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New here - Avoiding Muggles?


shilllashill

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Hi. Brand new here, and I could use some help in understanding how much effort to go to to avoid muggles. For caches that are in generally busy places, are you only supposed to search for them under the cover of darkness, e.g., or is it that searching with muggles around is ok, and it's just the act of removing the cache and signing the log, once you've spied it, that should not be witnessed by them. Thanks!

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Generally speaking, you don't want them to know the hiding place of the cache, or even that there is something hidden there. Once you get some experience and learn some of the common hiding techniques it gets easier to slip in there, grab the cache, and casually walk back to the car to sign the log, then just as casually walk back and slip it back in its hiding spot without anyone really even noticing what you just did.

 

I'll generally pull up and stay in the car for a couple of minutes to scout the muggle activity and scan GZ for likely hiding spots. If I'm fairly certain I know where it is (LPC's come to mind), I'll wait until it's as clear as I think it will get and quickly make the grab. If the hide location doesn't seem obvious and i think it may take an extended search, I'll probably just skip it and move on. You don't have to find them all 😉. I'll usually log a Note in those cases indicating that the spot was just too muggle-infested for a search.

 

You'll find that the time of day and day of the week make a difference. Places that are busy on a weekday may be deserted on the weekend and vice-versa. I'll make a mental note to try that one again at a less busy time.

 

You'll also find that places that are easy to search are very rural locations (because there's no one around, obviously), and believe it or not, locations that are EXTREMELY busy, like an urban downtown area, where your little activity goes unnoticed amidst the hustle and bustle. The tough ones are those in-between locations, suburbs and small towns, where everybody is nosier and any unusual activity draws attention.

Edited by Chief301
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This is one of the most common themes of questions, and that is because most every new cacher is concerned about being seen searching for, retrieving and replacing the cache. One of the key factors is to learn how to blend in, meaning you need to look and act like you belong in a place doing what you are doing. When you can do that people will ignore you. When you look out of place, nervous, or as if you are trying to be sneaky in some way, people WILL notice you. I have always found it is far easier to search in very busy areas when there are two or more cachers.

 

But I usually cache alone.

 

So what do I do? I assess the situation and decide if I can reasonably search for the cache, retrieve it and replace it without people wondering what the heck I am up to. I have found over the years I can look and poke around in an awful lot of very public places without drawing attention by simply ignoring everyone else in the area. If I am not concerned about others watching me they tend to not watch me. If I am constantly looking around to see if anyone is watching, someone is more likely to notice because I am not acting like I belong where I am and doing whatever it is I am doing.

 

One very important bit of advice for those times when someone asks what you are doing. It is almost always best to tell the truth, after all you are not doing anything wrong or illegal. If you are approached by law enforcement or security never, never even consider lying to them about what you are doing. Tell them you are Geocaching and explain as much as you need to what Geocaching is. Worldwide game, GPS, containers hidden all over with logs to sign, techie geek thing, fun for the whole family...

 

Welcome to the game and I hope you have a great time!

 

 

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If you see the container low down, pretend to tie your shoe and grab the cache. Walk away a few steps to sign the log and to replace - repeat. That helps with smaller containers. For a sandwich sized Lock and Lock on a boardwalk trail near us, I pretended to be eating from my "lunch box" even mumbling a reply to the greetings from the muggles. You'll get creative! If someone asks point blank what you are doing, and seems in a position of authority, or a neighbour - always tell the truth. One neighbour was pleased to learn about geocaching, thinking that the ivy which concealed the cache was a drug drop!

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if it's in a muggle heavy location it's probably a tiny container the size of an eraser head and I never even bother to open them up, I just see where they are, mark them as found. I don't open any cache smaller than a film container. If you are just staring down at your phone people won't really pay much attention to what you are doing.

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One neighbour was pleased to learn about geocaching, thinking that the ivy which concealed the cache was a drug drop!

