another keg cache thread

[+twoodward15]

The last thread gave me an idea. I have a 5 gallon corny keg (I gave a friend a keg of homebrew and he froze it, thus stretching the top of the keg and making it useless). The top opens up enough to get your hand and arm into the keg quite far. Is it legal to burry the bottom 80% of the keg,leaving the top sticking out,then the person only has to open up the keg to get their hand in to get the cache out? Nobody would ever have to dig for the cache, yet the container would be in the ground almost completely buried.

[+StarBrand]

Your property - maybe ok.

 

Somebody else's property - with permission - maybe ok.

 

I think burying a cache in the ground even partially sets a bad tone for all geocaches and geocachers. It is certainly againist the guidelines. Makes us all look bad to land managers and other property owners.

[+addisonbr]

The last thread gave me an idea. I have a 5 gallon corny keg (I gave a friend a keg of homebrew and he froze it, thus stretching the top of the keg and making it useless). The top opens up enough to get your hand and arm into the keg quite far. Is it legal to burry the bottom 80% of the keg,leaving the top sticking out,then the person only has to open up the keg to get their hand in to get the cache out? Nobody would ever have to dig for the cache, yet the container would be in the ground almost completely buried.

No, that would be interpreted as a violation of the guidelines. The section in question covers both searching *and* hiding the cache in the first place:

 

If a shovel, trowel or other "pointy" object is used to dig, whether in order to hide or to find the cache, then it is not appropriate.

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

Find a stump or stump hole that it can fit into. Add dirt/rocks around to stabilize, thus not needing any pointy object to hide.

[+Ecylram]

If you look carefully, there are natural depressions in the land that are covered with leaves, needles, branches, etc. You can make good use of those. Also, look for the empty stumps and other misc. holes that nature leaves behind.

 

I placed a regular next to a natural berm in such a way that it looks like it's part of the berm. I've had several cachers tell me they found the container when they stepped on it. There are ways to use what nature gives us.

[+briansnat]

As Addisonbr mentioned it would be a guideline violation to bury it part way (or all the way). How about gluing bark to it to make it look like a stump?

[+twoodward15]

I wonder if I could hollow out a log and slip it in, then stand the log up like it's a tree in the woods. great idea briansnat! It'll take some work, but it's certainly doable. I could even just lay it on the ground.

[+StarBrand]

I wonder if I could hollow out a log and slip it in, then stand the log up like it's a tree in the woods. great idea briansnat! It'll take some work, but it's certainly doable. I could even just lay it on the ground.

I've seen a smiliar real but fake stump in the woods.

[+clumzyfly]

What if it's your property and you dug a hole just because it's fun to dig holes. Then, before you fill it in after the amazing time you just had, you think..."Hey, look at this hole I have here. It would be great to put a cache here." Since the hole was not put there specifically for the cache, but was already there from a previous purpose, is it ok to use that as long as the finder doesn't have to dig to find it?

[+StarBrand]

What if it's your property and you dug a hole just because it's fun to dig holes. Then, before you fill it in after the amazing time you just had, you think..."Hey, look at this hole I have here. It would be great to put a cache here." Since the hole was not put there specifically for the cache, but was already there from a previous purpose, is it ok to use that as long as the finder doesn't have to dig to find it?

Probably - maybe - ask your reviewer. However, I still think its a bad idea as it sets a bad precedant and makes newer cachers beleive that is an acceptable hide style. It also makes all us cachers look bad to land managers and other property owners.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

What if it's your property and you dug a hole just because it's fun to dig holes. Then, before you fill it in after the amazing time you just had, you think..."Hey, look at this hole I have here. It would be great to put a cache here." Since the hole was not put there specifically for the cache, but was already there from a previous purpose, is it ok to use that as long as the finder doesn't have to dig to find it?

 

And then a new cacher comes along, without a good grasp of the guidelines, and thinks "this cache was in a hole somebody dug, it must be okay if I dig a hole to hide a container too". That cacher may not make the distinction between a cache owner hiding a cache on their own property and some public property (perhaps, State Game Lands) and might dig a hole to hide their first cache. Then a land manager for the State Game land discovers the cache in an obviously dug hole. The land manager is not going to care if it was dug by someone that likes to dig holes and decided that once the hole was there a cache could be put into it. They're just going to see a hole dug in the ground that is associated with a geocache and may decide that the only way to prevent future holes being dug on the land they manage is to ban all geocaching on State Game lands.

[AZcachemeister]

'Tis far, far better to be thought a person who never gave back to Geocaching, than to be thought the person who got Geocaching banned from (whatever) area.

 

Even on private property, a cache placed in a hole dug expressly for the purpose of hiding the cache is pushing the envelope. Please don't.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

100 cachers can tell landowners for years that caches are not buried. 1 cacher buries one and the landowners now doubt all of them. Bad idea.