Misdirection techniques?

[ScottishSky]

In a high muggle area, I often find myself trying to find caches as quickly and stealthily as possible. If there is a cache under a park bench, I might pretend to tie my shoe, or sit down and fake a coughing fit and run my hand along the underside of the bench, feeling around for a cache. I have lately encountered situations where to the average observer, I'm just standing with a few other people just loitering and milling about, which I would imagine looks reeaaally suspicious to passersby. Does anyone have any techniques that they use to make hunting in a high traffic area look as natural and subtle as possible?

[+Sol seaker]

My techniques got old too.

 

I just quit doing 'em.

 

They often say the ones who try to be discreet are the ones who are going to be most noticed.

 

I just look for it now. I've got a right to be there too.

 

I just don't pull it out and put it away when people are around. I only look for it. Then when the coast is clear I'll pull it out and sign it.

[+Aptly.Matched]

In a high muggle area, I often find myself trying to find caches as quickly and stealthily as possible. If there is a cache under a park bench, I might pretend to tie my shoe, or sit down and fake a coughing fit and run my hand along the underside of the bench, feeling around for a cache. I have lately encountered situations where to the average observer, I'm just standing with a few other people just loitering and milling about, which I would imagine looks reeaaally suspicious to passersby. Does anyone have any techniques that they use to make hunting in a high traffic area look as natural and subtle as possible?

 

Perhaps not the most helpful as it's a lifestyle change, but my wife and I got a dog a few months back, which basically lets you get away with anything. Need to stand near something? It was the dog that took you over there to smell. Need to bend down, or look under a bench? You're getting down to pet the dog, all while looking around, or investigating something that she found.

 

Before that, we often made use of my wife's camera. She'd have me "pose" near the cache, or she'd be standing near it to get a picture of something else, so I could pretend to be bored and search while she was taking pictures. Even if you're doing it solo, you can still stand in odd places or be looking in random places with it and people just assume you've found something interesting to take a picture of in that spot.

 

That's just a few that we use. Another that springs to mind is buying a cheap ring, and claiming that it just slipped off and you're looking for it. This is more if someone asks than for the people who might be watching you. Keep the ring in your pocket, and just slide it into your hand so in case they offer to help, you can quickly "pick up" and find your ring nearby.

[+geodarts]

In a high muggle area, I often find myself trying to find caches as quickly and stealthily as possible. If there is a cache under a park bench, I might pretend to tie my shoe, or sit down and fake a coughing fit and run my hand along the underside of the bench, feeling around for a cache. I have lately encountered situations where to the average observer, I'm just standing with a few other people just loitering and milling about, which I would imagine looks reeaaally suspicious to passersby. Does anyone have any techniques that they use to make hunting in a high traffic area look as natural and subtle as possible?

 

Trying to be too stealthy can draw attention in itself. If I noticed someone coughing and doing strange things I might think they were having some kind of seizure and go over to help. If I saw someone repeatedly tying shoes I might get curious about why they needed to do that so often.

 

Some people will use their gpsr as a phone, but I would probably wonder why someone is talking into their gpsr. Sone people like to don vests, clipboards, or even hardhats - all I can say is that these things would make me look even stranger.

 

Now I am not adverse to using some forms of "stealth." I have taken out my camera or my iPhone to give md some reason to be loitering about an area. If possible, I will try to time my search so that less people are about. But if a cache is placed in a busy area, there is only so much that can be done. So I hope that the cache has adequate permission and go about my business. If anyone asks, I am honest about what I am doing.

[7rxc]

Just do your CITO bit while you look for the cache. Sometimes I dress the part (mostly doing maintenance on one I take care of) if I have to be there frequently. I find most people don't question cleaners either... I do have permission (gratefully given) for that one since the staff has the rest of the area to do! I just concentrate on the hide GZ and surrounds. Besides which the muggles are a messy lot. We get glass fragments, metal bits of all sorts and sizes, the unwanted 'sharps' from users and such. I also do a bit of real groundskeeping to cement relations with the owners of the site. It's great cover for watching people search for the container too. I guess enough people have got to know me that it might be old to regulars there, but I often see some of them watching and snickering as well. When on site, I try to help without giving it away to those that seem frustrated or come a long way. I'm not there 24/7/365 though. IF caught/revealed, I also give advice on other caches to try in the area. Many forget those because they all focus on the main attraction.

The technique works well other places as well, achieves some clean up on top of all and certainly allows for lots of stooping, and retrieving things. It is also in the 'no need to be stealthy' camp as well. Just look like you are doing the job, and do it. Cache on the side. Just take a break to sign the log, then back to work for a while.

