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K-9Patrol

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Everything posted by K-9Patrol

  1. My first geocoin was a 2006 Alberta Geocoin in which I won in a cointest for newbies. The contest was held in the forums by wavector in Dec. 2009 which is when I started caching. The first coin I found in a cache was a Geocoin Club October 2008 Geocoin which highlighted night caching. I loved this coin so much that after dropping off the one I found, I won an identical coin on Ebay. I've kept a small collection ever since. I don't release any of my coins in the wild, but activate them only for discovery.
  2. I'm having these exact same problems using IE8. I've refreshed, used F5, and hit the back and forward button. I also disabled my add-ons. No luck with anything. I'm getting that same "parcel" error. This happens when I search near my home coordinates and try to look at my past finds. I hope there's a fix for all this in our near future.
  3. Here's one that I've yet to go after but seems to be a challenge. Extreme Way to 52
  4. Their prices change constantly, but right now you can get a new Garmin eTrex H at Amazon for $80.00 with free shipping.
  5. I accomplished all my goals. Though I started caching at the end of 08, I didn't really get going at it till this year. I was able to pick up a new Venture with topo map cd, via raincheck from Dick's, for $100.00. (Now's the time to watch those Christmas sales if you're looking for a unit.) I found a hobby I could share with my young son and dog. I got some great exercise and rediscovered the wonderful trails and parks here in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. I've met some really nice people. And I didn't get bit by any snakes. Though I should have broadened my goal to "not getting hurt at all". I've got another couple weeks of healing time, left, due to a geocaching trip that ended with a broken ankle. At least I've got a month left to go to finish off the year with 100 finds. Here's to catching in 2010!
  6. Hello TexasLawDog, and welcome to geocaching. I'm a K-9 officer in West Virginia and have been caching since early last year. I just introduced a cop buddy from North Carolina to the sport. I'm laid up right now with a broken leg, due to a geocaching trip. Please read my story I posted on this section of the forums. I have informed my whole dept. of geocaching, so if they ever get a similar call to yours, they'll know what it is. It's always good to see a brother of the badge on the forums.
  7. Thanks for the reply and kind words. My buddy seems to be really interested in geocaching now. He had a blast on our first cache. He was really amazed that my old 94 Toyota had no problems crossing a river (after the hubs were locked in) and that I didn't care to take it down an ATV trail. If you can picture ground zero, it was under a canopy of laurel, with a spooky cave, all after dark. That was an adventure that he'll never forget. I'm not afraid to say that he did better than me near the rocks and caves, as I have an intense fear of snakes. When I saw the possible find, an out of place pile of sticks on a rock ledge, I got to show him a "typical" woodland camo job. And I was proven correct when I let him check it out and find the cache. I didn't even bring my GPSr along, allowing him to use his new Venture. I felt like a veteran at the sport when, after we got close, I kept telling him to put the GPSr away and use his eyes. He has continued caching in Winston-Salem and will have many more to go after than I have in my area. I'm looking forward to us going again soon. There are a couple dedicated night caches nearby that I'd rather have him along, as I don't feel comfortable taking my girlfriend and toddler. As I learned later, anything is possible in the woods after dark. As for an update on my condition. The orthopedic surgeon put me in a cast and has said that there is only a small chance that I would need surgery. If all is well after two weeks, he'll put me in a walking cast and I should be completely healed up in a month or so. I'll still be browsing the site and forums till then. Thanks again.
  8. So, I'm introducing my buddy, from out of state, to geocaching. We had a great search for a nearby higher difficulty cache. This included driving my truck through a river and realizing we were on the wrong dirt road. We got stuck in the middle and I realized my hubs weren't locked in. My buddy took one for the team and locked them in, underwater. We finally got to the site well after dark. We then realized that the area was called, "Rattlesnake Run", and the little trail was grown over. The cache was hidden near a cave, as well. I'm still wigged out about the area, but luckily, saw no snakes. After some careful searching by flashlight, we found the cache and headed back into town. My buddy was psyched and I lead him to some of my previous finds and let him search. We then looked for one, just off the road, on a not-very-steep hill. This included wet leaves and some rocks. I'm wearing tennis shoes instead of boots and not paying attention. The next thing I know, I fall, and roll my ankle. We go to the hospital where I discover that I have a fibular break just above the foot. I'm now in a splint and will be going to see an orthopedic surgeon Monday. I'm dreading possible surgery and hope there's no permanent damage. I'm a pesimest and always look for the worst. So that's my story. Lessons for all. Wear boots if going off road. And be extra careful while night caching. I'm praying to post some better news after seeing the doctor Monday. Happy caching, all!
