Late to the party and new to geocahing, I'm probably more Muggle than cahcher at this point but I can definitely say that I know exactly what happened, A giant mutated eagle from the bottom of the sea came soaring past and saw the bird, it fancied a snack and dived down to grab the bird. Upon discovering the bird is fake it goes into a rampage! Tearing it from the attached tube and throwing it at a cow. It then tried to settle down in a nice little house, only to discover it was tied to a tree of all things, in a fit of blind range, the mutated eagle tears apart the house! now with no food, no house, the giant mutated eagle from the depths of the sea has no choice but to steal catalytic converters and sell the components to make a living..... Some say he's still out there, others say he packed his bags and swam back to the depths

It's sad when that happens. When we have a muggled cache we first replace it. If it gets repeatedly muggled, we make it premium and move it to a different location nearby. That usually worked for us. Only in one case we had to archive.

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

I think that is some good advice! I think I will rebuild and then switch to premium. Let's hope it works :)

I hate when people purposely ruin caches. Breaks my heart. A friend of mine hid a great cache that you hook a car battery too and it lowers the antenna inside with cache attached. Twice someone broke it and stole the antenna and electronics inside. So frustrating.

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

wow that is unfortunate and sad. I just don't understand why people would ruin geocaches. Even if accidental, I'd rather someone let me know what happened.

@cacheaddict-melmelstowe8337

3 жыл бұрын

@@Stardustzzz my thoughts exactly.

@swhight

3 жыл бұрын

Who hunts for geocaches with a car battery in their kit? 🧐

@cacheaddict-melmelstowe8337

3 жыл бұрын

@@swhight the cache had an antena motor in it that when you hook jumper cables to it the antenna would lower with a bison tube attached.

@choicemusings

Жыл бұрын

@@swhight it's a thing that's been making the rounds for a while of creative/takes more effort caches.

Condolences Jamie, but don't be too discouraged. Discouragement is something you have to just move through, no way around it. Here is my take; 1) put out another cache just like the original. See if it happens again. There are certain people who will muggle a cache, but they won't look at it again since they know there is nothing of value. My personal experience in several cases. 2) make the cache fit into the surroundings. Just a home-made nest would be fine without the bird, or even a Craft or Halloween store crow would draw less attention. 3) Make the cache less accessible. Use an retracting dog leash to allow the cacher to pull the bird nest down with a stick 4) Make a decoy cache, something more tempting than the actual cache to keep them from going after the real cache. Pre-damaged is a good way to discourage muggles. I have a very intentionally-damaged birdhouse on a pole. The actual cache container IS the pole. 5) Try a new spot and do a test run by adding the container without a cache and see if it is disturbed after a week or so. As well, most people who would want to pilfer your cache container will have already inspected it for goodies and would leave it alone later 6) White paint as fake bird-poo is a deterrent. People will not want to touch it. The cache finder can know it is just paint in the description. I use this on my fake rocks and tree stumps 7) Out of sight for muggles to see someone finding it. Seeing people searching for something makes people curious about what they are doing. 8) Become a nature whisperer, study things that look like they belong and see if there is a way to make or modify it to fit into the environment. and 9) Most important, if you buy a cache container like a bird and nest, buy two. If you have a backup, you will not feel so bad if one goes missing. You can always show off the backup at events. AFter a while you will master the Ninja art of placing caches. It is trial and error unfortunately but you will get really good at it and share your Ninja-hiding skills to the rest of us! Keep going, you got this!

My husband and I literally just found your bird cache last Saturday. We had fun! Thank you for keeping it maintained despite everything!

@Stardustzzz

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you and glad you enjoyed it.

One thing that will destroy styrofoam over time is paint and some other solvents. Since the bison tube survived, it sounds like it was just eaten away. Weather could have taken out the bird house. At least we can hope that was it. Although sometimes people can be weird. I replace the cache once, if it gets away again, then I find a new spot.

I do know that styrofoam never denigrates or decomposes so it is pretty unlikely that the weather ruined the bird.

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

I was thinking the same but thank you for clearing that up for me :)

It really sucks that there are always a few people who get their jollies by taking away the fun of so many others.

I feel your frustrations, I have three missing and one destroyed right now. It seems there is one person that doesn’t like Geocaching in my area. I have noticed they are all pretty much urban or just outside the city limits. All the ones I have in the woods on trails are ok, so it seems if they have to work for it, they don’t bother with it…

that second cache.... Snoopy lost to the Red Barron.....

