Contraband In Caches

[+The Northumbrian]

I thought I would ask this Question.

How many of you still find things in caches that should't be there, food drink ,sharp objects etc. etc. and what action do you take if any?. I myself have not seen anything that shouln'd be in the box for quite a while. I used to remove them anyway and mention it to the person who left them ,if I found out who it was from log entry. Does anyone still find these things? and do you think people are becoming more aware (reading) of the Guidelines.

Nige

[+Rocky Balboa]

I havn't found anything dodgy in a cache for quite a while either, not that I can remember anyway. Then again, 99% of the caches I visit nowadays seem to be micros or just full of mctoys etc.

[+HazelS]

there is someone out there who keeps putting lighters in caches. I know who they are, and I take them out.... I wish people would read the guidelines!

[+Learned Gerbil]

A couple of times we have found chocolate in caches. Gerbil Queen has alwways eaten it to comply with the guidlines.

[+klaus23]

There's a certain dutchman that visits Ireland very regularly who has a habit of leaving canned fish in caches

[+stu_and_sarah]

We removed a knife from a cache last week. We swapped it out, of course, but didn't take any action other than removing it and noting that we had done so on our log.

 

Cheers,

 

Stu

[+Pharisee]

I've removed all sorts of 'contraband' from caches in the past but I've not had to do so recently. Stuff like cigarettes, disposable lighters, A 'Zippo' lighter, matches, a pocket knife and a pair of very pointy nail scissors. On one occasion when I did a maintenance check on one of my caches, I discovered that it had been found by a 'muggle' who pointed out in the log book that I should 'get a life' and had left a 'little bit of something' to help. The plastic bag he'd left also contained 3 Rizla papers, a small piece of rolled up Rizla packet, a cigarette and two Swan Vesta matches. Needless to say, I removed this from the cache and disposed of it in an approved manner

Edited May 17, 2005 by Pharisee

[+Globetrotter.uk]

I have recently found a lighter that should not be in a cache and I was going to email the cacher who put it there, but sometimes I feel we are nagging them and this may put them off the enjoyment. I decided to take the item and swapped it for a pound of semtex instead.

[+Globetrotter.uk]

Ok lets get serious, I have thought of placing a small laminated card with symbols of contriban on it to refresh others of the need for safety in caches. After all not only do children take part in this excellent sport, but there are a few teddies out there, some dogs and many weird thiny bobs too.

[+*bingoboy*]

last summer in epping forest I found a beer in a cache

it was warm.......

[NickPick]

'little bit of something'

 

Needless to say, I removed this from the cache and disposed of it in an approved manner

I believe the approved manner is to burn it

[+Pharisee]

'little bit of something'

 

Needless to say, I removed this from the cache and disposed of it in an approved manner

I believe the approved manner is to burn it

Indesputably.... mind you, it took the combined might of 'The Grockles' to do it

[+mongoose39uk]

'little bit of something'

 

Needless to say, I removed this from the cache and disposed of it in an approved manner

I believe the approved manner is to burn it

Indesputably.... mind you, it took the combined might of 'The Grockles' to do it

Ah but was it good

[+The Northumbrian]

Ok lets get serious, I have thought of placing a small laminated card with symbols of contriban on it to refresh others of the need for safety in caches. After all not only do children take part in this excellent sport, but there are a few teddies out there, some dogs and many weird thiny bobs too.

Very good, I think that we all adopt this idea. and perhaps stop the accident before it happens, so in future when we do our routine cahe maintenance we coupld leave a card on the very top of the cache contents for all to see. well done good idea

Nige

[+Simply Paul]

I had a small pocket knife left in one of my caches by a newbie recently. I let them know it was a no-no and they said "Oops. We didn't know. We picked up from another cache", which goes to show bad behaviour can be copied all too easily by those not in the know.

 

I've been with Dan and Pid when they've found food and it's been removed (and eaten) and occasionally find plasters and wonder who in their right mind would use a plaster that had been sat in a damp cache for 6 months...