 

This is not the first time I've heard this myth....where are people getting the idea that drug dealers routinely hide parcels of drugs in ivy plants, under lamp post skirts, and on the backs of street signs? Yeah, I'm sure the business model involves leaving hundreds of dollars worth of narcotics unattended in a public place, where an honest buyer with exact change will make the purchase. Seriously? That's not how drug dealing works 😳

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One neighbour was pleased to learn about geocaching, thinking that the ivy which concealed the cache was a drug drop!

 

This is not the first time I've heard this myth....where are people getting the idea that drug dealers routinely hide parcels of drugs in ivy plants, under lamp post skirts, and on the backs of street signs? Yeah, I'm sure the business model involves leaving hundreds of dollars worth of narcotics unattended in a public place, where an honest buyer with exact change will make the purchase. Seriously? That's not how drug dealing works

 

Yes it is. Street dealers often do not carry their entire stash with them, and will often hide small amounts in various places to avoid getting caught with the entire 9 yards. Other dealers higher up the food chain will sometime leave a large amount somewhere for someone else to pick up. It's only the final buyer of the entire distribution chain that does not get any trust by the rest, as most of them have known each other for some time. This is one reason why geocaches should not be hidden in high crime areas.

Edited by 4wheelin_fool
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One neighbour was pleased to learn about geocaching, thinking that the ivy which concealed the cache was a drug drop!

 

This is not the first time I've heard this myth....where are people getting the idea that drug dealers routinely hide parcels of drugs in ivy plants, under lamp post skirts, and on the backs of street signs? Yeah, I'm sure the business model involves leaving hundreds of dollars worth of narcotics unattended in a public place, where an honest buyer with exact change will make the purchase. Seriously? That's not how drug dealing works ��

 

Yes it is. Street dealers often do not carry their entire stash with them, and will often hide small amounts in various places to avoid getting caught with the entire 9 yards. Other dealers higher up the food chain will sometime leave a large amount somewhere for someone else to pick up. It's only the final buyer of the entire distribution chain that does not get any trust by the rest, as most of them have known each other for some time. This is one reason why geocaches should not be hidden in high crime areas.

 

Well, you learn something new every day, don't ya? 😜

 

However, knowing the general aura of nerdiness about the average Geocacher, I would think (hope?) that even a clueless muggle wouldn't take one for a drug dealer 😊

 

Regarding caches in high crime areas...I do a lot of my caching in and around Baton Rouge, La. Just for grins one day I compared the Geocaching map to a map of Baton Rouge showing the locations of all the homicides for the past three years. Guess where there was a big empty spot on the Geocaching map? 😳

Edited by Chief301
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We just went and replaced one of our caches. We made a big log and cut out the center and the thing is huge and in the middle of golden gate park. How are we going to carry it over there? We just acted like we knew what we were doing and did it in front of everyone. Talked about stuff as we were doing it and no one questioned us at all. adds to the fun.

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I found the easiest technique is to bring the family with me. Mugglers are too busy watching my kids running around, meanwhile I grab the cache. Once in hand, I bring it back to the wagon/stroller that we have and i open it then. When I'm by myself, i try to be as unassuming and as conspicuous as possible so nobody really pays attention to me. Act like you are on the phone while scouting...its white noise in today's world.

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Here's one that I like, posted today on a cemetery cache:

 

Quick find after I was able to get the lawn mowing gentleman to leave. He was very concerned with me wandering around in the area by myself. I told him I was just on a long road trip and had a leg cramp and had to walk it out.
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Here's one that I like, posted today on a cemetery cache:

 

Quick find after I was able to get the lawn mowing gentleman to leave. He was very concerned with me wandering around in the area by myself. I told him I was just on a long road trip and had a leg cramp and had to walk it out.

 

Never thought of that one, but I'm going to add that one to my repertoire! I commonly use a clipboard when caching and rarely do folks ever question someone with a clipboard.

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Here's one that I like, posted today on a cemetery cache:

 

Quick find after I was able to get the lawn mowing gentleman to leave. He was very concerned with me wandering around in the area by myself. I told him I was just on a long road trip and had a leg cramp and had to walk it out.

