Surprising cachers

[knowschad]

obviously i would have the advantage, and not jump out at people i think couldnt handle it,

 

Describe how you would determine the person with the bad heart who is using 'caching as part of their recovery?

 

Well obviously jumping out at older people, people with obvious disabilities, or people with children or animal is a terrible idea,

 

single people is also a bad idea, single women would be the worst. they have enough stuff to worry about being alone at night.

 

what does that leave? well the only catagory that would enjoy or be at least ok with me jumping out and scaring them would be a group of teens, or 20somethings, or a whole slew of ftf'ers which i was counting on, since they descended upon all my other finds, i could jump out and scare them, and it would most likely end in civil manners. or start a prank war which could be fun as well.

How old are you? I mean, you've been in the service, so I would guess that would make you at least 22. Why then do you sound and act like you are 12? I'm serious here, dude. Is this some sort of game that you are playing on us, or are you really this immature?

[knowschad]

Now why does this one remind me of all those "Do you carry a gun while caching?" threads?

 

I carry a hand gun and I am a good shot with it. I also really dislike being startled and I will aim center mass and deal with the aftermath later.

AMEN!!!!

NOT! As stupid as this post may be, these posts are exponentially more irresponsible. Seriously... you would shoot take a life and probably spend years of your own life in the courts and probably in prison just for scaring you? Get real and please stop posting such inflammatory statements unless you are prepared to back them up! That is extremely irresponsible behavior.

[+brslk]

Now why does this one remind me of all those "Do you carry a gun while caching?" threads?

 

I carry a hand gun and I am a good shot with it. I also really dislike being startled and I will aim center mass and deal with the aftermath later.

AMEN!!!!

NOT! As stupid as this post may be, these posts are exponentially more irresponsible. Seriously... you would shoot take a life and probably spend years of your own life in the courts and probably in prison just for scaring you? Get real and please stop posting such inflammatory statements unless you are prepared to back them up! That is extremely irresponsible behavior.

 

Settle down dog. You are making too much sense.

[Clan Riffster]

you would shoot take a life and probably spend years of your own life in the courts and probably in prison just for scaring you?

Under the circumstances, considering what the OP has suggested, I think this angle bears exploring, if for no other reason than to give pause to anyone else who may be considering such a move. For those who say "Don't ever defend yourself from a perceived threat", I think the following should be addressed:

 

At what point do you decide that the person charging out of the bushes, screaming at you, is just scaring you? History tells us that muggers and rapists use this tactic all the time, knowing that if they startle their victims, they often will freeze up out of fright, making them unable to offer any significant resistance for the split second necessary for the criminal to gain control. The Supreme Court has agreed that, for a subject armed with a knife, 21' is the dead zone, meaning a threat can cover 21' before a victim can react. Hopefully, Ashnikes won't have a knife in his hands when he tries startling cachers, but it's not outside the realm of possibility that he would have his phone. Heck, he might even upgrade to a real GPSr by then. Folks have been shot for charging at people while holding cell phones, simply because, in the quarter second needed to make a decision, the shooter was unable to recognize that the object in the hand of the fidiot charging at them was not a weapon. I have personally responded to suspicious persons complaints that alleged a hiker was walking around with a small calibre handgun, only to discover that the hiker in question had nothing more lethal than a 60CSx.

 

What I hope would happen, in such a scenario as Ashnikes is proposing, is that the person he selects for his scare does not react with immediate violence to the perceived threat, but rather, takes the time to back away, attempting to assess if the person charging at them is a real threat or just someone being foolish.

 

For what it's worth, threats of litigation and/or incarceration are fairly ineffective at inhibiting violent reactions to perceived threats, mostly because the courts have consistently sided with the victims of the threats. The standard used is, "lawful, reasonable and necessary" as measured by the average Joe. If, under scrutiny, an action would be perceived as a threat by the average citizen, a violent response to said action will not usually result in prosecution or civil action. That is why, when I teach firearms classes, I prefer the angle of, "How would you feel if you killed someone who turned out to not be a threat?".

[+laura.j]

In an urban environment, one person scaring a group of people would be pretty funny. Happens on hidden camera shows all the time... One person hiding in the bushes and scaring me would not be funny. Is it possible to be so scared you pass out?

[+Chokecherry]

In an urban environment, one person scaring a group of people would be pretty funny. Happens on hidden camera shows all the time... One person hiding in the bushes and scaring me would not be funny. Is it possible to be so scared you pass out?

 

Technically yes it is possible. It can trigger the flight or fight response which can cause someone to hyperventilate or someone with an underlying heart condition to suddenly have palpitations (not all heart conditions are in older people either and not all people know they have one). You could pass out the question is will it then become a life or death situation and is the person doing the scaring willing to stick around to make sure you're ok? I would hope so but have a sneaking suspicion it would be a case of them vanishing to cover their own butts.

[+GeoGeeBee]

If I went to a cache and some creepy cache owner was hanging about just to scare people for "fun", I would call the police,

 

Seriously? You'd report someone to the police for saying "boo" at you? What would you expect the police to do about it? What crime has been committed?

[+dorqie]

If I went to a cache and some creepy cache owner was hanging about just to scare people for "fun", I would call the police,

 

Seriously? You'd report someone to the police for saying "boo" at you? What would you expect the police to do about it? What crime has been committed?

While this may be going slightly off topic...

I used to drive a street sweeper, and one time while stuck in traffic, I noticed the guy in the next car staring at me (perhaps the odity of a twenty something non-butch looking female driving such a rig) so I said "hey bud" in an effort to let him know that he had been caught staring. The dude started screaming at me for dissrespecting him. Huge overreaction that resulted in him making a scene, and nearly causing an accident.

In short, I'm not surprised someone might do something like that, some peoples personal bubbles extend into unknowen realms.