 

Honestly, around here Bears and other wildlife are a bigger problem than muggles. It won't be the same everywhere though!

 

Doug 7rxc

[+StarBrand]

I advise you to not try and be stealthy. That just attracts more undue attention. Instead be bold. Be proud of what you are doing - act as though you are doing nothing wrong (mostly because you aren't!!). Act as though it is your job to find that cache, a job you are very good at and proud to do. Find it. Sign it. Put it back and move on. Carry a clipboard and look professional - you'll blend into the background.

[+briansnat]

Pour a can of vegetable soup on your shirt and a cup of water on the crotch of your pants. Maybe gargle with a little vodka and start talking to yourself. Nobody will want anything to do with you.

[+captnemo]

The most fun I've had is with a cache that was hidden in a campground within 100ft of a campsite. I got my rock hammer out and started picking up rocks, hitting them with the hammer and then dropping them. After a while no one paid any attention to me and and I was able to grap the cache. Repeated as necessary to put the cache back.

[+sillygirl & jrr]

Pour a can of vegetable soup on your shirt and a cup of water on the crotch of your pants. Maybe gargle with a little vodka and start talking to yourself. Nobody will want anything to do with you.

 

In the case that you haven't come prepared with props, I've heard that staring at a muggle while picking your nose has much the same effect.

jrr

[+BlueDeuce]

In a high muggle area, I often find myself trying to find caches as quickly and stealthily as possible. If there is a cache under a park bench, I might pretend to tie my shoe, or sit down and fake a coughing fit and run my hand along the underside of the bench, feeling around for a cache. I have lately encountered situations where to the average observer, I'm just standing with a few other people just loitering and milling about, which I would imagine looks reeaaally suspicious to passersby. Does anyone have any techniques that they use to make hunting in a high traffic area look as natural and subtle as possible?

 

Bah, these people are blinded from experience, if briansnat didn't carry around a can of vegetable soup people would begin to wonder. Acting like you belong there is a good technique to learn, but it's still acting. How many would ask someone to stand up so they can check the bench they are sitting on? Only a geo-master. Since I'm not one, when I'm in a public area I do a walk-away - scan. Oops I forgot something turn back around - scan. Wassthat over there? - scan. Then when it seems clear you go for it with the attitude of that you are supposed to be doing this (this helps to control the shifty-eyed guilty-look) If someone ask what you are doing you confidently declare that You Are Checking this Lamppost Skirt.

 

If they ask why, you cheerfully explain geocaching. Being cheerful makes most people go-away.

Edited July 13, 2011 by BlueDeuce

[+cache_test_dummies]

Effective techniques:

 

• 
   
  
• Fake cell phone conversations
  
• Small children or dogs used as props
  
• Really, really good squirrel disguises (spend more than $300 - the cheap ones don't work. Seriously, you need a really good one to be effective).
   
  

Techniques that inevitably fail:

 

• 
   
  
• Real cell phone conversations
  
• Fake children or dogs used as props
  
• Cheap squirrel disguises
  

Techniques that can go either way:

 

• 
   
  
• Pouring a can of vegetable soup on briansnat's shirt and a cup of water on the crotch of his pants. Gargling with a little vodka and then start talking to him.
  
• Being overly cheerful
  

[+popokiiti]

I was just about to replace a lid on a cache and re-hide it when muggles came along. I left the lid off, started chewing and mumbled a "mouthful" reply while holding my "sandwich box." Lock & Locks, even cammoed are good for that...

[+addisonbr]

Kids are pretty much a passport to getting away with anything. If I'm alone and glance funny at a possible cache spot, folks will pre-dial 9-1- as they yell over to try to find out what I'm up to. My kids could assemble a grenade launcher on the grass of the National Mall and nobody would give them a second look.

[+BlueDeuce]

Effective techniques:

 

• 
   
  
• Fake cell phone conversations
  
• Small children or dogs used as props
  
• Really, really good squirrel disguises (spend more than $300 - the cheap ones don't work. Seriously, you need a really good one to be effective).
   
  

Techniques that inevitably fail:

 

• 
   
  
• Real cell phone conversations
  
• Fake children or dogs used as props
  
• Cheap squirrel disguises
  

Techniques that can go either way:

 

• 
   
  
• Pouring a can of vegetable soup on briansnat's shirt and a cup of water on the crotch of his pants. Gargling with a little vodka and then start talking to him.
  
