Is there any way to investigate an MIA?

[+PlantAKiss]

I don't have many travellers but my very first TB seems to have gone MIA. It was last logged as dropped in a cache in December 2007. I'm very sad as it was my first and it didn't get very far.

 

My question is...is there any way to go about trying to find out what happened to it? It is still showing up as being in the cache. There have been numerous cache logs since and no mention (in the logs) of it being picked up. It doesn't seem to be a difficult cache to find (lots of smileys).

 

Since a person isn't holding it, I can't email to ask about it. Is it permissable to email the cache owner to ask if its still in there?

 

Obviously its possible someone picked it up and never logged the retrieve and still has it. I know I might never know its fate, but I'd at least like to try to revive it if possible.

Edited August 1, 2008 by PlantAKiss

[+BlueDeuce]

whew, I don't know, that particular cacher owner is pretty cranky.

 

Send them a nice note and maybe they can check the logbook and see if someone signed the log but didn't log online. Maybe they mentioned taking the bug.

 

If the owner does verify the bug is missing you should remove it from the cache listing so people aren't expecting to find a bug.

[+Belfrypotters]

You could also post a note to the cache page, asking the next finder to check for your TB and let you know if it is there. I've had some success that way, and although it never resulted in good news at least I could mark the bug 'missing' so people didn't go to the cache expecting to find a TB.

[+PlantAKiss]

Thank you for the info. I wasn't sure if posting a note was ok. I'd sure like that to find that bug...

 

My very first TB a flop.

 

whew, I don't know, that particular cacher owner is pretty cranky.

 

How do you know he or she is cranky?

Edited August 1, 2008 by PlantAKiss

[+Eartha]

I've checked all the logs, and the few archived logs (they are mostly reviewer/owner notes), no one has reported it missing, no has reported seeing it. I would ask the owner if they could please check, and post a note on the cache page to ask the next finder to look. And if they've read the page before they go looking for it, they might remember to check.

[+BlueDeuce]

How do you know he or she is cranky?

 

They are a regular here in the forums.

[+Parabola]

I had one that went MIA and was lost, but I posted a note that if the next seeker would look to see if they spotted it in the cache if they could let me know. Two days later I got an e-mail from a cacher that went out special to see if it was there or not.

 

It was gone, but I was so surprized that someone would just head out to the cache and see if it was there or not. Also noting this cacher had found the cache years before. So he was just doing it to help someone out.

 

So I would post a note on the cache page asking if the next seekers would check and see if it is still there. I think most people won't care if that is posted on there cache page.

[+Eartha]

And even if it's gone, it doesn't mean it can't come back someday! They do come back sometimes, hundreds, even thousands of miles away. That's always fun.

[+Harry Dolphin]

One of New Jersey's preimere geocachers/bug movers was there a few months after it was dropped. He has moved almost 4000 TBs in over 8000 finds. I think that if it were there, he would have moved it.

There are geocachers who do not know how to log bugs in and out of caches. I had one disappear from a cache in Pennsylvania, and show up a few months later in Spain. So, you never know.

[+PlantAKiss]

Yes, I know they sometimes reappear and I'm hoping that's the case. I was really hoping it was logged as retrieved so I could contact the holder, but that is not the case.

 

I'll post a note then.

 

They are a regular here in the forums.

 

Haha! I didn't realize that.

 

Thank you all...I'll get to work on it and see what I can do to find it. Maybe someone found the key to their heart and kept it. lol

[+powercatjeffy]

Call the cops and report a theft of personal property.

[+'CyclopediaBrown]

I had a very special (to me) TB that was MIA for abt 1 1/2 years. It's mission was to go from Hawaii to Michigan. It moved very quickly from Hawaii to California to Idaho to New york. THEN it was taken from a cache in Mass and not logged. I read through the logs and contacted the cachers at that time. One cacher in particular was able to describe it TO A TEE, but 'she did not have it'.

It was a disposable camera for a b'day. Just a few months ago a cacher from Vermont got it at a Geo-event.

He sent it to me (with extra presents for the belated b'day!!!).

As a side note, on the developed pics was a pic of two brothers. Since the pic was taken one had passed away and that turned out to be the last pic taken of his brother. So it has a bittersweet ending.

 

I have reincarnated that bug and dropped it in Pennsylvania hoping for a return next spring in Michigan. I dropped it in a TB hotel, but 2 wks later, no action in that cache. Maybe not the best future for it.

[+PlantAKiss]

Wow. That's an amazing and touching TB story.

 

Maybe mine will show up one day. I know all kinds of things happen with these travellers.

[+whartonia]

I put my very first bug in a new cache that I thought would draw a lot of cachers. Not too far out considering we've got some buried deep in the nearby National Forest. That was in February. It has only been found twice since then. The first cacher didn't realize he didn't have to trade for the bug and left it there. The next cacher didn't even mention it. I contacted them and they said it was still there, but they weren't sure if they would be caching soon so they didn't take it. The last find was in May. I'm very tempted to go get it and place it somewhere else, but that sort of defeats the whole purpose doesn't it?

Edited August 4, 2008 by whartonia

[+BlueDeuce]

I'm very tempted to go get it and place it somewhere else, but that sort of defeats the whole purpose doesn't it?

 

Nope, if you want to move it to a more active cache go right ahead. Bugs are active participants in caching, not some Where's George Dollar bill that's supposed to float with the current.

 

You'd make a special effort to help someone else's bug wouldn't you? Why not your own?

[+ncfinn]

I would write the last couple of people who found the cache to see if they happen to remember whether they saw the TB or not.