How to replace a ruined cache?

[UrbanOwl]

So my worst concern has unfortunately come about, and my geocache that I took such pride in and has been kept up nicely (with 4 finds) for a couple of months has been torn apart and mercilessly destroyed. It was hidden in a woodlot, at the base of a stump and fairly obscured, however I'm assuming some drunk and/or stupid idiotic teenager got their hands on it, yanked it out, and scattered its contents into the muddy void. Bummer. I managed to salvage at least the laminated description and I'm willing to replace the damage. BUT I need some advice on how to go about it: obviously I can't put it back in the same spot. Should I abandon this woodlot entirely, knowing such inconsiderate a-holes frequent it (it's fairly small, in a residential area, not a big thicket of dense woods by any means), or try a slightly different coordinate? I am open to suggestions based on others' experiences. Any advice would be helpful in healing this bitter disappointment! 

[+Touchstone]

I would probably try a slightly different location with a new, more easily concealed, container.   If your current location is along a path or something, you could try slightly off the beaten path.  Keep in mind, you can only adjust the coordinates on the Listing page by about 500 feet or so.

[+Max and 99]

In my area it's mostly the retirees who damage caches. I fixed the problem by using bottles with childproof caps, which they often struggle with, and put it way high in a tree, which they avoid. ?

 

I recommend new coordinates for your cache.

[+niraD]

My first cache was in a location that took a lot of damage from the local skateboarding kids. I didn't realize just how much abuse the area took from them. Eventually, I ended up archiving the cache.

 

A cache that I adopted was one of several caches in the area that were hit by vandals. Some of the others were archived by the owners. I waited a few weeks, giving the vandals time to move on to some other source of amusement. Eventually, I replaced the cache with a different container, completely different camouflage, but in roughly the same location. I never had problems with vandals after that, and the cache remained unmolested until the garden property was sold to developers.

 

In your case, I'd try to understand what kind of vandals you've got. Have you stumbled upon the drinking spot of some local teens? Is someone persistently targeting local geocaches? Did some kids find a new source of amusement, and in a couple weeks they'll move on to something else? But just based on what you've written, I'd wait a couple weeks or so, and then replace it in a different location (updating the coordinates to match, of course). I'd try to find a spot away from signs of fires, or beer bottles, or trails, or anything like that.

[+kunarion]

1 hour ago, UrbanOwl said:

So my worst concern has unfortunately come about, and my geocache that I took such pride in and has been kept up nicely (with 4 finds) for a couple of months has been torn apart and mercilessly destroyed. It was hidden in a woodlot, at the base of a stump and fairly obscured, however I'm assuming some drunk and/or stupid idiotic teenager got their hands on it, yanked it out, and scattered its contents into the muddy void. Bummer. I managed to salvage at least the laminated description and I'm willing to replace the damage. BUT I need some advice on how to go about it: obviously I can't put it back in the same spot. Should I abandon this woodlot entirely, knowing such inconsiderate a-holes frequent it (it's fairly small, in a residential area, not a big thicket of dense woods by any means), or try a slightly different coordinate? I am open to suggestions based on others' experiences. Any advice would be helpful in healing this bitter disappointment! 

 

Do you chat with local Geocachers, especially at Geocaching Events? I placed a nice ammo box hide in the wooded area of a park, and cachers then mentioned how nobody can seem to keep a cache there. Sure, there had been caches over the years, there's good reason the spot was empty. After mine was muggled for the fourth time, I took a hint and created caches in that park to address the muggle issue. Special designs that cachers find, and nobody else notices. I planned a couple of them for months. One was an ammo box. I archived it due to spoilers (“hard to find” being kinda the point).

 

A cache might need to be nowhere a typical person may explore. In your case, certainly be sure it's far from any trail, and not near a clearing.

 

A local cache (not my cache) is right in an occasional homeless camping spot. Once, the log sheets were used as toilet paper. It has been moved slightly, in attempts to keep the cache unmuggled. Gotta be a spot that's inconvenient for people to access, or at least a spot that they won't tend to investigate.

 

But the last time one of my ammo boxes was opened and strewn around, it was done by an animal. Based on some clues, I'm pretty sure it was an Armadillo.

 

[+NanCycle]

11 hours ago, Max and 99 said:

In my area it's mostly the retirees who damage caches.

 

Proof?  Or even a shred of evidence?

