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HELP...with micro caches!?


hotrod709

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nano

bison tube

hide-a-key

 

When just starting caching it's best to search for larger caches than micros. This way you can gain some experience and geo-knowledge before attempting the more sneaky and evil hides.

Edited by mfamilee
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It helps to bring a really really small person along with you.

 

I'm still a rookie, but I've found a few micros. And DNF a few, also. The difficulty varies, of course. I spent two days finding one, and spotted another within minutes. And there is one micro in an area where I eat my lunch that I look for nearly every day. No luck yet, but other cachers are logging it as an easy park n grab.

 

What I've found so far are film canisters and hide-a-key things, tucked away in places not visible to the eye. You may have to search with your hands, or put that really really small person to work.

 

Anyway, don't despair. You'll find them.

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nano

bison tube

hide-a-key

 

When just starting caching it's best to search for larger caches than micros. This way you can gain some experience and geo-knowledge before attempting the more sneaky and evil hides.

 

I still don't understand how it got the name "bison tube"! Do you have any ideas?

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I often have to go back for a second try (and more) for some micros. Before my first one, I had to look up "bison" online. This told me I was looking for a colored metal tube about the width of my index finger, and 2/3 the length.

 

Some are easy to find...look for that flash of shiny metal lying in the dirt, in the shade of a tree...others are very hard. Some are wrapped in black tape and affixed to a magnet, attached down low to some metal object.

 

Advantage (or disadvantage?) is that there's only room for a scrolled up log, so no taking or leaving of items.

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I think I would take a DNA (did not attempt) on the camouflaged one in the pic.

Off topic, but I did find a cache once, film can under lamp post in a parking lot, but with a toy rubber rattler stuffed under the skirt so that it springs out when the skirt is lifted. If I had not read the description before looking for it my heart might have skipped a beat or two.

 

Back a little on topic, I searched for bison tubes once on Amazon, and found these.

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Micros are tricky but I'm getting better at them.

 

I've found a couple of nanos that are small enough to fit in a bolt hole (about 1/2 diameter x 1/2 inches long). When they are marked micro they can be anywhere from a 35mm film tube down to the nanos which the smallest ones I've seen are like the ones I mentioned above.

 

So when you are talking something that small they can literally be right infront of your face and you will miss it. I recently had a nano that was so small and well disguised that I had my face within a foot of it at least 3 times and did not see it, then I came back to it later and spotted it right away.

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Here are some general hints:

 

Look for caches with a difficulty of 2 or less for your fist few caches. Stick with regular sized caches for your first few. Micros can be quite hard to find sometimes. Stick to areas you are familiar with. Look for anything out of place or unusual. Look for unusual piles of sticks, grass, leaves, rocks, sand, etc. Feel where you cannot look. Think vertical, not all caches are on the ground. Look up or at eye level. Look for traces of previous searches to zero in on the spot. Think like the hider - where would you put a container in this location? Look for things too new, too old, too perfect, not like the others, too many, too few. Change your perspective - a shift in lighting can sometimes reveal a cache. Keep in mind that many micros are magnetic or attached to something (via string, wire etc). Slowly expand your search area to about 40 feet from where your GPS says ground zero is. Bring garden gloves and a flashlight - they help! Be prepared to not find the cache more often then you think.

 

Most of all - have fun!!

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:D I have trouble with the smaller ones too... Most of the ones I have been able to find were at Eye level in a tree or post...

 

That image of the snake and the Bison-Tube, Oh My GOD!!!!

 

Snakecache.jpg

If I sumbled across that in the woods, I'd run for miles shreiking like a a little girly man...

 

Snakes creep me out....

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It helps to bring a really really small person along with you.

 

Anyway, don't despair. You'll find them.

 

I will say that this is a really great idea.. My mini-Brat, aged 6, is a micro cache magnet.. He seems to be able to find them with zero effort in all the low down, sneaky hidey holes! :D

We love micros here!!!

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im new also and im shocked with some off the micro's ive seen on ebay..they had bolts,acorns,bugs,mushrooms parking curb rebarbs..i was amazed on how small they are
Yep. And some of the unique custom micros/nanos that I've found have been even more devious than the ones available on eBay...
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Experience i.e. "geosense" will become your friend as you find more caches. you will be exposed to more types of containers and hides that you will add to your bag of tricks when looking for a cache.

