Ethical Debate

[silyngufy]

Okay. Can you claim you found a geocache simply by stumbling upon it by luck or accident. I recently found a cache and it is a cache that has perplexed many a cacher. I accidently found it and don’t know if I should log it or not, or should I try to “find” it again using the wps, which are extremely difficult to find according to the log?

[Lostby7]

Oh that is a sticky wicket! Personally I’d struggle with as you are and then I’d probably email the cache owner and seek his or her advise.

[Buy_The_Tie]

[Taking off admin hat… putting on geocacher hat]

You found it…..

You can log it……

But be honest as to how you found it in your log.

[/Taking off admin hat… putting on geocacher hat]

[Ray]

I am with Tie on this. You found it, Log it. The cache owner needs to know that the cache may be found through the back door. This is how muggles locate caches.

Your log should state that you stumbled on the cache.

Trudy & I stumbled on the final of a difficult multi-cache a few years ago and did not log the find. We have discussed it and had time to think about it. While we have no regrets, we feel we would have been comfortable logging it as well. If the owner is not pleased with your choice, he can delete the log. Don’t let it Pi** you off, this just shows that you have a difference of opinions; but you are right in my opinion.

[Timberline Echoes]

In the past couple weeks we have found the final in a 3 part multi, that we thought was a 2 part. We accidently skipped part 2.

We also found another cache in which we found part 1 and and the final was part 5. Part 2 was missing so we could not get the coords to find 3 or 4… but the clues were good enough to get us close to the final. We found the caches and signed the logs, and let the owners know. Two different owners, two different states actually.

We found the caches, signed the logs= one smiley each.
Timberline Echoes

[PCFrog]

If you found it and sign the log, then you found it.

[marc_54140]

I found the finals of …

a 2 part multi,
a 3 part multi, and
a 12 part multi ….

All without finding any waypoints! I still found the cache! I logged them.

[EnergySaver]

I agree, log the find and indicate the situation in your notes (without spoiling it of course) … it’s silly and not very logical to “make believe” you didn’t find it, or to now retrace your steps to find it again when you already know where it is. Luckily no money or great rewards are being taken from the pockets of the rest of us, so we’ll survive your great luck 😉

[TyeDyeSkyGuy]

Gonna have to go with the flow here too. Log it. The sport is not about the numbers. If you were clever enough to find it (even if by luck) then you found it. But I also agree that it should be posted in the log how it was found.

Remember not to take this sport to seriously, or we will all have children going to summer geo-camps learning how to outfox one another in geo-competition. We’ll have parents beating eachother up with thier GPS’r’s blah blah blah… You get the point! 😆

[kbraband]

I know the original question was about accidentally finding a geocache, but I have to agree that no matter how you find it is cool. Here’s my example of finding without using a GPS:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=fe775a06-f19e-47d9-a017-f643ef39933e

[Team B Squared]

I asked this question in the MIGO forums a couple of months ago (well, close to this question, I asked about finding the final of a multi without finding all the stages) and it was overwhelming how many people said that if you find it you log it in these types of situations. Pretty much everything that has been said here were the same types of comments I was getting over there.

[Cheesehead Dave]

I’d go with the “log it!” crowd. As much as you’d like, you now know where the cache is, and you can’t “unfind” it. I’ve found caches this way, sometimes accidentally, sometimes on purpose. Either way, mention it in your log. It might alert the cache owner that they need to adjust how they have the cache hidden so it won’t be stumbled upon again.

[CBMB]

Log it! Would you NOT log the hide if you’d have done all parts, then walked upon the final as some other cacher was signing the log? So you didn’t find it with the numbers…you found it, log it! (Then laugh at the knowledge that so many others are struggling with the find…hee! hee!) 😉

[cheezehead]

Log it. I ya found it, ya found it.Sometimes with the clues given you can figure it out with out even looking for it. There was one up here in a spot that I had scouted for putting a cache. A week later,some else placed a cache at this location. I knew exactly where it was cuz there was no other place to hid a container.

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