Sticking Your Hands In Scary Spots

[+cr4zybilly]

Having cached for about a month now, I've stuck my hands in all kinds of places I would have never dreamed of touching before, mostly out in the woods, under logs, in holes, etc.

 

I'm guessing I've upped my chance of being bit by a spider, snake or other bug by about 200% or so, give or take.

 

How do long-time cachers handle that? Do you get bit more often? How do you check for a film cannister inside a half-rotten log w/o taking that risk?

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Having cached for about a month now, I've stuck my hands in all kinds of places I would have never dreamed of touching before, mostly out in the woods, under logs, in holes, etc.

 

I'm guessing I've upped my chance of being bit by a spider, snake or other bug by about 200% or so, give or take.

 

How do long-time cachers handle that? Do you get bit more often? How do you check for a film cannister inside a half-rotten log w/o taking that risk?

 

Don't worry about it, unless the biter is approaching the size of a bear, puma or 'gator!

[+Minimike2]

Get a driver and then you can get totally drunk before going out. That has many benefits.

 

1. You won't care much about the problems arising from sticking your hand in those places.

2. If you are bitten by a spider, snake, rat, squirrel or rabid woodchuck - the alcohol will sanitize the wound and inebriate the attacker.

[+find waldo]

We use a hiking pole or a stick to poke around before we put our hands anywhere near places like you've described. We have snakes around here to worry about.

[+Gecko Cacher]

Been there done that. "Hey honey...you stick your hand in there"

 

Pokey Sticks for sure in my case and usually when caches are hidden like that there are lots of twigs etc around that can be used. We don't have snakes to worry about but I'm concerned about spidies (I'm petrified of them) and what if there is a racoon or some other animal is in there?

 

A good flashlight also comes in handy in these cases as well.

 

Happy hunting!

 

Gecko

[+Nuttyguy]

I wear gloves.

[+2beabout]

Stick, Flashlight, and Gloves at times. We keep a pair of gloves in a backpack with caching supplies. We don't always take it with. Sometimes it stays in the vehicle. I also think the more you do it, the less intimidating it can be. I have found with good light you can even skip sticking your hands in some places.

[+DavidMac]

You have to be really careful not just in the woods, but in urban locations as well. Many times in the woods I've used a stick to poke around before blindly feeling for a cache with my hands.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I was a hunter and fisherman for half a century before discovering geocaching, so I already knew not to carelessly stick my hands in places where Scorpions, Bees, Brown Recluse and Black Widow spiders or Cottonmouth and Timber rattlesnakes are prone to reside.

 

Darwin had something to say about folks who heedlessly explore dark hidey holes.

 

Flashlights and mirrors on extendable handles are good-sense tools to take geocaching.

 

My only bite was from a Brown Recluse while working a disaster-relief deployment to the Iowa flood. It took four surgeries and six months to heal and left a huge scar. Be careful out there!

[+beejay&esskay]

In the midwest where I've lived forever I have some idea of the dangers...

 

So I've stuck my hands in strange places and been stung by various insects. Every spring I relearn the rules about being careful.

 

When I recently visited the west and southwest I was much more careful, especially in areas where they said "beware of the rattlesnake." No putting my hand somewhere that I hadn't already explored with a stick.

 

I do think it depends where you live.

[+wimseyguy]

I'll post a link to the pic of my own stoopidity before someone does. It wasn't exactly a scary spot, but it was a nice dark hideyhole, perfect for a cache and it met the description and hint. So I put my hand into the snake hole and got bit by a copperhead two summers ago. If I had parked at the regular park lot, I would have had a nice 1.5 mile hike around the lake, and would have had my walking stick and backpack with me. But a quick scan of the maps revealed I could park 400' away in a condo lot, cut between the buildings, and be on the trails. So I wasn't in 'woods' mode and reached without poking or looking first.

 

And yes, a year later there is still some scarring on the tip, and a little nerve damage and desensitization.

And I need to keep the nail trimmed very short as it wants to grow inward at the corner.

 

Hasn't slowed my caching activity down at all. I went back and found the cache I was bit at two weeks after, and have found a few since then. But as wise country grandmas say "once bitten, twice shy."

