mndvs737

I have seen that in some of the Kroger stores in the Memphis, TN and North Mississippi area as well. I picked up one of the containers, and there was the "Lock and Lock" logo right on top.

We have a puzzle cache in our area that uses "gold bars" as part of the puzzle in one of the stages. They took dominoes and spray-painted them gold - the "numbers" on the back are still there and figure into the puzzle as coordinates, once you figure out how to put everything in order. May be a cheaper route and less work than modeling something, and you have the numbers built in, if you can make do with the numbers on dominoes -- of course, using a Double-15 set will allow you access to MUCH higher numbers!

I live in DeSoto County, so we spend a lot of caching time in the Memphis/Shelby County area in TN, as well as our time in MS. I would suggest signing up on http://www.msga.net/, the Mississippi Geocacher's Association website -- post this there, and you will likely get a good list. Also, there are a lot of caches around Grenada and Enid lakes -- check those areas out -- if they are anything like the hides around Sardis Lake, you will have a lot of fun!

When I was working on my first ammo can hide, the cacher I got the can from said to make sure I got "FLAT" spray paint -- if you get the "regular" spray paint most people buy, it has a glossy finish that reflects light and stands out somewhat -- the flat finish spray paint does not do that -- blends into the shadows very nicely....

Here is what I found at Bass Pro's website: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s...__SearchResults http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s...__SearchResults I checked Cabela's, and they did not have anything similar - all I could find on there was the vinyl tape. I have the tape from the 1st link on the barrel of my shotgun, and it has survived numerous trips to the range and the woods for over 2 1/2 years -- it's been frozen, heated up (I live in North Mississippi - summers are hot and humid!), rained on, snowed on (yes, that can happen down here), and it still sticks. Just make sure you have a good clean surface to put it on, and I would even rough up the surface a bit with some sandpaper just to give it a better adhesion, if you are putting it on something like a Lock-and-Lock.

I've also seen it in our area where a group of cachers from out of town came for some vacation and caching time -- they signed all physical logs as "Team ALAFHAJAS" or something-or-other, presumably to save space in the logbooks, especially in the case of micros (sign once instead of 4 or 5 times). They then all noted in their online logs that they were part of the "TEAM HSDHAODH" or whatever -- that way if a cache owner was checking physical logs against the site, they would know why "OutOfTownCacherA", "OutOfTownCacherB", etc. did not show up in the physical log. ..spelling edit..

I just got my bronze pin the other week and am trying to figure out a "hide" so I can get to Silver -- I'm very proud of it, and would gladly have paid to have it. I add my vote to keeping bronze and silver available for purchase.

I'm currently looking at going to a Blackberry or other smart phone for paperless caching (will still use Garmin handheld for navigation to cache site). The one thing I have found with Verizon (and I currently have their service, just basic phone/text) is that figuring out which plan includes what and how many options I have to add on was confusing as all get-out -- it changed based on which type of phone, which plan level, etc. I am seriously including Sprint -- they have a 1500 minutes family plan with unlimited data (GPS turn-by-turn, email, web, mobile TV, etc.) for $130 for the 1st 2 lines. For a similar plan with Verizon (1450 minutes) for the same phone (Blackberry 8330), it was going to be $180/month (I think -- I still wasn't sure after 20 minutes online and 20 minutes on the phone with a rep, but it was going to be at least that much). Just sharing what I am learning.

