How Many TB is it OK to take from One Cache?

November 1, 2007

I have found a TB motel in my area that has 5 travel bugs sitting in limbo. They have been there since the bridge between them and the main highway was put under construction. The construction started spring 2007 and will not end untill fall 2008. I am feeling sorry for these poor guys and am contemplating moving all five of them about 70 miles away to an area that has a higher traffic volume and more opportunity. This would not be going against any of the travel bugs goals but I don't want to appear greedy or anything. I can't take them very far or give them a big push but it seems a shame for them to just sit there. What do you think I should do? Should I contact the owners before moving them?

November 1, 2007

Contact the cache owner (politely) and let them know your concerns. They might have plans for those TBs. If they don't, then retrieve them and get them moving again. You can always round up a few TBs to put back in the cache after the construction is complete.

24.7k · November 1, 2007

Yes, you can take them all and help them travel.

You would be a hero for doing it.

The travel bug owners would be happy.

Only the cache owner may be annoyed. But that's their problem. They had a chance to be the hero and didnt' act on it.

The other day I had a chance to pay for the soda of someone who was scrambling for change for pay for theirs. It was my first instinct. I hesitated and in that hesitation the moment was gone.

Go do your act of kindness.

Edited November 1, 2007 by Renegade Knight

22k · November 1, 2007

Travel bugs are meant to move. Take two or twenty as long as you can assist them towards their goal. Sometimes getting them out of a stalled cache is doing just that.

Edit: there/their

Edited November 2, 2007 by BlueDeuce

1k · November 1, 2007

Travel bugs are meant to move. Take two or twenty as long as you can assist them towards there goal. Sometimes getting them out of a stalled cache is doing just that.

+ 1

Andrew

8.8k · November 2, 2007

Can you say rescue mission? Go get them if you can, all of them, And if that cache is inaccessible, it should be disabled until it can be reached.

November 2, 2007

Can you say rescue mission? Go get them if you can, all of them, And if that cache is inaccessible, it should be disabled until it can be reached.

I agree. Bugs and Geocoins were designed to travel, and since the cache is somewhat disabled right now, it's even more incentive to get 'em out and on their way to a new home.

Dick

November 2, 2007

If a travel bug has been sitting in a cache and I know it has been there for more than two weeks, I'm taking it! If the cache has not been visited in over a month, I'm taking the travel items. Travel items are meant to TRAVEL not sit in one place because the next cacher does not have something to trade for them. I don't consider travel items as trade items. I tend to get annoyed when a cache has stipulations like trading travel items one for one. If I have them to trade I will but I think that stipulation is a contradiction to the nature of travel items. I love travel bug hotels and have been known to dump a large number of travelers and not take any too that is, if the cache is visited often.

1.2k · November 2, 2007

Hey,

As a travel bug owner...I would say, go get them and move them on!!!

...and, oh yeah...THANK-YOU!!!

As a cache owner...I would say, not a problem...go get them and move them on!!!

...and, of course...THANK-YOU!!!

I had a similar situation in my area with one of my caches in Whitewater State Park with the August floods...someone's coin was placed in a cache of mine just days before the floods. Due to very extensive damage, the park is closed to visitors for an undetermined amount of time. I called the park office to see if I could visit the cache and retreive the coin (cache is a couple hundred feet above flood area)...as a safety matter, they said no. I contacted the bug owner to let them know thier coin is safe, but unavailable for a while...

Days later, a local cacher (whose property is adjacent with the park) hiked in and retreived the bug...but did not post a find on the cache. I thanked them for doing that (since I would have had to drive into the park and thus would be stopped and forced to turn around and head home).

Keep those bugs moving!!! If you are ever in my area and find a cache of mine with multiple tb's...go ahead and move them all if you so wish (or are able to advance their mission in even the slightest way)!!!

Later,

ArcherDragoon

4.2k · November 7, 2007

I'm going to dog pile on here and say "go get them" in case you need some more encouragement.

22k · November 7, 2007

Encouraging people to move travel bugs is always worth repeating.

6.4k · November 7, 2007

I'm going to dog pile on here and say "go get them" in case you need some more encouragement.

Encouraging people to move travel bugs is always worth repeating.

Yea, what They said... If the cache owner gets upset, let them. Chances are is that they'll be thankful under the circumstances

2.2k · November 7, 2007

A topic with a consensus. Oh my! This has got to be a first!

I usually take ALL the travel bugs out of a cache when I find them, especially "Hotels". The owners usually get a little bit grumpy. Maybe leave a couple Aspirin in their place or something.

6.4k · November 7, 2007

In different circumstances, if you come across a cache that is in "normal" condition, great shape, and not in peril or in harms way... you can either wiped out the travelers (Not very nice to do) , swap evenly or even leave more than you take. Sometimes when I come across a coin, and I don't have one to trade, I'll trade 2 bugs for the 1 coin. Just remember to LOG your find :huh:

22k · November 7, 2007

Travels bugs are not trade items so there's no obligation to leave one to take one.

And I'll take as many as I can. There is no obligation of sharing fairly, in fact it's a bad idea. You are basically stranding a TB on the assumption that someone else will come along soon and move it. Follow the TB owner's request and move it, if you can.

