Best ways to secure a cache

[+SniperChicken]

I am always scrupulous in picking a hiding spot for a cache that will not be accidentally stumbled upon.

Sometimes the best hidden cache still comes up missing;either by being carried off by an animal or lifted away by floodwaters in low lying areas or just plain ole stolen by someone who doesn't care that the container platantly states "GEOCACHE" or "Please do not move or take from this location".

 

Nobody likes having a cache to come up missing but what methods do folks use to tie them down or to secure them to lower the likelihood that they become missing??

 

Ive considered using some type of screw auger to screw into the ground with a cable locking it to a handle on a ammo can but am not sure how kosher that would be.

 

What do other cachers recommend?

[+briansnat]

I think the best security is a well chosen hiding place, but if you must secure it, I guess a cable lock wrapped around a tree might work.

[+bittsen]

I found the best way to secure a cache is to put 80 pounds of concrete in the cache container.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

I found the best way to secure a cache is to put 80 pounds of concrete in the cache container.

Now that is one way of eliminating micros!

 

Yeah, a cable w/ferrules would work, but it wouldn't keep the contents safe, now would it?

[+simpjkee]

Nobody likes having a cache to come up missing but what methods do folks use to tie them down or to secure them to lower the likelihood that they become missing??

 

Ive considered using some type of screw auger to screw into the ground with a cable locking it to a handle on a ammo can but am not sure how kosher that would be.

 

What do other cachers recommend?

 

I use zip ties. Not only does it secure the cache, but it takes cachers replacing the cache incorrectly pretty much out of the equation. If its ziptied they have no choice how to replace it.

 

I'm not sure what a screw auger to screw in to the ground is, but it sounds like it could be a potential guidelines violation.

[+bittsen]

I'm not sure what a screw auger to screw in to the ground is, but it sounds like it could be a potential guidelines violation.

Probably not. It's not digging, completely removable with no trace (once someone steps on the residual hole).

[ad5smith]

i vote that every one only places magnetic key holders and LPC's lol, just joking

[+WRASTRO]

i vote that every one only places magnetic key holders and LPC's lol, just joking

Obviously you are kidding. They should be nanos on guardrails. Please stop attempting to spread such vicious rumours.

[ad5smith]

i vote that every one only places magnetic key holders and LPC's lol, just joking

Obviously you are kidding. They should be nanos on guardrails. Please stop attempting to spread such vicious rumours.

i said magnetic key holders AND LPC's not magnetic key holders ON LPC's, and nanos on guard rails? that's so narrowminded! what is geocaching coming to!

[+StarBrand]

I choose good spots and hide techniques. No need to secure them otherwise.

 

Sure a few of my 150+ hides have gone missing - but only a very few.

[knowschad]

Based on my experience, for what its worth, the auger idea would be acceptable under the guidelines and probably by most land managers that would otherwise allow caches on their land. But if you can screw it in, I can unscrew it. Face it... if someone wants your cache bad enough, they will have it. Best bet is to not let them find it in the first place, but it sounds like you already are well aware of that advice.

[+Casting Crowns]

Zip ties are good but you can also get some steel cable for pretty cheap at the home project stores. My friends use that here in Texas to keep their ammo cans from walking away or being swept away from floods.

[GOF and Bacall]

Just post a sharpshooting fowl in a spot with a good field of fire.

[+J the Goat]

Mass quantities of apoxy.

[Clan Riffster]

My solution came about after thinking long and hard about the situation. Being in law enforcement, I recognized that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, you can do to prevent a committed thief from taking your cache. You could weld it to the side of an Army tank, surround it by hordes of space alien ninjas, and insure it through Lloyds of London, and if they want it bad enough, they'll take it. Once I made that leap, the rest was easy. I just needed to protect it from critters and casual finders. For that, I use a four pronged approach:

 

1 ) I select locations that are unlikely to be visited by anybody who is not a geocacher.

2 ) I camo 5 of the 6 sides of each cache, so it does not draw attention to itself.

3 ) I mark the 6th side clearly, as a geocache, and include a stash note explaining the game.

4 ) I secure them in place with a lightweight chain and clip, which I wrap in camo tape.

 

It's worked so far.

[Drive-in]

Well, I have a remote cache:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...e3-be22f39a8d77

 

Which is CHAINED to an abandoned rail care near a creek, and someone 2 years ago STOLE THE AMMO CAN. . .even though.

 

I guess if they want it bad enough, they will get it!

[knowschad]

Best way to NOT secure a cache: http://www.romesentinel.com/news?newsid=20100217-141107

[+sbell111]

I'm not sure what a screw auger to screw in to the ground is, but it sounds like it could be a potential guidelines violation.

Probably not. It's not digging, completely removable with no trace (once someone steps on the residual hole).

A screw auger is 'pointy'. Therefore, it's probably a guidelines violation.

[+Castle Mischief]

I'm not sure what a screw auger to screw in to the ground is, but it sounds like it could be a potential guidelines violation.

Probably not. It's not digging, completely removable with no trace (once someone steps on the residual hole).

A screw auger is 'pointy'. Therefore, it's probably a guidelines violation.

 

Fake sprinkler heads are pointy, and usually not a guideline violation. Best to get permission from the land owner/manager to use the screw auger and check with your local reviewer.

[+Snoogans]

My solution came about after thinking long and hard about the situation. Being in law enforcement, I recognized that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, you can do to prevent a committed thief from taking your cache. You could weld it to the side of an Army tank, surround it by hordes of space alien ninjas, and insure it through Lloyds of London, and if they want it bad enough, they'll take it. Once I made that leap, the rest was easy. I just needed to protect it from critters and casual finders. For that, I use a four pronged approach:

 

1 ) I select locations that are unlikely to be visited by anybody who is not a geocacher or serial killer.

2 ) I camo 5 of the 6 sides of each cache, so it does not draw attention to itself.

3 ) I mark the 6th side clearly, as a geocache, and include a stash note explaining the game.

4 ) I secure them in place with a lightweight chain and clip, which I wrap in camo tape.

 

It's worked so far.

 

There. I fixed your post for you.

[Clan Riffster]

A screw auger is 'pointy'. Therefore, it's probably a guidelines violation.

I'm thinking, since the auger is not used to hide or seek the cache, (only to secure it), it might be OK.

 

There. I fixed your post for you.

Drat those pesky serial killers!

[+Snoogans]

Don't be too sure that your location is super secret and remote.

 

There is a spot I personally have visited to get away for twenty years now... It's at about 10,000 feet and very remote. I've seen less than a dozen people in all this time. I decided to share the spot with geocachers and I placed a microcache with a log there. To date about 60% of the signatures are from nongeocaching muggles.

[+buzzy_cacher]

Some ppl have multis where instead of coords there is a combo. The final is a container w/ a lock on it -- u need to use the combonation provided earlier to open it.

 

Lock a geocache -- talk about muggle-proof (but I guess they could still just carry it off )...

[+power69]

I found the best way to secure a cache is to put 80 pounds of concrete in the cache container.

that would leave just enough room in an ammo can for a 35mm film cannister

[+Castle Mischief]

Some ppl have multis where instead of coords there is a combo. The final is a container w/ a lock on it -- u need to use the combonation provided earlier to open it.

 

Lock a geocache -- talk about muggle-proof (but I guess they could still just carry it off )...

 

Bolt cutters come to mind too. Where there's a will, there's a way. (Also, where there's a whip, there's a way too, but only on the road to Mordor.)

Edited March 2, 2010 by Castle Mischief