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What is going on with caching at the moment!


defamily

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Recently it seems like caching etiquette has gone out the door. For a long time I had no issues with any of my caches and my only maintenance was replacing log books but recently everything has started going wrong. My first cache (which was pretty bad) went missing and I didn't get overly sad but when a cache that had taken a couple of months to plan and build and had required quite a scrounging around for parts is taken randomly it got really annoying.

 

I assumed it was just muggles or newbie geocachers who don't know about the rules of caching but recently a whole bunch of my PMO puzzle caches have gone missing and almost all of my other caches have an issue (2/12 of them are currently fine). This rules out newbie cachers and given that experienced cachers struggled with some of them we find it hard to believe they were muggled. Does this mean Premium Members are taking caches???

 

We were also shocked when we heard that one of the best cache hiders in our state's caches were being stolen and that they were thinking about not hiding any more caches. These caches were also premium and had one a lot of awards at our state caching awards event.

 

We're wondering if this sort of thing is happening all over the world or whether it is just in Victoria. Does anyone know why this would happen!!!

 

Ok- rant over.

 

Defamily

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PMO or not, there is always a chance it may get found by muggles. Also it may be new cachers, for whatever reason, not trying to do it wrong (maybe they think they are supposed to move it,maybe a muggle saw them who knows?)And there are always going to be bad people in every group. In this day where people ask if cheese comes on a cheeseburger, and get mad when they didn't get something the didn't ask for, you can't assume anything either way anymore. It's not fair to blame geocacher, just because you don't hink it could be a muggle, and vice versa. Unless of course you hide out and watch every person who goes near your cache....

Edited by T.D.M.22
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I've had a lot of my nanos and one rusty bolt go missing. I had one bison which is in a place no muggle would have a reason to look at. At first I thought it was a cacher who wants containers and is too lazy to go get there own. Still not sure either way. Cause also a bison went missing before it was published. I replaced it and it went published and no one has touched it. And these are all PMO caches.

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If they are PMO puzzle caches that rules out the app users, but could point to the trend of seasoned finders not really hiding things back too well. Some think its a great thing to help the next guy out, until it gets found by a passerby and disappears.

 

AMEN TO THE ABOVE:

 

I have a short string of caches along Humboldt Bay in N.W. Calif. and I am close to archiving them all ... caches left unhidden then stolen or in a couple of cases "jack booted" to smithereens. As Lucy, the Peanuts character says, Arrrrrggggghh

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Our area seems to have periods where caches, usually ammo cans, go missing. One cacher, it seemed, for a time was being targeted as a lot of his hides were coming up missing. We could speculate it was some random mugglers but the frequency and volume of caches affected, to me, suggested the work of a fellow cacher. Do I have proof? No, just conspiracy theory stuff. The reality is when we put out a hide it is vulnerable to anything by anybody. Cache theifs keep creativity down and add to the proliferation of micros. I have four ammo cans I am reluctant to place cause I know they will be lost. Why build a creative hide if it just gonna go missing? It's a bad trend.

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That's the way of geocaching. When a cache gets muggled and you've replaced it at least twice...(that's my rule of thumb), then its time to archive and move to a different location.

 

I had a chirp cache. The chirp itself was hidden at the top corner of a pavilion in a park. Out of sight and out of the weather. Nobody would've known it was there. A 'smart' geocacher could easily guess where the chirp device was..... A rash of DNF's and we discovered the Chirp device went missing. Well...I can only predict the chirp device was stolen ... how else would anyone else know to find/look for the chip device?

 

Needless to say....we archived it.

 

The funny thing is... Whoever has it, can't use it. Once the Chirp device is programmed, it will only operate to the original GPS that programmed it.

 

That's the way of geocaching. When caches keep going missing...you archive and move on.

Edited by Lieblweb
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From time to time in one area or another, a geocacher becomes angry or disgruntled over one issue or another and obtains "revenge" by stealing or vandalizing geocaches. This has been going on since the early days of the game. In 2004, legendary forum poster Renegade Knight coined the term "cache maggot" for this type of person.

 

If your area has a true "cache maggot" rather than just a lot of poorly concealed caches that are are discovered by muggles, everyone can sympathize. There's been a few in my home area over the years, but right now, things are fine. Meanwhile, geocaching has grown from a few hundred thousand active caches in 2004 when we first spoke of "cache maggots" to more than 2.5 million active caches today. The game thrives despite the efforts of cache maggots, much like the story of "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas."

 

The best advice if your area has a cache maggot: IGNORE THEM. Quietly replace missing containers, perhaps by using containers of lesser value. Don't comment in cache logs, social media, etc. The maggot is looking to get a reaction from the targeted cache owner or community. If they don't receive that reaction, they will lose interest and move on.

 

Cache maggot attacks are awful while they're going on, but in time they will pass and things will get back to normal.

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A year or two ago in the Roseville, CA area, caches were being hit by someone calling him/herself The Joker. The cache contents were removed and a single Joker playing card was left in each cache that got Jokered. I'm not sure if this was happening to just one cacher in particular or if it was a general cache raid situation, but most of those Jokered caches were archived. A few were taken to the local police to see if fingerprints could be lifted, but I don't know what resulted.

 

Just know that, unfortunately, caches being Muggled/stolen/destroyed is part of the game and happens everywhere. As others have suggested, you can replace the containers and if they get hit again, then I would archive the cache and find somewhere else to hide one.

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I can understand your frustration.

I have not placed a cache yet as I am still very new to caching, but I am really eager to be the proud owner of some soon.

