Why does my cache keep getting relocated?

[+Martini Cowboy]

I have a cache I placed in July '09 and it keeps getting moved to different spots and on two occasions, left completely in the open. I can't understand why it wouldn't be put back where it is found.

 

I understand if maybe the coordinates are off some (I used an iPhone, Satellite view and a friends Geomate Jr. to get coordinates) and someone might put it back to where their GPS says it should be, but wouldn't common sense say to at least hide it under the bushes? This is a urban city park location so is not something you'd want in the open.

 

Thanks to a couple of Geocacher's, they gave me the heads up and I could check on the cache and relocate back to the original spot.

 

Any thoughts on why someone would not put a cache back where they found it or at least attempt to put it out of sight instead of leaving in the open?

[+Renegade Knight]

I have a cache I placed in July '09 and it keeps getting moved to different spots and on two occasions, left completely in the open. I can't understand why it wouldn't be put back where it is found....

 

Some finders have no clue that you actually put the freaking things back where they were found so that they next finder can find the cache as you intended.

 

I don't know why they don't have a clue about this. They are probably the same ones who can't shut doors and let in all the flies, or who leave the lids loose on salid dressing so when you shake it it goes everwhere and they wonder how the heck that happened.

[+rosebud55112]

Maybe the locals are working against you. If, for example, your cache hiding spot alos turns out to be a squirrel's hole in a tree, he may toss this intruder out on the ground everytime someone replaces it in that perfect hiding spot.

[+doingitoldschool]

I have a cache I placed in July '09 and it keeps getting moved to different spots and on two occasions, left completely in the open. I can't understand why it wouldn't be put back where it is found.

 

I understand if maybe the coordinates are off some (I used an iPhone, Satellite view and a friends Geomate Jr. to get coordinates) and someone might put it back to where their GPS says it should be, but wouldn't common sense say to at least hide it under the bushes? This is a urban city park location so is not something you'd want in the open.

 

Thanks to a couple of Geocacher's, they gave me the heads up and I could check on the cache and relocate back to the original spot.

 

Any thoughts on why someone would not put a cache back where they found it or at least attempt to put it out of sight instead of leaving in the open?

 

If it's in an urban park setting, you could also have muggles finding it who don't know or care to rehid as found.

[Mr.Yuck]

I live in the Northeast, and am not familiar with the wildlife in Dallas City Parks, but critters mess with stuff. Mostly squirrels, I'm guessing. I just had to tie a relatively new cache to a tree a couple of weeks ago.

[+ras_oscar]

Ive heard stories from several COs in the forums that can't find their own caches because they haved "migrated". First finder puts it back 18 inches to the left, 2nd finder puts it 18 inches to the left, step and repeat. Had one cache that I went to look for 4 times. after the 3rd DNF I watched it and only searched after someone else had "found it" finally got it left where i could find. It was in a 30 foot high landscape timber retaining wall with THOUSANDS of cubbies that could hold the prize.

[+StarBrand]

Cache migration.

 

Sometimes a finder thinks it goes somewhere else due to a personal interpretation of either the clue or description. Sometimes a finder can't quite remember where they grabbed it at so they misplace it. Sometimes well meaning finders put it back at where thier unit says ground zero. Sometimes the person that replaces it wasn't the one that found it - so it goes back wrong. Sometimes the finder is lazy and just tosses the cache container in the general direction of where it was found. Add a few of those together and the cache ends up 50 feet off after a while.

 

Cache migration.

Edited September 3, 2009 by StarBrand

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

I have a cache I placed in July '09 and it keeps getting moved to different spots and on two occasions, left completely in the open. I can't understand why it wouldn't be put back where it is found....

 

Some finders have no clue that you actually put the freaking things back where they were found so that they next finder can find the cache as you intended.

 

I don't know why they don't have a clue about this. They are probably the same ones who can't shut doors and let in all the flies, or who leave the lids loose on salid dressing so when you shake it it goes everwhere and they wonder how the heck that happened.

 

100% with you on that one ('cept for your spelling of salad)

[+Digitalfuzz]

I recently found a cache simply lying on the ground. The cache description and clue gave no real idea where the original location was, nor did prior logs. The hint was "moss grows on trees" or something like it... So I stuck it on ledge created by a branch on the north side of the tree, about eye-height.

 

Probably not where it goes, but it makes sense to me.

[+AstroDav]

Ive heard stories from several COs in the forums that can't find their own caches because they haved "migrated". First finder puts it back 18 inches to the left, 2nd finder puts it 18 inches to the left, step and repeat.

 

Sounds kinda like a war story my dad has told me several times about his tour in 'Nam. He was assigned to a firebase way out in the middle of nowhere. One old farmer living up high on a hill near the base would drag out this antique gun once a day & take a single pot-shot down into the base.....that was it.

 

The soldiers didn't have any desire to hurt the old man. He didn't actually care about hitting anyone, he was just doing his duty for his country I suppose. Besides that, he was about 80 years old & a horrible aim. The gun wasn't very good either. He had one favorite spot he would shoot at & it was always at the same time of day, in the evening, after the old man tended his field.

