South-Central Ohio cache thefts

[Rubbertoe]

I was just wondering if anyone else here has had a cache just completely vanish in the past couple of weeks.

 

Two of mine have recently been stolen, and I know that someone else's cache within 10 miles of one of my stolen ones has also been archived because it disappeared.

 

Three seperate caches within about 20 miles of each other have been stolen, apparently in a matter of a week or so. If anyone else in the area has had a cache disappear, please post here.

 

I'm not really worried about finding out who did it, or why - I'm just kinda curious if the area is being targeted right now. I'm not feeling real motivated to replace stolen caches when it seems they might just vanish as well.

 

My caches that have been stolen:

Budletree Cache

Foxy Trailroad Cache

 

The other nearby cache I noticed was stolen:

Dryport

 

- Toe.

 

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[+Jacksons]

dryport was ours and im debating on whether or not to replace it.sorry to hear about your two missing,was planning to get to them next week.i checked with the last person that found ours and where he found it was about 20 feet from where i hid it.seems as though some people dont put cache back where they found it

[Seeker BP]

Hello Rubbertoe!! Had one of mine take legs and walk off too!! Down on the Farm!! Pretty dissapointed!! I like to think I hide mine very well, but apparently someone stumbled across it under a pile of rocks! I do not know what to think. Apparently someone has taken Caching to a whole new level!

[Rubbertoe]

I've been trying to figure out why my two would have been taken. I mean, I'm trying to determine if they were just discovered by regular folks, or if it is actually someone coming here to the site - with the intention of finding caches and keeping them.

 

Sadly, I think it is most likely because of careless geocachers. Like Jacksons said, their cache was 20 feet from its original hiding spot, and at least one log said that it was found out in the open.

 

I'm not blaming the last people who found my caches for their disappearance, but I believe that my missing caches were hidden well enough that the only way regular folks would have found them was if they weren't re-hidden well. And I wanted to make sure people understand that I don't blame the last successful finder, because not all finds are logged, and just because they found it last doesn't mean that someone before them didn't leave it in the wrong place already.

 

It is either that, or the geocachers were accidentally spotted while searching through the brush for the cache, or while actually sitting there going through the goodies and logging their visit.

 

I take great care to make sure that I've re-hidden a cache at LEAST as well as it was hidden when I found it, if not better. I don't move it from its intended location of course - but if it is in almost plain site, I'll scatter some branches or something over it to hide it a bit better. I also try to make sure that nobody sees me grabbing or logging the cache.

 

To me, that just seems like a common courtesy that someone seeking a cache should go by - but I realize it isn't always gonna be that way.

 

- Toe.

 

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[Rubbertoe]

quote:

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Originally posted by jacksons:i checked with the last person that found ours and where he found it was about 20 feet from where i hid it.seems as though some people dont put cache back where they found it

---

 

That's just bizarre, because the location where it was hidden was perfect... umm... I'm assuming I found it in the right spot.

 

It was on the ground, in the middle of a bundle of trees, just a few feet into the woods off the trail there, and it was covered well with big pieces of bark when I found it. I'm guessing that is where it was supposed to be, because that is exactly where I would have hidden it - if hiding in that immediate area.

 

Hmm... I might have even added pictures, I'll have to look at my log again.

 

- Toe.

 

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[+Jacksons]

rubbertoe,you found it where i hid it but the last finder said he found it futher in woods under a half buried trash can,and he put it back under can and put sticks in front of it.i think your right about some people not being too careful to hid it where they find it and covering it well.

[Seeker BP]

Well, I have personally seen caches left way in the open, and can see the obvious place where they were being kept. Not everyone plays by the rules!! I guess we just keep trying to put them out and see what happens. Almost have to chain them to trees anymore!! Ridiculous!!!

[Rubbertoe]

quote:

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Originally posted by Jacksons:

...the last finder said he found it futher in woods under a half buried trash can,and he put it back under can and put sticks in front of it.

---

 

Ahh - I remember that can, actually... it was raining when I found that cache - so I took it back into the woods a little ways so I'd be under cover, and so nobody would see me and wonder what I was up to. I plopped down right near that can/bucket thing while I rummaged through the cache and signed the log. It's a shame that someone did the same thing and then just left it right there.

 

I dunno - maybe they had good intentions, thinking it'd be better off further back into the woods or something. But still, nobody should ever move someone else's cache... heh - I dunno... I'm just trying not to get discouraged by all this.

 

- Toe.

 

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[+erayboul]

Well, I'm the last one to find Dryport, and I am sorry that it was stolen. When I did find it in the trashcan I assumed that that was the correct hiding place and I returned it there. Just putting it in the trashcan was not going to be good enough, so I used some nearby deadwood that a previous cacher had used. Since I decided not to use the cheat, I did not know that the original hiding spot was nestled in those tree trunks, which I do remember seeing. Had I known that, I could have returned the cache to that location. I was very careful to make sure no one in the park saw me walking around in the woods, but I suppose someone looking out the window at one of the nearby homes could have seen me. I didn't hear any other footsteps in the woods either, but it is possible that I was being watched.

 

Again, I'm sorry that it was stolen. Like the other handful of caches that I have found, I really enjoyed Dryport and I got to retrieve a travel bug from it.

[+Jacksons]

erayboul,didnt want you to think i blamed you at all.someone before you moved it and where you found it was just a lot easier to stumbule on.someone before you put it in wrong place, and niether of you were the ones who took it

[+Bjorn74]

I think if we place multi-caches, if someone's targeting them, they will give up after the first one. Last I looked REGZ FAN was still around, but the micros keep disappearing. They're not easy to find, so I'm leaning toward thinking that it's targeted.

 

I should finish Columbus - My Kind of Town this week. It will be a difficult virtual/multi with a mega cache at the end. I need to restock the final since I stepped up the difficulty. It will be hard enough to find that anyone who makes it to the area will not be looking anywhere near the spot.