ubermutant

What do you call cachers who steal from caches? Without expletives, I started calling them geothieves or geomuggles. Is there an established term for these parasites?

Haven't watched CNN lately huh? At least there is balanced propaganda now.. Too bad people bicker over whose news is left or right wing based. Imagine what we as a species could do if we simply thought for ourselves. we might actually vote intelligently, make informed decisions and god forbid, work together to solve our worlds problems! I digress though, it is ashame the post had to be politically charged from both sides. I just felt like jumping in on it. I didn't mean to politcally charge anything. I was just irritated at the propaganda. I do agree with Ready or Not, that the only propaganda isn't right or left. Everything has been dumbed down to a sound bite or two. I just wish people didn't listen and base opinions off of what someone tells them to think. Again, this is a general statement, I've won't say anything about our Coke and Pepsi political parties

...In other news, 89 people died in a Mosque bombing in Democratic Iraq today, now let's check on the weather.... I'm not overly left or right, but Fox News is straight propaganda. And what was with that goofy Casio music going on in the background?

I think wooden nickels are pretty cool. They're like budget geocoins! The worst thing I found was cereal box toys that most kids wouldn't even want and a wire for a weedwacker. It's supposed to be Cache In Trash Out. Not Trash In. I wish there was a good way to keep the standard of treasure higher. Trading up is a great idea, but like world peace, it doesn't seem to work. There are always selfish people. I've taken geocoins and left semi-precious jewelry, which I consider fair. I guess I should move them on though. I mean it's mostly about the hunt, but it's disappointing to open the musty box after a mile walk just to find a 2002 penny, a cracker jack toy, twigs, and a dry magic marker. What makes it worse is that I lug some decent stuff out to the cache to trade, but there's nothing worth trading, I just leave something to try to improve the cache, although it'll most certainly be taken w/ an inferior trade.

I'm getting pretty good at finding cache spots, but I'd say I still stumble upon it about 50% of the time. I've also fine tuned the art of tromping around in the woods in small circles following GPS bounce. My biggest problem is urban micros >1/1 for some reason. I want to chalk everything up to being muggled, but I think it's me that's the problem

I certainly have to agree with you. Did she have one lasered off below? Either way, she's got skin like Michael Jackson.

How long is a snake going to live pinned to a stake? I'm no snake expert, but from what I understand, they pierce through the rattler on the end which doesn't contain any organs, nerves, blood, etc. they then tie it w/ a length of cord, wire, rope, or whatever to the base of a plant or a garden stake. So, I think the danger to the snake may be lack of food over time rather than death due to physical trauma. I don't know what areas of the states that Rattle Snakes are indigenous to. That sure seems like a mighty dangerous trap for someone to set up. I bet it leaves the snake in a pretty nasty mood too. That's the idea! I guess that's why legit gardeners and farmers don't use such methods.

That seems like a lot of red tape for me, I'd just look somewhere else. Out of curiousity, do you have to pay a random processing fee or anything? At least it's an option, I'm sure the parks are scenic.

How long is a snake going to live pinned to a stake? I'm no snake expert, but from what I understand, they pierce through the rattler on the end which doesn't contain any organs, nerves, blood, etc. they then tie it w/ a length of cord, wire, rope, or whatever to the base of a plant or a garden stake. So, I think the danger to the snake may be lack of food over time rather than death due to physical trauma. I don't know what areas of the states that Rattle Snakes are indigenous to.

I was thinking giant rolling boulders to boost the cache difficulty

Just to be clear, I don't intend literature for possible volunteers to be swag. I have some goodies to stuff in there too. Plus in EMS, there's a ton of navigation/map reading/GPS usage.

Actually..... Boobytrapped grow operations are quite rare. The El Dorado california sheriffs office posts that fewer than 1 in 200 grow operations have some sort of boobytrap. Unless you are seriously bushwhacking, it's not likely that you'll encounter a grow operation of any kind as they are usually well hidden and off the beaten track. You're probably in more danger from getting mugged in the woods....or stabbing yourself with a banned penknife in an ammocan. Rare or not, why screw with it? I have less odds of getting in a car accident every day, but I still wear my seatbelt. And we don't all live in El Dorado California. It's nothing against marijuana, or any drug that an informed adult wants to take. I'm not taking my kids to a place where there's a 1-200 chance of them getting incapacitated by booby traps or some shady "farmer". As a final note, the reason people grow weed on public land is to avoid a law where the police can confiscate any personal property (i.e. houses, cars) that is seen as either bought w/ drug money or contributing to drug distribution/manufacturing.

Depending where you are, this can be quite dangerous. It's not unheard of for growers to pin snakes around gardening stakes to frighten or wound thieves. Another popular method is to rig a shotgun shell to a trip wire, it likely won't kill you but could cause severe trauma. Also, you wouldn't want to be around when the owner shows, depending on who they are. I have no problem w/ marijuana, but it doesn't need to be on public land. A anonymous tip would be my choice. I'd also notify the cache owner.

I don't think I've found a cache yet that didn't have something that didn't pertain to geocaching. I mean, if you can have breast cancer awareness, diabetes, etc. Why not a community based effort to better your community?

I'm 28 too. I never played, but the idea never interested me although I was into other 'nerdy' stuff. It just seems like what's essentially flipping coins would get old quickly. On the other hand, saying the word pogs is fun! Try it as an expletive! Oh, pogs!

I'd like to FTF, and I'd also like an impressive collection of geocoins/wooden nickels/signature items as momentos. Also, find a notoriously difficult cache would be great!

I had an idea to place brouchures about the local rescue squad in a cache I was going to place. This rescue squad is volunteer, non-profit, and apolitical. I was hoping to get thoughts on the matter. Oh, and the brochures/info aren't intended as swag items. I was going to place them in addition to prizes and stuff. Thanks!

Ok, this gives me a chance to ask a question regarding an idea I had. I was planning on doing an EMS themed cache informing others of my volunteer rescue squad in the area. Would this fall under the same standard since it's non-commercial and non-profit? To be more clear, I was going to leave the standard swag (some EMS themed stuff included) along with brochures for the rescue squad. The brochures aren't necessarily intended as swag, but I thought it would be good to have it available to those who may have a latent interest or didn't know how to go about inquiring about such a venture. However, if this is in bad taste, I can scrap the idea. Any feedback is appreciated! *edit* I thought I'd add that Geocachers may be natural for EMS since there is a ton of navigation and map reading involved

If they are the first-aid kits I'm thinking about, then you could turn them into micros once you've extinguished the contents. I have a couple by Johnson & Johnson. You can supplement them w/ Advil, floss, etc like the above poster said.

I've only been at Geocaching a short while and have found some pretty bad stuff. I mean used weed-wacking wires and similar stuff like that. Of course it's not all about the swag, but it's nice to take a little keepsake or trophy to remember a good hunt by. I can understand the mctoys and stuff, but some stuff is obviously stuff that someone just didn't want or their own kids had broken so they left it for someone else's kids. Even something as small as a wooden nickel or some small personal token professionally made or otherwise is the most exciting for me. Perhaps if you post a cache you could simply request that your cache be kept at a higher standard? I can understand both sides of the arguement regarding swag. It depends largely on your style, demographic, having children, etc.

An interesting perspective. It tells me that you're a deep thinker and that you're way too into geocaching!