+PopUpPirate Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 (edited) Farm dogs for me. I'm a right dog wuss now - used to have a puppy guide dog that I was training last year, but now it's gone back for formal training, it used to be great because it distracted any farm dogs, and they'd have a play. Rule of thumb for me is the more popular the footpath, the better the farm dogs. Cows sometimes stop me too, Dallan72s Pot House had to be abandoned because of a load of cows in the way that wouldn't shift from my side of the fence, which was only a couple of days after I nearly got stampeded at Birkacre and I wasnt feeling brave You? Edited June 6, 2006 by PopUpPirate Quote Link to comment
+Jango & Boba Fett Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 Cattle are just plain nosey. Thing to remember with them is that they are like big clumsy kids so try not to be too interesting. Our latest is in parkland with giant sized stirks (sorry bullocks to you) who always remind me of over enthusiastic school boys, placing the cache they came thundering up then dared one to come and try and lick the cache; be nice calm chat to them they think you're boss anyway. Unless you're in a small pen bulls tend to take no interest in you, what to watch out for are nervous cows with young calves. Would agree though that having a dog gives you more confidence dealing with other dogs, but any geocaching related canine incidents pale into insignificance compared to how farm dogs view cycle tourists (fast food on wheels). As I remember from cycling days if the worst comes to the worst you need to communicate to the dog that in a fight you are twice its size and though it might bite you you are quite prepared to kill it. I think Richard's Cycling Book suggested either ram your fist down its throat which will choke it or pull its front legs apart which separates its ribs from the sternum. Did I mention that I was a vegetarian at the time. Quote Link to comment
+rutson Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 Right now coz the nearest cache is 50 miles away and I have no wheels Quote Link to comment
nobby.nobbs Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 stupidity normally. either i can't solve the puzzle or i get the clue wrong... that followed by brain going into blinkered mode. not being able to see the obvious right infront of me... Quote Link to comment
+Andy&BeckyRiley Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Not being able to solve Mr Rutson's puzzles accounts for a good percentage of our woes. However we also seem to be going through a bit of a not finding things phase. :-( Hopefully this will blow over. Quote Link to comment
The Mount View Crew Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 One particular incident sticks in my mind. Once, I was out on my mountain bike, running to a particularly tight schedule, having decided that I just about had time to find a particular cache. Having pedalled my little heart out, I found myself about 50ft from the cache. However, between me and the cache was a fairly deep and wide river, with no crossing points for a few miles either side. Needless to say, I wimped out, not fancying a bit of sub-aqua cycling. I still havent done that cache yet. Quote Link to comment
+Simply Paul Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Dogs? Cows? I know no fear But too many muggles about will often result in a DNF. A p-poor clue while looking for a micro has been known to generate a DNF log too. But checking my stats it appears the main reason I log DNFs is that the cache wasn't there to be found. As simple as that! Quote Link to comment
+Team JSAM Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Cows.....no way My main reason because I did not look in the right spot? Quote Link to comment
+Gralorn Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Deciphering codes in puzzle caches, cows and very steep hills, stops us every time! Quote Link to comment
Dave from Glanton Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Aside from the occaisional bit of sheer muppetry on my part, the main reason for DNFing is muggles. I'm not a huge fan of the whole stealth thing, which is why I tend not to do caches in urban areas. Quote Link to comment
+gingerbreadmen Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Poor co-ordinates, rubbishy clues, horrible hiding places, fierce animals, too many muggles, not enough petrol, batteries ran out, Everton at home that day, passport ran out so couldn't get across the border to Yorkshire, in fact anything that is not my fault, it is never, ever down to a poor searching technique..... like yeah! Quote Link to comment
+Munkeh Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 gc.com doesn't work, its been a hour so far this morning Quote Link to comment
+Cushag Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Cows! Glad that I am not the only person to be petrified of these great lumbering bigger than me animals. I can walk through a field of cows as long as they are on the other side of the field and I have an escape route planned, this includes barbed wire fences. I have jumped a barbed wire fence once when an unseen cow came towards me. The other problem with not getting to a cache is often getting to within the last few meters and finding it is halfway down a steep cliff. No way, my life is worth more than a plastic lunch box. At least the walk is good for me. Quote Link to comment
+Mr'D Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Usually because I can't park! Normally look at suggested parking coords and feed into Tomtom. However upon arrival, sometimes parking is already taken up or I am not happy leaving the car where suggested. If I can't locate a more suitable alternative I move on Apart from that, I can only recall one cache, where I had to be the 'other' side of a canal/river/stream, and it appeared on private property Oh yes, and of course there was this one, which was a close call. Jon Quote Link to comment