OK -- no pictures, but a few stories. When I introduced some friends to caching on a weekend trip to Village Creek State Park in Arkansas late last summer, a buddy and I decided to do the 2 night caches there. On one of them, a deer exploded out of a thicket (and yes, EXPLODED is the proper term -- about gave both of us a heart attack), and a few minutes later (same cache), we were met by "Killer Armadill-er", as we called him, doing his best Karate Kid imitation. While doing a group cache hunt in Shelby County (TN) earlier this spring, I was wearing my new snake boots for the 1st time, trying to break them in -- I look down to see a water moccasin (aka cottonmouth) about 3 feet from my boot. It was an unusually warm day (almost 70 degrees after 2 weeks in the 40s and 50s) -- looked like he had just crawled out of hibernation and was very sluggish -- luckily I was standing on the far end from his head. Cache owner was kind enough to inform us that cache was on other side of trail. Lifted the camo from "Runway Three Six" in Olive Branch, MS to find a nest of field mice on top of the cache. One of them had remained in the camo and ran out as I was placing the cache lid on the ground. While at a men's retreat in Wall Doxey State Park in MS, 3 of us decide to go after several of the caches there at night -- keep in mind these are not designed as night caches. One of the friends was the guy with me on the 1st story. As we near the 1st cache, "Killer 'Diller's" cousin comes out of the woods making a beeline for us -- he got within 4 or 5 feet (it seemed) before turning away -- heading straight for where our arrows were pointing. We gave him a few minutes to get away before moving in (slowly) for the cache. On another one that night, I look into a stump (our 3 LED headlamps are our only light sources) -- I go to poke with my trekking pole to see if I can find an ammo can in there, when I realize that the insides of tree trunks don't breathe -- they also don't have beady little eyes. Not sure what was in there -- I moved away pretty quickly. I've also jumped deer on numerous other occassions.

What is the longest period of time a bug or coin has been in a cache before you have been the one to pick it up out of the cache? I recently picked up TB1TJWW -- it had been in a local multi (GCJYWV) since 9-30-2007 -- I picked it up on 5-25-2009 -- 1 year and 8 months this fella had sat there. Now, this cache has not had a lot of traffic. Logs after the drop were FOUND IT (10-30-2007), DNF (1-7-2008), FOUND IT (3-13-2008), FOUND IT (3-16-2008), NOTE (4-27-2008), DNF (5-4-2008), FOUND IT (11-4-2008 -- only said they found 1st stage, though -- did not appear to have found the final), NEEDS MAINT. (3-20-2009), and our FOUND IT (5-25-2009). I'll admit it -- it felt good to pop open that ammo can and free the coin and get him back on his way. Anyone else freed a TB or coin after as long a time?

I have been lucky to run across several TB's with mission sheets attached -- a couple even had a place to mark which states had been visited, so it was easy to see where it needed to go. Other times I have taken a quick look at a cache page before I head out to see what trackables might be in the caches I am headed to and make notes regarding who wants to do what. If I show up at a cache and a traveller is in there that I did not know about and it does not have a mission sheet, it's a 50/50 to picking up or discovering.

If I am at a cache, and I see a bug or coin but cannot help it achieve its stated goal, I discover it to send the TB/GC owner an update on their item. Even if it was just dropped off a couple of weeks before, it lets them know that the bug/coin is still around. I can't remember ever going back to a cache on my own to discover a new coin or TB, but if caching with someone else in an area where I have found a couple of hides but we are working on some new smileys, I will discover or pick up any bugs or coins in caches they find as I am with them. I would also go to a previously-visited cache to help move a bug along if it has languished there for some time. Those would both get a note on the cache page, though.

Don't know if anyone else saw it, but the season finale of CSI:NY last week mentioned "White Nose Syndrome" and dying bats -- it was actually used to help locate a hide-out.

Here's another thought -- Mississippi does have creel limits, which is a limit to the number of fish you can have in your possession, and depending on the circumstances and the species of fish, the fines for that can be a bit hard on the pocketbook. I have heard that they have really been cracking down on the creel limits on crappie on some of the lakes in North Mississippi -- they may have dumped these few fish to get back to the legal limit.

When I looked at the detail picture, it looks like the adhesive is a thin line down the middle of the tape -- my guess is that you peel that white line off the back to expose the adhesive. My thought with this would be to use some sort of strong adhesive to secure the tape -- I am starting to work on my 1st hide, and I may utilize this somehow.

