How To Confuse A Muggle?

[+perth pathfinders]

While I'm sure many ideas have been posted before on your anti-muggle tactics, our new cachers would be interested in hearing how to confuse a muggle - not to say some new ideas for us to use.

 

Simple ones include;

 

Using your GPS as a mobile phone (how trendy is a bright yellow Etrex?)

Looking at your watch as if waiting for someone

Fastening shoe laces while looking for a micro

 

But I'm sure you have a lot more bizarre ones to share with us whilst grovelling in the undergrowth.

 

Thank you

PPs

[Jumbo Village]

When hiding a cache, I find evaluating the hiding area extremely difficult. People wonder what on earth I'm doing meandering around the bushes!

 

So now, I frequently look at my watch, tut as someone walks past, and then pretend that the e-trex is indeed a phone and stare as if to say "Why hasn't she called?" !!

 

Is it just me, or do you start thinking that drug dealers might be able to pass a few tips to this thread? That's probably not very politically correct it is?! But hey, I can't deny it's crossed my mind a few times!

 

Cheers

Richard

[+Birders]

Maybe we've been lucky.... and we're not the most prolific of cache-layers.. however, we did choose places where muggles are pretty rare. When we laid our caches, and on our regular "maintenance" visits, we have only come across one pair of muggles. They were so lost and busy trying to read an upside-down Landranger map that they never noticed us!!

Edited December 2, 2004 by Birders

[+Team Clova]

Take a dog!! (Almost) came in useful last weekend doing allieballies Arty Oaks -Drama when I was surprised by a muggle walking past. Pretended I was throwing stones in the burn for the dog to get when I realised that she had gone off to sniff in the trees 50yds away, leaving me standing there talking to myself!

 

Doing the other cache in this series Arty Oaks - Music I had just finished replacing the cache, emerging from behind a tree when I met 3 muggles. Quick thinking at that one as I adjusted the waistband of my trousers hoping they would think I'd just "been"

 

This was on a 2-3 mile walk where I saw a total of 5 people!!

[Abominable Abomnible]

Pretend you are looking at an unusual fungi/flower/insect.

 

If you are with kids and holding the print-out, just pretend it is a school project, or the kids are on a treasure hunt!

 

AA

[+Brenin Tegeingl]

Take a dog!! (Almost) came in useful last weekend doing allieballies Arty Oaks -Drama when I was surprised by a muggle walking past. Pretended I was throwing stones in the burn for the dog to get when I realised that she had gone off to sniff in the trees 50yds away, leaving me standing there talking to myself

 

Sounds normal to me, they would have thought "There's another Dog ,who's got its owner, well trained" . Just ask 4PawDrive, how well she's got me trained ! Muggles will ignore were you are to look for the boss, in case it's a great big Shepherd .

 

Dave and the "knee high to a grass hopper" 4PawDrive Poodle

[+The Hokesters]

I shouldn't think it is a problem for you Abominable Abomnible - don't muggles and cachers alike run like the wind when they catch a gimpse of your furry pelt in the undergrowth

[+Laughalot]

More often than not I have my camera at the ready and am showing great interest in getting up close and personal pictures of leaves, moss, ivy, bugs and the like.

 

It usually does the trick, however, I look forward to hearing lots of new and innovative ideas so I can ring the changes.

 

Laughalot

[JackiePenn]

I find whenever faced with an immediate threat, deploying a few of THESE provides a reliable and effective non-lethal means of neutralizing & disorienting geomuggles.

[+harrogate hunters]

Regarding finding things, I placed a cache last week in a beuatiful spot on the river Wharfe in Yorkshire and found a perfect spot to place my micro......

 

unfortunately there was a packet in the same hole, which contained roll ups, tobacco, cigarette lighter & a £5 note !

 

And yes it was tobacco, not anything else !

 

Is this a cache I thought, should I trade.... I left alone and wandered off to find another hidyhole !

[Leoness]

Regarding finding things, I placed a cache last week in a beuatiful spot on the river Wharfe in Yorkshire and found a perfect spot to place my micro......

 

unfortunately there was a packet in the same hole, which contained roll ups, tobacco, cigarette lighter & a £5 note !

 

And yes it was tobacco, not anything else !

 

Is this a cache I thought, should I trade.... I left alone and wandered off to find another hidyhole !

 

One wonders how you can be so sure (that it was just tobacco and not anything else)?!!!

Edited December 2, 2004 by Leoness

[+wigglesworth]

What are the coords of the baccy cash cache?

 

Peter

[+The Ollies]

On the few occasions we have been "Muggled" we normally confess we are "Treasure Hunting" if we have the kids with us they look bemused and go on thier way, but there has been the odd occasion where we are on our own and we have found that 2 adults rummaging about undergrowth etc is quite scary, and tend to leave us to it.

Having said that, if the cache is hidden a popular area we tend to send Ollie Dad for the hunt while we stand on guard and a sudden coughing fit warns people are coming!

[+Firth of Forth]

It's not just geocachers who have this problem. I have a friend who is a keen birdwatcher, and similarly rummages around in the undergrowth, usually with a pair of binoculars. He emerged from the bushes on one occasion, to be accused by a lady horserider of being "a pervert".

