Safety?

[DarthZod]

Hello everyone,

 

I read about Geocaching in the news two weeks ago and this past weekend I found my first cach. I’ve been telling some friends and coworkers about my new found hobby and I’ve had two people now ask what if the person who placed the cach booby traps it. They think someone would place a landmine at the cords or fill the cach with Anthrax or something. If anything I’d be more afraid of running into ruffians in the wood. So how safe is this? Has anyone ever read or experienced something like this?

[bogleman]

Welcome to the game. I'm more concerned about stubbing my toe than finding anything dangerous in a cache. I have encountered 2 count them 2 geocachers in the field, 2 LEO contacts in the field and I have cached at all times and places

 

I am very comfortable and not concerned about someone sneaking up on me in the wild let alone finding dangerous items in a cache.

 

Lets think for a minute, someone is going to hide a cache, post the numbers on the site and wait for someone to come along to open it up. I've got better things to worry about. If you feel uncomfortable in a location, LEAVE. If you find a cache and feel uncomfortable, LEAVE.

 

Your friends need to be vigilant but not paranoid.

[+Prairie Dog]

I've never experienced anything like what you are describing. I certainly hope that I never will. I guess anything is possible, though. Remember that Geocaching is still relatively new and growing in popularity. There will always be skeptics. There will always be what if situations in anything that you do in life. You could be shopping in a grocery store when an armed madman storms in and starts firing a gun. You could be hit by an 18 wheeler carrying explosive rocket fuel on your way to work.

Geocaches aren't bobby trapped. Why worry? Have fun.

[+alexrudd]

Never happened with hundreds of caches placed. Tell them there are better things to be worrying about.

[+tozainamboku]

I pinched my finger opening up the latch on an ammo can once. Boy! did that hurt. I always thought it was because I'm a klutz. But now you've got me thinking. Did the hider booby trap that cache?

[+humanloofa]

I'm more afraid of rush hour traffic, than getting hurt while caching or because of a cache.

[+StarBrand]

Only "traps" I've ever seen is the prickly plant that I poke myself on while retrieving the cache underneath it.

[+Renegade Knight]

"Dude, I peed in your cache, Ha, Ha, Ha!" is about as bad as it's ever gotten.

[+briansnat]

Figure conservatively that 300,000 caches have been placed since this sport began and figure conservatively an average of 10 finds per cache (both numbers are probably significantly higher) you have over 3 million finds without a single instance of a booby trapped cache. Yeah, a few have been urinated in and even deficated in by miscreants and I did hear of one where someone squirted the inside with pepper spray.

 

But with 3,000,000 finds without a single instance of the kind of booby trapping you are referring to, I'd say yes its very safe. In fact its far more dangerous driving or walking to the cache (I've read of several geocachers who have died or were seriously injured in accidents on their way to or from a cache).

 

I'm not saying it can't happen, or won't ever happen. Anything can happen. There are a lot of screwballs in the world, but overall I'll take those odds every time.

Edited June 23, 2006 by briansnat

[+TotemLake]

Never happened with hundreds thousands of caches placed. Tell them there are better things to be worrying about.

Fixed.

[+dbly1850]

Hello everyone,

 

I read about Geocaching in the news two weeks ago and this past weekend I found my first cach. I’ve been telling some friends and coworkers about my new found hobby and I’ve had two people now ask what if the person who placed the cach booby traps it. They think someone would place a landmine at the cords or fill the cach with Anthrax or something. If anything I’d be more afraid of running into ruffians in the wood. So how safe is this? Has anyone ever read or experienced something like this?

 

I work for law enforcement. Those idiots want to take out a lot more than a couple of hikers in the middle of no-where.. I've never heard of a geo-cache booby trap.. As far as safety.. I went to one cache rated "3" was straight up the side of a hill (More like a 5 or 6 rating) and pride wouldn't let me walk a way.. dadgum near twisted my ankle AND rolled down the 100 foot hill going back down.. next time I take repelling gear to a 3 and up rated cache in my neck of the woods

[+RichardMoore]

Never happened with hundreds thousands hundreds of thousands of caches placed. Tell them there are better things to be worrying about.

Fixed.

Fixed better.

Edited June 25, 2006 by RichardMoore

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Hello everyone,

 

I read about Geocaching in the news two weeks ago and this past weekend I found my first cach. I’ve been telling some friends and coworkers about my new found hobby and I’ve had two people now ask what if the person who placed the cach booby traps it. They think someone would place a landmine at the cords or fill the cach with Anthrax or something. If anything I’d be more afraid of running into ruffians in the wood. So how safe is this? Has anyone ever read or experienced something like this?

You have hit a bit of a sensitive nerve for me; I sooo wish you had never raised this topic. As a way of making some money on the side and also as a cover-your-butt way of ingratiating ourselves with the alien gray invaders when they take over our planet, we have been working with the alien grays from Zeta Reticuli to facilitate their abduction of a large percentge of the geocachers who seek our Psycho cache (any cache in either Psycho series). However, allow me to stress that these geocachers are not harmed in any way by the testing, by the anal probes, or by the placement of the three tiny implant devices in their ethmoid sinuses by the alien grays, and, in any case, the captured geocachers are always released near where they were captured within 12 to 14 hours of their abduction.

Edited June 25, 2006 by Vinny & Sue Team

[+alexrudd]

Last Post

In: Safety?

By: Vinny & Sue Team

heh. Why do I find that funny?

 

Never happened with hundreds thousands of caches placed. Tell them there are better things to be worrying about.

 

Fixed.

Hmm, I could have sworn I typed "hundreds of thousands," but maybe I wasn't paying attention.

[+Johnmelad]

Hello everyone,

 

I’ve had two people now ask what if the person who placed the cach booby traps it.

 

I don't think terrorist organisations are after Geocacher, and those not in terrorist organisations would find it very difficult to find explosives or things like anthrax.

 

That said, I got stung this morning, I killed the terrorist nettle.

[+norsehawk]

Easy solution, don't be the first to find

[+Driver Carries Cache]

I'd be more worried about ticks, thistles and snakes.

 

Driver Carries Cache

(madmike)

[CoyoteRed]

This gets brought up ever so often and I have to wonder why this is even thought of. If booby-traps were so prevalent that someone would hit a cache, why don't we hear about mailboxes, paper boxes, video drop boxes, vending machines, or all manner of other targets that would be much more visible?

 

We, in the US anyway, don't live in this kind of world.

Edited June 26, 2006 by CoyoteRed

[+Renegade Knight]

This gets brought up ever so often and I have to wonder why this is even thought of. If booby-traps were so prevalent that someone would hit a cache, why don't we hear about mailboxes, paper boxes, video drop boxes, vending machines, or all manner of other targets that would be much more visible?

 

We, in the US anyway, don't live in this kind of world.

 

True.

 

I've seen and worked with more boobs (of the 2 legged moronic but kind hearted kind) than I've ever seen boobie traps.