Beginners Advice?

[+StumblinMonk]

I started Geocaching last year to get my boys off the couch and outside.  Now it has turned into a nice hobby for the family, and we go out whenever is reasonably possible.  I have found that most caches are full of little happy meal toys, so I let my boys swap for things of similar value, is this a normal trend?  We are also planning on placing our first cache in the near future, I have a few ammo cans that I am going to use for this and futures.  Are there any tips or tricks to placing a cache?

 

I also bought a used handheld GPS so I was not handing over my phone in the woods.  It is several years old, but seems to do the trick.  Is there any value to upgrading it, or is it a "not broke, don't fix situation"?

 

I recently ordered a couple trackables.  I want to show my boys how this can move about the world, any advice in releasing my first one?

 

Thank you

[+cerberus1]

Think about it, this is the age of the selfie. Since some feel everything on this planet is put here for them, you'll notice things like that.   Most places we go are far off  path and still see either less than left (folks taking and not trading), or the "quality" is carp.  But this is a location hobby, for views and unique areas if that's what you like (we do).  It wasn't seriously meant to be a "treasure" hunt (though carelessly called one often).  The only necessity is that log (why we have micros).

I wouldn't place an ammo can in anything less that 2.5 in terrain today.  They're worth considerably more than the pill bottles we see too much of today.

If the used GPSr is still getting you there, not much you'd experience with one newer unless you start looking into PQs, or similar bulk-loading options.  I guess you already know your phone works just as well too.

I feel trackables are okay if you send them out with the realization that you have no control of them after they leave your hands.  We see some floating different countries for years, and others gone, not even logged the first cache placed.  Don't get your hopes up, be happy when anyone leaves a note or pic, and that's about it.    

 

[+Michaelcycle]

1 hour ago, StumblinMonk said:

I started Geocaching last year to get my boys off the couch and outside.  Now it has turned into a nice hobby for the family, and we go out whenever is reasonably possible.  I have found that most caches are full of little happy meal toys, so I let my boys swap for things of similar value, is this a normal trend?  We are also planning on placing our first cache in the near future, I have a few ammo cans that I am going to use for this and futures.  Are there any tips or tricks to placing a cache?

 

I also bought a used handheld GPS so I was not handing over my phone in the woods.  It is several years old, but seems to do the trick.  Is there any value to upgrading it, or is it a "not broke, don't fix situation"?

 

I recently ordered a couple trackables.  I want to show my boys how this can move about the world, any advice in releasing my first one?

 

Thank you

Welcome to the game! Note that this is the Off Topic forum, a place to discuss things not related to geocaching. You want to ask questions like this in the Getting Started forum:

https://forums.geocaching.com/GC/index.php?/forum/5-getting-started/ 

 

or the one that is right next to it in the listing, How Do I?

A moderator will likely be along to move this for you, best of luck

M.

[Rock Chalk]

Moving to a more appropriate forum.

[garyo1954]

I agree with cerebus1. Unless you just have an excess of ammo cans, get some lock and lock containers (and camo tape). Those hold up well here (in Texas).  Took the liberty of looking at the name brand on one today. The pictures show the same container since 2015 although the tape is a bit faded. It was a Snapware container.
You can get a set of 12 w/lids in different sizes for about $20.

No reason to change what's working. Although I like the Etrex 10, if I had to do it over, I'd go all in on one with maps. The reason is when driving an area you're not familiar with, you come .2mi to the cache, and the next corner you see "dead end." Not fun. Get a map from the Visitors Center and Google the coordinates. Put a mark on the map. You always have backup if you get lost.

If all the posts about trackables are any indication, people don't pay attention to the goals. If I were going to place a trackable, I'd look for a bed&breakfast/bug hotel....a cache with the specific goal of seeing the trackable along its way. Find a cache like that along an interstate (Pennsylvania Turnpike) and the odds increase it will be on its way in no time. From looking at the history of some trackables here, I've noticed they go missing or stall out when placed in caches off main roads. So avoid placing trackables in areas where people travelling through will rarely go.







 

[+StumblinMonk]

Thanks for the feedback.  I do have too many ammo cans laying around, and they came to me free so I do not mind.  

 

[+K13]

1 hour ago, StumblinMonk said:

Thanks for the feedback.  I do have too many ammo cans laying around, and they came to me free so I do not mind.  

 

Oh, to have that issue. Too many free ammo cans lying about!

[+justintim1999]

Sounds like you have the "trade equal or up" part of swag down.  

As far as hiding a cache.    When you decide where you'd like to place your first cache, make sure you get permission from the land owner or land manager first.   An ammo can is a great container for a first hide, just be sure you mark "Geocache" on it so if it's found by someone not a geocacher they won't be alarmed.  Also give some thought to a maintenance plan.  There will be times you'll need to check up on your cache. 

Make sure you attach the travel bug tag securely to what ever item you want to travel.   Before dropping it off take a minute to check the history of the cache.   See how often it's visited and how active the cache owner is.   Keep in mind trackables go missing so don't get discouraged if yours dose.

Other than that have fun.   