• Being overly cheerful
  

 

Good advice.

[+geo-jenkins]

When caching once, I found a hard hat. Now, I sometimes take it with me for city caches. A clipboard just adds value to the part.

[+Ambient_Skater]

I use the Non-Technique. The Non-Technique works by not using any technique at all. It works everytime, since all the muggles expect geocachers to be sneaky, they'd never expect someone to just march right up to the cache and pick it up.

 

Sometimes if I'm with my dad I'll put some cones out behind his truck.

 

[+terrkan78]

Crud. All I got is chicken noodle. Guess I better go pick up some vegetable soup.

 

Question: What if someone I know spots me in a high muggle area while I'm in full soup regalia? I'm thinking a full-face ski mask might also be essential.

[AZcachemeister]

Pour a can of vegetable soup on your shirt and a cup of water on the crotch of your pants. Maybe gargle with a little vodka and start talking to yourself. Nobody will want anything to do with you.

 

Works EVERY TIME!

[+EdrickV]

There was one stealthy trick I came up with on the spur of the moment in order to replace a particular cache. It was near a baseball field and a bunch of people had come to use it while I had the cache and was away from GZ. I took a brightly colored little bobber out of my swag bag and started walking around the fence around the baseball field. I ended up dropping the bobber a bunch of times (not on purpose, it wasn't weighted well for this) and made sure to walk by and drop it right by the cache hiding spot. When I bent down to pick it up, I dropped the cache into it's hiding spot. I thought I'd have to push it a bit with my foot, but it landed right where it was supposed to be so I didn't have to. A golf ball or something would also have worked. A bit afterwards, on the way back, I got my cell phone out like I had a call telling me it was time to go, so I stopped tossing the bobber and started walking a bit faster.

 

I'm thinking I might even bring my Crystal Stix with me if doing caches in a small park.

[+d+n.s]

Having a dog and a wife usually helps a lot.

For example, if I need lo look low, I can get down and pet our little Jack Russel Terrier or stop and water him, while also looking low to the ground. Other times, My wife or I will stand in the way of muggles view while retrieving the cache. This of course, only works if they are hanging out and ignoring you in the first place. Otherwise it just makes you look more fishy.

 

The dog can sometimes attract unwanted attention from kids though... Luckily he's old, ugly and stinky

 

Usually, like others have said, I'm only marginally stealthy while searching, but I try to grab the cache when there is a break in traffic.

[+Kit Fox]

I no longer search for high visibility caches, in public areas (don't care for them). However, back when I did, I preferred not to be discreet. If someone puts a 35mm canister, under a lamp post, in full view of the general public, they should expect it to disappear on occasion.

[+A & J Tooling]

Bright orane vest, tape measure and a pen and little note pad works for me if I'm alone. If my kids are along, they do the looking, because like stated above, kids are invisible when acting odd.

[+edscott]

I no longer search for high visibility caches, in public areas (don't care for them). However, back when I did, I preferred not to be discreet. If someone puts a 35mm canister, under a lamp post, in full view of the general public, they should expect it to disappear on occasion.

 

agree.. I still give them a minute or two if I am already there for some other purpose, but otherwise pass them up... and when one that is on my DNF list goes missing I do not mourn its passing.

[Andronicus]

Bright orane vest, tape measure and a pen and little note pad works for me if I'm alone. If my kids are along, they do the looking, because like stated above, kids are invisible when acting odd.

Needs to be one of those giant 100 yard tape measures. I take one with me when looking for benchmarks (the good thing about benchmarks is you don't need to avoid muggles; you can even recruit them to help you). It can double as a good prop for geocaches as well.

Edited July 13, 2011 by Andronicus

[+AlohaBra and MaksMom]

Kids are pretty much a passport to getting away with anything. If I'm alone and glance funny at a possible cache spot, folks will pre-dial 9-1- as they yell over to try to find out what I'm up to. My kids could assemble a grenade launcher on the grass of the National Mall and nobody would give them a second look.

Next best thing, I bring the wife, MaksMom, and she is an All-American mom looking type that no LEO would question...plus people love her smile.

[+Shaved Ewok]

If your in the city, smoking works real well as everyone has to leave the buildings these days to light up, lol!

[Andronicus]

If your in the city, smoking works real well as everyone has to leave the buildings these days to light up, lol!

Thanks for the tip. Maybe I will take up smoking.

[+MartyBartfast]

Sometimes I go caching on my bike. Pretending to be putting the chain back on, adjusting the brakes, pumping up the tyres, etc., can be useful techniques sometimes.