Edited November 7, 2007 by BlueDeuce

1k · November 7, 2007

Maybe leave a couple Aspirin in their place or something.

Now I like that idea :huh:

Andrew

November 7, 2007

I usually have 2-3 TB's "in stock" & trade them out one-for-one when I come across other TB's (I kinda like the opportunity to move them, AND to allow opportunity for others to do so). If I don't find any TB's to "trade" within 2-3 weeks, I'll dump the ones I have so they can get moving & "risk" looking greedy later, when I take one without leaving one (I know, I KNOW, they aren't "trade items").

Some "TB Motels" are more like "TB Prisons", as the TB's sit for months or sometimes YEARS without moving. I contacted the owner of a local cache that showed many TB's in stock to ask him how many he thought it was ok to take. His response was "Take one, take two, or take them ALL, they NEED to MOVE" (I took 3 & the next week one cacher cleaned it out-no hard feelings on anyone's part). If the owner of a cache gets upset because there are no TB's in it, it's because s/he is on a status trip.

I don't care where my TB's are or how much company they have, if you see it grab it and move it! Last week I hiked to 7,700 ft elevation to rescue a little dinosaur TB that had been stranded there for a year & a half, LOL.

22k · November 7, 2007

'Bout time to post this again:

If a travel bug hotel is in a good spot for the quick and easy exchange of travel bugs, then an empty hotel won't stay empty long. People are always looking for a convenient place to drop bugs off. The owner of a well-placed hotel should actually be pleased if the hotel is occasionally empty, since it shows that the hotel is serving its purpose: to get bugs moving quickly. And if a hotel does stay empty for long periods of time without the cache owner continually raiding other caches to re-stock it, then it's not a good place for a travel bug hotel. - the hermit crabs Dec 2005

8.8k · November 7, 2007

Maybe leave a couple Aspirin in their place or something.

Now I like that idea

Andrew

Now, now, no food or drugs in caches. You should know better than that.

Edited November 7, 2007 by Eartha

November 10, 2007

Contact the cache owner (politely) and let them know your concerns. They might have plans for those TBs. If they don't, then retrieve them and get them moving again. You can always round up a few TBs to put back in the cache after the construction is complete.

By all means let the owner know of the situation. If the owner has a lot of hides he/she may not be able to monitor them all constantly and may be unaware of the status of bridge- give him/her a chance to rescue the cache and if necessary archive until better times come (I did this recently with when a nearby boat launch was shutting down for renovations- owner was not yet aware) better to hear in an email than from a bunch of angry DNFers after the cache is trashed by a bulldozer . That said, IMNSHO the bugs are fair game- push 'em on outa there!

1.1k · November 10, 2007

I'm going to dog pile on here and say "go get them" in case you need some more encouragement.

Encouraging people to move travel bugs is always worth repeating.

Yea, what They said... If the cache owner gets upset, let them. Chances are is that they'll be thankful under the circumstances

If the owner does get upset, then they have no business owning a trackable themed cache. The owner of the cache is not the owner of the trackables that enter. The cache owner is merely a person who rents out his space for trackable owners to enter and find a hub where the goal of their property can be fulfilled.

The cache owner provides the container, stashnote, log book, and pen.

A trackable themed cache is where ownership is shared by many people. If my travel bug lands in a trackable hotel hundreds of miles away...my property is sitting in somebody elses cache container. I OWN the item in the container, the cache placer just OWNS the container.

So with that said, the owner of the container has no authority over my travel bug. I want my travel bug to move, and not sit in a trackable magnet cache in which a trading rule is established. If my trackable doesn't look that attractive in this magnet cache, then somebody visiting with a travel bug to trade is only limited to retrieving one travel bug from the container. Most people in this situation (not all, but a lot) will pick the "coolest", "most attractive" , "most interesting" travel bug and mine will get left. (not saying my travel bugs are lame....but I'm using me as an example)

If their is no trading rule established for the cache, then people are more likely to be a little more open to taking bugs that have goals that they can fulfill.

To answer the question "How many TBs is it OK to take from One Cache" ... the answer is INFINATE! Don't take all the bugs just because you can. But look through the goal sheets....if you can help one of them then TAKE IT! If you look at the goal sheet and you cannot help it out then DO NOT TAKE IT! Leave it in the cache for somebody else to come along who can help it out.

Edited November 10, 2007 by Super_Nate

1.8k · November 10, 2007

Hey,

As a travel bug owner...I would say, go get them and move them on!!!

...and, oh yeah...THANK-YOU!!!

As a cache owner...I would say, not a problem...go get them and move them on!!!

...and, of course...THANK-YOU!!!

ArcherDragoon

This echos my vote too. Go get them, PLEASE!!

November 12, 2007

I had a bug sit in a cache too long. I posted a note on the cache page asking that whomever visited the cache next, please take it and move it! And if my bugs land in any caches with stipulations of "trading" bug for bug, I'll be posting a note for anyone at all to take it and contact that cache owner. Bugs should be moving. How on earth would we ever get a first bug (unless we sent one out on our own) if they all needed to be traded?

