Why would some one do this?

[+trailhound1]

I recieved this email from a local geocacher today:

 

"found it but some one has tore it up, not much of it left.I couldn't leave everything just laying on the ground picked up the remains from the ground, I have your log book for this cache, email me and we can meet in LBL so I can return it to you."

 

The title of the cache was "Are Geocachers Smarter Than Boy Scouts" (GC1WMA5). It was originally a monkey-type puzzle cache; but it collected water and the key to the lock froze inside during the winter. So I retrieved it. I redesigned the cache to be water tight and redesigned the puzzle. All one had to do was answer ten questions about the outdoors, figure out the combination (and the hint was a dead give-away), go and enjoy finding the cache in a remote location accessible by a dirt road/trail, and not easily seen by a muggle.

 

Its a shame that some one could do such a thing. The time, effort, and money spent on trying to provide the geocaching community a good and challenging experience is lost because some one had to be childish and take their frustrations out on an inanimate object. All the cacher would have to do is email me for another hint and I would have been happy to help. If it was a muggle, then this just show that people cannot leave things that do not belong to them alone. Yes, I know that this is the chance I take every time I place a cache. But, really, does it have to be this way?

[+KJcachers]

don't worry, after 12/21/2012 it won't matter.

[+trailhound1]

don't worry, after 12/21/2012 it won't matter.

 

That's what I keep telling myself.

[+kywaterfowler]

Well up here they are not defacing them they are stealing the entire cache. We are not just talking about one or two caches they are stealing several. It gets really aggravating but what can you do.

[+Coldgears]

Well, all you really can do is replace it. If your absolutely certain it was a geocacher that did it and not some teenage boy that was like, "Wow, there's a bunch of junk in this box, let me destroy it LOLOLOLOL." Then I would make it a premium member's only cache. You'd limit the amount of people finding it, but, i doubt a premium member would ruin a geocache.

[+narcissa]

Have you considered the possibility that an animal tore it up? It's not uncommon.

[+simpjkee]

You can never be sure what happened. Coulda been a muggle. Coulda been a geocacher. Coulda been an animal. Coulda been anything.

 

It doen't have to be this way, but it is. It happens. I'd replace and enable, or archive it.

[+Knight2000]

Aliens!

[+trailhound1]

Well, all you really can do is replace it. If your absolutely certain it was a geocacher that did it and not some teenage boy that was like, "Wow, there's a bunch of junk in this box, let me destroy it LOLOLOLOL." Then I would make it a premium member's only cache. You'd limit the amount of people finding it, but, i doubt a premium member would ruin a geocache.

 

Three inch black PVC pipe with glued end cap, wing-nut pressure fitting for water tight seal, top cap with combination lock, hanging from a support nut. Possible, but I doubt any animal around here would be able to break it into pieces. As for muggles in the area, this place is remote, well off the barely used road/trail, down hill and facing way from the road/trail, facing toward open water with brush/sapplings in the way. Muggles possibly, but I think it had to be some one looking for it.

[Mr.Yuck]

don't worry, after 12/21/2012 it won't matter.

 

I keep telling people, the Mayan's couldn't even invent metal tools before being conquered, and this was hundreds of years after they were invented in Europe. They sure as heck weren't smart enough to predict the end of the world. They just got to a point where they got sick of counting.

Edited April 5, 2010 by TheWhiteUrkel

[+bittsen]

There is this one guy who might be able to answer the question of "why?".

 

His name is Paul Repak.

[+Harwell5]

Well, all you really can do is replace it. If your absolutely certain it was a geocacher that did it and not some teenage boy that was like, "Wow, there's a bunch of junk in this box, let me destroy it LOLOLOLOL." Then I would make it a premium member's only cache. You'd limit the amount of people finding it, but, i doubt a premium member would ruin a geocache.

 

Three inch black PVC pipe with glued end cap, wing-nut pressure fitting for water tight seal, top cap with combination lock, hanging from a support nut. Possible, but I doubt any animal around here would be able to break it into pieces. As for muggles in the area, this place is remote, well off the barely used road/trail, down hill and facing way from the road/trail, facing toward open water with brush/sapplings in the way. Muggles possibly, but I think it had to be some one looking for it.

 

I take "here" meaning KY as your profile suggests.

