Securing Caches

[Guest bunkerdave]

I would like to initiate a discussion on keeping our treasured GeoCaches from being plundered by the heathens who engage in the activity of wantonly destroying them. I have, as yet not placed any caches, but I am on my way to do one this evening. I have heard about enough being plundered, (fortunately, I have only come upon one myself) that I feel this is a topic worth some consideration. I will be checking back to read your suggestions and experiences. - BunkerDave, Utah

 

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David Wallentine

[Guest 300mag]

Not much to do except keeping them in less accessible areas.Where someone without a gps wouldn't accidentaly fall on it.But even by doing this it might happen.I suggest visiting and keeping your cache updated.Verifying it once in a while.

[Guest MadGPS]

Bunkerdave

 

I think we could be figthing an uphill battle here.Personnaly,I'd remove all coordinates from the geocaching webpage to all caches!There !! NO MORE PLUNDER .That would be the most efficiant way to protect,secure or stop the plunder of cache !! Agree ??

Know,what good would that do to the game itself ? As we speak,at this very moment,a plunderer is whatching me discusting this issue with you.Now,if we come up with a very good solution to minimize this plundering activity,who's going to know at the same time?You guess it,your friendly plunderer ! Now,an another way to stop him from finding out what we are talking about,is not to talk about it at all.This way here,we cannot educate him on the activaties or solutions we come up.We have to be creative,in our own way,on how to protect our caches,be one step ahead of him and learn to think like him.His intentions,motivations and actions after the fact of plundering.What is he going to do after he did it ? Strike twice or turn tail ? Stike twice or turn tail ??

 

MadGPS

[Guest MadGPS]

Bunkerdave

 

I think we could be figthing an uphill battle here.Personnaly,I'd remove all coordinates from the geocaching webpage to all caches!There !! NO MORE PLUNDER .That would be the most efficiant way to protect,secure or stop the plunder of cache !! Agree ??

Know,what good would that do to the game itself ? As we speak,at this very moment,a plunderer is whatching me discusting this issue with you.Now,if we come up with a very good solution to minimize this plundering activity,who's going to know at the same time?You guess it,your friendly plunderer ! Now,an another way to stop him from finding out what we are talking about,is not to talk about it at all.This way here,we cannot educate him on the activaties or solutions we come up.We have to be creative,in our own way,on how to protect our caches,be one step ahead of him and learn to think like him.His intentions,motivations and actions after the fact of plundering.What is he going to do after he did it ? Strike twice or turn tail ? Stike twice or turn tail ??

 

MadGPS

[Guest bunkerdave]

You are absolutely right. Leave it to my friends to the North to make such astute observations.

 

To further your point: Saturday, May 12, I took off on a trek to find five caches in the Utah West Desert. YOu are probably familiar with it from all the car commercials they have shot in the area. It usually shows some supercharged sport car racing across the wide-open, parched earth with a giant cloud of dust billowing up behind it. Anyway, that is where I was, well, part of the time. The cache name is N40W113, and it was placed by a guy who has a thing for confluences (degrees of confluence are places where exact lines of latitude and longitude intersect. Anyway, this cache was placed at a confluence. I walked the three miles across absolute wasteland to this cache, and spent probably three minutes there before I had signed the log, made my exchange and was on my way back to my car with my dog. Three miles was as close as I could get, believe me, I checked. Which begs the question: "Who is the fool...the fool or the fool who follows him?" Anyway, (Captain Curmudgeon, no disrespect, but having been to N40W113, you are SICK!) I only mention this, because I am ABSOLUTELY positive that this cache will never be plundered. The same is probably true for the other four caches, but I am not as certain of their safety as with this one. Your point is a good one: Place the caches in out of the way, hard to reach places, and the lazy @#$% who would plunder them will decide it really isn't worth the trouble just to rain on our picnic.

[Guest leaper64]

bunkerdave,

i have been having a discussion off line with a co-worker of mine who discovered one of my stashes had apparently been raided (2-o'clock sharp, ut). i had placed a 35mm film container on the very top of a small mountain near my home. when she visited the site, all she found is the geocaching note/log laying on the ground in that area. she was kind enough to donate a new container and re-establish the stash with the original note/log. i plan on doing a maintenance check on this one within the next few days. i think i will move it just off the top of the mountain, then update the coordinates. i am learning-as-i-go on this geocaching game, and i don't think i will place another stash on the apex of a mountain under a small stack of rocks again (it's simply too easy for the non-geocacher to find).

[Guest GuyMcBeerdrinker]

I'm about to place my first caches this weekend. I have my ammo boxes ready, and I'm seriously considered taking this measure: placing a combination lock on it. People who want to attempt finding it can email me and I can give them the combination to the lock. That way I can see who has the combination and it would deter someone from vandalizing it, because I know many vandals wonder this website, yet they do not register or leave logs or anything like that.

 

But at the same time, I believe placing a lock on a metal box would encourage random vandalism as well. I know that if I was walking and I found a locked metal box it would definately peak my interest. I'm sure someone would go as far as picking it up and taking it home to hack saw or pound the lock off to get to its contents. I don't know what do you guys think about this?

[Guest bob_renner]

ure. Do you want to lug something that heavy into the woods? Just make it simple, locate it in a remote location or hide it well. If it does get plundered, then find a good wizard to cast a spell of a million fleas in the shorts of the plunderer. There's not much else you can realistically do.

 

Bob

[Guest GuyMcBeerdrinker]

Yeah, like I said on the last paragraph of my post, a locked box would be too much temptation for someone. It would give it Pandora's box type of aura, too tempting to pass up.

oh well, I believe those plunderes will eventually get tired of doing this, or they will just grow out of their stage.

[Guest suntzu]

quote:

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Originally posted by bunkerdave:

You are absolutely right. Leave it to my friends to the North to make such astute observations.

 

To further your point: Saturday, May 12, I took off on a trek to find five caches in the Utah West Desert. YOu are probably familiar with it from all the car commercials they have shot in the area. It usually shows some supercharged sport car racing across the wide-open, parched earth with a giant cloud of dust billowing up behind it. Anyway, that is where I was, well, part of the time. The cache name is N40W113, and it was placed by a guy who has a thing for confluences (degrees of confluence are places where exact lines of latitude and longitude intersect. Anyway, this cache was placed at a confluence. I walked the three miles across absolute wasteland to this cache, and spent probably three minutes there before I had signed the log, made my exchange and was on my way back to my car with my dog. Three miles was as close as I could get, believe me, I checked. Which begs the question: "Who is the fool...the fool or the fool who follows him?" Anyway, (Captain Curmudgeon, no disrespect, but having been to N40W113, you are SICK!) I only mention this, because I am ABSOLUTELY positive that this cache will never be plundered. The same is probably true for the other four caches, but I am not as certain of their safety as with this one. Your point is a good one: Place the caches in out of the way, hard to reach places, and the lazy @#$% who would plunder them will decide it really isn't worth the trouble just to rain on our picnic.

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