[moving from iphone to android]

You will have to download it from the Android market for your new phone so you will have to pay for it again.

[Explain why did you choose your Users Name/Geocaching name]

My husband and I love ferrets, we currently have two along with a dog and a cat. They are clever little treasure hunters/hiders so I thought the name was appropriate for geocaching since we're ferreting out treasure and whatnot

[Newbie wants to create a cache]

Think we will continue to search for more so we know better what we are doing.

 

That is an excellent idea.

[Bad cache - log etiquette?]

That's why I always thoroughly read the cache page. Seems to me that if the warning is on the page then you really have no reason to complain about it unless it does somehow violate a rule.

[What do I put on my new geocache?]

The best/easiest way to figure out what sorts of things to put into a new Geocache is to go out & find a whole bunch of existing ones & notice what they have in them

 

^This. I believe that is why it is usually suggested that a person find 20-30 caches before placing their own.

[How did you serve?]

I recently finished my 4 years in the U. S. Army Veterinary Corps. Mr. Ferret is on his 8th year in the U. S. Air Force and has been deployed numerous times to drive convoys..

[What IS your geocaching bag?]

I use an ACU print backpack that I received while in the military. It is expandable to accommodate an impressive amount of gear and it also built to allow a hydration system.

[Nudist geocachers]

With all the ticks and thorns around here I can't imagine doing that

[They are going to need serious restrictions on the new virtuals to fit with the new direction geocaching is going...]

I'm pretty new so please forgive my ignorance, but when were virtuals gone? I joined at the beginning of April and there appear to be a LOT of virtuals in my area, most with placement dates of a few years ago. Were they just deactivated for a while or something?

[Do CO's have to give additional hints?]

Thank you all for your responses To me the game is about using your gps and observational skills to locate the cache and feeling the pride of finding the cache based on your own hard work. Getting help from the CO would diminish my joy in being able to find the cache myself. That's just how I like to play the game and I wanted to make sure it wouldn't be terribly frowned upon if I expected geocachers to work the same way when looking for a cache I had hidden.

[Do CO's have to give additional hints?]

I'm still relatively new and I'm not planning on hiding any caches for a long time. I have seen that many people will ask the cache owner for additional information to find the cache but personally I don't like that idea, and I was wondering if I ever did hide a cache if it would be frowned upon for me to not give additional hints when asked? Of course this would be for a normal traditional cache, not a puzzle cache or anything that difficult.

[Geocaching with pets?]

We have a cat and 2 ferrets but it's our Dutch Shepherd dog who gets to come on the hunt with us.

 

The ferrets are leash trained, I should bring them along on the next cache hunt and get some silly pictures

[Geocaching in the rain?]

When we go out caching we always bring rain gear. We've been caught in the rain a couple times but it doesn't really bother us unless there's lightening nearby. Usually if it's raining we'll use ourselves to shelter the inside of the cache so it doesn't get wet inside.

[Halloween themed caches?]

We just went to a park yesterday where 8 caches had been placed in 2008 as part of a Halloween geocaching event. The caches are all normal lock and lock containers but they almost all have a spooky guardian (examples: toy scorpion, witch figurine, deer skull), halloween themed items (still), and some had a little story on the cache page (example: one of the cache locations is supposedly haunted). Halloween is our favorite holiday so we enjoyed these caches Can't wait to see what you come up with!

[Sites for non-trackable items?]

I'm asking specifically about homemade signature items, NOT pathtags or wheresgeorge dollars or anything like that. I'm wondering if sigitems.com is the only one for homemade sig items. I don't want to track them from cache to cache, I just want to track where they end up.

[Sites for non-trackable items?]

Sorry, I wasn't sure if it was ok to mention them or not. I thought that particular site you linked only works for items purchased from that site, would you also be able to use it on a homemade items? I just thought it was a cool idea to find out where your sig items end up, not by traveling, just who keeps them.

[Sites for non-trackable items?]

I'm still pretty new to geocaching and today while looking through one of the older threads I saw a link to sigitem.com which I decided to check out. I didn't know that there were websites where you could check and see where your signature items end up and was wondering if this is the only one or if there are others? I'm talking specifically about non-trackable items.

["Geocaching.com down for maintenance..."]

Is there any word on when the maintenance will be finished? I was right in the middle of downloading GPX files for tomorrow.

[Finding and unlisted cache]

Could also be the end stage of a multi-cache, which wouldn't have the final location listed so you wouldn't see it in a search.

[Geocaching dogs]

It sounds like a cool idea, I am always looking for new sports to involve my dutch shepherd in. However, it might be difficult to find a good scent that won't attract bears or other destructive animals to the cache.

[Your avatar...]

I figured a ferret in a treasure chest was the best match for my username. I tried putting my own ferrets in a treasure chest but they didn't stay still long enough for a picture, so this one is from google image search

[Geocoin etiquette]

I'm new and have only found 4 caches so far, but I was a little excited about one of them because it was listed as having a geocoin in it and I was happy that I was going to see my first geocoin. I was very disappointed when I got to the cache, opened it up, and found that it was just a laminated piece of paper with a picture of the coin on it. If you don't want the risk of sending out the coin then why bother buying one, why not just send along a cheap little travel bug instead?

[Death of Geocaching?]

With the kind of people I see in the DC/MD area (mostly lazy people who want nothing to do with the outdoors) I'm not too worried about it becoming overly-popular. Now, when I move back to Maine that might be different.

 

As for the guardrail issue, I think we probably will face more state-set rules in the future because so many geocachers don't even follow the basic rules of the sport (no caches on school grounds, etc). If we need the state to set rules for the cachers who aren't following the rules to begin with, then I see no harm in that.

 

If you happen to know of a cache on school grounds that does not have explicit permission, be sure to make the reviewer aware of it. I am not aware of any. You make it sound commonplace. It is not, in fact, it would be extremely rare.

 

I'm not in the habit of calling out poster's find count, but unless you have been in this activity for longer than your profile would indicate, I think that four finds and less than a month of geocaching hardly gives you the experience to make such stong claims of of irresponsible hiding practices. You may be getting that idea from some of the forum posts, but please don't base your opinions on that... you will quickly find out that reality is quite different.

 

Yes I am new to the sport, thanks for pointing that out I'm clearly not talking about caches I have found, I am talking about caches friends of mine (who have been in the sport much longer than me) have found or seen posted. I was merely making a point that there are cachers who do not follow the basic rules, and they might be the ones who cause states to make more rules regarding the sport. Even if it isn't common, if an official sees an issue just once or twice and feels stongly enough about it then that could be enough to prompt them to do something about it.

[Premium Member Forum glitch?]

I'm having the same exact issue, so at least you're not alone! I just became a Premium Member about 2 days ago, I've logged in and out multiple times and still nothing.

[Death of Geocaching?]

Many state parks have caught on to geocaching and now are required 20+$ fees per cache to place them in parks.

 

Please provide name of the state where this is true. Thanks.

 

Some names are provided in this thread: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=269082