Cache Hiding Techniques and Principles
I posted a version of this on MGA and ACGA. I hope those sites do not mind me repeating it here.
We all have our own hiding techniques and principles.
I would like to share ours. These are the general rules we try to adhere to when hiding caches, and some of the techniques to save us money and also to make it interesting.
I said save money because we have created 295 caches and there is a cost for the containers, the camo, the tape, magnets, swag, log books, etc.
* If hiding on a trail, we try to keep them at least 300 meters or more apart.
* If hiding on a trail, the purpose is to show people the trail and have them bike and walk it, so we do not make it difficult. We hang behind a tree or in an obvious evergreen not far from trail.
* If we have a micro on a trail, we place it in a tree that is standing alone.
* We try and make most caches winter friendly. This means a cost for duct tape and hooks.
* We try to get tobacco containers from smokers since the containers are weatherproof and are free.
*We have asked for Ffilm canisters at Walmart and received lots.
*We bought a load of strong tiny magnets from Lee Valley and Princess auto and duct tape them to film canister. Not pretty but cheap. ($0.15 each)
*We bought a bunch of bison tubes at Lee Valley. We indicate that the caches are smaller than a micro and we use the word bison in the name.($1.55 each)
*We bought 150 feet of wire from Dollarama for $1.25
*We get most of our swag from Dollarama. Mostly kid stuff, and put very little in the caches unless it is a kid friendly area.
*We have stopped putting pencils in our micros. In our opinion, cachers should travel with a writing instrument. I spend enough time preparing caches without having to whittle a pencil down to size. We indicate on cache page that pencil is needed.
*Staples sells boxes of 144 golf pencils for less than $9.
*We now print 6 log information sheets on a letter size piece of paper and then cut it. This is usually good enough to serve as a log in our micros. We use the log sheets from the Texas caching group
*In our regular sized caches we use the same information sheet mentioned above and usually add a log book.
*We buy log books at Dollarama. They are 4 for $1. We usually cut them and end up with about 10 small books. This is especially handy during the winter challenge. ( I said we were cheap)
*We strive to have a reason for every cache. It could be a series to get you out hiking or into the woods. It could be a micro to bring you to a place with a great view. or a new trail or park we have discovered. It could be to show you something interesting, or it could be a little puzzle challenge.
*I have created a number of puzzle caches. I try to place them in uninteresting places, in order to keep interesting places for regular caches.
* If creating a number of puzzle caches, I try to have them approved in groups to make it easier on the cachers. I also try to have the group all in the same area, and I often put the approximate location in the name so cachers can decide if they should bother solving it.
*It is as much fun to hide as to find.
*Based on what we have seen, we would recommend that people get a number of finds before going out to hide. That way you have an idea of what others are doing, the kinds of containers, the appropriate locations, how to camo, etc.
*Not everyone can do this but we try to make our Shediac area caches bilingual in order to help the French speaking cachers and tourists.
*We keep our hints short but often try to avoid words that can be decyphered at a glance. So maybe say “stuck to metal” instead of “magnetic”.
* It seems that most cachers do not trade these days so we do not put much if any swag in a cache, unless it is in a kid friendly area.
* Because most cachers seem not to trade, we see no point in placing a regular in places where a Micro will go.
*We have camo material that we bought some time ago. Ma is now sewing it into camo bags that we attach firmly to trees. We place ur tobacco containers in them. We got this idea from caches placed by Belladan.
If I think of more, I will add them later.
Do you have anything to add
Great stuff Pa!! I think this type of stuff cannot be said enough, put it on all geocaching sites. Plus we are used to your eloqquence and insight into all thigs geocaching related. 🙂
Thanks for the nice words Rev.
I was just checking my powers that were given to me. I will try and control myself and not use those powers again
That is exactly what I meant…lol
Lots of good info in the article, Pa.
When on Shediac Island, we wondered where you buy the camo bags.
Those bags are cool. Do you buy them or make them?
We bought the material a while ago. Belladan had some kind of bags for his Round the block series and we liked it so Ma decided to cut the material and make bags.
The benefits:
Muggles should not see it
Cachers know what they are looking for.
No need for tape and hooks on the container.
The bag is fasted securely so the cacher has to remove cache from Bag.
Cache gets put back exactly where you placed it
PS Ma did a great job
Hey Pa…Any chance you have a picture of one of those bags..? Just curious as to what they look like. Thanks in advance
dexter-cacher
A related topic would be how to manage the logs on your caches. I personally do not worry about people claiming our caches. I assume discrepancies are mistakes and not on purpose.
As the cache owner the only thing you really have to worry about is whether or not somebody actually found the cache and signed the log. You can delete the logs if you wish. Long ago when there were fewer caches, there were cachers who actually went to their caches and checked to see if everyone has signed. I dont know if anyone does that these days.
Here is what we do on our caches:
If we think the cacher made a mistake on their log, we may contact them. If they logged the cache twice, we will delete one and advise the cacher.
We dont worry about cachers not signing properly or at all. For example, sometimes a newer cacher may claim the cache but say the log was too wet to sign. We had a new cacher claim a bison but said they didnt sign because they could open it. We had an invisible cache and cachers were supposed to sign it, but some said they signed with their invisible pen. In these cases and many others, we dont touch the logs and we dont contact the cachers.
If a newby makes some kind of caching mistake, we contact them. This happened when someone in BC claimed one of our caches by mistake instead of a cache in BC. A new cacher claimed our 22 kms cache on the bouctouche dune. It is obvious they were logging the wrong cache. I didnt bother to tell them
That is what we do. Others may be doing it a little differently. I recall long ago when an owner got upset when a group found his caches and one person signed everyone’ s names on the log sheet. I dont care about those things. We all have our ideas about what is allowable and what is not.