Dumping Tags In A Cache

[+Thorn Cachers]

I recently did maintenance on one of my caches. It was in pretty good shape, other than it was left exposed a few feet from where it should have been. However, in the bottom I found a keychain with five travel bug dog tags attached. No actual travel bugs were in sight. No recent travel bugs were logged either in the log book or online. There was also a black “tag” with one of the bug’s mission information.

 

Interestingly, most of the bugs have been active fairly recently, the oldest at the end of May. One was logged just a couple of days before I found the tags. Three of them were last logged in Idaho, ranging from about 30 to several hundred miles away. The other two were last logged in Louisiana and California. None had the same cachers logged as recent finders.

 

I’m really at a loss about how these tags came to be in my cache. Why would anyone take five bugs from caches far apart, pull the tags, put the tags together, and drop the tags in a cache? Has this happened to anyone else, or has my cache just been chosen by some weird travel bug serial killer to dispose of the evidence?

 

On the other hand, how should I take care of these tags? I’m e-mailing the owners now. Should I just mail the tags back to them? If they send replacement parts, I’d be happy to replace the bugs, but I’m not sure if this is “acceptable.” What should happen in these circumstances?

[+BlueDeuce]

Well 5 is better than 30! Normally a TB killer is going to do things to stir up angst and get attention. I wonder if this person had a moment of conscience. No ransom note huh?

I guess the only thing you can do is contact the owners, maybe pop a note to the local approver, and then wait and see if it happens again.

[+ZackJones]

On the other hand, how should I take care of these tags? I’m e-mailing the owners now. Should I just mail the tags back to them? If they send replacement parts, I’d be happy to replace the bugs, but I’m not sure if this is “acceptable.” What should happen in these circumstances?

Emailing the tag owners is step one. Assuming they reply you could either (1) send the tag back to them an let them re-release the TB or (2) they could send you a replacement hitchhiker for you to attach to the bug.

 

Technically the tag with the 6-digit number is the travel but and whatever is attached to it is the hitchhiker. It's perfectly acceptable to change hitchhikers.

 

I'm sure the tag owners will, but just in case one forgets, thanks for looking out for the TBs

 

Zack

[+AuntieWeasel]

That really is very peculiar. I would expect some kind of taunting or explanation or...something. I guess what you do about it will have much to do with what the owners say in return of post. Possibly different in each case.

 

There sure am some odd people playing this game.

[CacheNCarryMA]

That really is very peculiar. I would expect some kind of taunting or explanation or...something.

Maybe it's the UnaCacher! Have you checked the NY Times and Washington Post lately to see if they've published his manifesto?

[+carleenp]

Pretty darn strange!

 

Just in case it is a "killer" of TBs, you might suggest to the owners that they not mention what happened on the bug pages and you might avoid doing that yourself. Since people often do such things for attention and would likely watch the pages, it is good to give them as little attention as possible.

[+KYHilltopper]

Technically the tag with the 6-digit number is the travel but and whatever is attached to it is the hitchhiker. It's perfectly acceptable to change hitchhikers.

 

Zack

Zack Jones made a comment that made me go "HUH?". I have not done any TB's yet but have seen some comments about someone changing the "Bug" . Am I understanding it correctly that taking the trinket from the tag, replacing it with something else is considered to be OK? I need all the information I can get before I try to send something somewhere.

 

KYHilltopper // Clint

Edited September 3, 2004 by KYHilltopper

[+BlueDeuce]

No, what Z means is that the difference between a toy (hitchhiker) and a TB is the tag

 

IF the toy part is stolen the TB can continue by the tag being attached to another toy. Normally both should remain a team as the owner wanted.

Edited September 3, 2004 by Elf Danach

[bodolad]

I recently received an e-mail in which a cacher found one of my TB

tags on a keychain with numerous other tags.

All the original hitchhikers were gone from the tags.

 

So now my tag is connected to something which makes absolutely

no sense, but it's all part of the journey, I guess.

[+Renegade Knight]

My understanding is a hitchhiker is something that moves from cache to cache. It may not have tag but it does have goal and a way to track it. Another useage is that a hitchiker is another name for a travel bug, or traveler.