Edited November 12, 2007 by VirginiaGator

November 12, 2007

I am a noob to GeoCaching and was interested in finding my first TB. I searched in my area for TB's after reading this thread. I thought I would come back here and paste the "rules" that was put on this cache. How sad for all these TB's! It sounds to me like "what this cache is about", is holding TB's hostage!

Free the TB's!

....This is the place to put your bugs and geocoins so that others can trade them off for new ones to send on their way. It’s simple. Just follow the rules and have fun. Rules for the BUG DEPOT: 1. If you take a TB or a Geocoin you must leave one in its place. If you take 2, you must leave 2, etc. 2. Obviously you may leave as many TB's or hitch hikers as you please without taking any. 3. If you do not have a TB or a Geocoin in your possession then find one before you come. TB’s are not hard to locate. Geocoins don’t seem to have found their way to this area. 4. Obviously you can TNLN, but that’s not the fun of the geocaching experience. 5. If TB's start coming up missing and people are not trading evenly and the Bug Depot becomes empty, then it has lost everything it is about. 6. There are other trinkets in the Bug Depot that you can trade, if you don’t want to take or leave a Travel Bug or Geocoin.

22k · November 12, 2007

Why don't cha PM me the cache id, I'd like to take a closer look. Thanks.

8.8k · November 13, 2007

I am a noob to GeoCaching and was interested in finding my first TB. I searched in my area for TB's after reading this thread. I thought I would come back here and paste the "rules" that was put on this cache. How sad for all these TB's! It sounds to me like "what this cache is about", is holding TB's hostage!

Free the TB's!

....This is the place to put your bugs and geocoins so that others can trade them off for new ones to send on their way. It’s simple. Just follow the rules and have fun. Rules for the BUG DEPOT: 1. If you take a TB or a Geocoin you must leave one in its place. If you take 2, you must leave 2, etc. 2. Obviously you may leave as many TB's or hitch hikers as you please without taking any. 3. If you do not have a TB or a Geocoin in your possession then find one before you come. TB’s are not hard to locate. Geocoins don’t seem to have found their way to this area. 4. Obviously you can TNLN, but that’s not the fun of the geocaching experience. 5. If TB's start coming up missing and people are not trading evenly and the Bug Depot becomes empty, then it has lost everything it is about. 6. There are other trinkets in the Bug Depot that you can trade, if you don’t want to take or leave a Travel Bug or Geocoin.

As Keystone said in another thread on the same question:

You may also be in a position to log a "needs archived" on the cache, depending on the date when it was hidden. If the travel bug prison was hidden after February 21, 2007, it does not qualify as a traditional cache because the owner is enforcing a mandatory additional logging requirement by deleting non-compliant logs. If hidden prior to that date, however, the cache is grandfathered.

When was this cache hidden? And is it listed as a traditional cache? What is its icon? Does it have the ammo can, or the question mark?

1.5k · November 13, 2007

I am a noob to GeoCaching and was interested in finding my first TB. I searched in my area for TB's after reading this thread. I thought I would come back here and paste the "rules" that was put on this cache. How sad for all these TB's! It sounds to me like "what this cache is about", is holding TB's hostage!

Free the TB's!

....This is the place to put your bugs and geocoins so that others can trade them off for new ones to send on their way. It’s simple. Just follow the rules and have fun. Rules for the BUG DEPOT: 1. If you take a TB or a Geocoin you must leave one in its place. If you take 2, you must leave 2, etc. 2. Obviously you may leave as many TB's or hitch hikers as you please without taking any. 3. If you do not have a TB or a Geocoin in your possession then find one before you come. TB’s are not hard to locate. Geocoins don’t seem to have found their way to this area. 4. Obviously you can TNLN, but that’s not the fun of the geocaching experience. 5. If TB's start coming up missing and people are not trading evenly and the Bug Depot becomes empty, then it has lost everything it is about. 6. There are other trinkets in the Bug Depot that you can trade, if you don’t want to take or leave a Travel Bug or Geocoin.

As Keystone said in another thread on the same question:

You may also be in a position to log a "needs archived" on the cache, depending on the date when it was hidden. If the travel bug prison was hidden after February 21, 2007, it does not qualify as a traditional cache because the owner is enforcing a mandatory additional logging requirement by deleting non-compliant logs. If hidden prior to that date, however, the cache is grandfathered.

When was this cache hidden? And is it listed as a traditional cache? What is its icon? Does it have the ammo can, or the question mark?

Hidden 4/2005 as a traditional:

M1: The Bug Depot

22k · November 13, 2007

Ah, looks like you'll have a posting the tracking number issue as well. :blink:

November 13, 2007

Ah, looks like you'll have a posting the tracking number issue as well.

Looks like a couple of folks who joined in past month or so... perhaps one of those bug owners or a moderator/administrator/old hand could contact them and gently request they edit their posts?

(I haven't been around long 'nuff to not get a 'Who the heck are you?!' back)

( but don't have 'em change it 'fore I can claim discovering them long distance! :blink: )

How Many TB is it OK to take from One Cache?

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