Damn sorry to hear this Jamie, can't help but feel sorry for you when you put that much effort into it. Looked like some kid just took an axe to it or something. There's some real muppets out there.

Maybe a Raccoon or Possum thought there was food in that House. Those two critters are stronger than you think.

This is making me worry about placing a cache I've been working on XD. I just need to be extra careful about where I put it

🤪 I feel your pain. My first birdhouse gadgetcache suffered a similar fate. I guess that mine was attacked with a bat too. At that time I had 4 gadgetcaches now I have 10! I choose to build and be a positive part of the geocaching community and a positive part of the world. I would choose a different location though. Those who create, like yourself, with your great videos, Pathtags, and caches bring positivity to the world. That is the free and fulfilling way I CHOOSE to live. Happy Caching, BELLontheMove

On the bird nest, I would guess it got muggled the first 2 times, but the 3rd time? Maybe it did disintegrate since the bison tube was still there. I only give my hides 2 chances if something happens to them before I archive them. I would feel like someone is targeting my caches. On the dog house cache, I would take all the broken pieces and make a mobile out of them and hang them from the tree and put a container on the ground somewhere and change the cache name to "broken down dog house". It would be art! I haven't had any caches destroyed but I did have one hide where two ammo cans got stolen. And I had them cabled down!! ARCHIVED!! Sounds like you have an exhaust issue with your car. You need to MIDASIZE. lol

Also, if the cache has already been found and enjoyed by many locals, I would put my efforts into new hides instead.

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

That is a good point

Omg that's terrible! Found one today here in Florida that was absolutely destroyed. Just recently got back into this. Since I left Pennsylvania 8 years ago I haven't done it. Keep up the great content

Ok so everyone has seen Shrek...well perhaps Fiona was caching, she let out a little tune and poof. Bird exploded. The doghouse one...courage the cowardly dog was chilling in there and it was almost abducted by aliens but...(watch Lifted the Pixar short.) The aliens are still in training. Don't let it get you down. Keep hiding. I'd try the plastic bird. Think of how many people you made happy with those finds. I would have loved to sign those log books. May have even been excited enough to use a pallet sharpie to sign...lol oh wait... I'd change up the coords and go more stealthy. Stealthy can still be fun. That is what I had to do a few times. That does appear intentional. As for the cat, dang that sucks! Love the positivity. New Sub.

Well I'll just add to the many comments on here. I know it gets personal when a nicely made cache of yours gets destroyed. I think you should keep the spot and not give up! You can always just make a camo hanger it maybe a camo jar with lots of good swag inside to replace the house. Or just go ahead and make one more house and give it one more try. Or you can make it a tough hide by placing a fake rock in its spot. Lots of alternative options! I have many hidden caches but most of mine are flat packs or nanos or camo containers with exception of a few finely made caches. The nicer ones I just give it a few chances. If it gets destroyed I just replace it with a cheaper container. Maybe you can do the same with your bird nest one. I do wish you the best of luck and bummer your beautiful red house got destroyed! Darn muggles! Happy caching otherwise!

I typically go with one strike/replacement and then archival. I would just archive the caches unless sentimental.

A lawnmower ran over one of my caches. Kind of like what happened to the original container of the first Geocache...

Thundergod Thor most likely tried to write his name with his hammer Mjölnir, using the cutest little house I've ever seen as a sturdy area to write on. that's the most ridiculous thought I could think of. The audacity of some people...sigh...

I feel your pain Jamie, I’ve had some of my gadgetcaches stolen and or demolished, such a sad sight, waste of money, time and effort, I mean we can always hopefully rebuild but it may not be in the cards to do so, maybe rebuild and try another location to place it, that’s my plan for some of mine

I filled a large toy semi truck with swag and put it in a trucker only part of a truck stop, with permission, and it was gone after only one find. I thought a cache not would be enough and didn't bother with a cache sticker. next time is both a note and a sticker. What really sucks, is it had my first ever trackable in it, a really cool snowboarding signal, which I had been holding onto for years waiting for the right cache. I finally decided to stop waiting. stupid muggles.

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

Wow gone after one find! Yikes, sorry to hear that.

I've just started hiding and mine are simple. Keep hiding as you clearly get pleasure from it. And "most" people respect the game. Don't let them steal or smash your joy. Life is too short!

With the first cache my first thought was predators. Mistaking the fake nest for real bird with eggs. Animals are mischievous!