 

Never thought of that one, but I'm going to add that one to my repertoire! I commonly use a clipboard when caching and rarely do folks ever question someone with a clipboard.

 

Here's how the geo-camo goes:

 

Clipboard < Orange Helmet < Orange Vest

 

biggrin.gif

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if it's in a muggle heavy location it's probably a tiny container the size of an eraser head and I never even bother to open them up, I just see where they are, mark them as found. I don't open any cache smaller than a film container. If you are just staring down at your phone people won't really pay much attention to what you are doing.

 

You don't open any cache smaller that a film container? What about the rule that log is to signed. Don't try that around in my area because your log will be deleted by several of the cachers around here. I can't believe that you would have the nerve to tell another newbie that the signature on the log is not important. Why sign any of them then. Are you in that big of a hurry that you can't put your name on the log? Wow, I think that was really bad, bad advice.

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I find the concept of 'avoiding muggles' or being watched very interesting too as a newbie. I have tried to go for what I have considered would be easy 'smalls/mediums' but on the weekend I found myself having to walk into a public garden/established/natural planting area to find and retrieve the cache. Not only would this have appeared curious to any onlookers (1xadult & 2 kids scratching around the base of the plants), but I also feel it is somewhat environmentally un-responsible. I know cachers are supposed to 'tread lightly' but not all things are in plain sight so you can't just sit back at the picnic table and scan the garden. As it happened, we discretely retrieved the cache and walked over to the picnic table to fill in the log before replacing and retreating. I have to say, I'm not too sure about how good all this poking and scratching around the undergrowth is for the environment. JM2cW :)

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I found it helpful to pretend being a tourist: ppl won't think you're acting weird if you walk around with a camera and a map and look like you're exploring the beautiful sights of the city. Or actually go geocaching while I really am a tourist in the place ;) Besides this, I think the trick is in your attitude - if you act like you're doing the most normal thing in the world, ppl won't even notice you exist (mostly), but if you act all stealthy and sneaky, you'll soon be getting at least weird looks. Some ppl might even think you are about to steal stuff, so be careful.

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I find the concept of 'avoiding muggles' or being watched very interesting too as a newbie. I have tried to go for what I have considered would be easy 'smalls/mediums' but on the weekend I found myself having to walk into a public garden/established/natural planting area to find and retrieve the cache. Not only would this have appeared curious to any onlookers (1xadult & 2 kids scratching around the base of the plants), but I also feel it is somewhat environmentally un-responsible. I know cachers are supposed to 'tread lightly' but not all things are in plain sight so you can't just sit back at the picnic table and scan the garden. As it happened, we discretely retrieved the cache and walked over to the picnic table to fill in the log before replacing and retreating. I have to say, I'm not too sure about how good all this poking and scratching around the undergrowth is for the environment. JM2cW :)

 

That poking is one thing I have issues with as well. I'm convinced that geocaches are supposed to be placed so that you can find them without destroying any nature. Geocachers who poke into everything and walk in the woods like bulldozers are plain criminals to me!

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I guess I am curious why all the need for stealth? I guess my thinking is, if a stranger sees me pull a box out filled with goodies and is curious, isn't is an opportunity to tell them about caching? I tend to notice if someone has seen me and is watching me. I have had it happen once now where someone was eyeballing me. Rather than have them thinking I was trading drugs, I showed the guy the cache. He thought it was really cool. And then he left. Am I under paranoid? Over paranoid?

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I think it depends on who you show. If it looks like someone who might like caching for sure it is fine. If it is a bunch of kids who will come back and take it for fun or something then I wouldn't show it to them.

I was once caching on a really cool hiking trail. I was in the bushes trying to find a cache and I noticed him walking by looking over at me. Later I was in the middle of the trail with a ammo can open and swagg all over. He came up to me and asked what I was doing. He was really curious I think. I said geocaching. He just said he had heard of that and was happy and went on his way.

