I haven't been doing it all that long, but I've found that a camera or
binoculars are really helpful. Or even a newspaper -- something you can
drop and look like you're picking up. Once I even "accidentally" dropped my
letterboxing mini-bag so its contents scattered a bit, to give me an excuse
to stoop down and look at/feel for something while I was picking them up.

Best!
Longhorn

-----Original Message-----
From: ladylee84@yahoo.com [mailto:ladylee84@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 1:37 PM
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [LbNA] Any ideas on how to be discreet??


I am looking for suggestions about how to be discreet when trying to
retrieve a letterbox without being seen. In this day and age,
people are bound to wonder what the heck I am doing poking around.
And I don't want to be detected. But what do other boxers do?
Pretend to be painting, looking at plants or for bugs??? Thanks.

mom-of-3



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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Ok, my family is very new at this but this seems to be working for
us. It is very difficult to go out and be discreet in a group of 4
to 7 people, especially with kids along. So, we don't even try. The
kids are allowed to get a bit unruly. I make sure I yell at them a
couple of times to "Get out of that bush!" or "Get down out of that
tree!" Then a grownup ends up dragging the littlest one out of a
hiding place. Oh, and while he's in there, he grabs the letterbox,
too. We stamp over lunch, then make a big todo of taking a group
picture in front of this "lovely five-trunked tree" that is just
perfect for a family photo. We look like a bunch of tourists with
obnoxious kids. It seems to work. People would rather get away from
us than care what we are actually doing. And we get a wonderful
family picnic out of the whole thing. It's kind of like
a "diversionary" stealth. Watch the pretty waving handkerchief while
I set up my next trick, lol.

Florida Sunsets

--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, ladylee84@y... wrote:
> I am looking for suggestions about how to be discreet when trying
to
> retrieve a letterbox without being seen. In this day and age,
> people are bound to wonder what the heck I am doing poking
around.
> And I don't want to be detected. But what do other boxers do?
> Pretend to be painting, looking at plants or for bugs??? Thanks.
>
> mom-of-3

If you are with your kids, pretending to draw or look at bugs is great.

I carry my LB supplies in a plastic clipboard box that opens up, so when I am sitting, stamping it, it looks like I am drawing or taking notes.

As for pulling a box out of its hidey hole I usually will either wait until no one is around or, if that is not an option, I will comment purposely about what a cool bug that is or about some feature of the tree etc. Carrying a field guide wouldn't hurt.

I believe it was Warrior Woman who commented that her favorite routine with her kids was to say, "You have to go again?!...okay go behind that tree". (LOL)With a wink to the kids, off they'd go.

-Kim (Ruatypuff)


>
> From: ladylee84@yahoo.com
> Date: 2004/08/25 Wed PM 01:37:16 EDT
> To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [LbNA] Any ideas on how to be discreet??
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Once, when stamping in, a group of school kids went by on the trail
(a field trip, I presume) and I heard one of them say "I wonder if
she's doing research?". I guess I looked like a "professional" (hee
hee)! That is a cover I've used often since then.

Timbertoes

--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, ladylee84@y... wrote:
> I am looking for suggestions about how to be discreet when trying
to
> retrieve a letterbox without being seen. In this day and age,
> people are bound to wonder what the heck I am doing poking around.
> And I don't want to be detected. But what do other boxers do?
> Pretend to be painting, looking at plants or for bugs??? Thanks.
>
> mom-of-3

> I believe it was Warrior Woman who commented that her favorite
routine with her kids was to say, "You have to go again?!...okay go
behind that tree". (LOL)With a wink to the kids, off they'd go.
>

Oh, that peeing behind the tree thing is priceless!! Now, if my
little guy wasn't so neurotic about how clean the bathroom has to be
before he'll use it, I'd be in business!

Florida Sunsets

I'm fairly new at this, but here are the things we've done so far:

- a somewhat urban letterbox: we went at 2am since this is a popular tourist
site and we didn't think we'd be able to get it w/o being seen. This was our
first find, so we didn't know any of the tricks yet.

- we had to skip our second find and go back for the next day because there
was someone sitting right near it

- at one hidden in a cemetary full of tourists, we pretended to be setting our
stuff down so we could take a picture, then when we picked our stuff back up
we also grabbed the box with it

- at one hidden near a popular waterfront walk, we set down all our stuff near
the box, then decided to move to somewhere else to watch the seaotters, grabbed
the box while collecting all our stuff to move. When rehidding it, we pretended
to be searching for something in our backpack, took everything out in a big
pile right next to the hidding place, then rehid it while putting stuff back
in the backpack.

The basic idea we use is, if possible, do it while no one is around. If that's
not possible, make it look like we're doing something normal, so people don't
wonder what we're doing. If that's not possible, skip the box til a better time.
Be especially careful when there are kids around, they are very observant!

As for descretion while stamping, we generally take the box away from the
hidding place, then sit down as if to rest/draw/read/whatever. We have not
figured out how people "stamp in quickly", since we like to look through the
logbook, write a comment, etc. So insead, we take our time, but not too near
the hidding place if there are people around. We like hiking too, so a lot of
the boxes we've found don't have many people around anyway.