 

If the container was TUBAR"d (Torn up beyond all recognition), then I would assume it was an animal before anything else. I'm sure there are bears in KY and your container could sustain major damage from an animal like that with a biting force of up to 1200psi. Don't assume that it was a person just because you think your container is "indestructable". We have containers around here (NC) that get attacked by animals on occassion. If there is something edible left in a container (which some cachers unfortunatly do leave), a lot of animals will try endlessly to get into it. Same thing goes for hands that may have recently handled food before touching a cache contatiner. I would assume an animal first unless there is proof otherwise. Just my humble opinion though.

Edited April 5, 2010 by Harwell5

[+trailhound1]

Bears? Not in western Kentucky. Raccoon or coyote maybe. Food in cache? I was the last one to see the cache when I replaced it, so I know there was no food in it.

 

I'm starting to think that it might have been an alien-abducted Mayan!

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Keep in mind that geocachers, if it was a geocacher, are a subset of people, and people can be weird.

 

Check your local police blotter for the interesting things people do.

 

The executive, just months from retiring on a lucrative pension, who was fired after being caught on a camera hidden for the purpose carving graffiti into the richly paneled elevator walls of his corporation's headquarters.

 

The above-mentioned Repak, a computer analyst discovered to have been a cache thief for years.

 

Fortunately most of us don't see the dark underbelly of life, but any cop can regale you with stories of otherwise normal people who do stupid things.

 

Let it go, recognize that while it could happen again it is not likely, and go hide another cache!

[+Harwell5]

Now Raccoon's are a good possibility. We have evidence around here that our cache's have been destoyed by Raccoon's. Coyote's are another possibility.

 

The jury's still out on the AAM's.

Edited April 5, 2010 by Harwell5

[knowschad]

Sorry about the damage to your cache. That's never a fun thing. But at least it wasn't a bomb squad blowing it up and then trying to charge you for the costs.

 

As for Paul Repak, we should be hearing more about him any day now.

[+briansnat]

Geocachers generally don't destroy caches. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen. There are all kinds of people in this game these days, and there have been cases of one geocacher holding a grudge against another and messing with his caches, but those are pretty rare.

 

I think most instances of cache destruction are usually the work of animals or non geocachers who find them accidentally, or in some cases on purpose in order to mess with geocachers.

Edited April 5, 2010 by briansnat

[+trailhound1]

Geocachers generally don't destroy caches. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen. There are all kinds of people in this game these days, and there have been cases of one geocacher holding a grudge against another and messing with his caches, but those are pretty rare.

 

I think most instances of cache destruction are usually the work of animals or non geocachers who find them accidentally, or in some cases on purpose in order to mess with geocachers.

 

I would normally agree. But again the cache is in a remote location, even though Google Earth shows a road leading near the cache it has been abandoned for some time. Unless some muggle was just wandering three the area or an animal that had the dexterity of a human could remove it from its hanging spot, then I have to see that it was a geocacher, who got the 10 questions wrong, did not look at the obvious hint, and was very upset for having to trek out there and come up empty handed.

 

But I hate to blame geocachers...so it had to have been the alien-abducted Mayan.

 

In any case, I will try to salvage what I can and replace the cache. If that does not work, then it will become my first archived cache.

[+simpjkee]

But again the cache is in a remote location, even though Google Earth shows a road leading near the cache it has been abandoned for some time. Unless some muggle was just wandering three the area or an animal that had the dexterity of a human could remove it from its hanging spot, then I have to see that it was a geocacher, who got the 10 questions wrong, did not look at the obvious hint, and was very upset for having to trek out there and come up empty handed.

 

Could it have been a lost muggle looking for supplies? Could it have been a travelling homeless muggle looking for supplies? If it was hanging, maybe whatever was keeping it hanging broke and the cache hit the gound and got busted open and spilled the contents all about the area?

[+Snoogans]

Aliens!

 

KHAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!!

 

[+briansnat]

Geocachers generally don't destroy caches. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen. There are all kinds of people in this game these days, and there have been cases of one geocacher holding a grudge against another and messing with his caches, but those are pretty rare.

 

I think most instances of cache destruction are usually the work of animals or non geocachers who find them accidentally, or in some cases on purpose in order to mess with geocachers.

