It maybe that too many people consider their gear disposable when it is an inconvience. If you are setting up a cache or stash then you have the responsibility to identify it as such and also include some contact information if it is not used or recovered in a reasonable time. People just get lazy and drop or toss what they are being burdened with when the going gets tough. We do not live in a society that respects other peoples property absolutly. If it is abandoned or lost then it is trash and fair game, but if it is labled then it should always be repected. To the dropee, you set it down you take your chances, that's just world in which we live. It is a hard call for others to decide what should and should not be picked up. I will not condemn any one for picking up or leaving that which appears abandoned. It is a call, you have to make and live with yourself. The resposiblity for this conumdrum, wheather through carelessness or deliberate action, belongs to the dropee and not the finder. Never the less this is not an excuse to take that which is obviuosly not yours.