Liz



On Wed, Aug 25, 2004 at 05:37:16PM -0000, ladylee84@yahoo.com wrote:
> I am looking for suggestions about how to be discreet when trying to
> retrieve a letterbox without being seen. In this day and age,
> people are bound to wonder what the heck I am doing poking around.
> And I don't want to be detected. But what do other boxers do?
> Pretend to be painting, looking at plants or for bugs??? Thanks.
>
> mom-of-3
>
>

When I'm by myself, I often drop things, or sit with a snack and a drink, or
bring a book. Then again, I haven't had the situation of there being other
people around very often. When I go with someone else and there have been
other people around, the missing watch trick is very useful. You take your
own watch off, root around, and of course, when you come up from rooting
around, it's in your hand.

-Jena
blue dragonfly

All great suggestions! You'll find your kids to be a great
distraction! They will always be picking up leaves, rocks, etc.
Use that to your advantage. I've always found though that if we
don't make a big deal out of our being there, that most people just
walk past us without worrying what we're doing. We grab our box as
quickly & discreetly as we can (obviously we don't do it if a person
is right there) & then if we have to move away to stamp in, we
settle down somewhere in a circle & just look like we're doing some
sort of activity- which we are. Most people could care less. We're
pretty quick when we need be with one of us poised with the stamp,
one with the ink pad, one with the book (& the two-year old chasing
a bug). Putting it back seems to be trickier as you want it to be
well-hidden. The two-year old is great for this because we use him
as a great excuse to play in the rocks & sticks. Then, my 6-year
old is the judge of whether or not it is hidden well-enough. She
stands back & at many different angles & looks to see if any part of
the box is showing & if it is, she directs the 2-year old to gather
more rocks. :)

Happy Hunting!
The Family

Stamping in quickly has always been the biggest challenge, I've found. I
like to be able to see who else has found the box, always looking for the
names "Wanda & Pete" and "Chuck & Molly", as I can't think of a box I've
found that they haven't visited.
I can't decide which is easier:
-doing it alone and thus only having to do one stamp into my book, one stamp
into the logbook, and it's done
OR
-doing it with Dave (FLiP, formerly known as Moonshine), where we each take
a task - one of us stamps us into the box, one of us stamps the box into our
logs.

He's much better at discreetly retrieving the box and replacing it, but he
has less free time than I do to go out 'boxing.

-Jena
blue dragonfly

--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Timbertoes"
wrote:
> Once, when stamping in, a group of school kids went by on the
trail
> (a field trip, I presume) and I heard one of them say "I wonder if
> she's doing research?". I guess I looked like a "professional"
(hee
> hee)! That is a cover I've used often since then.
>
> Timbertoes
>
We once spotted a couple looking very suspicious: dressed in hiking
boots, shorts, and outdoorsy-looking hats, they were peering into a
crevice, digging in a backpack, looking at a book.... I guessed they
were letterboxers, but my husband insisted they were wildlife
biologists. Says he's seen the type a million times. I still said
letterboxers. So, to settle the argument, he marches over and
asks, "Are you wildlife biologists?" To which she says, "No, we just
like to wear funny hats." Turns out they had a new digital camera
they were using to photograph a really big bug in the crevice, and
were taking the manual out of the bag for instructions.
So, yes, the two activities DO look alike. Just remember your funny
hat.
Aud

I read about a g'c'cher once, who has her kids walk away from the site and
sing their ABCs at the top of their lungs. While everyone's looking at the
kids, wondering what in the world they're doing, she grabs the c'che.

DebBee


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Bring a garbage bag with you and pick up trash as you look for it. You
instantly blend into the background.

Crawl inside a garbage bag and hold perfectly still. You instantly
blend into the background.
~R.

I had a similar idea where my wife and I would draw attention by having a
loud argument, ie something juicy which everyone could overhear. While I am
distracting everyone around by loudly pleading that "she meant nothing to me" our
son would grab the letterbox.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I don't really have anything other than my own funny story to add.
I generally find that if I move far enough away and act like I'm not
doing anything sneaky, no one even looks twice.

For Father's Day, my sister and I gave our dad his own letterboxing
stuff and took him to a popular park in Rhode Island to find his
first few. The third one in the series was RIGHT next to several
rock climbers. It was so close that when my dad stood on the low
wall where the box was, one of the rock climbers ran into him! So,
we all stood there, watching these spider people, wondering what in
the world to do...we coudn't go home without this stamp, after all.
So, Dad (remember, this is his first time out) cooly bends over,
grabs the box, and takes off. My sister and I didn't even see him
take it! We ran to catch up to him, yelling after him to ask why he
was taking off like that. Imagine our surprise when he turns around
and hisses through clenched teeth that WE were blowing HIS cover!

Hapy trails,
Kerri

Sometimes the best way to be discrete is to be obviouis.

If you take a plastic bag with you and pick up some trash (or at least look for some while you are searching).

I also have a safety vest (those bright orange or yellow vests that construction workers wear) that I wear when I am looking for survey benchmarks and sometimes when I am looking for letterboxes in busy areas.

You can spend a lot of time in an area looking for things, under things, walking back and forth, etc. before someone will question what you are doing. It also helps to carry a clipboard. For some reason, clipboards just carry an air of officiality.
----- Original Message -----
From: ladylee84@yahoo.com
Subject: [LbNA] Any ideas on how to be discreet??


I am looking for suggestions about how to be discreet when trying to
retrieve a letterbox without being seen. In this day and age,
people are bound to wonder what the heck I am doing poking around.
And I don't want to be detected. But what do other boxers do?
Pretend to be painting, looking at plants or for bugs??? Thanks.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I'm gonna try the clipboard idea when the neighborhood kids don't want to
pick up all the army men in my living room! You think that will scare them a
little?

Lipstick Chick
Barbie Jo Team Jo Jo


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]