Hiding your Box

When you place your box on the moor do you want lots of visitors to find it or do you try to find a place that will not attract to many visitors !
I ask this as one of my boxes has only been visited 6 times in 2 years. [/b]

Good question, I prefer to hide my boxes in popular areas but hide them well and not to near a track. This way general holiday makers not knowing about our hobby shouldn't stumble across them. Some of my boxes can be right under someone's nose and they will never know it.

I feel there's nothing worse than a large pile of rocks placed over a mini cave in an outcrop containing a box. This is ok if you want anyone to find your letterbox, but this can also attract letterbox thiefs, a nice memento of Dartmoor as far as some are concerned.
Come on, how many times have we all spotted numberous boxes from a distance and say 'Err, yeah, I wonder if that's a box, duhh!' or we just stand there laughing and say sarcastically "What's that over there then?"

I as everyone here love our fabulous hobby, but I feel it's down to the individual where a box can be hidden. So to me a popular holiday area is ok, as long as the box is very well hidden and cannot be stumbled across.


Dizzy

The Ghost Returns wrote:When you place your box on the moor do you want lots of visitors to find it or do you try to find a place that will not attract to many visitors !
I ask this as one of my boxes has only been visited 6 times in 2 years. [/b]

As a finder, it's great to find a box that no-one else has visited for quite some time.

However, I tend to agree with Dizzy as well - hide them well but in a popular area so that holiday makers/letterbox thiefs do not have the pleasure of destroying a wonderful hobby.

Tina

I like to try to make box sites look natural as possible - I dont think "Lets make this as hard a possible to find" but I try to make it a weather proof as possible.
I find it sad sometimes when I find a box buried under a mound of rounded stones, not only is it annoying trying to excavate the mound - but it is the trapping of fingers as some of these boulders move, and the potential of the box being destroyed by rocks falling back upon them.

If I can I keep it to a minimum - it looks less lik an eyesore or better still find a natural hole (not a rabbit hole) and no rocks in front of it

Hi! My wife and I will be hiding our first box this weekend. We intend putting it somewhere less travelled by the tourist as we have seen that some people, having found a box, fail to hide it sufficiently well (often leaving it in full view) and it then becomes easy prey for the uninitiated/thief.
As ours will be a special commemorative box (our Silver Wedding Anniversary), we would be very upset if it went missing.

Now letter-boxing addicts, having found 116 - long way to go to our 1000!!!

Hi Generation Gap!

Welcome to the site! Hope that you find some useful information here.

Have you decided in which area you are going to place your first box yet? We're also going to place our first two boxes this weekend around Littaford Tor and Crow Tor (weather depending) .

We'll take advice of what's been mentioned earlier in this thread and try and hide the boxes well, but make sure that they have good clues so that they can be found by genuine letterboxers!

Have a good weekend - all the best!

James

Generation Gap wrote:Hi! My wife and I will be hiding our first box this weekend. We intend putting it somewhere less travelled by the tourist as we have seen that some people, having found a box, fail to hide it sufficiently well (often leaving it in full view) and it then becomes easy prey for the uninitiated/thief.
As ours will be a special commemorative box (our Silver Wedding Anniversary), we would be very upset if it went missing.

Hi Generation Gap, good to have you with us. Hope you find a suitable place for your box, away from a footpath and well hidden.

James & Jenny wrote:We'll take advice of what's been mentioned earlier in this thread and try and hide the boxes well, but make sure that they have good clues so that they can be found by genuine letterboxers!

Once again hope you find a good site plus have good weather for the day.

Dizzy

Generation Gap wrote: Now letter-boxing addicts, having found 116 - long way to go to our 1000!!!

Generation gap

Remember there is the 200 and 500 Badge before you reach 1000, so you only have 84 more to find before you can crack open the bubbly

Hi GG... Just remember this isn't a contest... go out and enjoy the moor - go and find out the history behind where you are looking around - there are archiologial artifacts all around the moor from the Corbels to a hut circle and tinners mounds.


All you need to do is look!

Hi, guys.
We were hoping to put our Silver Anniversary box in an area near the location that we found our first box, at Belstone. The area is now so overgrown that we actually had difficulty finding two large rock outcrops, let alone the box! (Oval Series - The Tors). Will continue looking for a good location.

On the subject of Belstone - we spent a good 4-5 hours, from Belstone to Higher Tor, looking for boxes - but failed miserably, not one. We used clues and random searching but it is almost as if the area has been cleared of letter-boxes. Anyone else had this problem there?

We also got caught in a torrential downpour - ah, the joys of an English summer!!!!

Regards to all and thanks for the welcome remarks.

Generation Gap - Howard n Sue

Hi Howard and Sue - funny you should put this message on here today - I was up on Belstone yesterday afternoon - and found two boxes you had stamped up in and I too got caught in some heavy rain! Have been looking around the area for some time now as it is quite close to home - have found quite a lot of boxes - but still have a lot of catalogue ones to find. Someone did say that many are in very small boxes and hidden well - so I expect they are there somewhere! Am happy to let you know the ones I have found - and the dates - you may be able to match some up. I visited Higher Tor last Friday evening - and between there and Winter Tor found 12 boxes, 6 catalogue ones and 6 spares - so they are certainly still round there! Hope this helps - may be see you on Belstone some day!

I went upto Belstone a few years ago and found loads of boxes, then last year I decided to go back up again thinking there should be a few more up there and struggled to find four! However one of the boxes I found had not been fouind or stamped in for over four years!!!!

I suspect it is one of the tors that have been cleared of boxes - but I did enjoy the walk though

Hi, all
Well we have finally succeeded in hiding our Anniversary Box - not where originally planned, but at Crockern Tor (61?75? - still to determine a more accurate grid reference). It's in view of the road, but well hidden - will register it soon. Hope the bearings we give will be accurate enough - but as we're reasonably new to this, please be gentle with us if not!
Not sure whether putting the clues on here is a good idea, as anyone can access this site.
Saw Dizzy's stamp in the books of the letterboxes we found up there.

Howard n Sue

Hi Howard & Sue, the trick to giving good clues is to make sure that you give a description, bearing or paces off to at least one nearby object. I don't even bother looking for boxes that only give bearings to things several miles away because the potential for error is so great that you can't accurately determine the location to within tens of metres.

Generation Gap wrote: Saw Dizzy's stamp in the books of the letterboxes we found up there.

Howard n Sue

Hi, I know I try and get to most places, Crocken Tor is an ok place to hide your boxes as all the one's (bar one) I looked for up there a few months ago were on site. Probably due to the lack of parking around that area so we don't get to many non boxers up there.

If you can P.M me the clues I will take a peek next time I'm up that way.

Cheers
Dizzy

After lots of searching for boxes you know what to look out for. For example that pile of small rocks placed under a larger rock. Erosion of soil and vegitation were the rocks are rolled away to get to the box. The bench type rock that you sit on to stamp your book and flatten the vegetation under your feet. The erosion about 2 feet from the box were you kneel down and the toe of your boot erodes the soil. The dead heather pluged into a hole.
I have found that by painting the box with matt black paint you can hide the box very well without the need of rocks/heather/bracken etc.
So if we can take a little more care moving the rocks and flattening the vegitation we might not have so many boxes stolen!

we went on north hessery last weekend and who ever did the charity walk before us, left the box on the top of the rock not put back under in it right place, some people really spoil it for others and make it easier for the box thief.