 

So the soldiers would make sure someone was standing there for him to shoot at. However, everytime it happened, that soldier would jump slightly TOWARDS where the bullet impacted on the ground....say to the right. The old man saw this & assumed he had shot to the LEFT....anyone who gets shot at will by reflex jump AWAY from the point of impact....right??

 

So each day he would adjust his sights just a bit in the wrong direction. This went on for about 3 weeks & the old man finally disappeared. No one knew what happened. He either died, moved, or just finally gave up trying to hit someone. But by that time, his bullet was impacting several yards to the right of where he was actually aiming....he never did figure out what was going on.

 

"Bullet Migration"

[+Stargazer22]

About a year and a half ago we went out to find a series of caches that had just been put out the night before. It was right after a meet and greet and we got to meet the cache hider. As we went for the caches, he was going just ahead of us and would disappear into the woods. He wanted to get there before us, hide in the bushes, and take a photo of people getting the FTF on his caches.

Being the good cache owner he was, he had made a late night run on his caches the night before at 11PM to ensure that they were all still where he put them and were findable for the next morning.

We got out early - by 8AM - but several of the caches (I think about 4 or 5 of the 11 he hid) were not in their hiding spots. 2 or 3 were just out lying on the ground several yards away. 1 or 2 were hidden, but not where he put them. Imagine his surprise when he stepped out to take his photo of the FTF'ers just to find them searching his hiding spot with nothing there!

As it turns out, we found a bunch of raccoon tracks around them so we determined it was curious raccoons that were the culprits.

 

I've also had some of my caches suffer from cache migration, where one hider after another shifts it just slightly on each successive find. I usually realize this is happening when someone logs the cache with the comment that the hint doesn't fit any more.

[+ecanderson]

I recently found a cache simply lying on the ground. The cache description and clue gave no real idea where the original location was, nor did prior logs. The hint was "moss grows on trees" or something like it... So I stuck it on ledge created by a branch on the north side of the tree, about eye-height.

 

Probably not where it goes, but it makes sense to me.

When that happens, it's always nice if you leave an email or log note for the owner so that they'll have the option of going out and moving it to the intended location.

[+team moxiepup]

I feel your pain.

 

We had geocaching family members from away, visiting us earlier this summer. We took them to about 8 of our caches. With the exception of the well camo'd "hidden in plain sight" type caches, all the others were replaced with nothing covering them! Some of these were in areas where they could be easily seen by any passing muggle using the trail.

 

One that this happens frequently with, is on an old, defunct rail road trail. The cache is hidden under an old rail switch. We have painted the lock n lock the same color rust as the rail road switch, but unless it is covered, it still looks like a box. We always rehide it well, stuffing dead leaves, small sticks, a small pinecone or what have you, on and around the cache, so it looks like natural. Originally, we even had a small rusted plate over the cache, which was then covered in fodder. Almost everytime we check it, it is visible from the trail, uncovered, sometimes not even resting in the little depression under the switch, but poking right out. The rusted plate has long disappeared. Taken as a souvenir perhaps? It has been muggled once, and I am suprised it isn't more often, given the state it is often left in. I don't think animals are the culprit, at least in this instance.

 

It does get disheartening when you take the time and effort to place a cache for others to enjoy, and then some finders can't even show the courtesy of replacing it as found. I can understand a little bit of unintentional cache drift, but to leave a cache right out in the open is disrespectful of the cache hider and the other cachers who will look for the cache after you.

 

Ok, end of rant! I'd been holding that in for awhile!

[+welch]

Cache migration.

 

Sometimes a finder thinks it goes somewhere else due to a personal interpretation of either the clue or description. Sometimes a finder can't quite remember where they grabbed it at so they misplace it. Sometimes well meaning finders put it back at where thier unit says ground zero. Sometimes the person that replaces it wasn't the one that found it - so it goes back wrong. Sometimes the finder is lazy and just tosses the cache container in the general direction of where it was found. Add a few of those together and the cache ends up 50 feet off after a while.

 

Cache migration.

Yep.

The thing I will add it that migration seems to be less for caches that confined in someway, like say inside a rotted tree or small rock crevice. Compared to say just laying along the side of a downed tree. People seem to be able to get caches back in the hole it came from, but not so much when remembering how far from the end of the fallen tree.

[+Martini Cowboy]

I have a cache I placed in July '09 and it keeps getting moved to different spots and on two occasions, left completely in the open. I can't understand why it wouldn't be put back where it is found.

 

I understand if maybe the coordinates are off some (I used an iPhone, Satellite view and a friends Geomate Jr. to get coordinates) and someone might put it back to where their GPS says it should be, but wouldn't common sense say to at least hide it under the bushes? This is a urban city park location so is not something you'd want in the open.

 

I appreciate everyone's comments - at least I know I'm not alone in this! An update from my original post: This is an ammo container (so animals can't move it). I asked the last finder details on where it was found, and it wasn't just laying in the open - it was actually placed on the blocks surrounding the hedge! Not only in the open, but placed so attention would be drawn to it!!!

 

By the way, the comments about migration are absolutely correct. It looks like people don't want to stretch to put it back, so it ends up a foot or two away from the original spot. Then the next person moves it again until it ends up quite far from where it's supposed to be.

 

Happy caching everyone! Thanks again for the comments.