The bird may have been just too cute to resist. A plainer plastic bird sounds a good idea. We have put out a plastic lemon in a lemon tree and its working well. Fingers crossed for you.

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

a plastic lemon in a lemon tree! That is awesome. Is it really hard for people to find when there are lemons on the tree?

@GeoRick

3 жыл бұрын

Yes much easier when the lemons have been picked. So far it has survived one fruit picking season. The local council planted rows of lemon trees along each side of a residential street about 30 years ago. People come from miles around to pick them. Lower down ones go first :-)

Do let people get you down! Make another and keep doing what you love.

I'm guessing bigfoot jumped up grabbed the bird for a snack and stepped on the bird house while running away!

I had an ammo can in a hole under a rock and it was taken. So I bolted another ammo can set in concrete in the same hole under a rock and they came along and ripped the lid off. Both cans had padlocks on them.

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

wow someone was pretty determined to get that ammo can again

There are some people out there that are just MEAN This has happed to me and a few of my cache friends too. Dare it all Sometimes I replace and sometimes just archive OH my That sucks about the car UGH!!

Perhaps it too obvious being red, maybe brown or green to blend it in. I would replace the dog house one more time, but bird has been damaged twice so I would maybe only replace one more time. In uk we have gone to caches that have been smashed if its fixable I have some spares in my bag then tell CO that I have replaced or on one the river had destroyed the cache near my home, in North Wales, we rescued what we could coz some stuff was laminated, I knew CO was in England & we where on Covid Lockdown & not allowed over the border, so I took all the bits home told CO so he could put maintenence , i dried them out put in a new waterproof log, added new swag & new box & made a new camo bag, replaced cache next day & CO re opened cache.

I have same problem with my geocache 😢.It was destroyed but I maintenance it and I made it premium only 😊 One typ: zip tie it to a tree 🌲 and have lock on geocache so cachers can find it but normal no.It can be typical lock or word lock or numeral lock Happy geocaching ❤

Awww, I could tell this one was really hard for you. No telling what happened to the bird nest cache but the dog house was obviously destroyed by juvenile delinquents. I would suggest replacing the bird but removing the dog park cache altogether. There are obviously some people who frequent that area who just like to destroy things. As for the stolen cats, that's terrible. I'm a detective and we're seeing that here in Texas A LOT. Good luck getting them replaced! Oh, and keep posting content--we love your videos in my family!

@alexanderbarnett4948

3 жыл бұрын

Or maybe moving the new dog house off a well known/clear pathway so that muggles don't stubble upon it and it's mostly geocachers

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

ya i think will make another dog house geocache and move it to another area. It was pretty well hidden but I think ill move it and make it premium this time. As for the cat, I saw on the news theft has gone up 800% in my area just for those. What a bummer. The insurance company even said they are getting a lot of those calls. I hope the thieves get busted or find a real job to make money. Thank you for watching my videos :) I will try to make more.

I hate to be the pessimistic one but people essentially suck. Obviously not ALL of them but a good number. I recently took over 28 caches from a couple that were retired and couldn't keep up with them anymore. Here's just a few quick examples of the people out there. I put a brand new notebook, pencil, and sharpener in a baggie for an ammo can cache. The very next person that found it commented that there was no log, I went to check, and sure enough it was gone. The only thing I can figure is they thought the new book was swag and took it. Another is a magnetic light switch plate stuck to the side of a utility box. It looks like it belongs there as long as its put back on straight, I even note in the description that how its placed is important, does anyone ever put it back like they found it? Of course not. And I'm sick and tired of people tagging caches for CO maintenance just because they couldn't find it. That's what a DNF is for people. Anyway, just my little rant. There are days I'm ready to archive everything and say "screw it" but I haven't yet. This is supposed to be a fun hobby, not a full time job. Obviously, I feel your frustration but I don't know what the answer is.

maybe because it was a fake door to the birdhouse, a really really annoyed bird demonstrated it's frustration.

Someone was thinking they wanted to playing Angry Birds and destroyed the house. Thanks for your videos. Hope you have a better day

IME if muggles don't vandalize them the animals will chew.

I had a cache called parky barky and probably a muggle took the coach and left a e ciggeret

Maybe a Hawk came down to grab and eat it.

I think the bird might have been a kid that didn’t understand the bison tube and pulled it out. I have a really cool plastic bird you clip to a tree that I make and use that might be a good idea for the future. The house probably got broken when someone tried to pull it out of the tree, they might have not been tall enough to get it. I’ve had a few stolen in my past.

