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Missing ammo cans


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“The Girls” 5th series went out in early August.
Less than four weeks later two ammo cans were reported missing. We did all we could to keep them safe. We made them premium, and we used reinforce wire to padlocked them to trees. 

“Heads Will Roll” (GC8AEP1) was an extra large ammo can (30 gal) filled with doll heads, bunches of stress balls and other goodies. The location is not one you would just happen upon.  Partiers? Or someone looking for it? The wire was cut and one head left behind.

“It Might Cost You an Arm and a Leg” ( GC8AEPP) was a regular size ammo can
filled with, well, arms and legs and appropriate swag; socks, bracelets, manicure sets and more. Oddly the wire rope and padlock remained around the tree, the handle must have been removed. 

These were ammo cans, contents, wire roping and padlocks. They cost more than pocket change but the results were well worth it and garnered great comments and favorite points.
This is an investment we were more than happy to make for the fun and satisfaction of a great cache. Those that know us or our caches know we don’t put out skirt lifters, we put our heads together, use lots of imagination and laughter to plan these out for everyone’s enjoyment. 

This happened a month ago but I waited for the disappointment, frustration and irritation to diminish to write this. We are pleased that our core fans made the finds before the caches disappeared. 
The ammo cans were stenciled but of course could be repainted.  So much work. Sad.



 

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2 hours ago, Ms.Scrabbler said:

“The Girls” 5th series went out in early August. [....]

 

This is just copy and paste from your archive log.

Surely that is sad but I do not understand why you post this in the forums: do you have any question or do you want to tell us something more?

 

I think we all know about the danger of cache boxes being stolen. Recently I had to notice that a special logbook was stolen from a tied amo can (it is still there) several metres up in a tree. That's geocaching life I am afraid.

 

So what do you want to achieve with your post?

 

Jochen

 

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In purely informative mode, because maybe that's the point of thread? I have 75 archived regular caches - ammo cans overwhelmingly. Going through them, 18 were stolen, a couple more than once. The others burned, lost to flood, crushed by falling tree or forestry equipment,  rusted out, or I removed when I was finished with wanting to own that cache. 

 

Just another maintenance consideration when owning and placing caches.  Ammo cans have value, some people will take them, requiring a return visit to check and archive or check and replace.  Also, loss of swag, logs, trackables. Conversely, they hold up extremely well, and can often go years (up to 6 here before rust may be an issue) without needing any maintenance or visits at all.   Only once was a can of mine clearly taken by a geocacher (they left a pretzel jar).

 

 I have had better luck with those in places where there is hunting by stenciling with my cans with the BSA logo (Boy Scouts of America).  Seems that this will slow down some of the thieves. They'll steal from some unknown person, but are less apt to steal from a Boy Scout (my conclusion, possibly false.) @Ms.Scrabbler

this might help with your "edge of cemetery" caches BSA or Girl Scout stenciling on the cache.   The only place I might cable tie a can is where my concern is over flood or animals. It won't stop an adult or older child from theft, it may in fact increase the perceived value. 

 

Edited to add a couple of pics, the pile of rusted out, burnt, crushed .... and the cans waiting on need for replacement of existing.    Do have plans to place one new, the others are for future fires and floods and rust and theft.

 

ammocan recovered burnt rusted out.jpg

Ammcan Stash Oct_2019_20 cans.jpg

Edited by Isonzo Karst
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9 hours ago, Ms.Scrabbler said:

 ...Less than four weeks later two ammo cans were reported missing. We did all we could to keep them safe. We made them premium, and we used reinforce wire to padlocked them to trees. 
 ... The location is not one you would just happen upon.  Partiers? Or someone looking for it? The wire was cut and one head left behind.
 ...  Oddly the wire rope and padlock remained around the tree, the handle must have been removed. 
These were ammo cans, contents, wire roping and padlocks. They cost more than pocket change but the results were well worth it and garnered great comments and favorite points.
The ammo cans were stenciled but of course could be repainted.  So much work. Sad.

 

Preaching to the choir here.  Did you have a question ?  :)    Odd that you'd think premium membership means "safe". 