  9. I wouldn't worry about having a cache with few visits, especially if you got good reviews. There are days that I want to go out and snag as many P&Gs as possible and others that I just go after 1 that I have to work for. I'm still new, with just under 100 finds. But in my experience, a well thought out multi, or simply a traditional with a long hike, turn out to be the best finds, and these have always been my favorite. A cache with fewer visits usually has less chance of getting muggled and will tend to yield the best and most swag. My last smiley has only had one other find in the last 2 years as it is the only cache located in the middle of a 3.5 mile "difficult" rated loop trail. But it was an enjoyable hike and we were rewarded with a fully stocked large ammo can. Now that I'm gaining some experience, I'll take a nice cache and hike over several mundane P&Gs.
  10. I met a fellow cacher on only my 18th find. It was at a local park/lake and I spent an hour in the woods looking for a low difficulty cache that the coordinates were off. I didn't even know that he was patiently waiting for me to finish while chatting with my girlfriend just outside the woods. I had finally given up, was making my way out when I spotted the cache. We talked for several minutes, I got to discover several TBs that he was carrying, we both signed the log, and helped me replace the cache. I've kept in contact through email, with him, ever since. We've talked about getting together for a caching trip but due to our schedules, me being an LEO and him full time National Guard, it's not worked out yet. But it was a great experience meeting a fellow cacher during a hunt, especially since I was just getting started.
  11. We always bring my 2 year old caching. Naturally, he doesn't understand the game, yet, but he does enjoy pawing through swag. He'll happily set aside what you and I would consider "nice swag" just to get to a rubber ball or old scratched up toy car. His delight at finding a "new" toy is worth more to me than anything I could possibly pull out of a cache for myself. Some of his favorite toys are old cars he's claimed while caching. Sure, I've come across a lot of junk in caches, but don't write off everything that's used and a little banged up. A lot of little kids are perfectly happy with such items. Many a night I've come home from work to find his store bought toys sitting in a corner while he's driving a cache found toy car around the house.
  12. I've done about half of my finds at night. Although I've not found a dedicated "night cache" yet, there are a couple in the area that I plan on finding soon. Most of the parks in my area close at 2200, not dark, so we were free to hike around at dark a little earlier in the year before the time changed. All of my first caches were found at night, in my jurisdiction, while on duty. I've even been questioned by a fellow LEO in another county while night caching. Apparently, someone hid a cache at a popular drug dealing spot. I had barely made it out of the car before the cruiser pulled up. Luckily, I didn't have to go through the whole, "this is what geocaching is" speech. Just had to say, "I'm a cop two counties over, here's my badge and ID", and he shook my hand and left. It seems to be easier to snag those FTFs if you're will to go caching at night. I've gotten off work at midnight, seen a new cache posted, and took off after it. Night caching is definately a fun aspect of the game.
  13. This is a real problem where I work. I've networked with the local national and state park LEOs who are also having the same issue. Purses are the main target. A bit of advice for anyone. Just hiding a purse under your seat isn't good enough. These criminals are watching you from their car in the parking lot. If they see a female go inside a store without a purse, they know one is probably in the car somewhere. They will break a window and look under the seats. I've worked 7 years as an LEO and worked countless smash and grabs. Not once, though, have I had someone try to get into a trunk. But with all the SUVs out there, that may not be an option. No matter where you go, take your valuables with you!
  14. I'm pretty loaded down when I'm hiking/caching. But I don't really feel like it's a true hike without at least 40-50 pounds on my back. I use a Kelty FC 3.0 child carrier pack for the bulk of my items. It holds the little one comfortably, plus has two large storage areas. The removable backpack is where I store my swag. I also wear a hip pack up front. This is where I store my camera and Glock 27. My german shepherd also comes along, so I've been looking at buying a K-9 pack for him. My girlfriend's job is to carry the water and dog dish and snacks in an over-the-shoulder bag. My partner goes through a lot of water on a hike, so we carry roughly 8-10 pounds for all of us.
  15. I have no new advice since previous posters seem to have covered things. I just wanted to say sorry for your loss.
  16. What we take: pathtags and anything police related for me, keychains and jewelery for the girlfriend, toy cars, rubber balls, and McToys for the little one. What we leave: police "give-away" items from work, and lately it's been Bumble Buttons.
