Hassles Of Placing And Maintaining Caches

[+JamesJM]

This is *NOT* a gripe. if you read it that way...you're weird.

 

Just had my 3rd 'missing cache report (different caches), within a month. <sigh>

 

I archived all three. Each had gone missing and had to be replaced a couple of times, at least, within the last few months.

 

don't know where they went, maybe 'muggles', although for a couple that would surprise me as they were VERY well hidden.

 

So what I discovered is...I'm not up to being a 'hider'. Too much work. WHICH... makes me marvel and appreciate those who ARE all the more.

 

Yes, I know..."Good thing you're out of the 'hiding' business'. <smile> Yeah, I agree.

 

But ya know, it IS a hard job. I have discovered that even the BEST hidden caches can disappear for whatever reason.

 

Sooo, to those who have the energy and fortitude to keep hiding and "MAINTAINING" all these little treasures we others seek.......a tip of my hat. - JamesJM

[+JohnnyVegas]

Have you asked other cachers in your area if they have been having the same problem. I have had problems with a couple of mine. two I just archived, others I made into multi stage caches and they have been left alone. Some times just moving a cache to a new hide not far from the original works, if the muggles go back it will not be in the spot they found it the first time, this has also worked for me.

You may be be in an area in which people like to destroy caches.

[+New England n00b]

Yeah, I think Renegade Knight lives in such an area. It sucks when people go through a lot of hard work for others benefit and some nimrod has to ruin it.

[+Ambrosia]

You know what I find interesting? All the caches that I hid and thought to myself, "these are way too exposed, they will never last", are still there and going strong, even after more than a year. And then some that seem to be well hid have gone missing. That's just the way it goes, I guess.

[+Robespierre]

I once thought that four caches would be my limit. But we need to build the area up, so I'm up to 10, and when the dust settles there may be four more. My first cache is only a year old, so I haven't gone through all of the cycle. Am I naieve to think that muggling is usually the cache owners' fault? He could have done better? I know, and have seen that sometimes it really is the owners' fault.

[+wimseyguy]

I wouldn't give up so quickly. I'm sure the other cachers in your area appreciate your efforts. I have one cache that has gone missing several times. It is a very unique hide so I can't really move it much, and I do not want to archive it either. So I just replace it when necessary.

I actually did a drive-by on eleven of my hides yesterday. CCCooper and SBUX are visiting this weekend and I wanted to be sure the caches were all in place and intact. Most are pretty urban hides, and can go missing but only one has so far.

I hope they get a chance to find them , but I wouldn't mind seeing a DNF on one or two of the harder ones either

[+briansnat]

There are usually two reasons caches go missing. The first is that they are stolen by muggles...usually because they were poorly hidden, or in an ill chosen spot. I'm amazed at the number of caches I've found that are right next to a trail, or other popular area and not hidden well at all. They are just begging to be stolen.

 

Second are caches targed by cache theives. These could be anti-social killjoys, disaffected former geocachers, anti-geocaching crusaders or land managers who don't want the cache on their land.

 

There is no way to deal with those that target caches (except perhaps the land managers) other than ignoring them and hoping they will get bored and go away. The muggles can delt with by placing your caches well off the beaten path and concealing them well. Also, choosing an appropriate container is important. Don't put something large, like an ammo box, in a popular park. The closer the cache is to the crowds, the smaller and better camoflaged it should be.

[+CompuCash]

There are usually two reasons caches go missing. The first is that they are stolen by muggles...usually because they were poorly hidden, or in an ill chosen spot. I'm amazed at the number of caches I've found that are right next to a trail, or other popular area and not hidden well at all. They are just begging to be stolen.

 

Second are caches targed by cache theives. These could be anti-social killjoys, disaffected former geocachers, anti-geocaching crusaders or land managers who don't want the cache on their land.

 

There is no way to deal with those that target caches (except perhaps the land managers) other than ignoring them and hoping they will get bored and go away. The muggles can delt with by placing your caches well off the beaten path and concealing them well. Also, choosing an appropriate container is important. Don't put something large, like an ammo box, in a popular park. The closer the cache is to the crowds, the smaller and better camoflaged it should be.

Brainsnat -

 

You bring up something that has been nagging at the back of my mind. You only bearly touched on it though -

 

Are there people ("geocachers"?) who actually come to the web site to get caches and then take them after finding them using our usual methods? Or are they found by accident and taken?