 

I would normally agree. But again the cache is in a remote location, even though Google Earth shows a road leading near the cache it has been abandoned for some time. Unless some muggle was just wandering three the area or an animal that had the dexterity of a human could remove it from its hanging spot, then I have to see that it was a geocacher, who got the 10 questions wrong, did not look at the obvious hint, and was very upset for having to trek out there and come up empty handed.

 

But I hate to blame geocachers...so it had to have been the alien-abducted Mayan.

 

In any case, I will try to salvage what I can and replace the cache. If that does not work, then it will become my first archived cache.

 

You would be surprised how many people wander around remote, off trail locations. On a number of occasions I've followed tracks in the snow toward remote, off trail caches thinking that it must be a geocacher, who else would be wandering around that area, only to see the tracks veer of before they reached the cache, or in some instances walk right past the cache without stopping. I'm sure there is even more of this in the summer, spring and fall, only you don't see the evidence in the snow.

 

That said, there is a growing segment of geocachers who believe they are entitled to log a find for every cache they hunt and find it fast so they can move on to the next one. I doubt most of these however would be the sort who would take a long hike to a remote location.

[+Snoogans]

That said, there is a growing segment of geocachers who believe they are entitled to log a find for every cache they hunt and find it fast so they can move on to the next one.

 

Uh huh...

 

there are a lot of foolish people in the world and as Geocaching grows in popularity you will find more and more of them hunting for caches.

[+wimseyguy]

Cuz there are stoopid mean people out there, and they suck.

 

Or it was an animal or alien.

[cwoper]

Been out of the game for awhile ... Sounds to me like theft of caches has gotten worse ... Sadly , this only makes sense ... More people , more caches ... More theft ... This is the part of the game that stinks , but never the less is an inherent part of it ...

[+Ambrosia]

What do they mean by "tore it up"? Was it unscrewed, and the contents torn up, or was the container torn up? Was the container broken into peices, or was the plastic "torn"? If it was the container, It's possible that it was an animal. I don't see how a human could tear up that sort of container, unless they ran it over with a car, or brought special equipment.

[+PokerLuck]

You might try renaming the cache to something less antagonizing to Boy Scouts, though I seriously doubt that a Boy Scout would have done this. I subscribe the feral animal theory first, then the feral human.

[+trailhound1]

What do they mean by "tore it up"? Was it unscrewed, and the contents torn up, or was the container torn up? Was the container broken into peices, or was the plastic "torn"? If it was the container, It's possible that it was an animal. I don't see how a human could tear up that sort of container, unless they ran it over with a car, or brought special equipment.

According to the cacher who found it: only the lid and lock were left hanging. The bottom portion including the water tight pressure fitting was missing; only the swag and log book was left on the ground. I only know of two ways to open the cache to reveal the contents: open the lock, remove locking pin, open lid, and unscrew pressure fitting. Or break off main container from locking pin/lid. In the latter case, onewould still have to unscrew the pressure fitting to get inside or break the low tube open.

[Mushtang]

Aliens!

KHAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!

Snoogans, Kahn wasn't an alien. What are you talking about? Kahn was a human, born on Earth.

[+Snoogans]

Aliens!

KHAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!

Snoogans, Kahn wasn't an alien. What are you talking about? Kahn was a human, born on Earth.

 

If ya wanna split hairs Khan was Super Human. Plus Khan was banished from Earth and patriated to an alien world so he was essentially alien.

[Mushtang]

Aliens!

KHAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!

Snoogans, Kahn wasn't an alien. What are you talking about? Kahn was a human, born on Earth.

If ya wanna split hairs Khan was Super Human. Plus Khan was banished from Earth and patriated to an alien world so he was essentially alien.

Yeah, splitting hairs is fun.

 

Super Human or not, he was still an Earthling, having spent only 15 of his many years on Seti Alpha V.

 

Being exiled to a different planet doesn't make you an alien from that planet.

[+bflentje]

don't worry, after 12/21/2012 it won't matter.

 

I keep telling people, the Mayan's couldn't even invent metal tools before being conquered, and this was hundreds of years after they were invented in Europe. They sure as heck weren't smart enough to predict the end of the world. They just got to a point where they got sick of counting.

 

Yes, but the debate is over and the evidence is overhwleming.

[+lil_cav_wings]

"Wow, there's a bunch of junk in this box, let me destroy it LOLOLOLOL."

 

Wow, that just described about half the fully grown men I know too. You know, those guys... the ones who think that lighting their farts on fire constitutes a good afternoon of quality entertainment.

