Missing Travel Bugs and relaunch

[+nuts4campin]

We are just getting back into being active with geocaching.  We own several TB's but unfortunately all but 1 are missing and that 1 is not moving.  I've read that we own the unique number so I'm wondering:

1- if we can somehow change out the TB and reassign the number for a relaunch?  2- Since the tags are missing how do I get replacement tags for all of them or create one for each?

We got discouraged and my health isn't well but if we'd be able to achieve this, it'd be awesome.  I appreciate any assistance.

Edited July 5, 2018 by nuts4campin

[+schmittfamily]

Generally what I have seen is people create their own tag.

Usually it is a piece of laminated paper.

 

If you really want a more robust tag.... a crazy shot in the dark suggestion would be a local High School robotics team may have the tools.  

We recently moved a bug from a team out of Michigan that had cut their own tag (TB7VRAW) that looked really professional. 

If you are in Indiana there are some strong teams there.

For example, 4926 out of Columbus Indiana might have access to an etcher or access to a 3D printer.

 

After that they just grab the travelbug and go with it.

 

 

[+cerberus1]

4 hours ago, nuts4campin said:

We are just getting back into being active with geocaching.  We own several TB's but unfortunately all but 1 are missing and that 1 is not moving.  I've read that we own the unique number so I'm wondering:

1- if we can somehow change out the TB and reassign the number for a relaunch?  2- Since the tags are missing how do I get replacement tags for all of them or create one for each?

We got discouraged and my health isn't well but if we'd be able to achieve this, it'd be awesome.  I appreciate any assistance.

 

We've seen proxy options as cheap economical as a laminated piece of paper.  Those often end up in the bottom of containers, along with stones, shells and the like, and sometimes picked up in maintenance as trash.

We've seen burned wooden nickels and poker chips that lasted some time, and many options online for dog tag-like  things for a replacement.

 

But we see more n more folks using that code for a patch on a jacket/pack, burned into a hiking stick, repurposed for a car ...  limited only by your imagination. 

 - And used for Discover logs only, for folks they meet on the trail, or taken to events. Never "missing" again.  

[+GEO COWBOYS]

I have one M.I.A. how log do I need to wait until I release the TB number again?

[+TriciaG]

6 minutes ago, GEO COWBOYS said:

I have one M.I.A. how log do I need to wait until I release the TB number again?

There's no strict timeline, but 6 months to a year seems to be reasonable. DEFINITELY not just one week since its last "discover" log.

Edited August 17, 2018 by TriciaG

[+NanCycle]

37 minutes ago, GEO COWBOYS said:

I have one M.I.A. how log do I need to wait until I release the TB number again?

 

Until it really has been missing for a long time.  A few years ago I re-released two numbers that had been missing for a full year.  Guess what?  Both of those turned up, one the same day, and one within a week.  Now I wait at least 18 months.

 

[+Team Christiansen]

6 minutes ago, NanCycle said:

 

Until it really has been missing for a long time.

 

On several occasions, I have found TBs in caches not listed in the cache inventory, that had been MIA for a long time. Once I found a handful in a cache that had all been missing for over 4 years. I can only guess some one was cleaning out their closet or garage and found long-forgotten bugs.

[+GEO COWBOYS]

Thank you all. I had a feeling it would be proper to wait at least a year or so. I listed at as "Location Unknown" since I knew it wasn't in the cache where I put it. I have an "Unofficial" feeling who grabbed it. 

 

I hope it shows up one of these days. I sent out  a Pokémon (Cubone) keychain I had for over twenty years attached to the dog tag. Gonna miss it.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I picked up a TB that had been in the cache for over three years.  (Yup.  Three and a half years since the cache was last found.  It was logged into a diffrerent cache...)

[+Goldenwattle]

39 minutes ago, Harry Dolphin said:

I picked up a TB that had been in the cache for over three years.  (Yup.  Three and a half years since the cache was last found.  It was logged into a diffrerent cache...)

I too have picked up a missing TB that was missing for over 3 years. Not logged into the cache I found it in. Last seen in the Netherlands; I found it in Christchurch, NZ. My guess, someone picked it up in the Netherlands and brought it back to NZ, but then forgot about it until over 3 years later they checked their suitcase. They then released it into a cache, but were too embarrassed to log it into the cache and admit who they are. (If I had wanted to be a sleuth, I would check local geocachers and who had been in the Netherlands 3 years before . I didn't.)

I left a TB (not mine, a cute lizard attached) in a cache in Sydney and it promptly went missing. However this time it was owned up to (a year later) and released. ('Bigger' person!) "Found in my son's animal toy collection."

I have also found other missing TBs after they were considered missing, months, a year or more. I would think very carefully about using the number again. I doubt I would use the number again, unless it had been years, and even then, not likely.

Edited August 17, 2018 by Goldenwattle

[+cerberus1]

Nabbed in a week.   Muggle talking to finders about it's location. 

May be the culprit, but you can't tell.  Could be a newbie, or someone on vacation and not logging yet.

We find more trackables in caches not listed with any in inventory.  Lotta log errors these days.  Could turn up elsewhere.  

We've yet to send out a "replacement".  Some have luck with them, we don't.

[+GEO COWBOYS]

CUBONE has been located in Austria. I am happy to see it has finally appeared. However, I noticed that the person who had him also collected several trackables from the USA and Canada. He then dropped all of them in his own cache. That would be fine but I don't understand how 12 or more trackables can fit in a micro. I don't have premium anymore so I cannot check on it anymore. Getting yearly premium next month hopefully.

 

 

Das kleine Kirchlein / The itty bitty Church

• 
• Mystery
• GCTCY9
• A cache by Beutelteufelweibchen

• Difficulty 2
• Terrain 1.5
• Size Micro
• Favorite Points 10

Edited September 13, 2018 by GEO COWBOYS

[+cerberus1]

1 hour ago, GEO COWBOYS said:

CUBONE has been located in Austria. I am happy to see it has finally appeared. However, I noticed that the person who had him also collected several trackables from the USA and Canada. He then dropped all of them in his own cache. That would be fine but I don't understand how 12 or more trackables can fit in a micro.

 

 

Their log says " Virtual storage of multiple TBs and coins",  whatever that means...

[+NanCycle]

12 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

 

Their log says " Virtual storage of multiple TBs and coins",  whatever that means...

 

Sounds like hoarding to me.

[+hzoi]

19 hours ago, NanCycle said:

On 9/13/2018 at 6:34 AM, cerberus1 said:

Their log says " Virtual storage of multiple TBs and coins",  whatever that means...

 

Sounds like hoarding to me.

 

Me, too.