 

In fact, when we compared notes, birdwatching is a very similar acitivity to geocaching. There is the thrill of the hunt, the anticipation of not being quite sure what you will find, the disappointment of not being able to find, the treks into wild places etc etc.

[+Firth of Forth]

Take a teenager with you. They will be so embarrased at their parent(s) activity, that they will warn you of the approach of muggles, even if they are hundreds of feet away.

[+kewfriend]

First rule: dress to stand out - so its Croc Dundee hat, flash walking stick, etc etc. Dont even pretend to hide.

 

Next play the Alzheimer games .... err ... lost something, no its me thats lost ... err no i've forgotten where I am, nope I've forgotten where I'm going ....

 

had to use it three days ago - and the landowner gave up and told me that I was way off the footpath and did I need help finding it - nope i said - if I can remember which way .... and the rest is history

[+The Ollies]

Can't wait until our kids are teenagers then

Only 6 more years to go!

Edited December 2, 2004 by The Ollies

[+wigglesworth]

Even though we know we are caching and you know we are caching the chances are that passers by just pass by!

 

Peter

[+kbootb]

We were muggled recently while doing a 'coal post' cache. These are Victorian(?) iron posts that surround London and mark the point at which you have to pay coal tax if bringing it into London. A sort of congestion charge but the cameras weren't so good.

 

We had found the cache and just about to replace it when a woman arrived. We sat on the log waiting for her to move on for about 20 mins. Eventually a dog walker arrived and engaged her in conversation and distracted her enough for us to slip the cache back in the hidey-hole.

 

As we walked back past her she commented that she thought we would never leave as we were in her picture of the coal post. She clearly was as reticent to reveal her mission to photograph coal posts as we were to reveal that we use millions of pounds worth of military equipment to find tupperware.

 

However, once we revealed that we knew a bit about coal posts and knew where the next few were in the series could be found both parties went on their way with pride intact.

 

Not so much a tactic, but made me think, 'well I know why I am here, what on earth are you doing here if it's not caching'.

[+doctor scotland]

theres a place in bristol which is aparently frequented by the gay men of bristol and its surrounding area. - it's also home to more than a few caches or multi cache clues!

 

i usually take my daughter with me to such locations - then i suddenly came up with the following!

 

- perhaps the area surrounding the downs (which according to the press is gay central) is just a bit of grass and bushes frequented by geocachers!

 

perhaps all those men standing awkwardly in amongst the shrubbery - meeting up with other men - maybe theyve just got gps in their pockets!??

 

or maybe not!

 

oh well! nice place the downs anyway.

[+SheldonTravel]

One time I had my GPS with me, it was late behind a restaurant called The Black Cow in Montrose, California. Its a nice area and lots of people around at night for the cafes and restaurants. So I had my GPS when a muggle came up, and I quickly started pocking at it like it was a cell phone and then put it to my ear and started talking, lol. It was dark and the GPS was about the size of a phone, so there was no reason to assume i was doing anything other than getting away to talk to someone in quiet .

 

Only use tactic at night

Must be a good actor

Must have GPS size of a cell phone

[+Belplasca]

High visibility jacket and and clipboard usually work quite well...

 

Bob Aldridge

[+t.a.folk]

If we need to look at a plaque on a seat and muggles are sat on it we just go up to the muggles and ask if they mind if we take a photo of the plaque .Nobody has yet asked us why .

[yatesDELTA]

The other day in the stevenage old town i had to look at plaques for clues for the co-ords of the final cache

Needless to say we had soem funny looks looking at this plaques dotted around the town

Then after finding them all, in the old town center i got of my bike, sar cross legged and read out the maths needed to work out the final co-ords. Quite funny since i think people assumed i was drunk lol

[+DR. Ape]

Last summer we did a "cache & dash" that took over an hour due to a fisherman standing by and parking his bike right over the cache. Not deterred we engaged in conversation and after a little while as the sun was setting we decided that taking a photo of the moorhen on the water was a good idea, so after failing to get the right shot in various position the only place that gave a great shot was down by the wheels! Needlesss to say we managed to get the cache which was then stealthily passed to the other person whilst the photographer talked to the fisherman. Using the pretext of a phonecall I moved away from the cache site and filled in the log, then on the pretext of handing the phone over to the other half and retireving the camera to carry on taking photo's the cache was replaced. We carried on talking to the fisherman before finally bidding him fairwell and walked away laughing quietly as we had found, signed the log and replaced it all within 2ft of the fisherman and behind his bike's front wheel!

[+muttoneer]

Must have GPS size of a cell phone

 

Fortunately for me I go caching with a PDA that is also a phone.

I had to use it today in fact, when there were some very hard to shift muggles at a canal lock. First I made a phonecall - that's lots of talking to myself. Then I took some photos of the lock with the phone. I'd about run our of ideas when he wandered off!

 

I have been accused of being a pervert whilst lurking amongst some trees in a park by a dog walker with a big alsatian. He came up all confrontationally and asked "can I help you?" Although I was sorely tempted just to tell him to mind his own bl**dy business I instead gave him the most complicated description of geocaching I could manage and he decided that maybe he didn't want to help me after all...