 

The tag is not the travel bug. It's how you track it's movements. You can toss the tag and engrave the number on the travel bug and be just as well off.

 

It's not acceptable in any way whatsoever to pull tags and swap a new travel bug in place of the old travel bug.

[+Thorn Cachers]

As an update, two people have asked for the tags back, I'll send them tomorrow or the next day. The other three haven't responded.

 

What I find quite baffling is that whoever did this seems to have traveled well over a thousand miles to get the bugs, assuming the bugs were where they were last logged. There were no notes or any other taunting. As far as I know, no manifestos have been published in any papers related to this. It seems like a lot of work just to be a jerk.

 

Maybe the person had an attack of conscious and decided not to go through with the juvenile taunting. That at least puts him or her a little higher in my estimation.

[+Thorn Cachers]

CarleenP,

 

That is a good idea, and I haven't logged the bugs. In part because of what you said. Also, it just doesn't seem right to log them since I don't really feel like I found the travel bug.

 

I noticed two of them had prior issues, were fixed and sent on again. Still, since they were in different states, I wouldn't think the same person was responsible for the first problems on both.

 

I also wondered if someone had eliminated bugs which offended them. However, three of the bugs are not offensive at all. Two would require an extremely prudish person to be offended. One may have very mild political overtones, and the last one to be logged had a bit of "potty humor" about it. Still, that wouldn't explain why someone would trash the bugs. Just makes me wonder what the person was thinking.

 

It is especially sad since one was all the way from Germany.

[+tobsas]

It is especially sad since one was all the way from Germany. 

I don't know if the german owner has or hasn't respond yet, so I would like to make you aware that in Germany we have the problem that eMails over the geocaching.com-interface are often detected as SPAM by the major german freemailers. (That's because the eMails are send over a host called "signal.Groundspeak.com" and the "From"-eMail-address is something different (either your eMail-provider or geocaching.com). So if the german owner won't respond you might ask him to contact you via a note in a cache owned by him or you might want to ask in the german forum if somebody can provide a contact possibilitie.

 

Greetings from Germany,

Tobias

[+Eartha]

That is very odd. Considering this thread here .

If anyone else has heard of this happening please post it here.

[+Thorn Cachers]

It keeps getting more odd. The cache from the thread Eartha pointed out is also in this area. If it is the one I think it is, it is only a couple of miles away from mine. I've watched bugs around our area, and released a couple. I've been impressed how well they seem to be cared for here. It appears someone is doing their dirty work elsewhere and dumping the tags here.

 

Of the five tags, three are in the mail to their owners. One already made duplicate tags, and one is deciding whether he wants to send me a new hitchhiker. Oddly, one was just logged as picked up two days after I found the tag. Perhaps someone "fixed" that one along the way.

[+BlueDeuce]

My understanding is a hitchhiker is something that moves from cache to cache.  It may not have tag but it does have goal and a way to track it.  Another useage is that a hitchiker is another name for a travel bug, or traveler.

 

The tag is not the travel bug.  It's how you track it's movements.  You can toss the tag and engrave the number on the travel bug and be just as well off.

 

It's not acceptable in any way whatsoever to pull tags and swap a new travel bug in place of the old travel bug.

You're right. My misunderstanding about the question and terminology.

Edited September 4, 2004 by Elf Danach

[boppo]

Sadly, I too have experienced this. I also found a keychain with 8 tags on it. I attached them to some flashlights and sent them on their way. I also had both of my own travel tags stolen by this creep, anyone seen him???

Boppo

Edited September 4, 2004 by boppo

[+Renegade Knight]

The two of you should compare notes. You are dealing with the same guy.

 

He's from the Juvie Capital of the Universe.

[+Thorn Cachers]

We have an event cache for the valley next week. I expect this topic will come up. Regardless, any ideas how we could catch the guy?

[+planetrobert]

any ideas how we could catch the guy?

ignore them and hopfully they will go away.

[+Eartha]

We have an event cache for the valley next week. I expect this topic will come up. Regardless, any ideas how we could catch the guy?

As in the past, with other pirate/pigman/deviant/abby-normal behaviour, the best thing to do is ignore them, don't make a stink, they are craving attention. If they don't get it they get bored and go away.