 

Found a bullet in one of Pharisee's caches once, I think. I mean I know it was a bullet, I'm just not 100% sure whose cache it was in

 

I still fetch the occasional cigarette out and have found lighters and spiky things (i.e. compass. The pointy sort) and plan to add a 'things not to leave' section to the cache notices I put in my own caches.

 

Canned food's not so bad. At least animals won't be smelling it out...

 

SP

[Andys101 & Redfrock]

I'm sorry but we must hold our hands up and say guilty.

 

We left a spent rifle shell in the first cache we found at the weekend. I logged that we had found and the cache and what we had left ... resulting in the owner closing it down until he could confirm that it wasn't live. How guilty and embarassed do I feel .....

 

Lesson firmly learnt and head hung in shame

 

MR

[+The Northumbrian]

well, reading some of the answers here. got me to thinking if I were a land owner, (i am but not as many acres as the big un's) I would be thinking twice before giving anyone a right of access to place a cache on my land. so I think we maybe need to take some action on this. . what would happen in the event of someone accidently finding a cache with matches or a lighter in it and setting fire to a moorland or heath, or whatever.. if a person was caught doing this and said they got the matches from a box in the bushes. press gets hold of the story geocahing .com written all over the box and the geocachers are blackened. what do you all think the best approach to it is ,apart from leaving an advice note in the cache? Re-wording all our cache pages with a header about what not to leave could be another. I do think that this needs action.

Nige

[+Naefearjustbeer]

Havent found anything bad recently, In the past I have found all sorts generally I take them out and replace them with safe stuff. I once saw 2 bottles of beer sitting on a rock ledge about 20 foot away from a cache, dont know if it was connected to the cache or just a coincedence.

I almost converted a hill walking workmate into geocaching but he decided not to because he wasnt allowed to leave half bottles stashed in the hills close to bothies for weary travelling souls. Maybe we need a renegade site called www.contracaching.com

[60North]

.......... if a person was caught doing this and said they got the matches from a box in the bushes. press gets hold of the story geocahing .com written all over the box and the geocachers are blackened. ..........

What blackened from the fire?

[Lactodorum]

Well all this is covered in the guidelines but it's obvious that not everybody (ANYBODY?) reads that section.

 

The first thing to do is to remove anything prohibited by the guidelines, that way any contraband is quickly removed. Preventing it in the first place is going to be well nigh impossible. Whenever Eckington or I see mention of something "iffy" in a new cache we'll hold the cache and e-mail the owner to get it removed. I can't remember a single instance of them arguing. However, the great majority of this stuff gets dropped off in the normal course of people finding a cache.

 

Unfortunately I don't have an answer

[+Naefearjustbeer]

Use ammo boxes then the fire cannot melt the box

 

ducks and runs out the door.......................

[+The Northumbrian]

Use ammo boxes then the fire cannot melt the box

 

ducks and runs out the door.......................

and if leaving beer, make sure it's in a stainless steel flask ,chilled first

Nige

[+Globetrotter.uk]

I'm working on a small card for my caches, so can anyone design some symbols for items not tobe put in caches. IE no sharpes, giggys etc. So I can down load them.

[markandlynn]

ive got a no broken toys one just let me know your email adress.

[+third-degree-witch]

We pulled a lighter out of 'Butterfield green' GCH2TX on the 12th of may. removed and safely disposed of.

[+Travers]

I doubt that any more people read the guidelines than before but you're right, I haven't found any contraband for a long while.

 

It would be easy to add some bold type to the cache insert to let people know what's acceptable though...even if it bars the most useful thing I've found to date and use on a daily basis to cut the twine on hay bales.

 

I suppose you have to consider how the things you leave can be misused and act accordingly.

[+Pharisee]

Found a bullet in one of Pharisee's caches once, I think. I mean I know it was a bullet, I'm just not 100% sure whose cache it was in

 

You're right... it was one of mine. A quick email to the cacher that left it confirmed that it was a 'dummy' that he'd bought at Duxford Air Museum the week before. As far as I know, it's still there !!!