[+drsolly]

Last summer we did a "cache & dash" that took over an hour due to a fisherman standing by and parking his bike right over the cache. Not deterred we engaged in conversation and after a little while as the sun was setting we decided that taking a photo of the moorhen on the water was a good idea, so after failing to get the right shot in various position the only place that gave a great shot was down by the wheels! Needlesss to say we managed to get the cache which was then stealthily passed to the other person whilst the photographer talked to the fisherman. Using the pretext of a phonecall I moved away from the cache site and filled in the log, then on the pretext of handing the phone over to the other half and retireving the camera to carry on taking photo's the cache was replaced. We carried on talking to the fisherman before finally bidding him fairwell and walked away laughing quietly as we had found, signed the log and replaced it all within 2ft of the fisherman and behind his bike's front wheel!

 

I had a similat situation - the cache was behind a fence, and the muggle's bike was parked in such a way that I'd have to kneel down at his bike and reach around the bike. And he was sitting on a bench about two feet away, reading a book. No chance. We hung about for a minute or two, but he seemed to be fixed in place for the long term.

 

So I thought about various subterfuges, none of which would likely work, and then I had a flash of inspiration.

 

I explained to him about geocaching, told him that his bike was parked right on top of a cache, then reached past the bike and showed him the cache. I sat next to him on the bench while I wrote in the log, and continued to answer his questions about the game, then rehid the cache and we walked on to the next cache.

 

Sometimes, the full truth is actually a good idea. And maybe he'll start to play our game.

[+Von-Horst]

Tell them that you work for Southern England Radiation Monitoring Group, wave your GPS at them like it is some sort of detector and watch them scarper...

 

[+rutson]

Can't wait until our kids are teenagers then

Only 6 more years to go!

 

Three years and counting :-p

[+moor to sea]

While I'm sure many ideas have been posted before on your anti-muggle tactics, our new cachers would be interested in hearing how to confuse a muggle - not to say some new ideas for us to use.

 

Simple ones include;

 

Using your GPS as a mobile phone (how trendy is a bright yellow Etrex?)

Looking at your watch as if waiting for someone

Fastening shoe laces while looking for a micro

 

But I'm sure you have a lot more bizarre ones to share with us whilst grovelling in the undergrowth.

 

Thank you

PPs

In certain areas a tennis ball is useful even without a dog.

You accidentally drop /kick it under the hedge bridge etc , i used it once for a cache under a bridge and the teenagers on the other end didn't bat an eyelid.

Jim

[+The Other Stu]

We were caching in London a while back. There was a fella sitting on the bench in one of the parks (if you've done London caching, you'll know what we mean).

 

We sat either side of him and stared at each other until he wandered off.... we felt a bit bad, but I'm glad we did - the caches were archived shortly afterward and we would never have got to them again!

[+NinjaCacher!]

Caching in London, you got to have all your stealth techniques ready...

 

As I do most caches here by bicycle, the bike comes in quite handy - I just lean it against what I want to take a closer look at and start "fixing" something on the bike - checking the back wheel, adjusting the brakes etc. If that wasn't the right spot and the same muggles are still around, a short test ride and back for more "fixing" will do... works most of the time I even managed to confuse another cacher who was waiting for me to move away to be able to replace the cache...

 

Otherwise, tactics include taking pictures of something, talking to myself on the phone, pretending to do anything "official" (high visibility jacket etc. helps), obviously fastening shoe laces etc, sometimes just pretending to be confused or drunk works too. And if all fails and somebody occupies your spot and doesn't move away, the best solution is usually just to tell them what you're doing...

[+currykev]

I usually ignore or smile at any muggle giving me the eye!.I think I've been lucky so far as no ruddy faced farmer has yet shaken his fist at me,even though I may have taken the shortest route that doesn't involve a footpath.I do stick to the edges of any fields I may inadvertantly tresspass on though!

[+Alibags]

When doing a cache on the Regents Canal, I wanted to look under the bench that some woman was sitting on and eating her sandwiches. We sat on the adjacent bench to out wait her. She showed no signs of leaving. We sat some more and chatted about stuff. As we were sitting and chatting, we saw a big fat rat gambolling about on the opposite bank. This started us off on a discussion of the habits of London rats and what they could find to eat round these parts. The woman went a pretty shade of green and chose to leave. We were then able to get the cache!

[+Babsbaby]

You don't alwways have to make a phone call - you can always send a text on your 'Garminphone'. Means you can avoid eye contact with the muggle as you concentrate on pressing buttons rapidly.

[+Stokesy]

If there's someone on a bench and you want them to move, just sit next to them, put your mobile (or your GPS) to your ear, and say "Yes, he's sat right next to me now".

 

They tend to move on.....

 

Cruel but useful, and no, I've not used it, yet....

[+Babsbaby]

Reminds me that I did shift a canoodling couple in Kensington Gardens by walking up and down in front of them a couple of times and then sitting down on the far end of the same bench and getting out my sandwiches. I wish I'd had a tourist guide in another language to 'consult' as it would have added an extra layer of mania.