Discovery Scout

I just wanted to share a story. My dad and I went caching today on a neat little trail in Indiana. We were looking for several caches on the trail but the next one was about .15 miles away. We were walking down the trail when my dad said "what is that". I looked over and there was an ammo box about 3 feet off the trail behind a stump! I pulled it out and it had the cache name on the box. I check the GPS and it said we were .13 of a mile from the cache! I looked inside and everything was there, including a couple of TBs and a geocoin. I checked the log and it looks like a muggle found it and wrote "Found by accident. Hiding again.", and then they dated it with no signature. The muggle must of thought the idea was to find it and then hide it somewhere else. I tried to hide it a little bit better in the spot I found it. We checked out the actual GZ and I saw some places that might of been its hiding spot but I did not want to move the cache back to GZ without knowing what the reasons were for it being moved. I sent the cache owner an email with the updated coords. I wonder if they can log it a "find" once they find it?

Nothing wrong with using a flag though! Cool photo

There are not as many photos this month. I figured that for this theme there would be a lot of flag photos so I tried something different. I took this photo. It is hard to see what is happening in the photo with the small thumbnail.

That sounds like a fun idea. I could send some off in Florida. Send me an email if you are interested.

That is neat, it was nice of the guy to contact you. I bet the guy was surprised to find it and must have wondered what all the stuff inside was used for!

Makes me wonder about what happens to a cache right before I find it. I guess there are sick people out there that may get a kick out of doing nasty things to caches. I need to start bringing hand cleaner after replacing caches I guess.

Or killing deer just for the trophy and not the steaks. Thats the worse part. Yea, it does not seem right to only take a part if you are going to kill them. When I found this "graveyard" I found some large antlers. I picked them up and put them by the road to pick up later. When I went back with my car they were gone! I guess people really collect these things...

Is it ok to trade something and take a sig item? I have seen a lot of coins made by people. I thought that people put them there kind of like signing the log "I was here". I didn't think it would be appropriate to take an item like that. Those are really really cool. Do you sell those at craft shows? I have bought things that look similar. I agree that mostly it is just trashy stuff in caches. One of my first caches was packed with stuff including a wooden treasure box, a DVD, new knife still in a package, money, new kid's toys, a glow stick, a poncho, etc. I knew a lot of that stuff would be traded for junk but I wanted to place a nice cache. I would be happy to see something like your sig item in one of my caches. Eric

I think an underwater cache would be pretty cool. I don't think it would get a lot of visits though, if that matters to you. Anything that requires special skills or equipment would probably stop some people. I wouldn't mind doing one if it was in a spring or clear water and I could get to it without diving equipment. Good Luck!

Yea, I can see that happening. It is fun until someone ruins it by not updating the coordinates.

At that same park I once found the bottom half of a deer leg. It was next to a wire fence. I felt bad for the deer because it looked pretty fresh.

My family used to go mushroom hunting all the time. I thought about this too, marking the locations. I never ate them but loved to hunt for them and then give them to family. We would come back with bags full of them. I think this is why I like geocaching so much. I love the hunt! I don't think I would mark the locations if I did still go hunting. It would take the fun out of it for me. Oh yea, I agree with another poster that people are real protective of their spots. I remember a man coming up with a shotgun on one of our hunting trips in Illinois. He told us to leave that it was his spot.

That doesn't surprise me that it is not an original idea. Anymore is seems everything has been thought of before. I compare it to trying to find a unique email address...they are all taken. Anyways, it is allowed on my site if anyone wants to participate. Think of it like a travel bug without the caches. If people used natural things like engraved rocks then it would be more environmentally friendly and challenging. I thought of it after I had found all the caches in my favorite parks. Once you find them all the fun is done in that park. I just wish I could find a friend that would play along. Everyone I tell about geocaching thinks it is weird. Thanks for letting me know, Eric

Geocaching has been such a fun hobby and I have enjoyed doing it. I have not found nearly as many as others. I sometimes wonder how people have the time to find over 1000! I can't wait to get to a hundred. If you enjoy the hunt of geocaching (not the numbers) then I invite you to check out my website and see if you are interested in Traveling Treasure. I think this could be something fun to do in addition to geocaching. Eric

Most people that I tell about the "sport" or "hobby" look at me like I am crazy. I have not been able to interest anyone in doing it. I guess you either love it or think its a waste of time...