+Alice Band Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Right now coz the nearest cache is 50 miles away and I have no wheels Pffffft!! Nor do I and I have managed a cache further away than that with no wheels My main hurdles are: A partner who hates caching A cache that isnt replaced anywhere near its original hiding spot! Quote Link to comment
+Sensei TSKC Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 My main hurdles are: A partner who hates caching Oh how that rings a bell! Loathes it. Quote Link to comment
+jelly, custard and sprinkles Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 When it is impractical with a toddler. We tend to use back carriers with sprinkles and if with this it is to risky with him ie, too muddly, steep hills, bad weather Custard -xx- Quote Link to comment
+stora Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 My main hurdles are: A partner who hates caching Oh how that rings a bell! Loathes it. My wife was like that for 2 yrs or so. Now she drags me out when I can't be bothered ;-) Quote Link to comment
+civilised Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Cows! Glad that I am not the only person to be petrified of these great lumbering bigger than me animals. I can walk through a field of cows as long as they are on the other side of the field and I have an escape route planned, this includes barbed wire fences. I have jumped a barbed wire fence once when an unseen cow came towards me. The other problem with not getting to a cache is often getting to within the last few meters and finding it is halfway down a steep cliff. No way, my life is worth more than a plastic lunch box. At least the walk is good for me. I was never petrified of them till I started caching - never had much to do with them really - but I remember my father telling me that cattle are perfectly safe. On a cache last year, me, my son, my son's friend and my wife's dog were chased very seriously by a herd of cattle - not sure what their intention was and didn't wait to find out. Since then, and having read about people actually trampled to death by cattle, I now refuse to cross anywhere where cows lurk - pretty ambivalent about horses too. Luckily Wiltshire is mostly sheep country - sheep are grand - always move aside politely and never chase. civilised Quote Link to comment
+The_Westies Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Usually either my son's bed won't let go of him on a Sunday morning or if he manages to get up the playstation grabs his attention and he conveniently gets to a bit where he can't save the game! Quote Link to comment
+M0GEJ Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 getting lost (my gps hasn't got the base map on) , forgetting to bring the piece of paper I printed out with all the cache details on but most of all when the cache has been muggled. Quote Link to comment
+The Bolas Heathens Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Caches being muggled is the main reason for our DNF's. We've had a few like this over the last few months. We did give up on a micro in a tree amongst lots of other trees last weekend as there was a family sunning themselves right by the edge of the trees and their children were playing in the stream right where we would have had to start looking. Quote Link to comment
+PopUpPirate Posted June 7, 2006 Author Share Posted June 7, 2006 *thinks how to make my own cattle prod* Trees and plants have a lot to answer for, too! I know if I go after a moorland one then its prob going to be easy, but a wooded area will prob be a b**ger! Quote Link to comment
+HazelS Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 Work usually gets in the way... I am too much of a wuss to stick my hand in and have a root around.... I cannot park safely near the cache... my nearerst unfound might only be 3 point somethign miles away now, but it's on the other side of the river and would involve a 40 min drive to get there... that's the trouble with living on a peninsular! Quote Link to comment
+jerryo Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 How about the fact that Geocaching.com is down for maintenance? It’s stymied me today. Quote Link to comment
+lathama Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 doing a cache last week, got charged at by bulls, so on the qway back took a diversion to miss them (across private land) and ended up having a fight with a barbed wire fence. All who are going to HH's Harrogate meet and want to see the scars, just ask! Quote Link to comment
+The Davis Crew Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 Cows and Bulls. They always make me think twice about going for the cache Quote Link to comment
+John Stead Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 How about the fact that Geocaching.com is down for maintenance? It’s stymied me today. It's back - but not working properly. I can't access any cache pages, so that is not much use! Quote Link to comment
+The Bongtwashes Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 A problem I've had a few times is using out of date cache notes. Printed lots off some time ago, before getting a PDA etc. so rather than waste them I tried using them. Trouble was that some of the caches had moved but the owners hadn't emailed me to let me know my sheets were out of date. (Obviously their fault, not mine ) Quote Link to comment
+PopUpPirate Posted June 8, 2006 Author Share Posted June 8, 2006 Failed today - took the notes for the wrong cache - I was looking up a tree when I should've been looking under a stone no wonder I didnt find it Quote Link to comment
+4 Badgers Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 Coz the other 3 Badgers want me to do 'other stuff' with them!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aaaaaaargh! Quote Link to comment
+4 Badgers Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 Usually either my son's bed won't let go of him on a Sunday morning or if he manages to get up the playstation grabs his attention and he conveniently gets to a bit where he can't save the game! Oh! And that's so annoying too isn't it!!! Have the same problem myself...........though, have found that the 'bullish method' of pulling the plug often does the trick! Quote Link to comment
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