Funny you should ask this question. I've come across my own
hitchhikers about half a dozen times both in my own boxes and in
other peoples' boxes. I even came across one of my sister's
hitchhiking letterboxes that I had previously found in somebody
else's box. In those instances where it was my second acquaintance
with the hitchhiking letterbox, I did not claim it as a found
letterbox nor did I move it to a new location.

Along the same lines, I have had the awesome opportunity to
exchange stamps with other letterboxers. On two occasions, those
individuals changed their signature stamps and I had the privilege
to receive their new signature stamp during a subsequent meeting.
In those two cases, I didn't count the newly exchanged signature
stamps as exchanges because I hadn't formally given them a new
signature stamp from me (i.e. no 'exchange' of stamps between the
two of us occurred--in that situation it was a one-sided event and
thus IMHO not an 'official' exchange--others might feel differently
about this but that's the beauty of this hobby--there are no set
rules).

Have a great Thanksgiving & happy letterboxing!!!

dvn2r ckr
Adventure Seeker

F172 P42 X34 E2

--- In letterbox-usa@y..., "the7nails" <7nails@t...> wrote:
> What about when you find your own hitchhiker in your own box.
> This happened to me when I went to check on one of my boxes.
> I had dropped our Pocket Change Hitch Hiker in my Worlds Most
> Boring Letterbox and DVN2RCKR had found it and placed it into
> my Huckleberry Box, apparently while checking her own boxes at
> the same park.
>
> How do I score that one? R for recaptured?
>
> Nailhead

> I do remember that the verdict seemed to be that it would count as a find.
> Which, when you think about it, does make sense. I think it wouldn't count as
> a find, though, if you leave a HH in one of your own boxes, and then come
> back to check on it some time later, and the HH is still there. That happened
> to us about a month ago.

I did come up before. A HH is a box without clues -- therefore finding it
is mostly blind luck (with many notable exceptions, of course), so where ever
you find it, even if in your own box, it should count. You have basically
solved the clue and found a letterbox.

As to the second question, I don't think a box should be counted more than
once unless all of: the clues, location, and stamp, have changed. In the
case mentioned above, you can tell by the logbook if the location has changed
(moving and coming back in my mind counts as a change), and if the stamp has
changed. The clue, tho, prolly hasn't changed (it remains the null clue),
but it is possible a "hint" was made available since the first time you found
it and the second time you found it -- this would be a clue change. So,
in general, unless it moved and came back with a different stamp, and there
was some clue that this happened, I would not count it the second time. JMHO.

Cheers
Randy
PF Lawyer