[+colleda]

BTW. Don't mention ammo can in your cache description, unless you have a surplus of them that you want to be rid of.

[+noncentric]

10 hours ago, StumblinMonk said:

Thanks for the feedback.  I do have too many ammo cans laying around, and they came to me free so I do not mind. 

Ammo cans are great to find, as a cacher.  However, ammo cans are also great finds for muggles that will take it home and use it or scrap it.  Just something to keep in mind when choosing a location to hide the can.  Make sure it's hidden well and/or in an area that's not well-traveled.  Otherwise, you'll go through your free supply pretty quickly with replacing the same cache over and over again.

[+StumblinMonk]

On 4/5/2018 at 11:47 AM, K13 said:

Oh, to have that issue. Too many free ammo cans lying about!

They are only too many to my wife.  I use them for all sorts of things, or just keep because they are almost a form of currency.

[+StumblinMonk]

On 4/5/2018 at 0:41 PM, justintim1999 said:

Sounds like you have the "trade equal or up" part of swag down.  

As far as hiding a cache.    When you decide where you'd like to place your first cache, make sure you get permission from the land owner or land manager first.   An ammo can is a great container for a first hide, just be sure you mark "Geocache" on it so if it's found by someone not a geocacher they won't be alarmed.  Also give some thought to a maintenance plan.  There will be times you'll need to check up on your cache. 

Make sure you attach the travel bug tag securely to what ever item you want to travel.   Before dropping it off take a minute to check the history of the cache.   See how often it's visited and how active the cache owner is.   Keep in mind trackables go missing so don't get discouraged if yours dose.

Other than that have fun.   

I have a fairly close to home location scouted out for the first find.  It is in a well trafficked area, but will be off trail enough to not be easily found unless looking.  I do this mostly with my 8 yer old son, so I have to keep that in mind when traveling to GZ.  

 

I am getting a little discouraged with the whole idea of TB's.  We went out on Sunday (like everyone else does) and as I was reviewing my finds I noticed that 2 were listed as having TB's in them, but nothing was there but a log.  I am going to head back and double check this week, as well as reach out to another cacher I crossed paths with to make sure that she is not moving them along.  They seem to disappear fairly easily.  I have family going to Germany in a few weeks, and am thinking I might ask them to drop one there for me with the goal to make it home.

[+cerberus1]

4 minutes ago, StumblinMonk said:

I am getting a little discouraged with the whole idea of TB's.  We went out on Sunday (like everyone else does) and as I was reviewing my finds I noticed that 2 were listed as having TB's in them, but nothing was there but a log.  I am going to head back and double check this week, as well as reach out to another cacher I crossed paths with to make sure that she is not moving them along.  They seem to disappear fairly easily.  I have family going to Germany in a few weeks, and am thinking I might ask them to drop one there for me with the goal to make it home.

Curious, are the two trackables listed in a cache yours?  If not, why would you "reach out" to another about someone else's property?

Realize that once a trackable leaves your hands you have no real control of it.   What seems to frustrate trackable owners most is that their "mission" isn't being honored.  I use a handheld GPSr.  Unless the trackable's mission is with it, I have no idea what the owner would like to do with it.  Most times I find it's mission is so far off, my taking it mattered little.    Some areas are better than others, and it's just luck of the draw whether your trackable simply moves along cache-to-cache, is held hostage  "Visiting" many caches by one cacher holding it for some time, or gets it's code placed on a code list for a gazillion people to Discover.    

[+StumblinMonk]

8 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

Curious, are the two trackables listed in a cache yours?  If not, why would you "reach out" to another about someone else's property?

I was going to ask if they had moved (minutes) before we got there.  There was a couple that I kept running into, talked for a little and they seemed to have been doing this a lot longer.  I guess the easier thing would be to check the logs again.  This is really me looking for a reason to trust that the one I release will actually move along.

 

[+justintim1999]

55 minutes ago, StumblinMonk said:

I have a fairly close to home location scouted out for the first find.  It is in a well trafficked area, but will be off trail enough to not be easily found unless looking.  I do this mostly with my 8 yer old son, so I have to keep that in mind when traveling to GZ.  

 

I am getting a little discouraged with the whole idea of TB's.  We went out on Sunday (like everyone else does) and as I was reviewing my finds I noticed that 2 were listed as having TB's in them, but nothing was there but a log.  I am going to head back and double check this week, as well as reach out to another cacher I crossed paths with to make sure that she is not moving them along.  They seem to disappear fairly easily.  I have family going to Germany in a few weeks, and am thinking I might ask them to drop one there for me with the goal to make it home.

They do go missing although I have a couple that traveled over 10,000 miles and I've picked up some that had over 60,000.   For me it's worth the 5 or 6 bucks to watch them travel even if only for a little while.  Before you go to find your next TB take a minute to look at the TB page to see when it was dropped off.  If it's been within a week or two chances are it will still be there.   I have to admit I'm a travel bug nut.  sometimes I'll plan a whole caching day just going after caches that have TB's in them. 

When you do find one try to help it on it's goal if you can.  If you can't take a picture of it and upload it along with your TB log.   I love seeing pictures on my TB in new and interesting places.