[+GeoGeeBee]

 

Super Human or not, he was still an Earthling, having spent only 15 of his many years on Seti Alpha V.

 

 

Ah-ha! So he IS an alien... on Seti Alpha V.

[+BulldogBlitz]

You might try renaming the cache to something less antagonizing to Boy Scouts, though I seriously doubt that a Boy Scout would have done this. I subscribe the feral animal theory first, then the feral human.

 

...and that is the problem with using bacon as swag.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

You would be surprised how many people wander around remote, off trail locations. On a number of occasions I've followed tracks in the snow toward remote, off trail caches thinking that it must be a geocacher, who else would be wandering around that area, only to see the tracks veer of before they reached the cache, or in some instances walk right past the cache without stopping. I'm sure there is even more of this in the summer, spring and fall, only you don't see the evidence in the snow.

So you're blaming it on Garmin users?

[+trailhound1]

I went to retrieve the cache today... it was definitely not an animal; no teeth or claw marks on it at all.

 

The poor cache container was broken to many pieces by a four inch branch. The beating was so brutal that it left dent marks in the bark of the tree. Some one was very mad at the poor, defenseless tube (or may be the tube attacked them?).

 

I ways it either had to be a muggle way out of place or a geocacher that got the combination wrong, and they both were frustrated with the world.

 

Any ways... I will be rethinking my options. I doubt that I will make it a premium cache, I want all geocachers to benefit from these. If I replace it, I will definitely move it to a even more isolated location.

 

 

[+briansnat]

I went to retrieve the cache today... it was definitely not an animal; no teeth or claw marks on it at all.

 

The poor cache container was broken to many pieces by a four inch branch. The beating was so brutal that it left dent marks in the bark of the tree. Some one was very mad at the poor, defenseless tube (or may be the tube attacked them?).

 

I ways it either had to be a muggle way out of place or a geocacher that got the combination wrong, and they both were frustrated with the world.

 

Any ways... I will be rethinking my options. I doubt that I will make it a premium cache, I want all geocachers to benefit from these. If I replace it, I will definitely move it to a even more isolated location.

 

 

 

Maybe the culprit was angry about the guideline violation.

[+trailhound1]

Could you verify "Maybe the culprit was angry about the guideline violation" ?

 

I went to retrieve the cache today... it was definitely not an animal; no teeth or claw marks on it at all.

 

The poor cache container was broken to many pieces by a four inch branch. The beating was so brutal that it left dent marks in the bark of the tree. Some one was very mad at the poor, defenseless tube (or may be the tube attacked them?).

 

I ways it either had to be a muggle way out of place or a geocacher that got the combination wrong, and they both were frustrated with the world.

 

Any ways... I will be rethinking my options. I doubt that I will make it a premium cache, I want all geocachers to benefit from these. If I replace it, I will definitely move it to a even more isolated location.

 

 

 

Maybe the culprit was angry about the guideline violation.

[Andronicus]

Well the perp probably will not be back, so just re-place the cache.

 

As for the guideline violation, technicaly, unless that big lag bolt was in that tree when you found it, it is a violation.

[+Corfman Clan]

Wow, that just described about half the fully grown men I know too. You know, those guys... the ones who think that lighting their farts on fire constitutes a good afternoon of quality entertainment.

Huh, you mean it doesn't?

[+briansnat]

Could you verify "Maybe the culprit was angry about the guideline violation" ?

 

It looks like there is some sort of bolt or hook set into the tree to hold the cache. If there is and you put it there it is a guideline violation.

[+Crafty Turtle]

Aliens!

KHAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!

Snoogans, Kahn wasn't an alien. What are you talking about? Kahn was a human, born on Earth.

If ya wanna split hairs Khan was Super Human. Plus Khan was banished from Earth and patriated to an alien world so he was essentially alien.

Yeah, splitting hairs is fun.

 

Super Human or not, he was still an Earthling, having spent only 15 of his many years on Seti Alpha V.

 

Being exiled to a different planet doesn't make you an alien from that planet.

 

In 18th century England, being a convict exiled to Australia essentially made you an Australian. ...and their descendants are still here. (six generations and counting)

[+California66er]

"Are Geocachers Smarter Than Boy Scouts" (GC1WMA5).

 

I guess that answered that question.