[+Headhardhat]

Geocachers in general live by the motto "Poke it with a stick". When it comes to sticking your hand in creepy spots is what geocaching is all about. We acquire things like mirrors, flashlights, gloves, etc. to check areas before going for the grab but there are going to be times you just take the chance. Otherwise you will be getting 6 finds for the day instead of 20 worrying about it.

 

Look before you reach will keep you safer.

 

-HHH

[+rob3k]

Just a few weeks ago I put a cheap work glove in my geobag to deal with "blind reach" hides. I think it was $2 for the pair at Home Depot and I just put one of the gloves in my bag.

 

I first give the hole a thorough stick poking which will hopefully spook anything larger than a bug into making enough noise that I'll know it's in there.

 

And honestly, I still sometimes wimp out and won't reach where I can't see.

Edited November 2, 2009 by rob3k

[Clan Riffster]

I thought that's why Gaia made teenagers?

[majormajor42]

if you are caching in the woods, you should have something like a backpack anyway. Lots of threads about what to take with you including gloves and a flashlight, as has been mentioned here already. But, my point is, if you are in the woods, you should have water and a few other just-in-case items. therefor, considering that you now have a bag, it isn't hard to put a good pair of gloves in there. I use army surplus leather. I've had them for almost 20 years. also good to have since the weather is starting to get cooler. good for an unexpected rock scramble as well and pushing aside twigs/thorns. you'll get a better idea of what to have in your bag as you cache more or by reading some of the other threads on the subject.

Edited November 2, 2009 by majormajor42

[+Chrysalides]

I still remember a cache where I peered into a hole and saw something slither away. I never stick my hand into anything blindly after that.

 

Holes are actually not the main problem for me, but magnetic hides stuck to a surface that you have to feel for. If it's magnetic, it is stuck to steel. And it is usually something rusty / with sharp edges.

 

I have a bright flashlight (180 lumens) for lighting up holes in bright daylight. Because your pupils constrict under bright daylight, you need brighter lights in the day rather than at night.

[+Count Fartula]

Having a bee sting allergy I always poke with a stick and wear gloves when sticking my hand inside something. Geocaching in summer is scary for me. In winter that threat is gone.

[+Ambrosia]

I keep a pair of gloves in my geocaching backpack, but I rarely use them. I've sometimes found nearby sticks to poke at debris and holes, etc. But for the most part, I just use my hands. I know, not the best thing. But where I live, there are only two poisonous things: black widows and rattlesnakes.

 

The scariest moment that I had while geocaching was in the Atherton Tablelands in Australia. At one cache, the container was under the roots of a big tree, covered with detritus. Cachers had commented that the cacje was hard to find in there, on top of having poor reception in the jungle. I had been warned by people to look out for the poisonous funnel web spider, which loves those conditions. So I'm poking around this tree, waiting to be bit by a spider with large fangs, I find a leech on my leg, and then some random hikers come by and point out a spider right above me, hanging in a spider web larger than I am, and the spider is larger than my husband's hand (he has big hands, he's 6'5"). Oh my goodness, talk about the heebie-jeebies! We found out later that it was just (just!) a Golden Orb Weaver, basically a garden spider, although they have been known to eat small birds. I was *this* close to sticking my head through her and her web before they warned me. But darn it, I found that cache!!!

 

Edited November 2, 2009 by Ambrosia

[+AirborneSurveyor]

Get a driver and then you can get totally drunk before going out. That has many benefits.

 

1. You won't care much about the problems arising from sticking your hand in those places.

2. If you are bitten by a spider, snake, rat, squirrel or rabid woodchuck - the alcohol will sanitize the wound and inebriate the attacker.

 

I am going to have to try that one.

 

Gloves or a stick to poke around the blind spot firts.

[+hukilaulau]

Even knowing all the good advice already posted, I still do stupid things sometimes. I was standing on a tree limb over the water, looking for a bison tube. I reached blindly around to the back of a branch and saw a bunch of bees start flying around! As I backed away and hurried along the limb, I could see that there was a rotten area on the back of the branch filled with bees. I was very lucky! I'll never reach blindly into a space again! (Yeah, well... I've said that before)

But my favorite story is in the log of a cache placed by a friend of mine down south. A couple went searching and discovered a bees nest near the cache. The woman, in her DNF log, accused the cache owner of trying to kill her husband! Now there's an idea for an episode of CSI or Monk!

