Help ! Stolen cache ?

[+Tortugafamily]

Not sure what to do now. Our cache is missing. We had placed a new cache filled with new toys last week. Well hidden from the main path. Only 1 person found it. Now everyone is posting that they cant find it. So I drove out there today and sure enough it's gone.

 

We are very upset about this. It has totally ruined the game for my family. My kids are on spring break and this has been a fun week of Geocaching for us. We just completed our 100th find... and now this bad news. Now we are not sure what to do.

 

I guess we need to disable it or archive. Not sure how to handle this. Wish whoever took it would please replace it. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Has this happened to anyone else ?

 

Thanks, Tortugafamily

[Keystone]

You should temporarily disable the listing until you decide what to do - replace at the same spot, replace at a better spot, or archive.

 

Since your topic doesn't relate to a Geocaching.com Web Site feature request or bug report, I am moving this thread to the Geocaching Topics forum.

 

Sorry about the loss of your cache. It happens to most of us.

[+t4e]

sorry to hear that but caches get muggled all the time, you could try the same spot, and if it disappears again maybe its time to look for a better area

[+chachi44089]

and try not to let it spoil the game for you and your family.

[+SandyCreekPirates]

We're dealing with the same thing, but it isn't our first time. It's just part of the game. There are people out there that can't resist messing up something that belongs to somebody else. I don't understand it, but I have to accept it. I have temporarily disabled the cache and I'll be finding a (hopefully) more hidden spot and replacing my cache soon... hope you'll do the same.

 

Del

SandyCreekPirates

[+The Cache Checkers]

I'm so sorry your cache is missing. I do my best to try not to be noticed, but a cache I found in CO was muggled and my log was the last one. The owner posted a note, hollaring at the finders to be more stealthy, and although I thought I was, maybe I was seen. Even though a cache can be stumbled on by complete accident, I felt guilty.

 

I agree with the above posters; don't let this spoil the game for you. I would hide it in a different spot, just in case it was muggled so it can't be found easily again.

[+niraD]

Has this happened to anyone else ?

Oh, you betcha. I'm sorry it happened to you, but unfortunately it's part of the game.

 

I learned a lot from my first hide. I was making maintenance visits every couple weeks. Eventually, I realized that I couldn't keep up with the damage the muggles were doing and archived it.

 

My current hides need hardly any maintenance. I still drop by when it's convenient, but I no longer need to fix something regularly.

[+Renegade Knight]

...We are very upset about this. It has totally ruined the game for my family. ...

 

Part of the challenge of placing a cache is the issue you just bumped into. If you consider it part of the challenge and understant that you may not always succede, you can enjoy this.

 

If you can't embrace the larger challenge, there is no rule that says you have to place a cache and you can focus on finding them and having fun that way. There are a lot of ways to give back. Hosting an event cache for example. Nobody generally steals those.

Edited March 26, 2010 by Renegade Knight

[+BlueDeuce]

It's happened to me too.

[+Casting Crowns]

yes....it does happen. Happened to me as well.....just have to decide what part of geocaching you want to focus on. Don't be discouraged....there's too much fun to be had!

[+Jennifer&Dean]

Hello! That cache is placed in a neat area, I would love to explore it.

Is there any chance the park manages removed it?

 

Also, it is right next to a path and there may be more people who visit that area where it is hidden than you might think.

 

A small container might survive in a popular area better than a large container. Good luck.

 

And yes, we've lost caches before. We've also had worse things done to caches than them just going missing. It happens.

 

Jennifer

[+succotash]

We have had a cache disappear. Please don't let this take any joy out of caching for you and please encourage your children to handle small setbacks with courage and optimism. Perhaps an animal carried off your cache - that has been known to happen. Perhaps someone with good intentions noticed the cache when looking for a insect or plant that interests them and took it to park management. Things are not always the result of evil intent. And even if someone takes a cache with evil intent, well, we are all optimists when we leave them out in the world to be found. We hope for the reward of many years of great finds and positive log entries, but you can't get that reward without taking the risk of leaving something out there. Best of luck to you!

 

Bean

[+ThePetersTrio]

It happened to us too. I had purchased a relatively expensive container meant to keep cell phones and small electronics safe from water exposure while camping. The thief stole the cache, took all of the contents out and then replaced them into a cheap tupperware container and put the container back.

 

In retrospect, the place we had chosen for the hide was not great so we archived the cache and found a better spot.

 

I was pretty upset about it at the time. Thankfully I didn't let it get in the way of continuing to enjoy the game. We've had lots of great caching experiences as a family since then.

[+The Marathon Man]

I have lost more caches to bears than muggles. But that is a way of life in Northern Ontario.

 

The bears make poor geocachers - never up the cache back where they find it - think it is food sometimes and try to eat it (any cache containers have been treated to remove any "smellables") - don't provide any maintenance if they break them - stay around the cache location so other geocachers can not get to the cache location - attract too many muggles wanting to take their pictures.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Has this happened to anyone else ?

It happens to all of us, it's a risk you accept when you leave anything unattended.

 

Obviously it doesn't happen often enough to discourage people or we wouldn't have over a million caches hidden!

 

Don't let it get you down, and thank you for hiding caches!

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

It happened to us too. I had purchased a relatively expensive container meant to keep cell phones and small electronics safe from water exposure while camping. The thief stole the cache, took all of the contents out and then replaced them into a cheap tupperware container and put the container back.

 

In retrospect, the place we had chosen for the hide was not great so we archived the cache and found a better spot.

 

I was pretty upset about it at the time. Thankfully I didn't let it get in the way of continuing to enjoy the game. We've had lots of great caching experiences as a family since then.

I saw a Cache like that where they had taken the ammo box, and left all the rest in a ziplock. They even left a note..."Took ammo can, left everything else".

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

It happened to us too. I had purchased a relatively expensive container meant to keep cell phones and small electronics safe from water exposure while camping. The thief stole the cache, took all of the contents out and then replaced them into a cheap tupperware container and put the container back.

 

In retrospect, the place we had chosen for the hide was not great so we archived the cache and found a better spot.

 

I was pretty upset about it at the time. Thankfully I didn't let it get in the way of continuing to enjoy the game. We've had lots of great caching experiences as a family since then.

I saw a Cache like that where they had taken the ammo box, and left all the rest in a ziplock. They even left a note..."Took ammo can, left everything else".

Ah...here's my log from that one...

 

We didn't see any Travel Bugs in the bag, (yeah, I said BAG) it seems that on January 6, some guy named 'Bob' "took box, left everything else". At least he was nice enough to leave all the goodies, and a note too. Right now the cache is just the bag, clipped to it's hiding spot. Maybe when the box gets replaced, choose one that 'Bob' won't like enough to steal again. Thanks for the cache!!

[+bittsen]

Nobody is going to say this so I guess I will

 

It's important that your first cache gets muggled. I think there might even be a secret organization of first hide cache maggots out there who will steal the first cache anyone places.

 

I came up with this theory when my first cache was stolen. I had 2 or 3 finders then my son went to find it and I even went to show him where it was and, yup, it was gone.

 

Why do they do this? To teach you that even though you thought it was a great container, location, hide, etc then you forgot something. You get to figure out what you forgot to make your cache last long time and that's the fun of the game.

For me, my cache was too close to the trail, "hidden" in grass and the container was WAY too easy to move so I hid a 90lb ammo can 30 feet off the trail under a rather large stump.

 

Just take a moment to think of what you learned by this unfortunate instance. What can you do different to decrease the likelihood of it suffering a similar fate? Try again.

 

Don't let it ruin your fun. Just about everyone will have a cache disappear. It's the nature of the hobby.

[+briansnat]

I think nearly anybody who has hidden a few caches has has some go missing. I've lost a few.

 

Sometimes your cache isn't quite as well hidden, or the area isn't as far off the beaten path as you might think.

[+Triskeles]

Nobody is going to say this so I guess I will

 

It's important that your first cache gets muggled. I think there might even be a secret organization of first hide cache maggots out there who will steal the first cache anyone places.

 

I came up with this theory when my first cache was stolen. I had 2 or 3 finders then my son went to find it and I even went to show him where it was and, yup, it was gone.

 

Why do they do this? To teach you that even though you thought it was a great container, location, hide, etc then you forgot something. You get to figure out what you forgot to make your cache last long time and that's the fun of the game.

For me, my cache was too close to the trail, "hidden" in grass and the container was WAY too easy to move so I hid a 90lb ammo can 30 feet off the trail under a rather large stump.

 

Just take a moment to think of what you learned by this unfortunate instance. What can you do different to decrease the likelihood of it suffering a similar fate? Try again.

 

Don't let it ruin your fun. Just about everyone will have a cache disappear. It's the nature of the hobby.

 

Good point. Our first cache was muggled (er...landscapered) a few days after it went up. It was very educational.

Edited March 27, 2010 by Triskeles

[+ngrrfan]

Bitts is right. If a cache gets muggled then obviously it isn't placed properly.

 

Right now I have one in town and as much as I didn't want to it had to be a micro. It's fairly well hidden thus relatively safe. My other caches are out in the boonies. One involves a 2 mile hike to get to. The other has yet to be found. Next week I plan on putting out 3 more in the boonies. The farther from civilization.... the less the chance of being muggled.

