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? about muggles


robinmama

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Could someone please explain why I have to be so leary of muggles?

 

I guess if I saw someone wandering about looking up at trees and down in the dirt I would just assume it was for a good reason (lost something, bird watching, etc).

 

If I did realize that they were looking for something, or saw them find a cache I would not think to harm it or steal it.

 

What's the deal? Are people really pirates? Or is it that this community likes the sneaky / risk / thrill aspect?

 

Thanks & have a good weekend!

 

robinmama

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A few reasons. First, you look suspicious when you are looking for a cache and muggles may call the police on you. Second, they may find and steal the cache, or you have to explain geocaching to them. Third if they think you are acting suspicouse and call it in and the police find the container and call in the bomb squad, that's just embarassing.

 

Muggles are fine as drinking buddies. Just not for watching cachers ply their trade.

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Thanks for your quick reply.

 

I guess this is my problem - I don't like feeling like I am doing something wrong. I hate that people always assume the worst.

 

With the baby in tow it's hard to look for them without looking like a total freak (imagine balancing baby, gps, sometimes dog, diaper bag, extra water, ect...). Guess it will just take some practice!

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Could someone please explain why I have to be so leary of muggles?

 

I guess if I saw someone wandering about looking up at trees and down in the dirt I would just assume it was for a good reason (lost something, bird watching, etc).

 

If I did realize that they were looking for something, or saw them find a cache I would not think to harm it or steal it.

 

What's the deal? Are people really pirates? Or is it that this community likes the sneaky / risk / thrill aspect?

 

Thanks & have a good weekend!

 

robinmama

You could also try the truth and handing them a brochure....see below....

http://www.geocacher-u.com/

 

http://www.geocacher-u.com/resources/brochure.html - actual brochre link

Especially if its a LEO.

Edited by Muddy and Amused
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I weigh each situation differently.

 

If the cache is in a place that is usually free of activity then we try to wait until any activity we run across leaves. If the cache is put where muggles abound then most likely there won't be anything you can do to avoid them. I just go to looking like i know what i am doing because i beleive that i look even more supsicious when i'm trying to look inconspicuous.

 

A micro cache gets looked for in front of muggles before a regular cache does. I wouldn't want to bring out an ammocan full of goodies in front of muggles but i don't worry as much when it's a 35mm film container. I often tell people what we're doing and they sometimes even join in on the hunt. I try not to stereotype but, we will sometimes abandon the hunt if we see certain people loitering around the cache site because we figure there's a better chance they might grab the cache after we leave.

 

I never feel like i'm doing something wrong while caching. My main concern is that i don't want the cache to get muggled if the wrong person sees me..

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A few reasons. First, you look suspicious when you are looking for a cache and muggles may call the police on you. Second, they may find and steal the cache, or you have to explain geocaching to them. Third if they think you are acting suspicouse and call it in and the police find the container and call in the bomb squad, that's just embarassing.

 

Muggles are fine as drinking buddies. Just not for watching cachers ply their trade.

 

Yes on local law enforcement. I've had homeowners call in the suspicious behavior. Please note that we were not doing anything wrong. Once we explained what we were doing, the officer wrote down the web url and said "Thanks for the explanation, have a nice day"

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Every situation is different. It's amazing how many caches get muggled. I worry more about kids/teenagers. Quite often it is best to tell the truth (especially with adults). I actually saw someone yesterday at the dog park that I had explained what I was doing at a completely different park a couple of weeks ago. She has since been on geocaching.com and is looking forward to trying it out with a friend soon. Kids are a completely different story. I often walk away and come back a different day if they are in the area. Another good idea if you are in a muggle area but can grab the cache undetected is to move away from the area to sign in etc. Is there a park bench near by? Then you can quickly replace the cache while no one is looking. Most often the swag isn't worth much, but the coins and travel bugs can be more spendy and it's a shame to see them go missing. Once a cache has been muggled it is more vunerable to future attacks which means that sometimes that park/area isn't a safe place for future hides. I personally like hides in the woods where no one else is around, but my kids for some reason enjoy being stealthy (not that they are very good at it!) Happy hunting! Jolanda

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I guess this is my problem - I don't like feeling like I am doing something wrong. I hate that people always assume the worst.