[Ben Pid]

I've removed all sorts of 'contraband' from caches in the past but I've not had to do so recently. Stuff like cigarettes, disposable lighters, A 'Zippo' lighter, matches, a pocket knife and a pair of very pointy nail scissors. On one occasion when I did a maintenance check on one of my caches, I discovered that it had been found by a 'muggle' who pointed out in the log book that I should 'get a life' and had left a 'little bit of something' to help. The plastic bag he'd left also contained 3 Rizla papers, a small piece of rolled up Rizla packet, a cigarette and two Swan Vesta matches. Needless to say, I removed this from the cache and disposed of it in an approved manner

ha-ha-ha

 

Must say although that is shocking it is HIGH-ly amusing. lol

[+Team Maddie UK]

When we first started I don't think we had read the guidelines properly as we had a habit of leaving disposable lighters in caches. As smokers we thought it might provide a weary fellow smoker with a 'lifeline'. Someone had removed a few and commented about it so, having read the guidlines properly, we willingly ceased the practice.

 

Having said that, perhaps we should not leave pencils in caches either especially if they're sharp. Someone could poke their eye out with one of those. Then there are the plastic baggies; hopefully everyone ensures that they all have holes in them just in case someone puts the bag on their head and suffocates. Compass? well I've seen those ones with a magnifying lense built into the base. Couldn't some careless person also set fire to the forrest on a nice sunny day with one of those as well? etc... etc...

 

Nanny state? Nahhh!!

 

Martin

[+The Forester]

I've removed all sorts of 'contraband' from caches in the past but I've not had to do so recently. Stuff like cigarettes

Are cigarettes contraband?

 

I placed a packet of cigs in my Cancer cache and said so on the cachepage. The reviewer(s) did not demur.

 

I chose the brand which used to be marketed with the image of a cowboy -- until the male model died of lung cancer.

[Lactodorum]

I placed a packet of cigs in my Cancer cache and said so on the cachepage. The reviewer(s) did not demur.

That was back in 2003 when the guidelines were perhaps not policed as tightly as they are now. All I can say is that cigarettes SHOULD NOT be placed in any cache now.

[+The Forester]

I'll have my designated maintainer (Stutong) remove them on his next trip to the cache.

[+Alibags]

How timely! I have just removed a lighter from a cache I did last night. Previously, I have removed highly scented soap that had gone feral, and fruity flavoured scented candles which were stinking up a cache. It is worth noting that rodents don't just eat chocolate but also will eat anything they deem to be tasty, such as yummy soap, and scrumptious wax. I had mice in my garage once and they scoffed all sorts of unlikley things.

 

However, I confess to leaving a sealed bottle of water in a cache recently. I wanted to make a swap and it was the only useful thing I had handy. I was very pleased that the very next visitors took it and drank it and were grateful for a drink on a hot day. Sealed water would not attract 'varmints' to a cache, which is why the rule exists, but on the other hand it is strictly against the rules... so I am a bit unclear whether I should feel guilty about this.

[Lactodorum]

Actually Ali, sealed water bottles are fine You done good!!!

[nobby.nobbs]

ok maybe i'm paranoid but .....

 

cigarettes....if soaked in certain substances then dried can have same effect as ghb drug ie date rape drug! plus easy to empty and refill with unknown. smoke em if you feel lucky!!

 

food/drink same as above even so called sealed bottles of water. at your own risk. yeah i hope no cacher is going to do that but then cachers aren't the only ones to visit caches are we?

 

nice lighthearted comments after the cigarette lighter comment....not withstanding my 6 year old picking it up without my noticing.....flamable liquid in cache hot weather and forest fires/gorse burning not a good mixture.

 

the cigarettes is a danger that people need to be aware of. don't accept fags from strangers in pubs. i've had a friend nearly die after some git laced her drink.

 

[+Kryten]

On a recent maintenance trip to one of my caches (only 1 month old) I found a bottle of Schnapps and a swiss army knife. Almost every cache I visit seems to have sharp objects like screwdrivers, pairs of compasses.

