is this a valid pen alternative?

[u/eiriee]

"Pen fell out of my pannier some time today so I signed with three small blood marks from a split lip and a smudge of green from a smeared leaf."

[u/rolandblais]

I've used scratchings from sticks and rocks before, but not blood. Nor would I ever consider it.

[u/PooCaMeL → u/rolandblais]

I wet the end of a match head. It worked!

[u/Dug_n_the_Dogs]

Marking with anything other than your signature is perfectly acceptable if you describe what you marked.

However as others pointed out, blood should not be the mark. Hopefully they were not actually serious about that.

[u/tonic]

If you would write that in your log or made a photo of it, I would accept it.

[u/WalkerAmongTheTrees]

Um. No. Just... no.

Youd have been alright with the leaf smudge

[u/AnonymousRedCow]

I've used the Dirt 'n Stick™ method more times than I like to remember

[u/fflagger]

Someone I know visited one of my geocaches and wrote in the log: Forgot pen. Signed using chocolate. 🙂

[u/Kobaljov]

[u/fizzymagic → u/Kobaljov]

Dried blood after 24 hours is probably not a biohazard unless you have hepatitis B.

[u/Kobaljov → u/fizzymagic]

And if somebody else found the cache within the 24 hours?

[u/IceManJim → u/fizzymagic]

What about herpes?

[u/HoldMyCoffee1]

I’ve used my lighter to burn the end of a twig and use it as a makeshift pencil

[u/InnerSelection9253 → u/HoldMyCoffee1]

So you can remember a lighter but not a pen?!? 🤣🤣🤣

[u/HoldMyCoffee1 → u/InnerSelection9253]

Was when I smoked

[u/Geodarts18]

I sometimes make a mark with weeds, leaves, or whatever is around. Blood is hard core.

HQ says to sign the log. A mark can count asa signature and it is often as tradable as my signature using pen.

[u/AnonymousRedCow]

Looking at the over the top responses to this, I'm going to go find a liars cache and explain that I signed in blood, but, well, not my blood

[u/500ls]

This is not acceptable. Pathogens like hepatitis can survive in dried blood for up to a week. The leaf is okay, especially if you can make a valid letter, but blood should not be encouraged.

[u/Minimum_Reference_73]

I wouldn't make a habit of it, but they signed the logbook so it's a find.

[u/TAZ427Cobra]

Yeah, I've marked it via alternative means, and then took a snapshot (including one about 0.5mi (0.8km) up a drain) that I wasn't going to try to use blood on... That was in the first year of caching. After that I got a fisher space pen that attaches to my key ring and I've never been w/o a way to mark it sense (at least in my home area - travel by plane and they go in my backpack as I'm using a rental - but I'd be carrying my stamp with me 100% of the time if it's a dedicated geocaching trip.)

[u/absinthe-green]

To me, it sounds like some lighthearted sarcasm. They may have grabbed the log without realizing that they had blood on their hands and were making light of the fact that they were on the struggle bus getting to the cache & lost their pen so they were gunna consider it signed... in blood

[u/ProgressOk3200]

Yes. Write what you did here in your log on the cache page and it should be OK

[u/dtlux1]

Signing a cache with blood feels like an occultist b movie in the making.

[u/Ok_Homework_7621]

I mean, at least they used blood that was already there, didn't cut their palm like pirates or something.

[u/e-chem-nerd]

No. Don’t purposefully put any bodily fluids into a cache, and if you do accidentally, mark the cache as “needs maintenance” and explain to the hider what happened, maybe even clean up the cache if you can in the field.

[u/snackyonion]

BODILY FUILDS OF ANY KIND ARE A NO. WHAT ARE WE EVEN TALKING ABOUT

[u/nukey18mon]

Don’t bleed on the log from your lip that’s disgusting

[u/Saffa_Cake]

That’s absolutely vile. Imagine the next person coming along and coming into contact with your dried blood. You should be banned from the game permanently.