I think an animal chewed at the bird nest cache. I have seen other caches like that here that were destroyed by animals.

Bigfoot got it

For a bird house, it is BRIGHTLY colored and ON THE GROUND. A) make it a more Earthy color and B) put the "I" hooks on the top and hang it from a branch to make it look MORE natural. Honyoker59

squirrels will destroy Styrofoam and some birds will peck things apart to make nests. my wife has a gnome village in her garden and those are her greatest culprits

I recently had someone dump the contents of my ammo can onto the ground and steal the ammo can. It has been in a remote spot for years. But not anymore. :( Although I'm still putting out more geocaches, I won't be putting out any ammo cans anymore. And I have a permanent underlying worry that any creative cache I put out will also be stolen. I like the comments I get from finders when they find something out of the ordinary and that is why I continue to hide. If every hider who had a stolen or ruined cache stopped hiding, our hobby would die quickly. Thankfully, the thefts and destruction don't occur often. I hope you will continue to hide new caches. Maybe just not at that particular spot.

If it's a cacher doing this (one never knows) I usually downgrade the cache container for a bit. I also move the container (in case it was a muggle) a muggle isn't so likely to find it.... if it's a cacher they usually lose interest if it's just a usual hide (pill bottle)

@highspeedmom2012

3 жыл бұрын

The downgrade is temporary. My 1st birdhouse cache was hard to find and got dnfs. My 2nd birdhouse got stolen. My 3rd and 4th birdhouse got stolen. I now hide birdhouse caches harder. 🤷‍♀️🤣

Geo-Pirates ruin everything. :( I am sorry about your hard work being destroyed by a-holes.

This is so sad! You do this for free on your own time its heart breaking someone would do that. Caches that people put effort into are the best ones

There a few Alex DeLarge's like in the movie Clockwork Orange out wandering the world raising hell for no reason. We can adjust our strategy's. Don't allow these episodes derail our joy in geocaching.

@Stardustzzz

4 ай бұрын

that is true. Can't let moments like this take away all the fun.

Some kids found it and smashed it.

I think that bird was so angry having a bison tube glued to his body that he pecked and pecked at it until he could break free and fly away. While flying that bird noticed a nice looking red house to hide in and ride out the storm that was approaching. When he could not get in, he became so enraged that he destroyed the little red house out of frustration. Seriously both of those caches were destroyed by humans who have nothing better to do.

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

Wow I made that bird pretty angry lol Thank you for the fun story!

I had a bird cache get destroyed too. But it seems like a animal did it. Hawk or crow or something. Anyways it happens.

I wouldn't replace the birdhouse. It'll get tampered with. The bird probably got broke off by a geocacher. There are noobs who post that they couldn't figure out how to open a bison tube. I was the next visitor and thought seriously??

I love really cool or cute containers, but I rarely hide them because I have no trust or faith left in people. don't be like me. don't start hiding. just hide better. I do know a place can become cursed, for lack of a better word. if muggles, or a particular muggle, knows they can find something cool there, they will continue to go back there to see what they can find.

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

I appreciate the advice! I may need to hide these a little bit better.

I'm working on my first cache as we speak, a gadget cache, and this is worrying me. I'm considering making it a Premium Only cache, because I've put in too much time and money to just see it all go to waste. What do you think? Is Premium the way to go to keep your cache safe and only visible to "serious" geocachers?

Sorry to see they got muggled, I would think a plastic bird would work best and rebuild the dog house. And my thoughts on how the dog house broke.... I bet some husband thought it was his and quickly realized he did not fit and was at the wrong "dog house"...

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

HAHAHAH

hawk or owl

On the bird, I'm wondering if an aggressive bird in the area or some other small animal keeps taking off with it. Sorry a barbarian rage attacked your second though

It may have been an animal that ate your bird but most probably kids. I cant believe someone has smashed your house, I saw what it looked like when whole. Some evil folk around.

I had an ammo can I filled with micros a while back, it took me months to make, it was found one time and got a favorite point and stolen,

if it happen over and over ill suggest change location or premium only😁 for the moment i have 31 caches and they are all for premium because i was changing or replacing a caches twice a week.

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

Sounds like a good plan. Thank you!

Dr. Banner found you're cash and couldnt open it...

The question I dont see youve addressed in the vid is if you had permission for this spot. If it was a property owner discovering it I could totally see them just smashing

@Stardustzzz

2 жыл бұрын

Great question! Yes, I did have permission to place this cache here.