[+simpjkee]

Hi Tortuga Family. I attempted your cache last night. Did yall see my pictures. I thought they came out really really well. I was very stisfied with the trip to the cache regardless of the DNF.

 

Anyway, I've had caches disposed of too. It happens. I'm pretty familiar with the are where the cache was. If you have some questions about it or the cache or anything, feel free to e-mail me. I'm happy to help if possible.

 

Don't let it ruin the fun.

[+Vater_Araignee]

Tortugafamily,

 

Like the others have said, use it to learn.

I recently DNFed a cache, I found the log book and small bits of geotrach, the CO said something to the effect of hit happening 3 times so archived it.

Having a fresh memory of the site and pictures, I asked myself what was wrong with it.

Close to a baseball diamond and cemetery.

Lots of discarded beer & booze containers.

All the possible hiding spots for regulars of the not behind a tree/bush blatancy type where still blatant to a kid looking for a hiding spot for their six pack.

 

Take the kids back to the spot and have them try to figure out what went wrong.

Learn from your losses, learn from others losses and learn from successes.

[+smstext]

we have over 40 caches out there, 3 mean the most to us and one of them went missing a few weeks ago with tb's in them. on top of this half a series also went missing at the same time and i suspect either a disgruntled cacher or someone has downloaded the app and doesnt understand the concept and has been taking home tupperware.

 

dont let it get to you, put a smaller container out and slightly more hidden in a slightly different spot and see how that goes.

[calgriz]

we have over 40 caches out there, 3 mean the most to us and one of them went missing a few weeks ago with tb's in them. on top of this half a series also went missing at the same time and i suspect either a disgruntled cacher or someone has downloaded the app and doesnt understand the concept and has been taking home tupperware.

 

dont let it get to you, put a smaller container out and slightly more hidden in a slightly different spot and see how that goes.

 

I have put out my first two GCs in public areas in residential areas near places of extreme interest for the home architecure and owner's history, in hours BOTH of my GCs were tampered with including stolen, removed my box container, and/or moved and harshly judged about in logs. I am thinking about just not replacing them over these matters.

I already replaced one AND moved it and lost it, it still was not enough for one local newbie GCer (who had the ironic nerve to claim finding my GC as his FTF) who moved my GC a second time. I am close enough to monitor them by droppping by within minutes of reading the log notes on the Internet site.

 

When you take your own time, effort, resources, monies, and energies to put out a interesting GC, and have to worry about muggles, gardeners, neighbors, and even unkind, malicious or stupid GCers......it's too much sometimes. All I was doing was trying to contribute to the fun I enjoy, show people some local beauty in their lives along with some interesting local history. It was for nothing. Crap!

[+L0ne.R]

I have put out my first two GCs in public areas in residential areas near places of extreme interest for the home architecure and owner's history, in hours BOTH of my GCs were tampered with including stolen, removed my box container, and/or moved and harshly judged about in logs. I am thinking about just not replacing them over these matters.

I already replaced one AND moved it and lost it, it still was not enough for one local newbie GCer (who had the ironic nerve to claim finding my GC as his FTF) who moved my GC a second time. I am close enough to monitor them by droppping by within minutes of reading the log notes on the Internet site.

 

When you take your own time, effort, resources, monies, and energies to put out a interesting GC, and have to worry about muggles, gardeners, neighbors, and even unkind, malicious or stupid GCers......it's too much sometimes. All I was doing was trying to contribute to the fun I enjoy, show people some local beauty in their lives along with some interesting local history. It was for nothing. Crap!

 

I'm sorry for your unfortunate cache hiding experiences. Very interesting reading through the logs of your 2 cache hides. Lots to learn from these experiences. Sometimes a cool location doesn't have an acceptable place to hide a cache. Hiding on someone else's private property upsets both cachers and homeowners. May I suggest an offset, or multi. Bring someone to the interesting house then have them use numbers to get to the final spot (somewhere more out-of-the-way and quiet, away from home owners).

[+ChileHead]

I have put out my first two GCs in public areas in residential areas near places of extreme interest for the home architecure and owner's history, in hours BOTH of my GCs were tampered with including stolen, removed my box container, and/or moved and harshly judged about in logs. I am thinking about just not replacing them over these matters.

I already replaced one AND moved it and lost it, it still was not enough for one local newbie GCer (who had the ironic nerve to claim finding my GC as his FTF) who moved my GC a second time. I am close enough to monitor them by droppping by within minutes of reading the log notes on the Internet site.