Simply plunking down thirty bucks doesn't magically make anyone trustworthy or knowledgeable.

Wire and the wire ammo can handles can be cut with a decent multitool... 

I held a basic bushcraft class  in a large game lands with no roads just this summer.  Found a spot around three miles in on rocky terrain.

 - On the way back, we picked up beer bottles n cans from those who also thought that area cool enough that cases of unopened beer were still there.   ;)

Now that I mostly hit caches outta-the-way, I'm often surprised to see signs of others regularly there too.

 

Did you mention anything about "ammo can" in the cache pages ?     Announcing  it often the way they go bye-bye around here. 

We had a few of ours taken and "re-hidden" (sort of...) by new members and a "Intro" app ...  "That's how I thought it's played...". 

Most found.  They weren't hidden well.   Still have a couple dozen of both to draw from anyway.  Maybe next year.

We had (and caught) a premium member wannabe eco terrorist that was only stealing ammo cans.  Claimed it was littering.

 - Funny how plastic containers didn't fall into the thinking...

Many near us blame hunters (they are "ammo cans"...), but at maintenance, we often have sigs by hunters.

Most say they've been watching people hovering an area from their tree stand (no one looks up),  and they were just checking out what it is.    :D

 - Some even traded, and one thanked us for a pencil used for his deer tag (that he also replaced). 

 

 

 

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13 hours ago, Ms.Scrabbler said:

I waited for the disappointment, frustration and irritation to diminish

Boy, do I understand that feeling of violation!  I gave myself a cooling off period, too, before I decided whether to archive or replace disappeared ammo cans.  Ended up giving it "one more chance and that's it" ... and getting pretty industrial on the hide's construction.  ?

 

My condolences on your loss.

 

3 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

Did you mention anything about "ammo can" in the cache pages ?     Announcing  it often the way they go bye-bye around here. 

Yep.  Nowadays, if my container is an ammo can, the most you might get about it is in my hint, ACiTW.  Maybe.

And I never include whether it's secured - so they don't have a heads-up to bring tools ... just in case they don't normally go hiking with bolt cutters.  :D

 

I've also taken to explicitly asking that no photos of the cache be posted.  I discovered [after the fact] that photos of my caches (PMO and Basic) - opened and brimming with good SWAG - were posted, not on the cache page but on social media, and obviously without my consent. Whether it's because of the nice stock of SWAG, or the metal itself, every time a photo of my ammo cans have been posted, they've been muggled - either emptied out or completely gone, stock and cache. 
 

I haven't seen any one mention recycling.  Recyclers don't care what's written on a piece of metal, and the increased pay-out for metal recycling has had a huge impact here.  In fact, there was a major fire in a closed furniture factory that was caused by squatters "harvesting" the wiring.  Just one week later, in the same town, my ammo can - and the chain preventing it from washing away in floods - went missing.  Didn't replace that one.  Anything I've hidden there since then is made of non-metals, even the hosts.

 

 

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3 minutes ago, VAVAPAM said:

In fact, there was a major fire in a closed furniture factory that was caused by squatters "harvesting" the wiring.

 

It didn't cause a fire, but I saw the same thing happen to a youth camp. All the wiring was stolen. The fact that the payout for recycling the wire would have been minuscule compared to the cost to the camp for rewiring everything just made it more frustrating.

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thank you for reminding me why I’ve avoided these forums the last few years. In my opinion, 90% of the posters are judgmental and rude. 

I was not aware the threads were only allowed if they have questions. 

Thank you for the ideas on no pictures and no mention of container. Something good to consider.

Edited by Ms.Scrabbler
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20 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

Many near us blame hunters (they are "ammo cans"...), but at maintenance, we often have sigs by hunters.

 

Oh yes, I've had many signatures by hunters.  Spent shot gun shells left in cache are a sign too ;-) .  One remote  cache of mine was found more by hunters than by cachers, based on sigs. And likely even more hunters than i could see, given that I'd expect some to find, but not sign.  After the flooding of hurricane Irma, a hunter made the effort to create a Geocaching account, and reached out to  return 2 ammo cans he found in the Green Swamp.

