K-9Patrol

I'm not sure if this has been discussed before. Knowing the thoroughness of the members, I'm sure it has, but I'll post anyway. I've started a small personal geocoin collection that will eventually grow. I buy new unactivated coins, activate them, then keep them for myself. I have no intention of sending them into the wild as they are for my own personal enjoyment. Also, I still want to activate them so they show up in my inventory. The problem will be that as my collection grows, I will have to sift through many personal coins, while logging a find on a cache page, to locate and drop someone else's coin. Can a feature be installed that will enable a member to checkmark personal coins so that they will still show up as coins owned and in your inventory, but will not show up in the drop-down box to log/drop coins in a cache? Just a suggestion. Thanks.

I'm assuming you mean, "Where are the coordinates on the website?". I see by your profile that your membership has not been validated. Go to your Email and validate it, first. Then when you go onto a cache page, instead of question marks at the top, you will see a set of coordinates. Did this help?

Pathtags are my favorite swag to find. I'll always pick a pathtag out of a cache, when trading, if I don't already have that particular one. I guess, it's sort of like a mini geocoin that you get to keep rather than move on. I'm planning my own design in the future, and hope to see more cachers getting them made. The up-front cost is high, but in the long-run, they don't seem to be anymore expensive than other nice pieces of swag.

I have the same unit. I couldn't beat the price I got for the gpsr and topo map bundle. I've only had a couple DNFs with it, and that was my fault for just not expanding my search and looking long enough. Plus, factor in that I'm not only new at this, but I also do most of my caching at night. It's a very good unit and I'm extremely happy with mine.

I'm still new to this so I like to try to trade something at every cache. First off, I enjoy finding anything unique. If you like it, more than likely, so will someone else. Hiking items seem to be popular with everyone. As do toys. I see a lot of negative comments about McToys, but I think they are fine as long as they are not broken. Especially if they are still new in their packaging. I always leave new items. Either something that I have bought myself or cool new Highway Safety items that I get from the police dept. It's meant for us to give away anyway, so I might as well place them in caches. The rule of thumb seems to be to leave items that you, yourself, would like to find in a cache. Hope that helps.

You don't have to be the first to log your find online. Someone just got to their computer faster than you. It's whomever signed the logbook first that counts. (Not that it really counts for anything but bragging rights.) It sounds like they saw your log on paper and didn't try to claim the FTF for themselves. They don't have any obligation to wait to log their find online. Again, a FTF doesn't count for anything but your own personal satisfaction. If you haven't already, just edit your log and throw in a "Yeah! FTF!". Happy caching.

I had a similar question about the highway page that ao318 aswered for me. I bought the Venture Bundle from Dick's. Mine came with TOPO 2008, and I'm assuming your Vista did too. I have the same icons as you. It sounds like you will have to buy the City Navigator CD if you want to look for a specific address, as coggins advised.

I'm fairly new at this myself but I think I can answer your question. This should show up on all your logs. It gives you the chance to change your log at any time. Such as if you made a spelling mistake, logged the info. on the wrong cache, need to add a picture later, etc.

Thank you very much. I thought that was the case. I don't plan on getting City Navigator just for this feature. Especially since from what I have read about it, the highway feature is very limited. In fact, using the map page on the road, even with TOPO, looks to be more detailed and helpful than the highway page. It just bugged me that I have learned so much about all the Venture features in just a week and couldn't find out how to use one of them. Again, thanks for the help.

I just bought a Venture HC Adventure Pack which came with TOPO US 2008. I've also went to the Garmin site and updated both my unit and maps. I've downloaded some maps in the area and have had great success in finding caches. While still driving to a cache site, I will go ahead and start navigating while still in the car. I get a really good signal and everything works great on the navigation and map pages. The map shows the roadways just fine. However, if I switch to the Highway Page, I get nothing. So that's my question. I've figured out everything else about this unit and this is just bugging me. Would I have to have something like the City Navigator maps downloaded for the Highway Page to work, or am I just doing something wrong? Thanks for any help.

StarBrand's advice seems like the best idea. But if you don't have any upcoming local events and don't want to host one yourself, you can always click on the profile's of the members who are hiding and finding caches in your area. This should give you what you're looking for.

I agree snowball 58. Until your bump, this thread was in danger of being buried. I was going to bump it myself, but you beat me to it. Believe me, if I can get through this puzzle anyone can. I've only been a geocacher for two months and only have 17 finds. I worked on the puzzle, half-heartedly, for two weeks until I realized that I had all the answers. I just checked the appropriate page and see that most of the prizes are still available. The prize is worth the effort. I hope to see some more entries.

Seems to be currently out of stock online. I'd keep checking back, though. These things change on a daily basis.

wavector, I recieved my trackable item and bug buddy today from the Christmas Puzzle. I just wanted to say thank you for the gift. It topped off a day that finally saw warmer weather here. I celebrated by going out and finding 4 caches. I will be sending an adoption request to the appropriate member. Thanks again. K-9Patrol

