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Proper Etiquette


Los Lacos

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What is the proper etiquette when another cacher approaches as you are logging your find? I've had it happen twice and I was unsure how to handle the situation. Its pretty obvious what we are doing and that we have found it. I hate spoiling it for others but I feel like the deer caught in headlights.

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They didn't show their Geocaching badge? :unsure:

 

Etiquette is up to the cacher that is interrupting you at the cache site. I would treat any visitor as a muggle unless they wanted to identify themself. If they want to be spoiled, they can do so in plenty of other ways.

 

Maybe you interrupted them at the cache site and they stealthily snuck away while you hunted the cache? :lol:

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If I think I'm gonna be seen as I'm logging the cache, I'll move somewhere else for a few minutes, log my find, then take the cache back and rehide it. If my car is close by I'll sit in my car with the cache and sign the logbook. I've wandered on other cachers as they were looking and we all joined in the hunt. I've never come up on someone as they had the cache in their hands and were writing in the logbook. Practice being stealthy, it's a good skill to have. :unsure:

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What is the proper etiquette when another cacher approaches as you are logging your find? I've had it happen twice and I was unsure how to handle the situation. Its pretty obvious what we are doing and that we have found it. I hate spoiling it for others but I feel like the deer caught in headlights.

Spin around on your heel and quick-draw your single-action Colt .45, with one hand hovering over the hammer, Eastwood style. One look at the hole at the end of that barrel will teach 'em to sneak up on ya! :unsure:

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Etiquette is up to the cacher that is interrupting you at the cache site. I would treat any visitor as a muggle unless they wanted to identify themself.

That's it exactly. With an emphasis on "don't assume that it's another cacher." I once spent over an hour looking for a cache that wasn't there. It turned out that a previous finder had assumed that a couple of kids in the area were looking for the cache. By the time he realized that they were not geocachers they had found the cache. It disappeared a couple days later. :unsure:

One other thing, when you meet another cacher you may find yourself spending the next half hour exchanging geocaching stories. :lol:

 

RichardMoore

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I think the etiquette is up to the approaching cachers, and not those already at the site. When you're at the site, you're sitting there pawing the trinkets, deciding if or what to trade for, reading the log, writing your own log entry, and basically distracted, and most likely don't even know you're being approached. I've approached other cachers already at the cache, and waited off a ways for them to finish. I've also met other cachers while they're still searching--I'll ask if I can join them, and if so I do, and if not, I'll agian wait until they're done with the cache or give up before I search.

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i just look up and smile B)

There's that mail vehicle again. ;)

 

I think we're all agreed that the responsibility for controlling the circumstances remains with the approaching cacher(s). When someone is focused on their "find" they can't be expected to set up a perimeter to protect the territory. Furthermore, the person(s) approaching, it seems to me, have the first opportunity to recognize the possibility of a cachers conflict. You don't have to know the password to signal the person at or near the potential cache site in a manner that let's them know you're also a participant in the sport (like waving a GPSr in the air) and waiting for an invitation to approach. No invitation? Take a nap, enjoy the scenery, and wait a while.

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Well, the typical thing to do is to walk briskly up to the cacher holding the container and shout "Hey You. What're you doing there! Do you have a permit for that thing? Let me see your ID!" and so forth for a bit, then smile and introduce yourself and talk geocaching for awhile. Of course it might be different back east where people are all uptight and everything.

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Well if it's a micro, then I usually pick it up, take it a ways away so I can sit comfortably or something, sign the log and return the micro. Little time as possible in the cache location.

 

If it's not a micro, then it's probably big enough that if they're close enough to spot you at the cache, they're close enough that they'd have seen the cache whether or not you were there. So I'd say in this case it doesn't hurt anything that you appear to be their beacon at the cache.

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Team 360, it would be a Ruger 45 in my case not a Colt lol. Only reason I carry it is cause I don't like snakes, lions or boar. If they leave me alone or give me a chance to leave I will, if not that 45 barks LOUD !!!!!

 

If anyone finds me caching in all seriousness I keep the pistol hidden so you won't even know I have it.

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This happened to us last weekend. We approached a cache that was about 250 feet off the AT. We were about to turn off the trail when we saw some people (obviously cachers) looking all around the area. So we continued on the trail to let them find it. We also didn't want to spoil our own find. But as we walked on, we heard "Are you caching?" We said yes, and they actually asked us for help! We had a great time chatting with this couple and found the cache together. Other than that, I would never approach a cache seeker since I wouldn't want to spoil the hunt for them.

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I guess everyone's idea of geocaching is different. Some would prefer to find it themselves. Personally, I would not mind at all to have a fellow cacher catch me in the act and either help me find it or just make a new friend. I might do the same to them given the circumstances. There are plenty of other caches out there for me to find on my own and the lure of meeting local people and talking caching would overpower my desire to find it for myself.

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Hug it really close to you, turn and growl at them and in your best Gollum voice, go "My Precioussssssssss"

Hehehe! Good one!

 

It happened to me at this cache. Here are some exerpts from my log:

 

"As I was signing the log, devbrain came up behind me. . . I entered the coordinates to the second stage as he signed the log. As I was putting the cache back in its hiding spot he took off . . . were we supposed to be racing?? I didn’t hear anyone say, “ready, set, GO!”.

 

Anyhoo . . . I headed off to find the second stage and lost sight of devbrain. I bushwhacked until I came upon the trail again. As I was trekking along I looked up and saw devbrain running (quite literally) through the woods. I guess we WERE supposed to be racing. Oh well, no one told me. (sigh) I continued on my course at my own pace and came upon him as he was searching. My GPS was pointing directly where he was looking around so I knew he was going to find it first. I saw him pull it out of its hiding spot and approached him as he was looking through the goodies."

 

Whatever . . . do what you gotta do.

 

Happy caching and stuff! :D

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