Travel bugs and how long in one cache before I should get worried.

[+kcreek88]

I put my first two travel bugs into caches a month ago. The caches I picked because they seemed to have been found fairly regularly so I thought they would be moving on quickly but no one has found the caches since I put the travel bugs in them. When should I be worried?

I would like them to get started on moving. I am tempted to rescue one as I am travelling to another state (I live in NSW, Australia and I am visiting QLD) 3 days after Christmas so should I do it? One is trying to go to Norway while the other is trying to go to Scotland. 

[+kunarion]

4 hours ago, kcreek88 said:

I put my first two travel bugs into caches a month ago. The caches I picked because they seemed to have been found fairly regularly so I thought they would be moving on quickly but no one has found the caches since I put the travel bugs in them. When should I be worried?

I would like them to get started on moving. I am tempted to rescue one as I am travelling to another state (I live in NSW, Australia and I am visiting QLD) 3 days after Christmas so should I do it? One is trying to go to Norway while the other is trying to go to Scotland. 

 

You may move your TBs as you like.  But understand that when you place them into caches, the TBs are no longer in your control, they are in the wind.  And you may get way too many TB logs, or none at all.

[+cerberus1]

On 12/22/2023 at 6:51 PM, kcreek88 said:

I put my first two travel bugs into caches a month ago. The caches I picked because they seemed to have been found fairly regularly so I thought they would be moving on quickly but no one has found the caches since I put the travel bugs in them. When should I be worried?
I would like them to get started on moving. I am tempted to rescue one as I am travelling to another state (I live in NSW, Australia and I am visiting QLD) 3 days after Christmas so should I do it? One is trying to go to Norway while the other is trying to go to Scotland. 

 

Were the caches recently placed? We've found that after all the "locals" find them, they sit awhile waiting for others passing by...

There's so many errors with trackables these days (long-time players as well as new...), someone may even have them now for all you know. 

Not even a month yet...   

I had two promotion trackables in two separate caches, and both went undiscovered or picked up for a year.  One moved and now in Europe.

This hobby has all kinds of people playing their way.  Some I've cached with can't be 'bothered' with trackables and don't touch 'em.

Like the Christmas Dragon said, once you release them into the wild, you're dealing with humans.  

If either gets close to Norway or Scotland, count your blessings...    Good luck.

 

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by cerberus1
yadda yadda yadda

[+kcreek88]

Thanks for the tips. 
Yes, it has not been quite a month yet. I am presuming they have not been found yet because they still coming up in the caches I left them in and one of those caches has not been found since I did. The interesting thing was I had chosen them because they had fairly regular traffic to them before I logged my finds of them. 

Both of the caches I just checked were placed in 2022 and one did get found after me.  But the person who found it seems from what I understand just started with their grandson and that cache was their second find so they might not have understood what a trackable was. 

[+Max and 99]

13 minutes ago, kcreek88 said:

Thanks for the tips. 
Yes, it has not been quite a month yet. I am presuming they have not been found yet because they still coming up in the caches I left them in and one of those caches has not been found since I did. The interesting thing was I had chosen them because they had fairly regular traffic to them before I logged my finds of them. 

Both of the caches I just checked were placed in 2022 and one did get found after me.  But the person who found it seems from what I understand just started with their grandson and that cache was their second find so they might not have understood what a trackable was. 

Nothing wrong with reaching out to ask them if they picked up your travel bug. 

[+chase99g]

Max and 99 is right, no problem at all, reach out and see. I message the last person to find the cache that my TB was in and they didn’t pick it up… I still don’t know where it is, oh well, I’ll make my own tag and put it out there to replace it.

[+GeoCharmer81]

4 hours ago, chase99g said:

This is my missing trackables journey!

 

I highly suggest you cover the actual tracking code (the one on the right that begins with 3) so you don't get 'virtual discoveries' on the trackable. It's okay to leave the one that starts with TB.

[+chase99g]

6 minutes ago, GeoCharmer81 said:

 

I highly suggest you cover the actual tracking code (the one on the right that begins with 3) so you don't get 'virtual discoveries' on the trackable. It's okay to leave the one that starts with TB.

Sounds good, I believe I can delete any fake discoveries if that does happen, thanks for the tip.

[+GeoCharmer81]

6 minutes ago, chase99g said:

Sounds good, I believe I can delete any fake discoveries if that does happen, thanks for the tip.

You're welcome. Yes, you can delete 'bogus' logs. And, unfortunately, there are waaay too many scammers stealing photos and trying to sell trackables they don't own or even possess. I help Admin quite a few fb groups including several caching/coining groups and you'd be amazed at the amount of scammers and spammers out in the ether!!!

 

[+chase99g]

Wow!!!!! That’s sad to hear! 

[+kcreek88]

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I trusted the process and didn't get the travel bugs before my trip to Brisbane. Just before New Year's Eve, I got notifications for both travel bugs that they were picked up in person by the same player. So lets just see where they head off next.