Here is my 2 cents. If you want a geocaching name, I would go with "Waypoint". You could call him "Point" for short. Personally, I've always liked the names "Havok" or "Chaos" for GSDs. As for a tip. First, my credentials. I'm a 7 year police officer with 3 years experience as a K-9 handler. My dog, Vinnie, is a GSD trained in tracking, criminal apprehension, evidence recovery, area and building search, and narcotics detection. To find caches with him, you want him to be able to track a human scent and pinpoint on the human scent left on the caches themselves. Start with food and short tracks. You will need a hot dog weenie. Leave a few bits of weenie in one spot. Now as you start walking in a straight line, rub the weenie on the bottom of your shoe after every couple steps. After a short distance, leave a few more bits of weenie. Let the dog run this track. Every few days make the tracks longer and throw in some 90 degree and gradual turns. Gradually use the weenie less and less until your not using them at all. Your dog is now imprinted on human scent and will track for a long distance. Once he is imprinted, you can use the same principle for the cache itself. You don't want to attempt to imprint him on the scent of ammo boxes or tupperware as this is a longer process and he will then find all items made of metal and plastic. You want him to sniff for the human scent on the caches. Start with caches that have recently been found with a fresh human scent. When he is confindent with that, he will be able to find them when the scent is weak. As in caches that have not been found for a while. Trust me, he will be able to sniff a weak human scent on a cache in the woods because it is out of place with the environment. These are the techniques we use for tracking and evidence recovery. Obedience is a must. It is the key to all other training. You must be the alpha dog. I recommend a correction collar if used properly. When used properly, this will never choke the dog and will not hurt him. Dogs have very few pain receptors in their necks. A good hard correction will be like me giving you a light tap on the back of the hand. Any good dog obedience book written by a police K-9 handler will give you the proper techniques. Eventually, as your child gets older you can transfer the Alpha dog status from you to him/her. Remember to have patience and be consistent. Dogs learn by repitition not reasoning. Use the same commands each time. We use "sook", which is German for "search". Okay, maybe a little more than 2 cents, but that's my advice. Good luck!

Uncle T K and jholly, Thanks. I believe that you have answered my questions. I am manually entering the coordinates right now. Since it's the middle of winter here and I'm so new at this, I only have time to search for a cache every day or two. When I get a chance to do some serious searching I'll buy an adapter, download EasyGPS, and try to download some waypoints. Thanks again.

My girlfriend and I are short on cash so we spent all the Christmas money on our toddler and my parents. For us, Santa arrived a couple weeks late in the form of a very generous co-worker. Upon mentioning that I was in the market for a cheap GPS, he gave me his Rino 110 and 130. He said that he bought them to use in Iraq and has no further use for them. He still had the owner's manuals, serial cable, wrist strap, and headset for the radio feature. He had no interest in geocaching and wouldn't take any money for the units. Obviously, he'll never see this post, but a big THANKS! goes out to him.

A couple months ago, while browsing wikipedia, I stumbled upon the geocaching page. Another link later and I wound up here. I quickly made an account. Within two weeks I used the hints and topo maps to find my first cache. It was in an area that I frequently put my K-9 on break while on duty. I found a few others using the same method. I mentioned wanting to buy a handheld GPS to a co-worker. He gave me two units that he used in Iraq and hasn't touched since. I've always enjoyed being in the woods. Southern WV is big on hunting and fishing. I don't do either, so this gave me a great reason to be outdoors. Thought I could use the exercise as well. I always wanted to be an archeologist and wound up as a cop. So this satisfies the "Indiana Jones" in me. My son is 16 months old. I look forward to having him join me in the game when he's old enough to understand it. So that's my story.

Hello. As a very new geocacher, I've no buisness giving advice to others. But I'll throw in my 2 cents. I'm using an old Rino 110. It seems to be extremely accurate. So far, when my GPS says 0, then the cache is almost right at my feet. Even knowing this, I've noticed that I routinely put the unit in my pocket at around 10-15 feet and start eyeballing the area. I find that to be part of the fun. I personally don't want to end up right on top of the cache. I enjoy searching the immediate area after a hike. Again, just my 2 cents. Your 14 feet seems ok to me.

I have a couple questions along the same line, so I won't start a new post. A friend gave me 2 older units, a Garmin Rino 110 and 130. If I buy a USB to Serial adapter, is it now plug and play just like it was a pure USB cable, or do I have to turn the computer off and on? Also, will I still be able to download the cache coordinates from this site even though these GPS units are a few years old? Thanks for any help.

I'm really new at this and have no long term goals other than having fun. Once the warm weather returns I'll be riding my Harley and plan on looking for caches during my rides. For the time being though, my short-term goal is to "clear the pages" when I use the feature: "search for nearest caches from your home coordinates". I'm halfway through page 1.

sending contest email now

I'm a 6 year LEO in WV. I've also been a K-9 officer for 3 years. I just started geocaching and don't even have my first GPS, yet. I've only got 6 finds under my belt, thus far, and 5 of those have been on duty in my jurisdiction. My excuse is that I've got to let me dog out somewhere to stretch his legs and take a break, so why not do it in a cache area. My shepherd, Vinnie, is duel trained in patrol and narc. detection. I have yet to utilize him to track to the cache (not looking for dope of course, but he's also trained in general evidence recovery), but the option is there for me. I've used the cache hints, satellite maps, and my own knowledge of the area to locate my finds. The great upside to caching on duty is that I can do this at night and not be questioned. It's also a great stress reliever between calls. Good to see so many LEOs on the board.

Done.

An excellent idea, especially if stopped my muggles who also happen to be police offficers!!! Cache Safe, Cache Strong! Grigorii Rasputin http://grigoriirasputin.wordpress.com Just my 2 cents on this topic. As a police officer myself, I wish I would have come into contact with a geocacher a long time ago that would have handed me a muggle card. I would have joined him in his search instead of just accidentally discovering this hobby on the web last month.