 

Someone creating a Geocaching.com  account to return shifted cans has happened to me 3 times! which is part of the relative ease with which I now take the losses.  Here's a forum thread where this happened.   https://forums.geocaching.com/GC/index.php?/topic/347142-found-a-cache-moved-by-hurricane-irma

and an old log of mine where I was contacted through the site to get a can back LINKY

 

 

 

 

Edited by Isonzo Karst
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16 hours ago, Isonzo Karst said:

 

Oh yes, I've had many signatures by hunters.  Spent shot gun shells left in cache are a sign too ;-) .  One remote  cache of mine was found more by hunters than by cachers, based on sigs. And likely even more hunters than i could see, given that I'd expect some to find, but not sign.  After the flooding of hurricane Irma, a hunter made the effort to create a Geocaching account, and reached out to  return 2 ammo cans he found in the Green Swamp.

 

Someone creating a Geocaching.com  account to return shifted cans has happened to me 3 times! which is part of the relative ease with which I now take the losses.  Here's a forum thread where this happened.   https://forums.geocaching.com/GC/index.php?/topic/347142-found-a-cache-moved-by-hurricane-irma

and an old log of mine where I was contacted through the site to get a can back LINKY

 

 

 

 

Great story and outcome! 

I’ve  lost containers in the past, usually I’m annoyed but not upset. I think these bothered me more because we were excited about them, were very particular about what the swag was. Locating the ammo cans was serendipitous. A fun adventure. Losing them left a bitter taste. 

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On 10/7/2019 at 6:41 PM, Ms.Scrabbler said:

thank you for reminding me why I’ve avoided these forums the last few years. In my opinion, 90% of the posters are judgmental and rude. 

I was not aware the threads were only allowed if they have questions. 

Thank you for the ideas on no pictures and no mention of container. Something good to consider.

At least you have fans to appreciate all your hard work!

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I've mentioned it elsewhere, but a basic member stole a number of ammo cans of ours last year.  They'd previously pilfered the logs and left a note on geocaching being littering, but left the containers in place at first.  I should have taken the warning and pulled the series then, but I did not.

 

I have a number of ammo cans left, so it's not that bad, other than the principle.  The one I am really ticked about was cat-themed cache, filled with sand and fake cat, uh, "logs."  That took a while to make and was very much appreciated by the folks who had found it in Virginia and in Germany.

 

I hope they get tetanus from a rusty ammo can corner and have to get a painful shot to get over it.  But life will otherwise go on.

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10 hours ago, hzoi said:

 

 

I hope they get tetanus from a rusty ammo can corner and have to get a painful shot to get over it.  But life will otherwise go on.

 

That's a bit unfair to give them a needle, someone more deserving might need it.... let them have the tetanus without the needle.... :)

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On ‎10‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 1:20 AM, frostengel said:

 

This is just copy and paste from your archive log.

Surely that is sad but I do not understand why you post this in the forums: do you have any question or do you want to tell us something more?

 

I think we all know about the danger of cache boxes being stolen. Recently I had to notice that a special logbook was stolen from a tied amo can (it is still there) several metres up in a tree. That's geocaching life I am afraid.

 

So what do you want to achieve with your post?

 

Jochen

-------------------------------------

 

She doesn't have a question. She's just sharing and putting it out for discussion on a Discussion Board.

Edited by Dulce-Joy
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On 10/10/2019 at 4:37 AM, hzoi said:

<snip>

I hope they get tetanus from a rusty ammo can corner and have to get a painful shot to get over it.  But life will otherwise go on.

If a person has developed tetanus there is no "painful shot"  to get them over it. The antitoxin is only useful for toxin that has not yet bound to nervous tissue. That is why it is important to get the shot before the disease develops.

As for the second statement, a recent 6 year period reported by the CDC indicated 197 cases in the US with 16 deaths (all in patients over the age of 55)

 

If the thieves are exposed to Clostridium tetani from a wound obtained while stealing an ammo can I hope it is followed by prompt delivery of a tetanus "vaccine" shot

Edited by Michaelcycle
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