Good luck.

   

[+cerberus1]

24 minutes ago, StumblinMonk said:

 ...This is really me looking for a reason to trust that the one I release will actually move along.

I hear ya....  

We have over 300 (around 100 unactivated) that we just look at or swap others for now.  I've been putting unactivated sig coins  in caches as swag (trying to get folks to walk...), and often hand one to a newbie at an event.  For me, I'd rather give one to others (especially newbies starting the hobby) who'd appreciate it, than to be reminded of creeps stealing 'em. 

[+Furrhan]

1.) Yes! In fact, the rule is that if you take SWAG (Stuff We All Get - treasures in the cache) from a cache then you replace it with something of equal or greater value. That keeps finding the caches fun for everyone!
2.) Well that's personal preference. Do you want all the bells and whistles you can get with a more modern GPS or are you happy with what you have? It's entirely up to you!
3.) Regarding placing caches and trackables, just make sure you're familiar with the rules and you do it right.  The rules are all easily found on the Help Centre.

Good luck and have fun!

[+CAVinoGal]

On 4/6/2018 at 11:40 AM, justintim1999 said:

When you do find one try to help it on it's goal if you can.  If you can't take a picture of it and upload it along with your TB log.   I love seeing pictures on my TB in new and interesting places.   

YES!  I typically try to see the goals of TB's in caches before I take them - if I can't get it to its goal I don't take it. OTOH, if I CAN help it along, I'll gladly take it and take photos as I move it.  

I also enjoy seeing MY TB's being logged and visited and photos taken as they move along.  I try to do the same for the TO's of those I am carrying.

[+waldmiez]

Hallo ich bin neu hier. Nach dem ich einen Cache gefunden habe, möchte ich nun auch mal einen verstecken. Wie trage ich die Koordinaten ein und was muss ich bei der Anmeldung des neuen Cache noch beachten ?

Edited April 11, 2018 by waldmiez

[+on4bam]

15 minutes ago, waldmiez said:

Hallo ich bin neu hier. Nach dem ich einen Cache gefunden habe, möchte ich nun auch mal einen verstecken. Wie trage ich die Koordinaten ein und was muss ich bei der Anmeldung des neuen Cache noch beachten ?

You might try to write in English as that's the forum language. It's also best to start an NEW thread as you're now highjacking someone else's.

 

[+badlands]

2 hours ago, waldmiez said:

Hallo ich bin neu hier. Nach dem ich einen Cache gefunden habe, möchte ich nun auch mal einen verstecken. Wie trage ich die Koordinaten ein und was muss ich bei der Anmeldung des neuen Cache noch beachten ?

Let me google that for you.

Hello, I'm new here. After finding a cache, I would like to hide one now. How do I enter the coordinates and what should I pay attention to when registering the new cache?

Thank you for posting, but yes, a new thread would be better.

Danke für das Posten, aber ja, ein neuer Thread wäre besser.

 

 

[+HHL]

2 hours ago, waldmiez said:

Hallo ich bin neu hier. Nach dem ich einen Cache gefunden habe, möchte ich nun auch mal einen verstecken. Wie trage ich die Koordinaten ein und was muss ich bei der Anmeldung des neuen Cache noch beachten ?

[+justintim1999]

On ‎4‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 1:30 AM, CAVinoGal said:

YES!  I typically try to see the goals of TB's in caches before I take them - if I can't get it to its goal I don't take it. OTOH, if I CAN help it along, I'll gladly take it and take photos as I move it.  

I also enjoy seeing MY TB's being logged and visited and photos taken as they move along.  I try to do the same for the TO's of those I am carrying.

I will typically pick one up even if I can't help it with it's goal.  I look at it as TB's were meant to travel.   The place you eventually drop it may be in a spot which allows someone who can help it along find it.   On the flip side you may be leaving it behind only to fall victim to a whole host of things.   You simply don't know,  which is one of the most exciting aspects of TB's.

Besides I'd rather know that my TB is still active so the more people who pick it up and drop it off the better. 

[+colleda]

We will pick up every TB we come across. There's no way of knowing how long it may languish in a cache before its moved on. We travel a lot, both at home and in foreign parts, so we can add a lot of mileage to a TB's travels - if that's what the TO wants. In the last 2 years we have been to UK, New Zealand (3 times), USA, Canada, India, China, Indonesia. Because of this we tend to hang on to trackables much longer than other cachers.

[+StumblinMonk]

On 4/6/2018 at 2:52 PM, cerberus1 said:

I hear ya....  

We have over 300 (around 100 unactivated) that we just look at or swap others for now.  I've been putting unactivated sig coins  in caches as swag (trying to get folks to walk...), and often hand one to a newbie at an event.  For me, I'd rather give one to others (especially newbies starting the hobby) who'd appreciate it, than to be reminded of creeps stealing 'em. 

Thanks for the feedback.  I just got the notice that I am getting one of the Halo Top TB, so I am going to wait until that comes to release my first into the wild.  I gave one to my son a few weeks back and he hooked it on his field pack and is carrying it like a key chain.  He seems to have no interest in letting it go...