 

When you take your own time, effort, resources, monies, and energies to put out a interesting GC, and have to worry about muggles, gardeners, neighbors, and even unkind, malicious or stupid GCers......it's too much sometimes. All I was doing was trying to contribute to the fun I enjoy, show people some local beauty in their lives along with some interesting local history. It was for nothing. Crap!

 

I'm sorry for your unfortunate cache hiding experiences. Very interesting reading through the logs of your 2 cache hides. Lots to learn from these experiences. Sometimes a cool location doesn't have an acceptable place to hide a cache. Hiding on someone else's private property upsets both cachers and homeowners. May I suggest an offset, or multi. Bring someone to the interesting house then have them use numbers to get to the final spot (somewhere more out-of-the-way and quiet, away from home owners).

 

It may be an interesting area, but I wouldn't search for either one of those caches. Both appear to be on people's private property, and I'd probably post a "needs archived" note on it unless you had permission from the home owner.

 

I think the offset idea is good if you want to showcase a private area like this.

[calgriz]

Offset idea ???? Multi cache ???

In this instance, how ??? please fill me in...

[+FancoverFive]

Offset idea ???? Multi cache ???

In this instance, how ??? please fill me in...

 

The coordinates could take finders to the area with interesting architecture, at which place they find numbers. These numbers can then be translated to coordinates for the final cache, which you could place in an open space nearby.

[+L0ne.R]

Offset idea ???? Multi cache ???

In this instance, how ??? please fill me in...

 

The coordinates could take finders to the area with interesting architecture, at which place they find numbers. These numbers can then be translated to coordinates for the final cache, which you could place in an open space nearby.

 

Correct. I had an offset that took people over a historic bridge and then to a nearby pole with numbers on the pole (many poles are marked with numbers). Then I had the finders multiply the numbers by 5 and add them to another set of coords that, when added up, took them to a hollow log by a babbling brook.

 

I wanted people to visit the bridge and actually walk across it but I was unable to plant on it or nearby so the offset was the next best thing.

[+Crash Gordon]

One of my first caches was a set of 6 identical bird houses placed in some trees along a bike path. One of the bird houses had a false roof and the hole on the front was plugged. The cache lasted only a few weeks before some kids found them and smashed all but one (the one that was very high in a tree and they couldn't reach).

 

Yes, I was very disappointed, but I tried to not let it bother me too much. Kids are stupid (even mine) and they will eventually learn to not be so.

 

I thought it would be cool to hide a cache in plain site - to make it visible, but not recognizable - but doing that on a lonely trail won't work. I'm learning and my current caches are now much better for it. I now have one that is in plain site, but it matches it's environment so well that it gets more DNF's than finds.

[+briansnat]

Offset idea ???? Multi cache ???

In this instance, how ??? please fill me in...

 

The coordinates could take finders to the area with interesting architecture, at which place they find numbers. These numbers can then be translated to coordinates for the final cache, which you could place in an open space nearby.

 

Not just numbers. They could count letters or a combination of the two. For eample:

 

Say the actual cache coordinates are N33 12.445 W74 01.345. Post the coordinates of the place you want to bring people to on the cache page. Say there is a sign at the posted coordinates and a house close by and the street number of the house is 3 and there is a sign at the posted coordinates that has 4 letters (e.g. a stop sign)

 

Write the actual cache coordinates on the page as Naa 12.bb5 W7b 01.ab5.

 

Instruct the searchers to go to the posted coordinates and replace the letter "a" with the house number and the letter "b" with the number of letters in the sign at the location. That will serve the purpose of bringing them to the cool spot you want to highlight, then they will have the coordinates of the actual cache which might be in a park a few blocks away.

[+bflentje]

Not sure what to do now. Our cache is missing. We had placed a new cache filled with new toys last week. Well hidden from the main path. Only 1 person found it. Now everyone is posting that they cant find it. So I drove out there today and sure enough it's gone.

 

We are very upset about this. It has totally ruined the game for my family. My kids are on spring break and this has been a fun week of Geocaching for us. We just completed our 100th find... and now this bad news. Now we are not sure what to do.

 

I guess we need to disable it or archive. Not sure how to handle this. Wish whoever took it would please replace it. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Has this happened to anyone else ?

 

Thanks, Tortugafamily

 

Please don't let the theft of one lousy cache ruin the entire sport for you. Be tough.

[+popokiiti]

My first and only cache hung in for a while, then went AWOL. We replaced it with a bison, then a fence was built. There is now a nano about 40' from the original location. We stuck with it as it is at a beautiful scenic view rest stop on the highway near here. Please don't be discouraged - use the experience to help you place a different type of hide...be it evil, fun, or a cammo dream. Good luck!