[+lathama]

In some places such as the top of ben nevis or any other mountain lighters should be kept in caches. If the weather closes in and he cacher is unprepared then a lighter could be their only way of starting a fire to keep warm

[+The Northumbrian]

In some places such as the top of ben nevis or any other mountain lighters should be kept in caches. If the weather closes in and he cacher is unprepared then a lighter could be their only way of starting a fire to keep warm

I have to disagree on that, any one going up Ben nevis should have the SENSE to take an emergency equipment pack with them. fools if they dont. can't rely on the contents of a cache to save your life up there

Nige

[+The Forester]

If the weather closes in and he cacher is unprepared then a lighter could be their only way of starting a fire to keep warm

I agree with The Northumbrian, but if you want to leave firelighter material in a cache which does not contravene the rules/guidelines of geocaching, then a small clump of steelwool should do the trick. Similar to the stuff in a Brillo pad but finer and without the soapy stuff.

 

Arcing a spark from the batteries of your GPSr across the wirewool will make it burn whitehot and makes an extremely effective firelighter which is easily hot enough to ignite even wet or damp tinder and kindling. It's a trick which the UK special forces have (almost literally) up their sleeve when they go caching.

[+The Northumbrian]

If the weather closes in and he cacher is unprepared then a lighter could be their only way of starting a fire to keep warm

I agree with The Northumbrian, but if you want to leave firelighter material in a cache which does not contravene the rules/guidelines of geocaching, then a small clump of steelwool should do the trick. Similar to the stuff in a Brillo pad but finer and without the soapy stuff.

 

Arcing a spark from the batteries of your GPSr across the wirewool will make it burn whitehot and makes an extremely effective firelighter which is easily hot enough to ignite even wet or damp tinder and kindling. It's a trick which the UK special forces have (almost literally) up their sleeve when they go caching.

So it's them who are leaving the beef soup sachets and hard bisuits with fruit in them, in the caches

Nige

[+The Forester]

So it's them who are leaving the beef soup sachets

They do carry condoms for a couple of quite unexpected and completely non-fraternising purposes which are nothing to do with what the manufacturer intended ....

[+rutson]

Ok, I gotta ask......

[+Pengy&Tigger]

They do carry condoms for a couple of quite unexpected and completely non-fraternising purposes which are nothing to do with what the manufacturer intended ....

Would that be for carrying water? I seem to remember being taught this when I did the Duke of Edinburgh award.

 

T

 

P.S I was going to miss off the word 'award' above, but it would have produced more sniggering no doubt.

[+The Northumbrian]

They do carry condoms for a couple of quite unexpected and completely non-fraternising purposes which are nothing to do with what the manufacturer intended .... 

Would that be for carrying water? I seem to remember being taught this when I did the Duke of Edinburgh award.

 

T

 

P.S I was going to miss off the word 'award' above, but it would have produced more sniggering no doubt.

and did you get it

Nige

[+littlejim]

In some places such as the top of ben nevis or any other mountain lighters should be kept in caches. If the weather closes in and he cacher is unprepared then a lighter could be their only way of starting a fire to keep warm

What would you set light to on the top of Ben Nevis to keep you warm -your clothes maybe??

[+John & Hazel]

Ok, I gotta ask......

Carrying water as already stated.

Protection against leeches and possibly Candiru: urinophilic catfish

[+Simply Paul]

urinophilic catfish

Eeeeek!

[+The Forester]

Would that be for carrying water?

Yes, that's one purpose. Use the item to line a sock.

 

Another use in dusty environments such as deserts is to cover the pointy end of guns.

[+MartyBartfast]

... sharp objects like screwdrivers....

I've picked up screwdriver multi-tool (no knife blades) and I've left a set of small screwdrivers, it never occured to me that these might be contraband.

[+FuzzyBears]

OK just to add a slight twist, what do we do if the contraband is a travel bug? We have just visited a cache and in it was a TB which was a lighter (still working)...We ran it till it wouldn't light..... Do we remove it, Email it's owner, email the cache owner or ???????

Sue and Dave