How Subtle Can You Be With An Ammo Can?

[+justybug]

hi there! as i'm still new and reading over a lot of logs, etc. i'm trying to figure out what the etiquette is with the larger caches? i'm guessing lugging an ammo can around would draw more attention than sitting by a tree, but what's the general consensus on retrieval for the different sized caches?

and if you notice another GC'er around, well. what then?

if this is addressed somewhere else, please markwell me to it.

thanks!

[+briansnat]

Hiders with any common sense will choose the container based on the area where its hidden. Therefore it is unusual to find something large like an ammo box in a popular park where searchers are likely to be observed. In the event you do find one in a situation like this, just be as discreet as possible, but if you're observed with the ammo box there is little you can do. Some people have taken the cache with them when they realized the location was compromised, then informed the owner of this fact and replaced it a day or two later. Others just put it back and hope for the best.

 

Smaller caches can be nabbed, and taken to another spot where you can sign in and make your trade before returning it to its hiding place when you think nobody is looking.

 

If you see other geocachers, just ask them if they would like to join in and help.

[+Ferndale]

These days someone seen placing something the size of an ammo box is very likely to draw scrutiny and possibly cause alarm!

[+aka Monkey]

It shouldn't be a problem. Hiding a cache requires some skill in putting it in a place where the cachers can find it, but ordinary people (muggles, although I hate the term) can't.

 

Whenever I find a cache, I take it away from the site where I found it in order to open it. This way, suspicious people who happen to walk by aren't likely to come by later and easily find the cache and plunder it.

[+zygote2k]

If you act like you're supposed to be there doing whatever, no one usually cares enough to give you a second look.

[+Mr-Horne]

I have many ammo cans of various sizes hidden around and I often give suggestions on when is a good time to go looking. Obviously a park, during a weekend, in the middle of summer is not a good time to drag an ammo can out of the bushes and go through it. I personally love night caching! I am rarely ever bothered and I get to see a lot of things that the normal person doesn't.

 

But, like the previous loggers said, common sense is key.

[+ChicagoCanineCrew]

If you act like you're supposed to be there doing whatever, no one usually cares enough to give you a second look.

I think this is a case where having a dog with you could come in handy Assuming it's a 'dogs-allowed' area of course.

 

I've found that no one pays attention to you/what you're doing if you've got a dog with you, unless they want to ask about the dog. People with dogs are just somehow less suspicious!

Example, there's a suburb near my house without sidewalks on the sidestreets, and pretty much no one who lives there walks. I go to the area with friends to get ice cream during the summer and we often walk around the neighborhood to eat it. If we have no dog, people look suspiciously at us. If we are walking a dog, they just ignore us.

I've also found this it true with police officers-- they tend to be less suspicious of people with dogs... I remember when I was young enough to be under city curfew laws a friend and I used to walk around way past curfew a lot. We always had our dogs with us though, and none of the police passing ever bugged us, except once or twice to wave and smile at the dogs!

 

Aside from simply walking WITH a dog, having one can also be useful in that if someone catches you searching for a cache you have more things to make up such as you're looking for your dog's lost tennis ball

[+CoolBreeze2513]

I just recently started geocaching and I have found two green ammo cans as a find. They were both green in color and they hide the caches very good. Like way on top of a mountain where it is very steep. They are generally well hidden and lots of rocks and debris to cover and hide the cache. The very 1st ammo box I found contained a $10 gift certificate to Albertson's as a FTF basis. So sometimes it is well worth it. You never know though as we all travel around to find all these hidden treasures.