When to NOT pick up a TB?

[+flaffle]

I am a newbie. I generally plan my caches around my hikes. Some of these hikes and caches are much more popular than others. When I come across a trackable in a popular cache and I know that my plans for the next week will involve "road less traveled" activities I don't pick it up. My reasoning behind this is that it has a better chance of moving if it's left in the popular cache. I don't mind moving them around but I don't want the pressure of being responsible for someones disappointment.

 

At the same time I probably wouldn't keep it more than two weeks without visiting another popular cache to at least get it moving again.

 

Should I be picking up these guys or not? Should I drop them in the middle of nowhere caches when it aligns with the trackable's goal even though it may sit there for a very long time?

 

What is the proper etiquette in these situations?

[+Max and 99]

I would just discover the TBs if you don't feel comfortable moving them along. Sometimes TBs in out-of-the-way caches don't get seen much so you're right it might be better to leave it in the popular cache so someone else can move it along.

[+Eartha]

The best time NOT to pick up a TB is right before you quit being a geocacher.

Leaving it there, because it has better chance of moving, makes no sense to me. Its chances of moving were 100% better if you took it with you.

Trackables are meant to move, so if you want to move it, please do. If you plan on holding for it while, because you have the perfect place for it, or a good photo to take with it, or you're going on a road trip, just let the owner know. You can email the owner through their profile page. And you can take more than one. Just don't take more than you can care for.

[majormajor42]

summer is coming too (in N. Hemisphere) so those remote caches might be getting more visits in the next few months. I would be more concerned if it were late autumn and winter was coming and that Cache might not be visited for a long time. Unless it is a bear TB, in which case hibernation is a good thing.

[+BlueDeuce]

You don't have to leave it in a remote cache, but you can pick it and take it along with you. The owner would rather see the bug get some movement even if it means heading up the mountain and back down again.

 

Telling stories, taking pictures and having fun is far better than just Discovering a bug you didn't do anything with or for.

[+Highpointer]

Leaving it there, because it has better chance of moving, makes no sense to me. Its chances of moving were 100% better if you took it with you.

In my opinion, geocachers should pick up and move every travel bug that they see in a cache. Based on my experiences following geocaches and travel bugs, it seems that whenever a travel bug is passed up by responsible geocachers, the odds of the travel bug becoming lost increases. If a responsible geocacher fails to pick up and move a travel bug, the next person who visits the cache may be an irresponsible "geocacher" who fails to log the travel bug and does not move it to another cache. If this doesn't occur, then the cache itself may become lost before the travel bug is removed, resulting in the loss of the travel bug.

 

Travel bug movements should be random and unpredictable, not just in one direction to its goal. Even if you are going in a different direction that its goal, it will eventually reach its goal if the travel bug is picked up and properly logged by every person who sees it.

 

It is a good idea to drop travel bugs in remote caches. Such caches are generally located in more scenic areas and are more satisfying to visit. The problem with dropping travel bugs in easy caches is that such caches are more likely to become lost, stolen, or ransacked, resulting in the loss of every travel bug inside. (This is one of the reasons why it is not a good idea to place more than one travel bug in a cache). Another problem is that such caches are more likely to be visited by new, inexperienced geocachers, geocachers who soon quit geocaching, and irresponsible "geocachers" who don't log their travel bug finds. As a result, the travel bug may be picked up by someone who never logs it and the travel bug becomes lost forever.

 

Geocachers, please don't let travel bugs languish in caches.

 

Ken Akerman (a.k.a. Highpointer)

[+Walts Hunting]

I don't know about remote being better. One of mine got dropped in a beautiful spot in the San Bernadino mountains and the cache wasn't visited for 9 months so it languished. Since it is called a TRAVEL BUG, not a let's sit in this remote spot and enjoy it bug I would go for locations that would keep it moving.

[+flaffle]

Thanks for the responses everyone! I'm surprised at the split on remote versus non. I do have to say on the more challenging remote caches, the TB's are rarely missing. The popular ones are always missing a few... I guess I'll just have to use my judgment on that one. I think I am just going to start picking them up every time I see them.

 

What started me feeling bad about this is that a cache near my house that I visited and decided to leave the TB's was shortly there after stolen. I was the last person there. I feel oddly guilty about it. I think it's a very neat idea and have a great respect for others property and wishes so I'm starting to think a bug sitting in my bag a week isn't a bad thing cause at least I know I'll do the right thing with it.