[+cerberus1]

12 hours ago, UrbanOwl said:

So my worst concern has unfortunately come about, and my geocache that I took such pride in and has been kept up nicely (with 4 finds) for a couple of months has been torn apart and mercilessly destroyed. It was hidden in a woodlot, at the base of a stump and fairly obscured, however I'm assuming some drunk and/or stupid idiotic teenager got their hands on it, yanked it out, and scattered its contents into the muddy void. Bummer. I managed to salvage at least the laminated description and I'm willing to replace the damage. BUT I need some advice on how to go about it: obviously I can't put it back in the same spot. Should I abandon this woodlot entirely, knowing such inconsiderate a-holes frequent it (it's fairly small, in a residential area, not a big thicket of dense woods by any means), or try a slightly different coordinate? I am open to suggestions based on others' experiences. Any advice would be helpful in healing this bitter disappointment! 

 

Well, first I'd temporary disable it, so no one else looks for a cache not there...

Then I'd search other 2/2 caches to see if the D/T set for that location was at all similar.

Started having water issues it's first month out.  Reading logs would help with understanding possible maintenance issues early.

 

"We spotted the shiny reflection of the cache", "shiney cache container was quickly located"  might be a clue. 

Small, residential parks sometimes have a few local people noticing folks going to a certain spot,  and want to investigate themselves.

Cache out and missing after only two months , that might be the issue. 

 - But we've seen a cache destroyed in the middle of a swamp, and one so deep in the woods I ran outta light to get back.

Often the spots we found cool are favorites of other folks as well.  Everyone not playing this hobby.

Similar to kunarion I guess, we've seen critters damage a lot of containers.  We had a 30cal destroyed by a bear.  Candles not good for caches.

One part of the cache page says, "take some seeds to spread a little shine somewhere else".  Seed in the cache ?

 - Critter bait.   

 

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2019 by cerberus1

[+TeamRabbitRun]

14 hours ago, kunarion said:

<...>

Based on some clues, I'm pretty sure it was an Armadillo.

 

 

PLEASE explain that one!

Seriously, I'd like to know how you reached "Armadillo".

 

Where I am, I suspect we could say the same about the phenomenally dexterous 'Raccoon'.

[+kunarion]

On 5/7/2019 at 4:11 PM, TeamRabbitRun said:

 

PLEASE explain that one!

Seriously, I'd like to know how you reached "Armadillo".

 

Where I am, I suspect we could say the same about the phenomenally dexterous 'Raccoon'.

 

Not a raccoon with my cache, the one I mentioned in my example above.

https://coord.info/GLRJ5XTE

 

I mean, sure, Georgia’s full of raccoons.  But this cache is on a peninsula where I’ve never seen a raccoon.  Another cache in that park was frequently dragged from its tree root hidey hole, and out in the open but otherwise unharmed.  Can’t be 110% certain, but just based on what I saw, armadillo.

 

The finder said it needs a new log.  That was an understatement.  

 

Edited May 10, 2019 by kunarion

[UrbanOwl]

Thanks for all your input! I'm fairly certain this was NOT an animal. An animal (at least in these parts of the world) probably wouldn't have unwrapped and broke a metal wire, untwisted a tightly sealed stainless steel mug, tore off all the heavy tape and strategically scattered all the contents (there were no seed packets at this time). I would LOVE to see a squirrel perform that feat. 

[Johannis10]

A possibility is, to replace the Cache at the same location but with a very cheap model which don’t hurt if it’s lost. No big logbook, but just a piece of paper… If this works a few days or weeks, you can try to replace the cache with a better construction. If it don’t work, look for a other hiding place. The experience from my Caches is, that some bad locations works with proper cache constructions sometimes very well for years, like https://coord.info/GC3HNQF at a very high frequented road and others at lonely places have a problem with vandalism. Sometimes it’s the other way round. Just try it, many places work. Hope you have more luck next time. If you have a place were Geocachers normally are not under observation, you can try to get more luck with a difficult detectable Construction. Don’t forget to make a good description for the geocachers, so they can find the Cache … If you like, I can send you an example sketch from one of my rebuilt Cache, which have big vandalism problems bevor. After the rebuilt, only a few meters near the old place, up to now, there was no problem any more. The Box is in an opening at the bottom side of big Stone. This Stone have a hidden industrial easy built swivel and is rotatable at his vertical axis on top of a fundament stone. To get the box, you first have to rotate the top stone, so that the opening protrudes over the fundament stone. After that you can grab the box from the bottom side of the top stone. Both Stones are under water, less than 1m near the shore and near the surface of the water. The Log book is waterproof, just some stripes from the backside of an old loose-leaf binder. If you have question for construction details, don’t hesitate to contact me. But of course there are many other possibilities, to get a hard to find geocache for human or animal Muggels.