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I used to think the orange vest, Clipboard thing was good cover but I drive all over in my work truck and uniform. I often will stop off at a break or lunchtime to grab a cache. I actually get more questions that way then I would if I was in my car and regular clothes. People seem to want to know what I am working on and doing. I don't know if they just feel more comfortable asking because I am obviously a worker or what.

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Well I usually just stand around until they have gone, and if they are hanging around for a long time or watching I will leave it and come back another time as I don't want the cache being taken :o

Also avoid looking over your shoulder constantly, if you just act like you know what your'e doing a lot of muggles won't pay much attention. In busy spots I often take the container away from the hiding spot to sign the log and then put it back when it is safe, that way the muggles are less likely to find it if they come back since they won't be looking in the right place :P

Honestly though, in my experience most people don't hang around watching, though one time I was thinking of hiding a cache at this one particular spot and one muggle was hanging around watching me around the corner suspiciously, don't know what they think I was doing but I certainly wasn't going to put a geocache there after that :angry:

Edited by spirothebudgie
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I used to think the orange vest, Clipboard thing was good cover but I drive all over in my work truck and uniform. I often will stop off at a break or lunchtime to grab a cache. I actually get more questions that way then I would if I was in my car and regular clothes. People seem to want to know what I am working on and doing. I don't know if they just feel more comfortable asking because I am obviously a worker or what.

I agree.

Seen the claims and staged stealth mode in-costume pics, but people aren't as naive/clueless as some believe.

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I guess I am curious why all the need for stealth? I guess my thinking is, if a stranger sees me pull a box out filled with goodies and is curious, isn't is an opportunity to tell them about caching? I tend to notice if someone has seen me and is watching me. I have had it happen once now where someone was eyeballing me. Rather than have them thinking I was trading drugs, I showed the guy the cache. He thought it was really cool. And then he left. Am I under paranoid? Over paranoid?

Finding the container is not so much of an issue, especially if like you said, you then tell them about Geocaching. The problem is when it's an especially poorly designed "suspicious package", and when the observer sees me placing it in a "suspicious place", and wasn't watching earlier when I found it. At that point, no explanation of "Geocaching" may be acceptable.

 

My favorite :ph34r: such find was a military camo tube with a fuse. I picked it up from the lamp skirt, and then several people arrived and parked nearby. And I was holding this tube [which had a cute little tail or whatever the CO had in mind, maybe at one time it was tied to something], and I suddenly realized it seemed a whole lot more like a cartoon stick of dynamite than a pill bottle. Depending on the situation, it could be very important that nobody sees me place it. It may involve situational awareness, even an assessment of the container ("now that I think about it, this might kind of look like a bomb to these people"). Observers may not even approach me, they might instead dial 911.

Edited by kunarion
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Ok so not the overwhelming, "OMG, no one can see me!" but rather a more modest, "let's just not be so obvious, k?" kind of attitude. Gotcha. Which is what I have had, but since I have developed a particular liking for PNG while I am working my sites during the day, it makes it rather hard to do things under the cover of darkness.

Actually manchild and I went for a nano the other night outside of a restaurant around 10PM, used a head lamp and flashlights....I think we looked more obvious then than we would have looked during the middle of the day.

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I find that stealth isn't as critical at the extremes ends of the muggle spectrum. Ammo can way out in the woods? No problem, probably not any muggles around anyway, so just have at it. Bustling downtown area? Also usually not a problem, because the more hustle and bustle in the vicinity, the less likely anyone will even notice what you're doing....you just blend in with all the other people action.

 

It's those in-between areas, the small towns and suburbs, where the neighbors tend to be more nosy and anything or anyone that looks out of the ordinary may attract attention.

 

Even then, time of day and day of the week often make all the difference. Businesses may be closed on Sundays or may be busier at certain times of the day. Conversely, recreational areas like parks and beaches are likely to be less busy on a weekday. If it's really too muggly just come back later when conditions are more favorable.