That little house was so cute, and it looks like it was deliberately smashed, unfortunately... I'm so sorry that happened... I wonder what would make someone do something like that

Sad

I could be way off but bigfoot may have found ur caches and got hungry so he munched on the bird and eggs thinking they were food (sorry bigfoot) and then a little later that night he seen ur other one and he probably thought "hey look a little house maybe there's a bird or squirrel inside" and picked it up started shaking it but with his massive strength he accidently tore it up and was like "oops sorry" (in his really deep voice all shy like) then hurriedly piled the pieces up and ran away while looking around to make sure no one saw (picture that in ur head 🤣) I would probably still hide there I just wouldn't hide something that I put so much effort into just in case someone returned to destroy it again. maybe replace it with something they cant destroy something metal? maybe wait a couple months before replacing it and that way when they come back a couple times and it isn't there they will think its gone for good and not come back? both of them were part of the seedy side of humanity prolly a group of kids got together and said hey lets go destroy some geocaches bc they think geocaching is dumb or something but I don't think that its in any way an attack on you bc I have heard of kids doing stuff like that! I've only seen two of ur videos so far (I just found you and will be watching more) but you seem charming and smart and pretty and so creative so I just don't see it being any kind of attack on you so don't get discouraged!

So I was actually reincarnated as a bird as was able to witness the doghouse cache being destroyed. A lumberjack can along. He saw the Chupacabra has made it, it's home. So he bought one of those like hunting camo building things and waited until it left to eat a goat or a child. He then chopped it up, specifically to make sure the Chupacabra sees his home in taters and leaves forever. Long story short, the Chupacabra(actually pretty cool guy named Jonah) ended up killing and eating me in a blind rage. So here I am as a human.

Jamie i highly suggest you don't drive your car without a Cat Converter. It will ruin alot of your sensors. And cost you alot of money to replace them. My Dad does Exhaust work for a living that's how i know. Cat Converters being stolen here in the San Gabriel Valley has been crazy for a few months. Those thief's finally got busted a month ago.

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the tip! I am pretty much keep it parked until my appointment with the mechanic to get it fixed. I am driving it when I need to but I hate it when I do. It's too loud lol

Hey Jamie, first of all so sorry to see that damage, best you can do is just keep on keeping on just make them again if you want too, and set it to members only, but that can only do so much, I want to share a similar story, I once had a cache destroyed aswell, was hidden under a very heavy rock, got destroyed, and the cache was thrown onto the ground, mangled, here’s the photo if you want to check it out: “ ibb.co/Yb03gBS ibb.co/jfFf2HK “ GL AND HH!

I own a little over 20 caches that are active and only 2 have been muggled

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

That is awesome! Are they in any high traffic areas?

@BoomJG13

3 жыл бұрын

@@Stardustzzz a lot of them are a park. Some are LPC. And a few are on street signs neighborhood

People have no respect for anyone or anything

It might be a real bird dat got it

The bird somebody probably distroyed because they didn’t understand your construction. The bird house was just flat destroyed by inconsiderate people. Try a new hiding spot where you might need a little rougher terrain to keep it safe. Keep on hiding I have had plenty gone missing and seen quite a few abused.

Very interesting... very sus.... I think sus is the new word for 2021. I hear it SO often now, hehe. That is odd though what happened. We have some hiders here who often seem to be targeted for cache vandalism =/ Hope it's not, but I think more people would hope you don't stop hiding than give in to the haters, if it is haters... could just be a mean critter. lol

@Stardustzzz

3 жыл бұрын

lol it is very sus. I hope I don't have a hater. I don't really know too many of the cachers around here since I don't get out much. I hope I didn't make any enemies. Maybe it's someone who is "that geocacher" watching my don't be that geocacher series :P

OK so you’re asking for what I think in my opinion no I have not read any of the comments from anyone else on purpose. Able to believe and vandalism I do also believe that one person could’ve done both of them it could’ve been totally because this person doesn’t like you because if you go through the app it tells you who created every single one of them yes I do think that it was broken on purpose it could’ve been broken honestly by somebody. I would be building and if it gets broken again within a short period of time then you know you have the same person doing the damage and I would minimize it to a small container. It sucks

Someone apparently saw you stashing the cache, that is so immature with an attitude/ emotional mode of making anyone miserable or unhappy when they have the opportunity. Suggest a place hidden better from the public.

Hi Jamie to be honest i dont LIKE mini and micro containers sticking out of animal bodies. It looks disturbing.

Move onward