[+Team Perks]

Are there people ("geocachers"?) who actually come to the web site to get caches and then take them after finding them using our usual methods? Or are they found by accident and taken?

You know, when I first got into geocaching, I thought to myself, "Gee, I could just go out caching and take everything that I find home. I'd have a LOT of cool ammo boxes and some pretty neat stuff."

 

Of course I thought it jokingly, but if it came to me (and I'm not a miscreant, despite what my friends say ), why shouldn't the same thought occur to someone else who would actually be inclined to carry it out?

[+CompuCash]

Are there people ("geocachers"?) who actually come to the web site to get caches and then take them after finding them using our usual methods?  Or are they found by accident and taken?

You know, when I first got into geocaching, I thought to myself, "Gee, I could just go out caching and take everything that I find home. I'd have a LOT of cool ammo boxes and some pretty neat stuff."

 

Of course I thought it jokingly, but if it came to me (and I'm not a miscreant, despite what my friends say ), why shouldn't the same thought occur to someone else who would actually be inclined to carry it out?

 

I had the same thought a little differently and is why I asked -

 

"Gee - someone could come and just take the whole thing - who'd know?"

 

but back on topic - I have to agree that it can be a lot of work and even expensive. You just gotta love your hobby -

Edited July 22, 2004 by CompuCash

[+briansnat]

Are there people ("geocachers"?) who actually come to the web site to get caches and then take them after finding them using our usual methods? Or are they found by accident and taken?

 

There are both. I think the accidental thieves are more common, but there are people who come to this site to find caches to steal. There is one who is very active in Renegade Kinht's area. Usually these types lose interest after a few weeks, but the one by RK seems pretty persistent

[+CompuCash]

in a word (or two) -

 

THAT SUCKS!

[+Renegade Knight]

Having your caches stolen does take away from caching time, and it takes away from placing time. It also makes it hard to keep up with the other caches that you want to.

 

I've archived most MIA caches. One I want to replace is disabled for the moment. However I can't get to it because I have to keep checking on other caches locally that I get emails on. Some are still there and some are MIA and get archived. Even the ones that are still there are more work because people are now starting to wonder if the chache hasn't been stolen if they can't find it righ away. Before they would of looked a bit harder before even thinking of the stolen status.

[+piper28]

There are usually two reasons caches go missing.

 

I would actually argue a third reason too. People might have cleaned it up as trash. I've seen a few caches that I could easily see someone doing this. Let's face it, a camo'd pill bottle or a camo'd aol tin still looks like trash to someone that doesn't know anything about geocaching.

[+BeachBuddies]

I just lost my first cache recently. Of the 8 I've hidden, I really wish it was any of the others instead. This one was a Letterbox Hybrid, so it had a hand-carved stamp in it. And a very nice leather-bound log book for the visitors to stamp. And, I had stocked it pretty well too. Ah well.

 

I have no idea what happened to it. I think the hiding spot was pretty decent, but it wasn't isolated, so someone may have seen a cacher finding or re-hiding it I guess.

 

I do want to replace it, but I'll have to carve a new stamp, etc. And I guess I shouldn't put it back in exactly the same spot.

 

I can certainly see why so many of the new caches are just micros with logbooks. I personally prefer "real" caches with tradables (mostly because I cache with my kids). But I guess if I end up having to replace my caches a lot, I'll probably change to micros too.

[Tahosa and Sons]

The majority of my traditional caches are well placed someplace in the back country so the hassle was putting them there. But due to their location they have survived fairly well. One was traded down by some cheap cachers. I visit them about every 6 months to full them up a bit then I can sit and wait.

 

The ones that got muggled were in town, and they were well hidden. There are two that are in town, one is a multi, and the other is in my front yard and they are still ok. I have adopted an abandoned vacation cache, and assisted another cacher who had a cache muggled, and guess what, it was muggled again.

 

And I know the user names of 2 county land managers who have an account so they can watch the cache site. Wouldn't if be funny if a bunch of cachers were to mail them about the cache they can find on the forbidden lands and give them some bogus coordinates.

 

And I believe its harder to place a quality cache than it is to look for one. You only have to hike it once to find it, I have to do it several times just to make sure its right, and that can be about 20 to 30 miles of foot work.