers, but a general observation. Some cachers get caught red handed by muggles, no matter how cautious they may be. Some caches are not very well placed or hidden and will be prone to being muggled. I've noticed a sad trend that cachers that don't always take much care in replacing and properly hiding a cache. Try hide it better than you found it, without destroying the nature of the cache. The environment where a cache is placed is open to the elements and is therefore in a state of flux. Visit your caches as often as you can to see if all is ok, not just when there are a string of DNF's or Needs Maintenance logs. If you come across "resident muggles", don't think that being sneaky, tying your shoelaces etc., will fool them. This may work in a shopping centre but not in the bush. If you stop somewhere for even 30 seconds they will investigate when you leave. Come back some other time if you want to do the cache, those "I could see the cache but not retrieve so logging a FIND" not acceptable. Be clever about a hide and it's position. Rather be creative and don't just throw down a micro. It's frustrating, but happens everywhere. Link to comment
+geocacher_coza Posted December 30, 2006 Author Share Posted December 30, 2006 Be clever about a hide and it's position. Rather be creative and don't just throw down a micro SO a micro are not creative enough for you?????? Link to comment
+QFC Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 Be clever about a hide and it's position. Rather be creative and don't just throw down a micro SO a micro are not creative enough for you?????? Clever micros have their place (so long as they do not "endanger" the cacher), but "just another micro in a large park" do not have a place and are getting boring. Link to comment
+geocacher_coza Posted December 30, 2006 Author Share Posted December 30, 2006 SO how do a get a 2L Ice-cream container (That is by the way NOT waterproof and real cheap) inside a signpost? With great difficulty I would say. Let’s look at the circumstances--- A small cache container is stolen. You look for a better hiding place to put a new one. All you can find is a signpost that only a micro can fit in (By the way, the magnet alone to keep the micro in place is more expensive than the complete non waterproof ice cream container) The micro is camouflaged and difficult to find and you call it boring I would rather say that the black trash bag covered ice-cream containers with soggy, wet contents are starting to get boring. Link to comment
+QFC Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 All you can find is a signpost that only a micro can fit in .... The micro is camouflaged and difficult to find.... This would fall under the category of "Clever Micro" , which most of us still enjoy. I think Link to comment
+batsgonemad and his squirrel Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 Remember!! You want people to come to a specific place to see something specific. So if the location dictates that a micro be placed other than a regular because there is no place to hide it then so be it. I dont want a cache to be muggled so i try to chose the type and location carefully. Caches should be location specific not just a cache next to a road or because you pass by something, learning something about a location is rewarding to. I have lost one too with a jeepTB and felt really bad, since then i have been very fortunate and i like to think that the location of the cache and the type of container are appropriate to the location, so therfore less likely to be found. Having said that it also comes down to the person finding the cache to be careful about retrieving it and respecting the cache owners cache site as he possibly would have gone to alot of trouble to find a good location. I like to think i am very mindfull when retrieving a cache so as to make sure that no one see's me, but that to cant always be helped either. Link to comment
+GlobalRat Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 Remember!! You want people to come to a specific place to see something specific. So if the location dictates that a micro be placed other than a regular because there is no place to hide it then so be it. Ditto. Link to comment
+Team Fido Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 Am I the only person who is appalled by this post? Geocacher_coza: I usually refuse to argue on the internet and I've thought long and hard about whether I should post something in response to your post... Ultimately I decided that my silence would be tantamount to tolerance and I refuse to tolerate racism in any shape or form. It just so happens that Geocaching in South Africa (well, my exposure to it) happens to be a mostly white person's hobby. However, I'm sure there are many black and coloured cachers who are actively involved. Did you think for a second what a black geocacher would think of your Marmite Muggles comment? Would they want to go caching with you? Geocaching thrives because of the geocaching community. When you start using racial stereotypes and calling people names you are instantly excluding a part of the community. I am disgusted by you and I am disgusted by everyone else who read this post and didn't complain about you. j. Just "lost" my second cache in less than a month. This is definitely a sign of what is happening in our country. Why can't muggles just leave a cache alone? To a muggle it must just be a lot of useless junk so why steal the cache? It seams like the geocachers must now use stealth more than ever before so that nobody can see what you are doing! With so many marmite muggles around we are bound to loose cache more often. Maybe we should fortify our caches like we fortify our homes-- 8ft walls, security guards, dog, electric fencing, etc. How many caches have you lost in 2006? Post here! Link to comment
+geocacher_coza Posted December 31, 2006 Author Share Posted December 31, 2006 (edited) The only answer I have for a person like you that use a public forum to cause trouble and try to save the world by being hypocritical is--- SHAME Send me a PM and I will explain to you the circumstances how my caches disappeared and why I said who did it! I'm sorry that the post offended you. It was not my intension to stereo type a part of our community. I really don’t feel that I was racist in my remark. I simply made a true statement relative to the times we are in South Africa. Maybe you stay in a different South Africa than we do? You cannot even go and walk on Table Mountain without being mugged and stabbed. And the persons arrested for the crime a few days ago are ---- ???? Edited December 31, 2006 by geocacher_coza Link to comment
Grawp Posted January 1, 2007 Share Posted January 1, 2007 Unfortunately, what geocacher_coza has said is factual. I have also lost a cache or two. One even had a very poorly written note in the empty container telling me in no uncertain terms that "wite mens game is not wanted in SA". I wonder who could have written that one........ It IS a fact that the country we have chosen to live in is fraught with danger. The fact that we all pussy-foot around the real circumstances and pretend we ARE all the same is also a ridiculous sign of the times. More often than not, when some hardened criminal escapes from prison (an almost daily occurrence), we, the petrified public, are given a basic description of the individual, warned not to approach because he is an incredibly dangerous individual, all without once giving an inkling of what colour the fugitive is. Stupid, head-in-the-sand attitude as far as I am concerned. The forum is a vehicle to make comment. I would rather have people "tell it like it is" rather than hide away under a "politically correct" blanket. Link to comment
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