shawhh

i found several hundred caches with a garmin12xl before upgrading to get mapping. i'll not reiterate the features already mentioned, but will say that the antenna on the 12 is superb! it will get and hold lock just about anywhere. the accuracy of the unit is acceptable though it will not count down to less than 10 meters (i recommend using the unit in metric mode as 10 meters is less than .01 miles). it is rugged and reliable, but i'll second the vote to get a newer model if you can to get waas, a countdown that goes in feet, and possibly mapping (depends on your budget). -harry

nearby metals or electrical fields will affect the reading from your magnetic compass. certainly a factor when used inside a dwelling. if the electronic compass on your gpsr is not calibrated properly this will affect its accuracy. having used a variety of suunto products i doubt the compass is off. a couple of ways to check: 1) get a map and find a linear object. in the field readings should be the same (to a reasonable degree) as the reading from the map. 2) if you can find the north star, take a compass sight on it. it shouldn't be more than a degree or two off of true north. hope this helps. -harry

congrats on the milestone. -harry

briansnat, lucky you didn't both die. doesn't take much of the wrong shroom to destroy your liver. wild mushrooms are definitely not worth the risk. harry

oh! guess that'd be me. -harry

now just what kind of an idiot would waste their time playing such a stupid game? -harry

deet on the skin, permethrin on the clothes. one item of clothing i wouldn't like to do without is a Bugtamer jacket. amazingly effective against mosquitoes and no seeums. allows me to use less deet. permethrin is the bomb! -harry

best advice, leave the snake alone. about guaranteed to avoid getting bitten if you do. -harry

way to go doug! -harry

sounds similar to the "mother of all caches" series in south carolina. i enjoyed it a lot. if you haven't heard of it check it out. it was very well done. -harry

welcome to the game. you can set up any type of cache you like as long as it meets the site's guidlines. if you make up a wide dispersal type of multi, don't be hurt if it doesn't get as many hits as one with closer stages or single stages. also, if you're going to make the hunter work hard, make it worth his while at the final with either pretty good swag to trade and/or a really neat final destination. just my 2 cents worth. -harry

just a plea to everyone to not kill every snake you see, poisonous and nonpoisonous. they truly have a place in the natural world. here in north carolina i have had many encounters with rattlesnakes, cottonmouth moccasins, and copperheads and contrary to popular myth none of these has shown any aggression towards me. watch where you reach and where you step and you'll likely never be bitten. probably the quickest way to be bitten is to aggravate or try to handle a snake. just enjoy the sighting, step around them and be on your way. thanks. -harry

as criminal stated above, a magnetic compass is not very useful unless you know how to use it. both of the book titles given are good. i'd recommend sticking with compasses by suunto, silva, or bruton. with even a cheap baseplate compass from one of these manufacturers you should get good service. another excellent way to learn to use a compass is to join your local orienteering group (assuming there is one nearby). most offer instruction on map and compass work. there are also some excellent online tutorials available as well. check the links on the usof web page. look under "education" (www.us.orienteering.org) about the only time i use my magnetic compass when geocaching is if the tree cover around the cache is throwing off my gpsr's accuracy. then, i back out to an open area and get the bearing and distance to the cache from the gpsr and then follow the bearing in to the coords with the magnetic compass and pace count. good luck. and always carry spare batteries for the gpsr! -harry

This thread has never been about tresspassing. The location that it is in is accessible if you pay a fee. It is legal for me to be there as a finder whether or not the cache owner obtained approval to have his cache placed there. It is not the personal responsibility of every cache hunter to police every cache placed on the planet. Please read my other posts. Again, please read my other posts. The first several responders gave good advice in a balanced manner. Some responders (me included) gave their blunt opinions. This is why we have forums. the op asked if he would get into trouble if he sought the cache in question as a previous hunter had been hassled. now i do not agree that a cacher should take it upon himself to try to archive a cache based on incomplete information, but he certainly was addressing the possiblity of trespassing in his question. if i am guilty of anything in this regard it is in expanding on the question of placing caches illegally on private land. most of my posts in this regard were in response to another posters comments. i don't think i'll apologize for my feelings in this matter. alright, point two. i never said that every cacher should become the cache police for every cache. i pointed out that in my opinion there is responsibility on several levels, and that a breakdown in any one can lead to confrontations that may be less than pleasant if the cache is placed on private land without permission. if you thought i suggested that we start nitpicking each and every cache then either you misunderstood my intent or i didn't make myself clear. my posts in this regard were addressing personal responsibility. point three. yes, the first couple of posts were helpful, and i found no real offense in your "blunt" posting. however, i did find the "uh, is it any of your business." comment to be beyond blunt. if you didn't think it was rude, then we'll have to agree to disagree. thanks for your time. -harry

