GPS-ESP, is it a woman thang?

[Guest bigkid]

I'm sure I'm going to get shut down for inciting such a loaded topic, so here it goes anyways...

 

I've read 2 or 3 reports of GPS-ESP where a guy trapses around the woods with his GPS in the final 50 ft. and comes up empty, only to have a gal walk right to it.

 

Then my wife does the same thing with the Carkeek Cache http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=826.

She just walked right in and found it after I took a boat load of wrong turns.

 

Should I ditch the GPS when I get close enough? And how do I tap into this intuition thing? Could I ever survive being on The View? Is this a topic for Oprah? ;-)

[Guest Markwell]

Not just a woman thing. My five-year-old boy does the same thing. Maybe it's an instinct we un-learn while staring so intently on our readout...

[Guest Snowtrail]

Before any of the guys answer, I'll put in my female 2-cents.

 

I have wandered around and around in circles depending on my GPS like it was a magic genie and would pinpoint the cache within 2 feet. With all of the tree cover, it's kinda silly to expect the gps to get you there. Stop, put it down and start looking around you, not at the screen.

[Guest mfratto]

This is hysterical. I have yet to actually pull the cache out of the den, BUT, I am instrumental in finding it, in that every time we hunt, I walk to it, will often walk around it, stand in front of it, and then the hub will follow my footsteps and say "oh there it is" and pull it out -- I swear this has happened every single time. I don't know what to make of it, but we have established that if I stand in front of a spot for a while, or repeatedly, and give up, that that is usually where it is! LOL

 

Mauri

[Guest tnunnery]

It's true! On the last few hunts I have had the same thing happen! She says she knows to start looking when I start to wander off down the trail. On one of the last hunts I recall a conversation that went something like this:

 

Me: "We must be close - the direction keeps flip-flopping. I think I'll go a little farther this way."

Her: "Umm, can you help me open this ammo box?"

 

Arrrrgh! It was pretty funny. I wonder if Garmin, et al, can harness this power and market it as a new feature in their future GPS devices!

 

Instead of the glazed-over, stare at the compass pointer, depend on technology mindset, I have found it is much better to try to think like the cache hider. If I ask myself "Where would I hide a cache around here?" I can usually walk straight to it.

[Guest tnunnery]

It's true! On the last few hunts I have had the same thing happen! She says she knows to start looking when I start to wander off down the trail. On one of the last hunts I recall a conversation that went something like this:

 

Me: "We must be close - the direction keeps flip-flopping. I think I'll go a little farther this way."

Her: "Umm, can you help me open this ammo box?"

 

Arrrrgh! It was pretty funny. I wonder if Garmin, et al, can harness this power and market it as a new feature in their future GPS devices!

 

Instead of the glazed-over, stare at the compass pointer, depend on technology mindset, I have found it is much better to try to think like the cache hider. If I ask myself "Where would I hide a cache around here?" I can usually walk straight to it.

[Guest Ron Streeter]

I think it's because we (men) keep depending on the gps while the women just start looking around. At one point I started going by myself JUST SO I COULD FIND IT FIRST !

 

Given my better half's skill, we now use this approach.

 

If we are looking in slightly different areas (maybe 20 or 30 feet apart) and one of us finds it, he or she puts something on it (like sunglasses, a mint, our keys) then wanders off and pretends to keep looking for it.

 

Why do this? It allows the second person to continue the fun of the search ! Of course when the second person sees that "marker" on top of the cache, there is some disappointment, but still some "joy" that even if you weren't the first, you WERE able to find it !

 

Are we nuts ? Maybe, but it works for us.

 

Sometimes the 2nd person will "figure out" that the first person found it and will "cave in" and say "OK, I think you found it. Where is it?" Usually that is her giving in if I found it. When on my own, I've only given up once in searching for 27 caches, so even if it takes me a half hour or so, I usually won't give up. By the way on that hunt I came back a 2nd time with the girl friend and SHE COULDN'T FIND IT EITHER !

 

Hope this strikes a chord with someone.

 

Ron

24H/26F/1C/4S

[Guest TupperWhere]

Gee Ron. The only chord this is striking with me is that you've just admitted publically that you have both a wife (*better-half*) AND a girlfriend. And if she doesn't know about it, I sure hope the wife doesn't read the forums! Or maybe I'm reading your message wrong?

[Guest Ron Streeter]

Tupper....

 

Whoa, Hoss ! I have a girl friend...SHE is my better half ! Don't know if you were kidding or not, but that is the straight scoop ! I wasn't aware that the expression "better half" was limited to wives.

 

On an unrelated note, I like your screen name. Cute !

 

Ron

24H/26F/1C/4S

[Guest TupperWhere]

See, I did mis-read it . I took you as saying you went out the first time with a better-half, couldn't find the cache, and went out the second time with the girlfriend. So sorry, dude (redfaced). No hard feelings?

 

Thanx re my login. I should have added a questionmark at the end...TupperWhere? (grins)

[Guest Pumpkin Princess]

Snicker.....snicker.....I've heard this many times while hunting with my BEST half (and ONLY half)- he is always manning the GPS while my brain is free of coordinates, details, etc......this allows me to 'see' ahead of him......I always ask how close we are.....if we are within 30 ft. of the cache I start to look around.....places we KNOW caches will be as we have been caching since last year.....I have a very sharp eye for this part.......I'm usually the one to find it......be one with the cache! Granted I am very good with the GPS as he allows me to enter all coordinates on the way to the cache. Solution: Men, teach your women how to USE the GPS or have them read the manual and then allow them to guide you to the cache....more than likely, the tables will turn and you will be finder! Manning the GPS takes your mind away from the actual searching of the cache - ease up - take turns - everyone is happy! Cache on! Ciao!

[Guest logscaler]

Glad to see this type of thread. It all points to enjoying something together instead of apart. If this game brings people closer, nobody will lose even if you do not find the cache. TTFN.

[Guest bigkid]

//news.newspress.com/lifestyles/0710geocache.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://news.newspress.com/lifestyles/0710geocache.htm

 

"We got to a point where we couldn't tell where it was," chuckled Mr. Biegen, recalling the excursion. "Diane was able to find it with intuition. I was still wandering around with my GPS trying to find which way to go."

[Guest bunkerdave]

I always first go the the spot my GPS takes me to, where I look for any likely hiding spots. If no cache presents itself, I look for anything within the EPE radius that could be a spot. I also start reaching for the old Palm Pilot to get the cache listing out. I read the listing again, then try to find the spot the cacher describes. Then I decode the hint. Then I start beating the HELL out of bushes, rocks, trees, etc, and cursing the STUPID cacher who doesn't know how to take down a FREAKING waypoint!!! Then I sit back and take a few deep breaths and look all around and then it usually comes to me. All better now. My wife has never found a cache, because she has never looked for one.

[Guest bunkerdave]

I always first go the the spot my GPS takes me to, where I look for any likely hiding spots. If no cache presents itself, I look for anything within the EPE radius that could be a spot. I also start reaching for the old Palm Pilot to get the cache listing out. I read the listing again, then try to find the spot the cacher describes. Then I decode the hint. Then I start beating the HELL out of bushes, rocks, trees, etc, and cursing the STUPID cacher who doesn't know how to take down a FREAKING waypoint!!! Then I sit back and take a few deep breaths and look all around and then it usually comes to me. All better now. My wife has never found a cache, because she has never looked for one.