How to prevent animals digging out your cache container?

[+Captain Morgan]

Any ideas how prevent foxes, raccoon dogs, crows, magpies and other animals digging out your cache container? It seems that at least here in Finland it happens now and then that even the cache is hidden well under a boulder, some animal has dug it out. And no, there has been no food in containers. Should we try to use something like cat repellent?

 

[Wanderingson]

Trip wires and high explosives work for me.

 

"I cache; therefore I am"

[+WildcatRegi]

Well, the obvious comment Captain is that there must be something that the animals are smelling and find interesting.

 

You might reduce the problem after making sure there's no food of any sort, no candles or anything else that has any kind of strong odor, and perhaps placing the whole cache in a ziplock bag (there's some big bags out there now).

 

Good luck.

 

"The hardest thing to find is something that's not there!"

[+briansnat]

I can't say. I've only seen this in a few instances. The first if there was food in the cache, or if the container previously held food and the second, if the cache was placed over the entrance to the den of an animal.

 

There are pepper sprays and other animal repellents, but I don't think you'd want to spray the cache container with them. Most are pretty foul smelling and I doubt geocachers want to walk around with stinky fingers all day.

 

"You can't make a man by standing a sheep on his hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position, you can make a crowd of men" - Max Beerbohm

[+Divine]

One option could be to spray not the cache container itself but the surroundings with some repellent. Like some of the stones next to the cache. Of course - then the geocachers could just sniff thier way to the cache. Makes it too easy.

 

- I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory. -

[+Doc-Dean]

quote:

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Originally posted by Wanderingson and Compass Rose:

Trip wires and high explosives work for me.

---

 

hmm... I don't know, too messy and it makes the cache too easy to find, just look for the carnage.

 

I prefer Arsenic, works slowly and they go off to die elsewhere.

 

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Free your mind and the rest will follow

[+Prime Suspect]

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain_Morgan&Family:

Any ideas how prevent foxes, raccoon dogs, crows, magpies and other animals digging out your cache container? It seems that at least here in Finland it happens now and then that even the cache is hidden well under a boulder, some animal has dug it out. And no, there has been no food in containers. Should we try to use something like cat repellent?

---

The ammo cans we have access to in the states are fairly animal resistant. They're too heavy for the smaller animals to move about, and there are few good places for them to get a grip with their teeth.

 

"Don't mess with a geocacher. We know all the best places to hide a body."

[+Bilder]

Some plastics have a smell that animals seem to like.

 

Try a metal container that does not have any oils on it. Even trace amounts of oil can attract unwanted visitors.

 

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[cachewidow]

You don't want to use pepper spray or such, because sometimes animals (esp. bears) get a taste for the stuff. Around the popular kayaking islands hereabouts, they seem to hone in on the smell of gore-tex also. I'm with the others, stick to metal or unused plastic with a sturdy closure like lock'n'locks.

cachewidow

 

"Thank you for calling Mom's Travel Service. Guilt Trips our specialty. Where would you like to go today?"

[+Captain Morgan]

Hmmm, ok, it seems that the main reason for animal problems in Finland is, i guess, that we don't have here anything like ammo boxes for sale in reasonable prices, so finnish geocachers use plastic candy, jelly, gingerbread and ice cream boxes as cache containers and candles are also common in containers. I guess we must forget those containers and use only new Tupperware, Orthex and Curvier plastic containers and avoid placing anything that smells, in caches.

 

[+sept1c_tank]

No solution here, but also remember that the oil from your fingers may leave an attractive aroma to some animals. Especially after eating.

 

==============="If it feels good...do it"================

 

**(the other 9 out of 10 voices in my head say: "Don't do it.")**

 

.

[The 2 Dogs]

The only animals I worry about are some lowbrow muggles. These idiots/morons are forever lurking and can find nothing better to do than garbage like this.....

 

[+briansnat]

quote:

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You don't want to use pepper spray or such, because sometimes animals (esp. bears) get a taste for the stuff.

---

 

Don't I know it. I've been using a product called Squirrel Away to keep the furry tailed rats out of my bird feeders. It's pure, powdered capsicum (red pepper) and speaking as one who got it in my eyes once, it's strong stuff.

 

For 6 years, it kept the squirrels out of the feeder. Suddenly, this year, they hang out on the feeder and munch away, even though I doubled the recommended application.

 

"You can't make a man by standing a sheep on his hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position, you can make a crowd of men" - Max Beerbohm

[+Buzz_Lightfoot]

quote:

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Originally posted by BrianSnat:

quote:

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You don't want to use pepper spray or such, because sometimes animals (esp. bears) get a taste for the stuff.

---

 

Don't I know it. I've been using a product called Squirrel Away to keep the furry tailed rats out of my bird feeders. It's pure, powdered capsicum (red pepper) and speaking as one who got it in my eyes once, it's strong stuff.

 

For 6 years, it kept the squirrels out of the feeder. Suddenly, this year, they hang out on the feeder and munch away, even though I doubled the recommended application.

 

_"You can't make a man by standing a sheep on his hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position, you can make a crowd of men" - Max Beerbohm_

---

 

Well now you've gone and done it... you've bred capsican resistant squirrels!! Don't you listen? Experts always say, done use antibiotics too much or you'll breed resistant germs, use incecticide too much and you'll breed resistant pests. Now you've bred resistant squirrels! No bird feeder will EVER be safe again!

 

I bought an invisible fence for my invisible dog.

 

Buzz Lightfoot

Pike County, PA

[+Divine]

quote:

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Originally posted by BrianSnat:

It's pure, powdered capsicum (red pepper) and speaking as one who got it in my eyes once, it's strong stuff.

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You can try if your eyes become resistant too if you just apply it regularly e.g. before going to sleep.

 

- I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory. -

[+Tervas]

One should also check that the hiding place is not inhabited by an animal, sometimes the abandoned dens will be used later by a wild animal and the cache may be removed among other useless things. No caches into the fox holes!

Repellants? I would not disturb nature creatures with those and how long does the repellant stand a rainy weather?

[BassoonPilot]

Give the cache difficulty and terrain ratings of 3 or higher ... oh, wait ... that will only keep geocachers away.

[+Hawk-eye]

There's a whole other issue ... cachers handle the container ... probably after swinging by McDonalds for that breakfast McMuffin ... you're never going to get past things like that. Probably sticking with a chew proof container is really the only solution.

 

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Co-founder of the "NC/VA GEO-HOG ASSOCIATION"

... when you absolutely have to find it first!