 

You're not doing anything wrong.

 

To expand on RK's response just a bit, the only security cache owners really have is obscurity. Generally, caches are in locations where someone can easily steal them. That's the reason they are hidden in the first place. Few stay in the open for long. There are exceptions--we own a couple, but in general, if the object was in plain sight folks would investigate. Some of the less scrupulous would walk off with it. This is why we try to keep them from public view as much as possible.

 

You have to try to not compromise the integrity of the hide. It's not hidden very well if you're picking up and waving it all over the place.

 

Of course, there is no absolutes. You compromise the hide just a bit simply by the act of hiding it. Then on each successive retrieval and replacement. It's not a 100% deal without a doubt.

 

The trick is to reduce the risk of revealing the hiding spot to someone unscrupulous. You're wanting to keep the hiding spot private, not hide you're doing anything wrong.

 

Sounds like you need an over-sized stroller, a GPS mount for it, and a camera. Pretend you are taking pictures of whatever subject that might work for your situation. ...or looking for a toy the baby threw. The thing to not do is when you see someone looking at you is suddenly straighten up and act like "I'm not doin' nutt'n. Nope. Just walking the baby. ...and the dog. Yep, that's it. I'm not doin' nutt'n."

 

Hope this helps.

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I've found that sometimes I have to come back to the location of the cache at a different time of the day or week if there are too many muggles around. I know it can be frustrating to have to return instead of scoring your find, but unfortunately all it takes is one jerk to take the cache, then no one has any fun. This is why is it so important to report DNFs. Many time I have just not found the cache, but a few times the cache was gone. The owner checked and replaced the cache. Sometimes the cache location may change a bit to avoid muggles.

 

Another prop that works is a clipboard with paperwork. Then you look like you are just some sort of utility worker. Have fun!

 

Outspoken1

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I bought a hardhat and put a Geocache logo on it. I put the information on a clip board and put on a safety vest. No one gives me a second look.

 

Of course with a baby, stroller, diaper bag, etc. it would probably not work for you. <_< It doesn't work well for me if I have the dogs with me.

 

However, when I go for a micro in a high muggle area, and leave the dogs home, it seems to work well.

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2 reasons.

 

1: avoiding hassle by people

 

2: avoiding LTF (last to find) You don't want to ever be the last person to find a cache. If you are, it's possible that either someone saw you with the cache and took it after you left, or you didn't hide it very well and someone came along and saw it because you did a poor job re-hiding.

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Without giving away too much detail to spoil a cache, I recently had to wait quite a time before the coast was clear before removing the cache from its hiding place. One reason was to hide my embarassment, because the cache was inside a sheep.

Don't panic, it wasn't a real one. It was made of scrap metal welded together (very well done too) and the only way of retrieving the cache was by inserting my hand up its BUM.

Now you wouldn't want members of the public passing by when you were doing that, would you? :)

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Having muggles around have there pros and cons.

 

Pros--some muggles know what you are doing and actually help you, like this one time I was searching for a cache with my dad, it was a 5 on difficultly and a muggle that always walks his dog in the park came by and said "Are you looking for the treasure?" and we said yes and he was like well you are searching in the right area but I just don't know exactly where it is, then he left and wished us good luck.

 

Cons--they can call the police on you for suspicious activities. Example, my one micro that was in a lamp post skirt until people noticed that people kept going up to the lamp post for a reason and call the police and they came in to investigate it, they thought it was drug deals going down, so I had to remove that cache.

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ROTFLOL

I had to do one just like that. Only a bears bum! Do you know how funny

we look sticking our hands up there? The shop owner has video of this

that she can watch anytime she wants a laugh! LOL :huh:

BTW, I have to go back and do it again. :huh: because I didn't find the nano

the first time! I haven't had a chance to check it out again. But will before

the tourist get back there.

CountryGirl

 

Without giving away too much detail to spoil a cache, I recently had to wait quite a time before the coast was clear before removing the cache from its hiding place. One reason was to hide my embarassment, because the cache was inside a sheep.

Don't panic, it wasn't a real one. It was made of scrap metal welded together (very well done too) and the only way of retrieving the cache was by inserting my hand up its BUM.

Now you wouldn't want members of the public passing by when you were doing that, would you? :laughing:

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