Hmm. I'm a landowner and I disagree with a number of things you have posted in this thread. A person has a concern about a cache in an area far away from his local area. He tried to contact the owner, but failed. At that point, it would have been best to get the area approver involved, but he didn't. Instead, he brought it directly to the forums where he offered to remove the cache as he will be visiting the area soon. As far as I'm concerned, YodaDoe should take no further action regarding this issue. After this thread, I'm sure that the local approver and the local cachers are aware if the situation. They can take whatever further action is necessary. care to elaborate? who knows, perhaps you'll convince me that trespassing is an ok thing to do when searching for a cache, or perhaps that the only one with any personal responsibility in this activity is the cache hunter, or that rudeness when answering a post is acceptable behavior. please! -harry

mostly cache alone. just my schedule being different from the regular 9 to 5 crowd. -harry

ditto! -harry

i too like the adventure and the challenge of the game, but fail to see how inquiring if a cache is placed on private land without permission is dumbing the game down to the first grade level unless you enjoy the challenge of trespassing and the resultant adventure of dealing with irate landowners and possibly law enforcement officials and then of course there is the courtroom adventure. no one said that the cache was too hard, or too challenging, just that it appeared to be on private land and that it possibly was not legally placed. it is very difficult to convey tone in an internet forum, but your initial response sure seemed disrespectful to me and apparently to some other forum readers. in reading other posts of yours regarding similar, though not identical, threads i have often agreed with your stand. however, it is a growing issue in that as the game grows we must exercise our personal responsibility not only as cache seekers, but as cache owners if we don't want increased regulation forced upon us by a less knowlegeable public. make a cache as hard physically or mentally as you like, but place it responsibly in a place that your fellow cachers can seek it out without looking over their shoulders all the time for trouble. -harry The place to inquire about whether or not the cache is on private land is with the cache owner or the land owner, not here. We are all different, I would have handled it differently and that is what my advice is based on. If I come upon a cache that I think might be on private land in violation of the guidelines, I would find it (in stealth mode) and notify the cache owner of my concerns. I might put my question in my found or DNF log. Beyond that, it's not my business to try to second guess the cache owner or the approver. The phrase "mind your own business" can be interpreted in several different tones, mine was not meant to belittle or disrespect the OP, it's just the advice most appropriate. now we are getting somewhere. i agree that it would have been best to contact the cache owner (it was tried) and failing that, or along with that, contact the landowner. yes, we are all different and that influences our behavior. i am a landowner as well as a geocacher and that definitely colors my attitude towards trespassing! so, as regards your handling of this kind of situation, i agree with you in all respects except that once you determine the cache to be on private land with questionable permission, there is no good reason, only excuses, as to why you should continue to seek the cache prior to ascertaining if indeed the public has a right to be on said property. i have, on more than one occasion posted my dnf and said in my log that the reason i failed to find the cache was that i couldn't find a public access to the property. in my opinion, and that is what it is, trespassing on private land is evidence of a blatant disrespect towards the landowner, and a disregard of the law as it is written regarding private ownership. mind your own business is excellent advice in most instances, but unless we handle our business in a responsible manner, others will step in to handle it for us. every time we trespass to find a cache, or place a cache on private property on which the public has no reasonable expectation to come, we give ammunition to those who would legislate us out of the game. -harry

i too like the adventure and the challenge of the game, but fail to see how inquiring if a cache is placed on private land without permission is dumbing the game down to the first grade level unless you enjoy the challenge of trespassing and the resultant adventure of dealing with irate landowners and possibly law enforcement officials and then of course there is the courtroom adventure. no one said that the cache was too hard, or too challenging, just that it appeared to be on private land and that it possibly was not legally placed. it is very difficult to convey tone in an internet forum, but your initial response sure seemed disrespectful to me and apparently to some other forum readers. in reading other posts of yours regarding similar, though not identical, threads i have often agreed with your stand. however, it is a growing issue in that as the game grows we must exercise our personal responsibility not only as cache seekers, but as cache owners if we don't want increased regulation forced upon us by a less knowlegeable public. make a cache as hard physically or mentally as you like, but place it responsibly in a place that your fellow cachers can seek it out without looking over their shoulders all the time for trouble. -harry

