+GiantCappuccino Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 (edited) Hello all, I'm preparing to place my first 4 caches and it got me wondering; has anyone ever had a cache muggled (stolen) before it was actually found? Just curious. Edited November 6, 2016 by GiantCappuccino Quote Link to comment
+cerberus1 Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 Hello all, I'm preparing to place my first 4 caches and it got me wondering; has anyone ever had a cache muggled (stolen) before it was actually found? Just curious. Not us, but we know of an entire road-side series of caches (over a dozen) swiped by litter crews before they were even published. Quote Link to comment
+kunarion Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 (edited) Hello all, I'm preparing to place my first 4 caches and it got me wondering; has anyone ever had a cache muggled (stolen) before it was actually found? Just curious. Yes, found before activation by a non-Geocacher or a Geocacher. Sometimes it's a spot that looks like the perfect hiding place, but previous caches have been there and were trashed or stolen. Some seemingly vacant places can have a bunch of non-cachers at times. One of mine was near a youth soccer field. Kids get extremely bored at soccer games , and tend to venture into the nearby wooded areas, and that's how one of my caches got repeatedly muggled til I archived it. Now that spot has only a super well hidden Chirp transmitter. For some of mine, I've had them in place unactivated for months, just to get an idea of whether or not they will tend to be messed with, or stolen immediately. There are so many factors, sometimes you just gotta try it, even as a test cache. But if someone found it first, that person found it... um... first. Look at these kinds of threads, and they are very long with strange posts about which FTF is correctly called "found first". Edited November 6, 2016 by kunarion Quote Link to comment
+T.D.M.22 Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 I have owned and searched for a few caches go missing before being found. I've even had one get destroyed by a fire be for either was published. Quote Link to comment
+Ringrat Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 Yep, the first cache I ever hid was muggled before it was published. It had a set publication date (for an event), and I went to check on it the day before. Nothing to be found! Quote Link to comment
+wmpastor Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 Interesting anecdotes. Now let's add another variable. Does anyone know of a muggle who happened to find an unfound cache and then quickly read about caching, immediately joined and claimed the FTF?! Quote Link to comment
Keystone Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 A few times each year, a Community Volunteer Reviewer will receive an email from an angry cache owner, alleging that the reviewer stole their cache during the review process because it disappeared before the FTF. They don't understand that we do not actually visit the cache locations, and that many review territories span hundreds of miles. An immediate muggling is a good indication that the cache owner should find a better hiding spot. Quote Link to comment
+kunarion Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 Interesting anecdotes. Now let's add another variable. Does anyone know of a muggle who happened to find an unfound cache and then quickly read about caching, immediately joined and claimed the FTF?! Yes, except the claiming FTF part. But that could happen on my caches. I sometimes include a "Certificate Of FTF". Quote Link to comment
+jellis Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 Heard it happen a few times. But some turned out that the CO forgot to place the cache. Quote Link to comment
+captnemo Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 I hid one that was muggled twice before it was archived by me. I also looked for one that would have been a FTF but it was already gone. Both happened years ago, today FTF is just too much trouble. Quote Link to comment
+DragonsWest Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 Went out to try for the odd FTF on Sunday morning. Might have been muggled by a squirrel or Jay. Does that count? Quote Link to comment
+colleda Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 Went out to try for the odd FTF on Sunday morning. Might have been muggled by a squirrel or Jay. Does that count? Only if the squirrel or the jay signed the log. Quote Link to comment
+J Grouchy Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 Seems to me that, in most cases, if the cache is muggled before it's "officially" found...then perhaps it's not the best location for a cache. Quote Link to comment
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