Not to worry -- Yellow Fellow is still moving around after having lost a leg somewhere, and Woody Loves His Freedom is still going strong after losing both of his arms (he still had one arm left when we found him a couple of years ago, but it has since broken off). I think it gives them character And that TB you mentioned a few posts up has now been logged out of your cache, btw. The finders just needed a little bit of help getting started I am glad they got it done right! I had another TB picked up not too long ago from one of my caches. I feel bad if a TB sits too long in one of my caches, especially if I put it there. Thanks for your help!

Boo hoo, one of my TBs (my favorite), Kid Robot Scout, was just reported as missing an arm. Now I guess he won't be as popular. Damaged goods...

Man I am going to have to get out more. I want to find some money! The most I have seen is 3 dollars but I didn't have anything to trade so I left it. I usually leave a dollar in my caches. I left a DVD worth almost 20 in one of my own caches.

When I went up to Indiana this winter I found several caches in a local park. Things were going pretty good until the last cache that I went to. On my way there I started running across bones all over the place. I eventually found some skulls and realized that they were deer bones. There had to be a whole deer family that died there, or something drug the bodies there to die. There were teeth all over the place and antlers. I finally made it to the cache area and saw sheriff's crime scene tape around where I thought the cache was. The tape was covering several areas. I finally found the cache and quickly left the area. When I got home I read that the area was an active crime scene under investigation but that it was ok to still go after the cache. When I saw the tape I started wondering if those really were deer bones! That was an interesting day! Last week I made a website devoted to "adventures" and photography. I am interested in gathering stories like this one on my site. I am also going to be doing some new caching topics. If you have the time please write a story on the discussion forum. I would like to get the website up and running. - www.nationaladventure.com Eric (aka Discovery Scout)

Cool, I keep hoping someone will take one of mine to another country. One of mine just went to Alaska! That is pretty neat to me.

Thanks! I was going to try that also, I was hoping they would do it but time is ticking. I have emailed people before who have hung on to my TBs for too long. Eric As the owner of the cache, surely you can log it out and report it missing with the owner Discovery Scout could mark it as missing, but in the case it might be best to try to get it correctly logged by the person who picked it up. The pickup was recent, and by a fairly new but active caching team, so maybe either they just forgot to log it, or don't know how (they have never logged a TB yet, according to their profile page). Before marking it missing from the cache, maybe Discovey Scout could email teamsapper and ask them to log the bug pickup. They've never done it before, so they may need a little help with the process. Arrg... I just checked their other cache logs for that day, to see if maybe they've already dropped the bug off, and they have other TB problems as well: They appear to have dropped off a TB in You're in the Army Now, and: (1) in their cache log, they list the 6-digit tracking number; (2) they didn't actually log the drop, they just wrote it in the log; (3) the tracking number is not yet activated, so either (3a) it's their own bug and they didn't know they had to activate it, or (3b) it's someone else's bug and they didn't log the pickup or the drop and they got the activattion code wrong as well. Someone needs to help them edit: okay, I will be that "someone" -- I'll email them. Their profile page does say "Any help and suggestions would be greatfully appreciated," so I hope they won't take it as criticism or nagging.

My current TB 2001 Mini Cooper is stuck at N 36° 19.343 W 087° 03.084 in Birdsong Travel Bug Bed & Breakfast. That is a good idea about looking for groups in the area to rescue it. It has not been there for too long but I still would like to see it move. I put a TB I found in one of my own caches and someone took it and did not log it out. I feel bad that it is still showing up on my cache. When I find a TB I log it right away, I don't understand why others don't. Eric My Webpage

Thank you! I will have to try that out. It would make driving more fun if I new I could find some caches.

That is true. I have a really cool keychain that I was going to use and then I decided it might get stolen so I hung it up in my car.

What does everyone think of the Travel Bug Hotels? I have found that it seems like only the unique or best TBs get picked out of the hotel and then your average TB gets stuck there. It seems like you really have to think of neat TBs so that your TB is choosen over others when in a "hotel". I have a little mini cooper car TB that seems stuck in a motel. I guess he isn't good enough. Lets only pick up the "ugly" TBs! Eric my site National Adventure