Greetings Johannis10

Edited May 8, 2019 by Johannis10

[+kunarion]

1 hour ago, UrbanOwl said:

unwrapped and broke a metal wire, untwisted a tightly sealed stainless steel mug, tore off all the heavy tape and strategically scattered all the contents

 

So it was a specially crafted container?  It’s a shame that park visitors feel the need (never mind grant themselves the right) to destroy others’ property.

 

It must be hidden from view and in a spot where muggles won’t tread.  Levels of concealment seem to help, such as tricky access from the trail, a nook that holds the whole thing, and cover that makes it unseen.  My soccer field ammo can had several levels of concealment to thwart the average drunk just passing by, but also to discourage someone just now installing the App from messing with the hide.  Sometimes it’s OK to design it so it’s found less frequently, when the other option is having no cache there at all.

 

AND it must be so simple to re-hide that cachers always put it back just so.  Most of my recent caches each have exactly one point to place them.  I’ve made re-hiding as foolproof as I can, but the fools still have trouble with that. 

 

Edited May 7, 2019 by kunarion

[Johannis10]

8 hours ago, kunarion said:

 

AND it must be so simple to re-hide that cachers always put it back just so.  Most of my recent caches each have exactly one point to place them.  I’ve made re-hiding as foolproof as I can, but the fools still have trouble with that. 

 

To get a self-healing geocache, I never write only “hide like you found it”. It just needs one, who don’t do it and it goes wrong for a long time. Better is to describe for example with Pictures in the logbook, how to re-hide the cache, and also write in the Listing: “Look at the first page of the logbook there you find how to re-hide the cache.” Sometimes this helps.?

[+res2100]

My wife and I were the ones who dnfed your cache the other week. You probably want to disable the cache listing since the cache is not in place at the moment.
Talking to a friend who found it, he said it was very shiny and didn't think it would last...probably why some muggles found it and destroyed it, which is a shame. About 30m to the south on the other side of the trail are some large fallen trees...that might be a better place to hide it and conceal it well with natural objects. Also maybe include a hint, incase people have trouble finding it. Don't let it discourage you...it's all part of being a cache owner. Looking forward to the cache or a replacement being back in place soon so we have something to find in town.

[+justintim1999]

Most of my caches require a moderate walk or hike to get to thus I see very little in the way of vandalism.   If possible try finding a spot that will take a little effort to get to.   You can also get creative with the hide and the camo so only people who are actively looking for the cache will find it.    

[+NYPaddleCacher]

On 5/13/2019 at 7:55 AM, justintim1999 said:

Most of my caches require a moderate walk or hike to get to thus I see very little in the way of vandalism.   If possible try finding a spot that will take a little effort to get to.   You can also get creative with the hide and the camo so only people who are actively looking for the cache will find it.    

 

To prevent or at least reduce the possibility of vandalism, I don't think it's necessary to find a spot that takes a lot of effort to get to, though that certainly helps.   A spot where one can search for, and retrieve the cache away from the curious eyes of a muggle can be equally as effective.  

[+justintim1999]

6 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

To prevent or at least reduce the possibility of vandalism, I don't think it's necessary to find a spot that takes a lot of effort to get to, though that certainly helps.   A spot where one can search for, and retrieve the cache away from the curious eyes of a muggle can be equally as effective.  

Yup.  Sometimes you have to get creative in the way you hide it. 

 

This may seem strange but I think I would take the vandalism as a personal challenge.   I'd keep the general location and devise a hide that would fool them.   As a cache owner I'd find this fun.  

Edited May 14, 2019 by justintim1999
missing "d"

[+niraD]

6 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

A spot where one can search for, and retrieve the cache away from the curious eyes of a muggle can be equally as effective.

Note too that it is easier to take a smaller cache container to a spot away from the curious eyes of a muggle, than to take a larger cache container there.

 

I've seen a few beautifully camouflaged ammo cans and other regular-size containers in suburban parks. In their hiding places, they were very difficult for muggles to spot. But they were guaranteed to attract a LOT of attention as soon as a geocacher removed them from their hiding spot to sign the log. They didn't last long.