Beeware

[+FiveDucks]

My family loves geocaching. We have had a great time doing it except for running into unexpected bees nests. My son has had this experience twice and has an allergic reaction to these stings. Thankfully his reactions are not life -threatening, just very painful. When I select caches to hunt I scroll the logs to see if there's any notes regarding bees. My question is: Could there be a better way to notify cachers of known bees at a cache site? For instance, once bees have been found can the listing be edited to say bees seen on mm/dd/yyyy or and bee icon attribute? I'm only asking because this danger could be life threatening to some.

[+robert]

Your best bet is to scan the previous logs for references to bees, which you're already doing. If you add a line to the page for bees, you'll have to add one for snakes, wild dogs, wild boar, wild people, etc.

 

With the logs all of the history is there. Hopefully people included information about the bees so you and your son can have a bee-free caching day!

 

[+Baptist Deacon]

But that may be something for the for the Bigwigs to consider on their next upgrade to the site, adding a Bee icon or even a Hazardous conditions icon of some sort that when someone finds a hazardous condition it triggers an e-mail to the owner to inform them so that can try and rectify the situation. Maybe even have it automatically archive the cache until the owner corrects the situation or makes some adjustments. Just an Idea...

 

Baptist Deacon

[+BalkanSabranje]

But that may be something for the for the Bigwigs to consider on their next upgrade to the site, adding a Bee icon or even a  Hazardous conditions icon of some sort that when someone finds a hazardous condition it triggers an e-mail to the owner to inform them so that can try and rectify the situation.  Maybe even have it automatically archive the cache until the owner corrects the situation or makes some adjustments.  Just an Idea...

 

Baptist Deacon

1. There is no geographical restriction as to where you CAN log a find.

2. There is a lot of diversity in what even people of the same culture do consider dangerous.

3. There is no way Groundspeak can check if a physical cache or the conditions around a cache have been altered.

 

So: no, a trigger for a "hazardous sign" or even more one that leads to archiving the cache is not useful, on the contrary: this is really a bad idea.

 

BalkanSabranje

[+KJ&MShelly]

I have heard that bees will bump into you(usually without stinging you) before you get too close to the hive. So if you encounter bees, it is best to just turn around and go back the way you came.

My wife is allergic to bee stings also, we carry an Epipen in case she gets stung.

[+FiveDucks]

I'm not asking for caches to be archived or even disabled. Bee stings can be fatal. Some cache sites list things such as poison oak and ticks so why not bees?

[+BalkanSabranje]

I'm not asking for caches to be archived or even disabled.

Babtist Deacon was (that's why I quoted him, not you).

[+cudlecub]

I am highly allergic to stings and carry an epi-stick with me while caching. A sting could prove fatal to me. I simply avoid the light pole along with various other caches during the summer months and won't put my hands into areas that I can't inspect first. Why would you put yourself in danger?

[+Team Perks]

I'm not allergic to bees, but I'm deathly allergic to wasps.

 

And fire ants really made my legs swell up and hurt real bad when I got attacked by them.

 

Let's not forget scorpions either. The possibility of coming across them in the deserts near me is very real.

 

Oh, and black widows. Lord knows there's plenty of them around too.

 

 

So, okay, there are plenty of nasty insects and other critters that could hurt or potentially kill me. It's called nature, and at some point each person has to be aware of their environment and take precautions when harmful animals are expected. I don't need to see the "snakes" icon to know to be careful before reaching under rocks in the chaparral, and I don't need the "ticks" attribute to know I should wear long, light-colored pants when I go crashing through the woods in the spring.

 

Truth be told, I do respond quite strongly to bee stings...so if I see bees, I just stay away and come back when it isn't bee season. I don't need an icon to tell me that.

[+BlueDeuce]

Did you know that the Saturniidae, (The Giant Silkworm) as a caterpillar has spines that can penetrate human skin?

 

The Shrew, pound for pound..well, ounce for ounce, is consider the most vicious animal? Some even have poisonous saliva. Not enough to be deadly to humans, but definitely painful.

 

Don't even get me started on plant life.