 

Until then, 2 pieces of advice:

 

1. Have fun! If you can't find a micro the first time, so what! Keep at it. Come back several times if you have to. Its all about the hunt! enjoy the adventure. There is a "small" that has been driving us nuts for 6 months now that we can't find. But when we do find it, the sense of accomplishment is going to be great!

 

2. Put the GPS down! Too many new cachers try walking in to ground zero and getting perfect coords before looking around. Your best coords for ground zero are usually going to be when you first walk in to a cache for the 1st time. When you are within 25ish feet you should be looking up at whats around you, not down at the GPS. Remember that the GPS is a tool in this hobby. As you get close, look up and start asking yourself where you would hide a cache.

 

-galaP-

Edited by Galap
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Sometimes the geocaching gods are on side with you, other times........they are helping someone else! We were at Lake Cowichan, BC, Canada, at a cache called "Weir Here." No luck on our first visit. It is a 3 hour round trip, but we love the area and were back soon after. Took us a while, I looked for guidance...and there it was! A bison tube....and the size was "unknown" on our cache sheet. Our first nano was magnetic and on the top of a light fixture...looked like part of the light fittings until someone with longer legs, and eyes at a better level than mine checked it thoroughly!

You will get the feel of micros, we went through what you are experiencing - and still do from time to time. Remember the old adage "where would I hide it," and you will probably get into sneaky mind of the cache hider!

Above all, have fun and enjoy the journey.

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Sometimes the geocaching gods are on side with you, other times........they are helping someone else!
SO true! :anitongue:

 

Yep. And some of the unique custom micros/nanos that I've found have been even more devious than the ones available on eBay...
Yep. Some seem to have been hidden by satan himself :lol:

 

Micros are tough no matter how many finds you have. Nanos are the toughest.

 

This one eluded me the first time, despite having spot-on coordinates and knowing what I was looking for - it was a typical magnetic nano like I've found many times before. I just didn't see it the first time despite it being out in the open:

 

tough_1.jpg

 

tough_2.jpg

 

tough_3.jpg

 

The second visit I had it within 5 minutes. I must have left my geocaching eyes at home the first time ...

 

 

But it can be worse - homemade nanos are among the evilest hides out there:

 

tougher_1.jpg

 

tougher_2.jpg

 

tougher_3.jpg

 

That last one took a while to find :)

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Once you start finding them, you'll start to see how/where they tend to be hidden. At least that's what I am starting to find. (I am a newbie too!) We have mainly been looking around and finding the urban hides, and they seem to be camouflaged well, and often magnetized. I haven't yet attempted a really tough micro-I can imagine they can get really tought to spot!

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It takes time to get used to finding micros.Even after tons of finds,you will still run into some that are very tough to find.I found a nano yesterday way back in the mountains at a pine tree.What makes this type so hard is,not only are they small and well camo'd,but with all GPS units having various accuracy depending on the unit and conditions where you are looking...like in my case yesterday where there were many pine trees here in this spot,you just have to do a lot of looking and sometimes just get plain lucky.

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I just didn't see it the first time despite it being out in the open
Yeah, those are the best kind. :) Actually, I'm in the camp that thinks that nano-caches should generally be hidden in plain sight. If you're hiding a cache where it can't be seen, then at least hide a regular micro. If nothing else, you'll save yourself maintenance trips to replace full logs.

 

tougher_3.jpg

 

That last one took a while to find :anitongue:

That's a good one too! icon_twisted.gif
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If i attempted to look for that hallowed out bolt it would take me days before i would find it. Thats just crazy!!

 

...I had ready some snarky reply about taking days to post a message to the forum in less than four attempts, but no, let it pass. I know it's just a wonky site...

 

I'm learning that I'm quite happy with a well-hidden micro...just as long as it's placed so I have plenty of solitude to look for it in. Today I spent TWO HOURS waiting for a lull in a constant stream of muggles. I had already found the micro...it was a quick grab. But I made the fatal mistake of taking it back to my car to sign. Then came the cloudburst of muggles, and there I sat waiting and waiting and waiting. I thought I might have to take the cache home with me for the night.

 

Sure, give me a fiendishly clever micro/nano cache....but put it in the middle of the woods, not in the middle of Main Street.

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