Hello IFISHAZ (Dennis P.) here,
Unfortunately I have had two travel bugs lost by geocachers who had retrieved them from caches. Anyone have any suggestions as to what I could do next? It seems to me (as a relatively new cacher) to be a waste of money to buy TB's that if they get lost are just gone (both bugs were lost in their first months of life, one wasn't even a complete month old). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

By sheer coincidence I received an email last night from a cacher who picked up one of my TBs last November! I had emailed him a couple of times in the past but never got a response until now. He was quite apologetic, and he has promised to put it back in play very soon.

My suggestions:

1. Never give up a TB for dead until and unless you have proof positive that it is gone.
2. If you’re convinced your TB will never again see the light of day, you can always “drop” it in the Travel Bug Graveyard (GC72A8)  (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=d95385c7-cfe2-47ef-b232-94e7818cbaa8). If it does turn up later, you can retrieve it from this site. This assumes you (still) have the TB ID number.
3. Try emailing the cacher who last took the TB. I think many TBs get lost when people grab them and then lost interest in the game. Maybe a friendly reminder will at least get them out one more time to put the TB back in play.
4. I’m convinced that TBs without specific destinations have much better and more frequent travels.
5. Finally, you have to be realistic and think of TBs as one of those animal species you see on National Geographic specials where many are born but few survive their first year. If that’s disturbing to you, then don’t spend any more money on TB dog tags.

Steve

Team Tierra Buena