We've got a large local park in our area (actually one of the largest urban parks of its kind in the US, I believe) that has an off-leash area for dogs. There are a couple of hides right on the edge of that section of the park, and they have been in place for some time with no ill-effects. Also, a lot of people take their dogs into the other areas of the park, and the dogs are no doubt passing within a few yards or even few feet of the caches on a daily basis. Again -- none of the hides seem to have really been compromised. I think it's because the world is full of smells to a dog, and unless there is a particular smell that grabs their attention (say, peanut butter or some other form of kibble), most dogs are going to pass right on by most hide spots without a second thought. If they do pause, most owners seem to keep the dog moving and show very little interest in what is being sniffed. Most of your pet dogs don't give a specific alert to an odor, because they have not been trained in that aspect -- they just sniff and keep moving. Now, if there was a law enforcement officer with a dog trained to alert on a specific scent, and they were searching in the area of the cache (just by coincidence), and somehow a cacher had also used whatever had that specific scent and had recently found the cache, would it be possible that the dog could alert on the cache location? Possibly, but I think the chances of this are very small.

Kudos and thanks -- it's nice to know that our neighbors to the north won't get away with this. Those do seem to be good fish -- makes you wonder why they were dumped? Did they think they were being followed by MDWFP officials? They weren't too far from "home base". Glad that you were there to document this happening. It's good to know that MDWFP is working to take action against them.

Can't wait to see the results -- hope your work pays off!

If you do stumble across a site, do notjust turn around a beat a hasty retreat. Many of the cookers will place booby-traps near their site to protect it. Try and trace the route you came in on back out, but be cautious, as you may have missed a wire or something on the way in and hit it as you rush back out. Also, mark the location with your GPS and call LE as soon as you are in a clear area.

I think we all agree that the fake outlet on the side of an electrical box is a bad hide -- you get people too willing to play with things at other hide sites that are unrelated to the hide, but that are dangerous. That horse has been beaten enough, though. Now - the fake fire hydrant -- that would be a classic, depending on where it was hidden. If it was on a busy street with a lot of potential onlookers -- bad idea. Way out in the woods somewhere, though, at the end of a good hike -- that would be hilarious -- you step into a small clearing, and there is this fire hydrant -- you know it doesn't belong there, yet there it is. It's like the solar powered lamp posted earlier in this thread -- just gives you a good chuckle when you find it, I bet.

Hmmm -- a lot of your post, Vinny, sounds very similar to a lot of what I hear about Colony Collapse Disorder with bees -- not sure if bacterial, viral, or a parasite, not sure of transmission means, etc. This world, she is a changing, and we're all along for the ride.

OK -- I have been looking at this thread for the past couple of days and was about to give Vinny credit for one bang-up 4-1 prank. You see, I was reading it as "White NOISE Syndrome", not "White NOSE Syndrome". I realize now that this is not an occult hand reaching down from above mess with us and reveal itself to us on this day of merriment and prankstering, but rather a very serious topic. We visited a cave in North Alabama that serves as a roosting spot for bats for an Earthcache in February. There is an overlook platform, but the cave entrance is quite a bit distant and the cave opening is gated shut. We hope to go back when the cave is populated to see a fly-out. Hopefully this can be figured out and effective measures taken to counter the threat.

Or, find something in the area of where you want to put your clues that has numbers and will be around for a while. I know of a local parking lot where all of the lampposts are numbered. Or, there may be various codes and designations on an electrical box that you can have the seeker use as the basis for a calculation. If you do the latter, just make a clear note on the cache page that they are only required to read the information from the box -- they are not required to "feel around" or mess with the box in any way.

On a weekend trip a few months ago with my wife, came up on a hide that we eventually surmised was a magnetic key holder in a storm drain. Well, as I feel for it, I knock it loose and see it tumble down into the pile of leaves in the bottom of the drain (hadn't rained in a while, so everything was fairly dry down there). Did you know how heavy those grate inserts are? Pretty heavy, but not heavy enough to move out of the way so I can lay down in the road and reach down into the drain and grab the cache. After replacing the grate, i sign the log, and make sure BOTH magnets are firmly attached to metal when I replace the cache.

Just realized that the thread title reads "Needs Maintenance" when I meant to type "Needs Archived" -- can a moderator or other admin-type guru make that change?