 

The one thing I have noticed is that some caches are so well thought out and a lot of imagination and artistic flair has gone into designing them.

I would be devastated if one of the really prized gems were interfered with for whatever reason.

I can see how your heart and soul can go into a well thought out cache and how your heart could get ripped out if someone disabled or destroys it on purpose.

 

I can only say, that you need to continue, knowing that you have brought so much happiness and placed so many smiles of the cachers who have come beforehand and will continue to come in the future. :)

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We had out a large container. It is about 30 min from home but on my way to the office. One of my local cachers found it after it had been out for several months. He contacted me to let me know someone had peed in it and even did a #2. :( I was kind of upset because it was a special log book. Word got out about it and I got contacted by several of the local cachers to that area. I guess this kid liked to do that to any caches they found. They called themselves "the rain of terror" Most all of the caches were archived. I also archived ours after it happened. I told my daughter about it later and she said we couldn't just let them win like that! I said what are we going to do then?

Well we made a custom container out of a toilet seat. Placed it there and had the reviewer un-archive it. I didn't know what to expect to happen. Well a couple of finds and then someone said there was a note left at the cache site. My daughter and I went and checked it out. It was funny they didn't pee in it or take it or mess it up. They spent a lot of time do draw out a message to us. It had some bad language in it and stuff but over all you could tell they respected it and thought we were funny and it was cool. They put a lot of effort and time into making it a nice letter with pictures and drawings. It is now a regular sized container and has not been messed with or have we heard of any of the other ones in the area being messed with.

Not that this will help with the original posters problem but sometimes if you think outside of the box you might be able to come up with a solution. If not for my daughter this cache would have also been archived and the problem might have kept on going.

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We had out a large container. It is about 30 min from home but on my way to the office. One of my local cachers found it after it had been out for several months. He contacted me to let me know someone had peed in it and even did a #2. :( I was kind of upset because it was a special log book. Word got out about it and I got contacted by several of the local cachers to that area. I guess this kid liked to do that to any caches they found. They called themselves "the rain of terror" Most all of the caches were archived. I also archived ours after it happened. I told my daughter about it later and she said we couldn't just let them win like that! I said what are we going to do then?

Well we made a custom container out of a toilet seat. Placed it there and had the reviewer un-archive it. I didn't know what to expect to happen. Well a couple of finds and then someone said there was a note left at the cache site. My daughter and I went and checked it out. It was funny they didn't pee in it or take it or mess it up. They spent a lot of time do draw out a message to us. It had some bad language in it and stuff but over all you could tell they respected it and thought we were funny and it was cool. They put a lot of effort and time into making it a nice letter with pictures and drawings. It is now a regular sized container and has not been messed with or have we heard of any of the other ones in the area being messed with.

Not that this will help with the original posters problem but sometimes if you think outside of the box you might be able to come up with a solution. If not for my daughter this cache would have also been archived and the problem might have kept on going.

 

I love this! Good on you! Maybe a geocacher upset the culprit in some way or another, (not that this excuses his behaviour,) and now he has seen another side to the community. Maybe you've inspired him to come up with some clever hides of his own ;)

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Geocachers do know the best places to hide a body.. ;)

I had a hard time fitting one under a lamp post skirt. Fortunately, there were lots of lamp posts in that parking lot :ph34r:

 

If you cut the pieces correctly, you can fit a smaller muggle body under a dozen or so. Bigger muggles require at least 20. It's also recommended to glue them shut and leave a few unused every 530 feet to prevent some noob from forcing them open to hide a film can.

Edited by 4wheelin_fool
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Geocachers do know the best places to hide a body.. ;)

I had a hard time fitting one under a lamp post skirt. Fortunately, there were lots of lamp posts in that parking lot :ph34r:

 

If you cut the pieces correctly, you can fit a smaller muggle body under a dozen or so. Bigger muggles require at least 20. It's also recommended to glue them shut and leave a few unused every 530 feet to prevent some noob from forcing them open to hide a film can.

 

Why go to all that trouble? There are plenty of plots available in the Jimmy Hoffa Memorial Cemetery near you (also know as the Pine Barrens to the noncognoscenti)

 

To the OP: In the aforementioned Cemetery I have identified several muggled or missing geocaches over the last few days. All of them are in the proverbial middle of nowhere. One fell from a tree that collapsed and has been lost in the brush. One was likely discovered by a muggle chopping up a fallen tree for firewood (cache contents trashed and scattered about.) And the third one was destroyed by a forest fire. It is true, sometimes mean spirited people deliberately set out to destroy caches. But it is also true that some caches fall victim to random discovery or random acts of nature.

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Geocachers do know the best places to hide a body.. ;)

I had a hard time fitting one under a lamp post skirt. Fortunately, there were lots of lamp posts in that parking lot :ph34r:

 

If you cut the pieces correctly, you can fit a smaller muggle body under a dozen or so. Bigger muggles require at least 20. It's also recommended to glue them shut and leave a few unused every 530 feet to prevent some noob from forcing them open to hide a film can.

 

Why go to all that trouble? There are plenty of plots available in the Jimmy Hoffa Memorial Cemetery near you (also know as the Pine Barrens to the noncognoscenti)

 

 

The latest trend is hiding them in urban locations. There's a few ends of guard rails that you can stuff severed arms and legs into, but it takes up plenty of highway mileage. I've had limited success with strapping earth magnets to the torso and just sticking them to the back side, hoping a possum will gnaw them away.

Edited by 4wheelin_fool
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