  17. Copenhagen fine-cut snuff. Does that count? Oh, and a ton of water for my four-legged partner and I.
  18. Very nice coins. I just ordered both the RE and LE. It's nice to have caught some really nice newly minted coins before being sold out. My newly acquired geocoin addiction coupled with Ebay is going to take me to the poor house.
  19. Looks like you got things fixed with that TB.
  20. Hopefully, one of the veteran forum members can help out and correct me if I'm wrong. I looked at the TB page and it does seem to have had problems from the start. First off, you never logged that the TB was dropped into Shaftoe Crag. Looking at the TB page and the cache page's TB history shows that the TB was never "virtually" dropped there. You simply posted a note saying it was there. Fleetwood1977 couldn't log a pickup of the TB since it was never logged as being there. So it seems that he posted a note, then grabbed it from your inventory. I would assume that fleetwood knows how to drop TBs, since by looking at his profile page, he's done so in the past. I don't know why the TB is not dropping into a cache and out of his inventory. My suggestion would be for you to grab it back from fleetwood and try dropping it into the appropriate cache yourself, since you know the tracking number. If it's in a cache you have never actually found, I would suggest posting a note in the log to the CO as to what is going on. Then leave it up to him/her to delete your log if he/she chooses. At least the TB will show up in the cache it's actually in. Again, hopefully some seasoned forum members can also help, if I'm wrong.
  21. I'll admit it, I love trading swag! I usually go caching with my girlfriend and toddler, so between the three of us, we can almost always find something to trade. I like pathtags and anything unusual. My girlfriend goes for unique keychains and cute knick-knacks. The little one is happy with just about any toy. Especially cars and rubber balls. We even enjoy Mctoys as long as they are not broken. Even though they seemed to be frowned upon and subject to ridicule here, the quality of fast-food toys has gone up over the years and are just as good, if not better, than dollar-store toys. The swag I leave is just as important as what I take. I always try to trade up in quality and quantity. If I'm shopping for swag at a dollar-store, I'm picky about what I buy and alway consider if a child, or adult, would actually want this thing. Even though $1.00 per item is the usual, I've picked up many $3.00-$5.00 items if I thought they were cool to leave. I can get away with spending a little more on some items by having access to a large stock of Police giveaway items from work. I keep dozens of Highway Safety keychains with me to leave in caches. They're free to me, but by looking back on subsequent logs, they seem to be quite popular for people to pick up. I've traded up to a dozen of these, in one cache, just for picking up one trade item if I feel that the cache is lacking on swag. I recently bought several Geocaching buttons from Bumble Buttons I am awaiting their arrival and feel that both adults and children will enjoy them. Yes, simply finding the cache and signing the logbook is a lot of fun, especially if it's in a nice area, but the swag is the icing on the cake.
  22. WV city police officer for 7 years. Rank of Corporal. Over 3 years as a K-9 handler. Currently teamed with a patrol/narcotics german shepherd. Have also served as an FTO.
  23. I'm a K-9 officer that handles a narcotics/patrol dog. Once a dog is imprinted on a smell, it's for life. Since an ammo can is waterproof, it's pretty much air tight. That gunpowder smell is going to be there for a long, long time unless it's thourouly cleaned. You or I may not smell it, but a dog can. Plus, a dog can distinquish many different smells at once. Their sense of smell is keener than our eyesight. We get narcotics or explosives sniffing dogs to alert by making something fun happen for the dog when he does his job right. We use toys that are permeated with the smell of the dope or explosive compound that we want the dog to detect. So, in essence, the dog doesn't know that he's searching for anything but his favorite toy. When he alerts, in a training environment, he gets his toy and a lot of praise. manville p h, I suspect that your dog, mini-wieney, loves what he does as a gun dog. He knows the smell of gunpowder and gets to do something fun for him, like retrieve a duck or something, when he smells it. Thus, he associates that smell with what is fun for him. There's no mystery there, why he would alert on an ammo can that smells like gunpowder.
  24. Thank you all for some great suggestions. I never thought about any of these. It seems that I have so much to learn about this site and all it's features. One question, though. How do I create an unpublished cache? I've never hidden a cache, myself, but I've visited the online form and know the procedure. Is it as simple as unchecking the box next to this paragraph, "Yes, this listing is active (For new listings, if you want to work on this listing before it is reviewed, uncheck this box. Reviewers will only see the listing in the queue when it is checked.)" Or is there something else to it? Thanks again.
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