Leather-Fly Swatter-Ladybug Mini Tag

I maintain records on my trackables. They have the goal to circulate more than five years and to be moved by at least 25 cachers. That is a target rate of five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days. The average drop rate of my trackables in the US is 124 days, in Europe it is 71 days. As of 29-Feb-24 this trackable had survived for 2.1 years and had been moved by 16 cachers, for an average drop every 48 days, or 7.7 drops per year. Please keep it moving, then drop it in a safe place!

No permission is needed to leave the U.S. While in the U.S., please drop it at an event, in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban, non-premium cache. Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean and dry, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items. Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

This trackable is one of a series fashioned from leather blanks, some of which are intended as livestock ear-tags while others are for fancy-tooled earrings for ladies (men too, I suppose). I have no talent for leather tooling, but I was able to provide a little personality to the leather with some simple, imperfectly-applied stamping tools. Each trackable is named with a combination of the item made with leather shown in the gallery, for the subject of the stamp, and for the shape of the blank.

I have concerns about how well leather trackables will stand up to the conditions one sometimes finds in caches, but the blanks are a good size and comparatively inexpensive, so I am testing them. Each trackable starts in a heat-sealed bag that will eventually leak or disappear. The leather is also treated with a beeswax-propolis-oil compound to help shed water. Some discoloration is expected. If it is easy to do so, I would appreciate comments on the condition of the leather in the trackable discover- or find-logs.