LagerHead

Amen, Palmerra. My son and I are new to the game and when he found a large cache earlier this week with about 30 items in it he was really thrilled. He wants to go back with mom so she can see all the stuff and possibly make a trade. So far we've been pretty lucky with our staggering 8 finds so far. If they weren't micros they at least had a cool trackable or something. He has several items of swag in his GC backpack just in case he sees something that catches his eye. I guess we just have to maintain low expectations making the really good finds that much sweeter.

Love it. Love this one, too.

Unfortunately geocachers, like any popular activity, are made up of a cross section of people. That means you have a lot of good people out there and a few scumbags that ruin it for others. Being new I am trying very, very hard to put myself in the former group and stay there. Wish me luck.

How's this. Geocachers who opt to carry concealed weapons still should act prudently and not be overconfident in dangerous situations. I like it better with the unnecessary words edited out. Much better. Why should carry permit holders, who are statistically speaking more law abiding than the rest of the population, be singled out? If anything we should be advising non permit holding geocachers to be cautious. But I like it best with either bias edited out.

I like beer. And Guinness is beer. I know it's not a lager, but AleHead doesn't have the same ring.

I'm too new to this to have any stories. Are you guys trying to scare me off?

An extremely important point, this is...and not just for TN and its patchwork approach to carry-in-parks (which can heavily affect geocachers). You gotta take the time to know the laws relevant to weapon possession wherever you go if you are going to carry while there. The one "saving grace" with TN's local opt-out abomination is that, according to the letter of the law, any such park that is posted to prohibit lawful carry must have signage posted at all public entrances that contain specific language prescribed by law. I've learned to instinctly look for such signs any time we head off into a new park around here. To further clarify LagerHeads point: that option only exists for "local" parks (ie, owned by a city/county)...it does not apply to state parks, National Parks, or Wildlife Management Areas in the state. LH - have I seen you over at TGO? Busted! Yes you have.

Ooooh, you dirty birdie. I like the way you think. So you took the high road on this one then. Methinks you are a better man than I then. Honestly I can't say I disagree with you. I always like to handle situations as soon as possible with as little fuss as possible at the lowest level possible, so I think I would have questioned their tactics here too. Social workers do interview suspected child abuse victims at their schools. Is that unconstitutional? We may find out soon: http://www.naswil.org/news/networker/featured/since-you-asked-social-workers-and-child-protection-investigations/ I agree with the lawsuit. I don't need a meteorologist to tell me the sky is blue and I don't need a judge to tell me when such a blatant violation of my constitutional rights has been perpetrated. Your constitutional rights don't end at the front door of a school.

Agreed. Sorry I helped to derail the thread. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

And you are entitled to it. And entitled to share it. Nobody is wondering if geocaching is a particularly dangerous activity. For that matter neither is eating at a restaurant. Unless you happened to be in Luby's Cafeteria in Waco, TX on October 16, 1991. And going to high school isn't considered particularly dangerous. Except on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High. The fact is bad things happen to good people doing innocent things. Haha. I don't want everybody to carry. I just don't want ANYBODY to second guess or lecture me on my decision for doing so. I think on this point you and most gun owners see eye to eye. I think that means that it shows through your clothing. I kinda guessed that. I wonder why "print"? I would think "fit" I guess I watch too much "How do I look" and not enough "Sons of Guns" on TLC. Nah. The guy on "Sons of Guns" thinks he's the only one smart enough to shoot a gun. He makes some pretty cool stuff but I wouldn't look to him for your normal every day gun owner kind of information. I carry rockets everywhere I go so I can just shoot it back up in a tree. I live in Tennessee so I don't have to worry about printing. Although I CC 99.999999% of the time I don't care if somebody gets a little glimpse. Why would you say that? Did some of the comments cause you to get your underwear in a bunch? I am one that has a problem with this thread. My issue, as I have already stated, is that you guys want to talk about guns, not geocaching. There are forums for talking about guns. I don't go there to talk about geocaching. I do. I often talk about other aspects of my life on gun forums. Guns don't define me and neither does geocaching. At least not by themselves. But together they form pieces of the puzzle that is me. I also play drums but I would be willing to bet that you wouldn't poo poo all over this thread if he asked how many geocachers play drums. Being new here I could be wrong and I would be willing to concede if I am but I have been down this road so many times before that I doubt it. Seriously, if you have that much of a problem with gun owners why would you submit yourself to the torture of reading this thread? We're not going to change. You're not going to change. The only thing accomplished is some people will increase their blood pressure by either championing the anti-gun cause or by championing the pro-gun cause. It's for this same reason I avoid like the plague any religious debates. They never end pretty. Back to the OP: If I'm out of bed and not on my way to or from work, I'm probably carrying. My Kimber Ultra Carry II is my near constant companion. I currently have an OWB leather Don Hume holster but I have a guy making me an IWB holster. I do have to worry about some of the city parks in TN though. Our state legislature allows carry in parks but gives city/county governments the ability to "opt out," creating a very lovely little patchwork of allowed and not allowed areas for you to navigate. So basically you have to know the law about every square inch in the state. Oh, and IBTL too.

It is indeed sad that a walk in the park/woods leads people to think the worst. It's a sad reflection on our society in more ways than one. I can't really fault the police. They received a 911 call to which they are obligated to respond. The majority of calls they get are for good cause and the ones that come out and say, "I know why you're here and I admit I'm guilty" are almost nonexistent. But I do agree that my child will never be questioned away from me or my lawyer. Actually, make that my lawyer. I don't care what I didn't do I will not talk to the police without one present. I have seen very compelling videos of lawyers saying don't ever talk to the police and I have been told directly by active duty law enforcement don't ever talk to the police. So if you have defense lawyers and police who typically end up on opposite sides of the table in court both telling you don't ever talk to the police, what more evidence do you need that it's a bad idea? First, asserting your Fourth Amendment rights in no way ever gives police reasonable cause. It's your right to refuse to let officers search your house, car, person, etc. and the burden is on them to prove they have reasonable cause. Second, the police report never mentioned any crime taking place. It only said that a man and a child were walking in what the caller deemed to be a "remote" part of the park and they weren't sure if the child was the man's? REALLY? What a revelation! They are not sure of the relationship of a total stranger? And that warrants a call to the cops? They must call 911 about 5,000 times a day if that is the yardstick they're using. While I support our men and women in blue completely and I understand the hassles that go along with their job, I will never use that as an excuse for me to abandon my rights. There is only one exception to that rule but I won't go into that here because it is both personal and irrelevant to the current topic. All in all though, I'm glad this ended with nothing more than a little embarrassment. Hopefully this will be an isolated incident and won't be enough to completely ruin the OP's daughter's enthusiasm for geocaching, etc.

No doubt. I hope he sticks with this because I want him to learn more about camping, outdoors, etc. We found our first two caches today and he was extremely excited. We will be taking a couple of trackables toward Chattanooga this weekend. Thanks for all the welcomes everyone. And Jeff I will be checking out the site you linked.

Hello everyone. My name is Robert and I live in Pegram, TN, just west of Nashville, TN. I am getting into geocaching because my son Nathan asked me to teach him land navigation. I learned land nav with map and compass in the Army and I became familiar with both UTM and lat/long navigation. I am looking forward to having an excuse to get off my now lazy butt and especially to the bonding time with Nathan. Wish us luck.