Evil Geocacher?

[Team_Pink]

I am very angry, disappointed, and disheartened and I hope I am wrong. I hid a cache Friday afternoon late and by Sunday morning early it had been totally destroyed. It was in an isolated area and well hidden. It wasn't just pilfered, it was destroyed and scattered.

To my knowledge there was not a soul around when I hid the cache. This leads me to believe that someone with a Geocaching.com account and GPS did this. I really don't see any other possibility. If it were deer season, I would say a hunter in camo was nearby and watched me hide it, but it is not deer season, I saw no vehicles, etc.

I don't know what to do now, this cache is part of a series and I am at a loss.

[rock_hound]

Could it have been an animal?

If not you could rehide and make it a members only cache. I am sure there are yahoos who sign up for a free account just to cause havoc.

[Team_Pink]

OK, I've calmed down now. I have rehidden it. If it disappears again I will change it to a micro and go from there.

I defintely wasn't an animal though. It was an ammo can and it is missing. I suppose there are other possibilities other than a geocacher but the remoteness of the location and the hide sure makes it hard to think otherwise. I guess I'll know shortly!

Topkitty had one messed with pretty good by some kids who decided it would make a great paintball target and it was pretty well hidden too.

It wasn't in a remote location, but being remote from most people doesn't mean it isn't a spot some teens smoking crack don't hang out. Remote locations have other uses than geocaches.

AR_Kayaker

[flannelman]

Although deer season is closed there are still other hunting seasons open. I would hate to think that a fellow hunter would do such a thing but there are slobs in every sport. I would also hate to think that another geocacher would have done it. This is an unfortunate thing to happen when you have spent so much time preparing a cache for others to enjoy.

Sounds to me like some punks that have nothing better to do have found your cache. I hope that the replacement has a long life and that I get to hunt for it.

[OldRiverRunner]

tech_guy, I know exactly how you feel! In late October of last year, one of my caches hidden in Petit Jean State Park (Off the Beaten Path, GC8CD) was also muggled, with the contents -- including the ammo box -- tossed into Cedar Creek. Fortunately, a geocacher from Dallas was looking for it shortly afterwards, noticed something in the creek, and realized what it was. He found almost everything, dried it off, and rehid it for me. And this was a geocache hidden in a state park, along one of the lesser travelled trails, with a hike of over a half-mile from the closest approach point. My guess, though, was that it wasn't an "evil geocacher" in this case, but some "evil hikers" who happened to stumble upon the cache. Thank God for the good Samaritan geocacher from Big D! Unfortunately, bad things happen to our caches sometimes. I think reclassifying your cache as a Premium Members Only cache might be the best choice to ensure it's not messed with in the future. -- ORR

[Phantom_491]

I have encountered a cache that was deliberately sabotaged by an 'Evil Geocacher'. This person attacked the cache sometime between Friday evening, and Sunday afternoon. I was headed to Texas to visit family, and stopped by 'Poor Boys Stash & Travel Bug Stop' (NowArchived). Everything was fine, I swapped a coupleTBS and headed on. On Sunday I was coming back and stopped there again. This time I noticed the cache was wet (Inside & outside) I drained it but then noticedan odor. well I checked the log book and the culprit actually left an un signed note in the log book. He/She stated that they were former Geocachers who got tired of the game/addiction. So they left a present at this cache for those foolish enough to be addicted.

Needless to say I contacted the owner about the incident, made a special TB Rescue trip to the cache, and later picked up the cache and took it to it's owner in Texarkana.

[Team_Pink]

I can imagine how the cache owner must have felt!

It's been a rough week for me. I had one to completely disappear (Rock Springs III), had one destroyed and scattered that was posted one morning and destroyed the next (Broom Cemetery), and today I learn another one is damaged (Gainsville II).

All this in less than a week! I'm seriously thinking about going all micros!

[OldRiverRunner]

"Once is coincidence, twice is happenstance and the third time its enemy action." -- Auric Goldfinger to James Bond

Three times in one week? You definitely have an "evil geocacher" on the loose in your area. -- ORR

That does seem to be too much for coencidence. Is there a geocacher you've made angry at you somehow?

AR_kayaker

[flannelman]

Happened to me now, but it was an evil muggler instead. :evil:


Archived two caches because of it and now I'm bummed. :(

[Team_Pink]

Did you find out who was responsible?

[flannelman]

Ya, it was a camper that was camped next to the cache location. He was extremely rude to the last person to log a find on my cache. He chunked it into the lake after they left. This guy is one of those that basically lives in the camp grounds. They only move when the core kicks them out of the area. I suspect that they are up to no good as well. They acted extremely paranoid when I came up to ask about the cache. The guy was very belligerant when I asked him about it too. He said that a lot of poeple had been bothering him whill playing their little game or whatever. There have only been two people that have logged finds on the cache. The first on Wednesday (there were no campers there then), and the second Thursday (when the guy complained about being bothered so much).
I think that they are living out of their car and that they are up to no good. This guy started quoting forrest service regs saying that what we are doing is illegal. He was so full of CARP!! He didn't have a clue about what he was talking about.
I archived the other cache because it was close to another camp area and I didn't want anyone to have a chance to go through anything like this again. I think that I will stick with deepwoods caches from now on.