Edited by Chief301
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I'm a newbie too and I wondered the same thing! I just came back from a trip locally where I ended up on a footbridge which is GZ... Even though it was pouring with rain it was rush hour for Muggles (Wow, that's the first time I've used the word!!) I must have looked very suspicious, standing on a bridge in the pouring rain, whistling innocently! However, I managed to locate the cache and then wandered away from the spot to sign the log, I then had to wait another several minutes getting soaked, waiting to put the container back! I guess we'll soon learn how to be discrete!! :rolleyes:

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I'm a newbie too and I wondered the same thing! I just came back from a trip locally where I ended up on a footbridge which is GZ... Even though it was pouring with rain it was rush hour for Muggles (Wow, that's the first time I've used the word!!) I must have looked very suspicious, standing on a bridge in the pouring rain, whistling innocently! However, I managed to locate the cache and then wandered away from the spot to sign the log, I then had to wait another several minutes getting soaked, waiting to put the container back! I guess we'll soon learn how to be discrete!! :rolleyes:

No need to be Discreet. You have as much right to be on that bridge as another.

Just do whatever it is you need to do and move on.

Not many are good at "being stealthy" and it often backfires.

- Instead now maybe someone sees a nut whistlin' in the rain on the bridge. :)

Many times, "looked suspicious" is what we feel of ourselves, not how others see us.

I stopped attempting stealth when I realized it was asked of me (to be stealthy) on the cache page, often because the property owner never gave permission.

If he gave permission, I probably wouldn't have to act like a ninja to sign a blinky.

The good CO wouldn't make others responsible for his cache that way.

"Had to archive. Last finder not stealthy enough." - Yeah, right.

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Hi. Brand new here, and I could use some help in understanding how much effort to go to to avoid muggles. For caches that are in generally busy places, are you only supposed to search for them under the cover of darkness, e.g., or is it that searching with muggles around is ok, and it's just the act of removing the cache and signing the log, once you've spied it, that should not be witnessed by them. Thanks!

I usually just go and look for the cache. You will most likely be ignored anyway.

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I don't like to go caching in urban places and I have few finds that are not in parks or similar environments. It takes a while to spot a cache and I believe I look suspicious if I poke every suspected hole or camo.

 

My camos:

- dog. I can stop to look around pretending my dog is sniffing something on the ground. I should teach the dog to sniff on command for she wants to walk forward when I need her to pretend 'interesting smell found'. She can look for caches with me which looks like random sniffing but she alerts and that can attract attention. Once I picked up a cache in an open place pretending I scooped up dog poop and once I was 'untangling her leash'.

- tourist. A cache was hidden in a busy bridge. The CO had given instructions how to grab it. I leaned to ghe rail looking like a tourist admiring the river scene and slid my hand under the rail.

- my bike. Yep, I stopped my bike to tie my shoes right here, wait, there is something in that pipe.

 

There are some caches I can never log because I cannot visit them during less busy hours. But I have also used the opportunity to take a cache when I was in town in early hours and people were either asleep or too busy to get to work unfrozen.

 

Another bridge was more difficult and produced a DNF. I just could not find it and my search was no more hidden and the dog refused to sniff. My muggle friend had seen me from a car and asked me later what on earth I was doing there. No scenery to watch or contact lense to get lost.

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Someone asked me once what the heck we were doing (2 adults, 2 kids). I thought we were being inconspicuous, but I guess we weren't. :P I told them we had lost something and were trying to find it. Then we chilled until the left and then resumed looking.

 

I find most people don't may us much attention.

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I found the easiest technique is to bring the family with me. Mugglers are too busy watching my kids running around, meanwhile I grab the cache. Once in hand, I bring it back to the wagon/stroller that we have and i open it then. When I'm by myself, i try to be as unassuming and as conspicuous as possible so nobody really pays attention to me. Act like you are on the phone while scouting...its white noise in today's world.

The old "Bring the family" trick. I like that one too. Really helpfull for playground caches.

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