i didn't see where he was trying to police the cache, just asking if he was going to get in trouble if he sought the cache. this is a valid worry if the cache owner placed a cache on private land without permission. when this is done, the cache placer has, in effect, laid a trap for his fellow cachers in that he exposes them to confrontations with landowners, and possibly being arrested for trespassing. place a cache in a public place (a place or venue the public has a reasonable expectation to be) then i don't care if you did or did not actually talk to the powers that be (unless there is a specific ordinance regarding caching), but in this instance the cacher is merely trying to obtain information regarding his liability in seeking this cache. -harry I never claimed he was trying to “police” anything; in fact, I never even used that word. The only problem I have with your logic here is that geocachers have been questioned or harassed even when all proper permission was obtained. This is another in a long line of forum threads that start with “How did this cache get approved?” The fact is that it was approved, so someone looked at it and determined it was good. You or I, with far less information to make a proper assessment, have no business trying to re-approve a cache we will likely never see or hunt. We see this often in these types of threads, someone complains, everyone gets worked into a lather over it, then we find out the rest of the story, which is actually a non-story. My point is this, take responsibility for your actions. If you, with your purpose and reason, determine a risk (legal, physical, or whatever) is too great for the given return, look for ways to mitigate that risk. If it means skipping that cache, then that is your best course of action. Please don’t assume you (collective you) have some responsibility to second guess the approvers or apply your standards to another’s cache. It seems to me that you're the only one getting worked into a lather here. OP was just asking a question. Exactly, and what was the question? Was this cache illegally placed? It is not his cache and thus it is none of his/her business. Stick around a while; after you’ve been here long enough you’ll notice this come up over and over. is it his business if it was illegally placed? it sure is if he attempts to find the cache and winds up on the receiving end of an irate landowner or the local law! you state that it is all about personal responsibility and i agree 100%. the cache hider has the personal responsibility to place the cache in an area that can be legally accessed. there is a bond of trust between the cache hider and the cache seeker in that the cache seeker assumes that the cache hider placed the cache in a place open to the caching public. the reviewer has an element of responsiblity to, as much as is possible, ensure that the cache meets the site's guidlines, but since he relies mostly on the information provided by the cache hider, mistakes can and have been made. the cache seeker has the responsibility to exercise good judgement in seeking the cache. if the cache is obviously on private land and the cache seeker feels that permission was not obtained, then he must abandon the hunt. however, especially for the cacher not on his home ground, it may not always be clear where the line is drawn. he may inadvertently trespass to a cache assuming that the cache hider and the reviewer have held up their end of the bargain. i can assure you that this is not always the case. in my local area this has recently resulted in a pretty ugly confrontation between a landowner and a cacher seeking a cache placed on private land without permission that got listed on this site. yeah, it is all about personal responsibility, but there is more than one person involved who must exercise some personal responsiblity. -harry

i didn't see where he was trying to police the cache, just asking if he was going to get in trouble if he sought the cache. this is a valid worry if the cache owner placed a cache on private land without permission. when this is done, the cache placer has, in effect, laid a trap for his fellow cachers in that he exposes them to confrontations with landowners, and possibly being arrested for trespassing. place a cache in a public place (a place or venue the public has a reasonable expectation to be) then i don't care if you did or did not actually talk to the powers that be (unless there is a specific ordinance regarding caching), but in this instance the cacher is merely trying to obtain information regarding his liability in seeking this cache. -harry

From North Carolina, USA. My thoughts and prayers are with the British tonight. Hoping the perpetrators of this terror act are apprehended quickly and punished to the limit of the law. -harry

i decoded this hint after spending about 30 min. looking for a micro hidden in the woods: " a natural object lying on the ground". within a 360 degree radius of the coords every object, save my jeep, was a "natural object". doh! -harry

belgium, u.s. different cultures have different mores. not saying one is better, just that they are. here in the u.s. we have some very strange (and i'm an american) ideas regarding bodily functions. just a thing. -harry

for caching, wgs84 will be the one you want. if you are referring to using a chart or map, then you will want to enter the datum appropriate for that document. the map datum can usually be found in the legend of the map. hope this helps. -harry