Apathos,
We have found 7 without a GPS. There are some who have found 1000 without GPS. It may be a little harder without one but hard to say since we do not have a GPS.
Right now we are limited to hunts which avoid Poison Ivy. But have found two in wooded areas where there was some poison ivy present.
We have just been using to map on the Cache description and just try to figure it out based upon the hints. The keys as I have seen on only 7 finds are:
1. They can not be placed in a hole dug for the specific purpose of placing the cache.
2. It is important to know what size of a cache you are going after.
3. Look in hollow logs, holes in trees, under logs, under rocks that do not seem to be in a natural position.
4. When you get to the area, just stop and look around for things out of the ordinary, paths to no where, broken branches, things out of place.
5. They are mostly low but look up as well.
Take a flashlight, mirror, gloves. These may help you see in places as well as reach in places you might get a spider bite, bug scare, etc.
Always take a thing to put in the cache. Make it so others will want to try to find it. We all have things lying around the house that have some value but just do not want to throw them away. No food or highly scented things.
We plan to go to a Meet and Greet in our area in August to see what others have for this fun game and then decide if we want or need a GPS. You might consider going to one with your wife to meet some other cachers in your area. Nothing like others to help you to get motivated to go on the hunt. Can't wait until the poison ivy leaves fall and we can go for some really interesting ones in our area.
The main thing is to have fun and enjoy the feeling of Birthday Presents every time you open a container.
Good luck and have fun.
Gary