[+Unkle Fester]

Cache with someone else and holler out "hey, I need a hand over here". Works for me.

[GOF and Bacall]

There is a lot to be said for being second to find.

[+Minimike2]

I generally take kids with me. The tallest gets to hold the GPSr and lead in the woods. The 'closest to 10 years old boy" gets to be the 'inside searcher.' I rarely have any problems, until I return them to their mother.

Edited November 3, 2009 by Minimike2

[+briansnat]

I usually cache with trekking poles and my pole goes into most dark places before my hand. For guardrail micros and similar caches there is no substitute for the hand, I have however encountered the unmistakable feel of a wasp nest on a few occasions. Luckily they were usually abandoned, or I was able to retreat quickly. Some people carry an inspection mirror. Good idea but in some instances the mirror won't be a lot of help and you still have to feel around.

[+Trucker Lee]

Poke with a stick

 

Use a mirror to look into hollow trees etc.

 

Leather gloves

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I usually cache with trekking poles and my pole goes into most dark places before my hand. For guardrail micros and similar caches there is no substitute for the hand, I have however encountered the unmistakable feel of a wasp nest on a few occasions. Luckily they were usually abandoned, or I was able to retreat quickly. Some people carry an inspection mirror. Good idea but in some instances the mirror won't be a lot of help and you still have to feel around.

Reminds me of a cache I DNFed at an event in Mississippi! It was a magnetic something under an electrical box on a low pole, so to bend over I laid my crutches on the ground, propped one hand on the pole and reached down under. It was one of those Ut Oh! moments when you feel the wasps crawling on the nest in the palm of your hand when I discovered that this old one-legged fat man can still hop just about as fast as I used to run... arms windmilling and adrenaline pumping I out-hopped those nasties and they didn't get me, but now I'm on the ground where I finally fell maybe thirty feet from the buzzing cache site... and my crutches! I had to weigh going back to get my crutches amongst a cloud of buzzing wasps against crawling a half-mile back to the event site, and retrieving the crutches promised to be the more painful of the two. I sat and pondered the situation, watching that cloud of territorial wasps, for about twenty minutes before they all calmed down and I was able to creep slowly along the ground and warily reclaim my walking sticks. It was an 'interesting caching moment' I won't forget!

Edited November 3, 2009 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+bittsen]

I have established pretty on, with my caching buddy, that I am a WUSS. I'm not really a wuss, mind you. I established this just so that, in the event something comes up where I don't feel comfortable, I can wuss out with pride.

 

Keep in mind that I don't care about spiders that I can see. I don't get scared by most any snake that I see. And am not creeped out by any other wildlife that I can see.

 

I hope you see the trend.

 

I won't reach my hand into a hidey hole, blindly, most of the time. That is why I have a caching buddy, and other ways of checking hidey holes.

[+Sol seaker]

I usually grab a stick, but there have been times I've held my breath and stuck my hand somewhere I shouldn't have anyway.

 

Like the time I did and pulled my hand out really fast and it was followed immediately by a HUGE spider.

 

Or my geo-buddy put his hand into a hole and saw the log was infested with mice (yes this was the log the cache was hidden in, but after that I had to find it with my stick because he was done for the day).

 

There isn't much in Western WA to worry about though. There are much bigger hazards elsewhere.

Wasps, and the like. Won't kill ya.

[+Chrysalides]

Anyone else thought of the pain box that Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam used to test Paul Atreides when reading the thread title?

[+Crafty Turtle]

In Australia we have some of the deadliest spiders and snakes in the world.

I definitely use a pokey stick.

 

I think it's well ingrained in bush-dwelling Aussies, to not stick your hand in places you can't see. Caching or no caching.

[+EScout]

Guardrails can have a lot of Black Widow spiders in my area. After finding a scorpion the hard way, I got one of these: