What Hazards Do You Have In Your State/country?

December 31, 2003

here in the hills it's uaually bad news to stumble upon someones "special herb garden".

December 31, 2003

Pretty scary, huh?

How are garter snakes dangerous (not to mention slugs and salamanders)? I have tons of them that breed every year under a rotted tree stump (uh oh! wood rot!) in my yard. They are my pets!

Well I didn't want to offend them by not including them. The slugs might seek revenge by eating all my plants. :bad:

December 31, 2003

Here in Oklahoma we have West Niles, Lyme, Black widows, fiddlebacks, all sorts of rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths, chiggers, ticks, mosquitos, thorns of all shape and sizes, rabid skunks, squirrels, thorny trees, cactus, quicksand, black water, widow makers from where the tornados have hit, tornados, swarms of chocking gnats, rednecks with guns(beautify America, shoot a redneck), bobcat, a bigfoot (well, the sighting of one), 70 degree weather one day and the next in the 20's with blizzard conditions, stinging nettle, razor wire, razor grass, milkweed....I could go on but you get the picture, we have some diverse features here! :blink:

Darkmoon

2.2k · December 31, 2003

probably the scariest thing in geocaching is the spouse who thinks you're loony as a toon. the kind who thinks going out in the woods by yourself looking for hidden containers full of mctoys is crazy. :blink: :bad:

4k · December 31, 2003

probably the scariest thing in geocaching is the spouse who thinks you're loony as a toon. the kind who thinks going out in the woods by yourself looking for hidden containers full of mctoys is crazy.

I can definitely relate to that! :blink: :bad:

December 31, 2003

Pretty scary, huh?

How are garter snakes dangerous (not to mention slugs and salamanders)? I have tons of them that breed every year under a rotted tree stump (uh oh! wood rot!) in my yard. They are my pets!

So you think garter snakes aren't dangerous ...

Snake Poop

9.4k · December 31, 2003

probably the scariest thing in geocaching is the spouse who thinks you're loony as a toon. the kind who thinks going out in the woods by yourself looking for hidden containers full of mctoys is crazy.

Mine only thinks I'm crazy for wanting enough Christmas lights to see my house from space (or from Sparky's which is just as far). She actually enjoys geocaching...partly because it gets me off of the computer.

4k · December 31, 2003

probably the scariest thing in geocaching is the spouse who thinks you're loony as a toon. the kind who thinks going out in the woods by yourself looking for hidden containers full of mctoys is crazy.

Mine only thinks I'm crazy for wanting enough Christmas lights to see my house from space (or from Sparky's which is just as far). She actually enjoys geocaching...partly because it gets me off of the computer.

Oh, yeah.....as far as hazards, watch out or you'll get a sunburn from that ominous glow to the southwest during Christmas season..... :lol:

1.4k · December 31, 2003

We've got it fairly tame. Flash Floods (if your near a stream) and getting lost and falling off the trail in the dark is the biggest killer around here. Some of the land can be too crumbly to walk on if there's a slope so you should stick to a trail. Centipedes and mosquitos rounds out the natural pests. "Secret herb gardens" are also a problem.

January 1, 2004

here in nyc, we have taxis. they are at least as dangerous as an angry bear.

January 1, 2004

We have bears, moose, skunks, porcupines, mosquitoes, bees & wasps etc, lobsters, deer, bobcat, cougar, coyote, bats and deerflies. No dangerous snakes or spiders though (black widows but nobody has actually seen one) All the other wildlife is harmless, mostly.

I've run into all of the above except a moose and that is only a matter of time. The only cougar I ever ran into was in a bar. I did have a snake drop on me once. Bears seem to be most frightened by people in the above list, but they do growl at you before they run away.

The chance of seeing wildlife is the single biggest draw to geocaching for me. I prefer the caches that take me to areas where I may see them. Some consider them hazards, I consider them a bonus.

Now hunters, that's a different story!

Beside I always carry a bear bite kit. <_<

1.1k · January 1, 2004

Just read an article about the return of the Gray Wolf. Apparently her numbers are up in the northern midwest (obviously she is a Republican, LOL). Seriously the FED may be removing her from the endangered species list. Just one of the creature I would love to see, but never have.

24.7k · January 1, 2004

Just read an article about the return of the Gray Wolf. Apparently her numbers are up in the northern midwest (obviously she is a Republican, LOL). Seriously the FED may be removing her from the endangered species list. Just one of the creature I would love to see, but never have.

I recently filled out a questionaire relating on how to deal with them in recreational areas. The questions were Inane.

They were variations of who's fault is it if the wolf eats something, how much of the park should we close if you see a wolf, and who would you blame for the wolf being here to begin with.

They didn't have an option for not closing trails or parks, or that maybe I won't blame the feds for bringing back what used to be here to begin with.

January 1, 2004

That is insane. Why close part of a park because someone saw a wolf? Wolves are not a threat to people. You have a better chance of being attacked by someone's pet goldfish.

January 1, 2004

I have to agree with dinoprophet.....the most dangerous thing here in SE michigan is detroit.....thankfully i havent run into out in the woods caching <_<

January 1, 2004

Where do you want to start in Australia?

In the water apart from sharks you have Blue bottles, Blue Ring octopus, Cone shells, Stonefish, Sea Snakes and the deadliest of all the Box Jellyfish.

On land we have some of the deadliest snakes on the planet and Saltwater Crocodiles. There is the Giant Stinging tree which can cause pain in some people for the rest of their life. Then there is the large flightless bird called the Cassowary, which has a bony growth on the top of its head, which it uses as a knife when attacking people.

Paralysis tick and a spider which tends to bite you on the bum (Red Back). The Australian Magpie which when in nesting season attacks anyone who comes near their nest.

Then on the roads we have to deal with crazy drivers, road trains and animals, which hop out in front of you and just stop.

1.1k · January 1, 2004

The Gray wolf is an exceptionally skittish animal, much like the big cats. They don't want to have anything to do with us 2 leggers. The odds of seeing one (pack or single) are very low. They hear and smell us way better than we do them. Really cool thing is that Washington pays ranchers market value for livestock killed by these protected predators. Hopefully we can find a way to control them without making them extinct. If their numbers are under control they will leave us alone, if we take away the food source or allow them to outgrow the environment they will come looking for food. Still hope to see one someday.

6.5k · January 1, 2004

:wacko: One of our more prolific (and prosaic) cachers here in NC always has some variant of this note/disclaimer in her cache pages :lol: :

NOTE AND DISCLAIMER: This cache is hidden in the great outdoors. Welcome to the South! We've got skeeters; we've got chiggers; we've got ticks; we've got ants; we've got snakes and other critters; we've got poison ivy, oak, and sumac; we've got mold and allergens; we've got kudzu and other pesky vines; and boy, have we got briars, brambles, and stickers! Depending on the place you elect to enter the off-trail portion of the hunt, you may very well find these and other denizens of our environment. Please dress accordingly and take adequate precautions whenever you interact with nature. And don't forget to cache in, trash out

Personally speaking I have seen copperheads on several occasions, and got a mean chigger attack after wading through 100 yds of reeds last summer. YUK <_<

1.7k · January 1, 2004

I visited my night cache last night (to see what the Sheriff did to it) and nearly caught my death of mud.

Both boots sank in, up to my ankles.

2.1k · January 1, 2004

Where do you want to start in Australia?

You forgot the Drop Bears...

1.8k · January 1, 2004

Read some of the logs Here. It appears as if this area has been overrun by a Nazi youth gang armed with BB guns. <_<

January 1, 2004

Big rocks.....and the mosquitos of course...

that is one nice picture... i like

January 1, 2004

Well, I live in Colorado and there are a few hazards up in the mountains (and down here in Denver too!). Some are:

1. Police

2. Bears

3. Mountain Lions

4. Snakes

5. Spiders

6. Elk

7. Bighorn Sheep

8. Nosey old people

9. Prairie Dog holes (nasty way to break an ankle!)

10. Ice and snow (nice way to bruise your behind if you're not wearing good shoes!)

11. DEADLY tumble weeds! <_< LOL!

The elk and sheep won't really bother you though. They will usually run off if you get too close. But if you have a camera with you, you can get some neat wildlife shots while you cache. It's a lot of fun!

2.6k · January 1, 2004

I guess in Finland the hazards for geocachers are mostly the same as in Sweden. We have pretty much the same flora and fauna here. Deer, moose and reindeer in Lapland cause many car accidents throughout the year, so one can never be too careful when driving to the cache site staring the GPSr arrow. During my caching trips I've seen one moose, but that time the collision wasn't even close.

January 1, 2004

The Gray wolf is an exceptionally skittish animal, much like the big cats. They don't want to have anything to do with us 2 leggers. The odds of seeing one (pack or single) are very low.....

Oh, I don't know about that...

So far, just about everything that the "pro-reintroduction" folks had told us about wolves has turned out to be untrue. They told us that the wolves would stay far from people. They told us that they would kill only the sick and weak animals. They told us that they would not be a problem for livestock. They told us that they wouldn't wander far from the release area. All those statements have now been proven false.

About the only thing that hasn't been disproved at this point, is the claim that wolves would never attack humans.

Given that we have seen plenty of that activity now from cougars, and there have recently been documented cases of black bears stalking people in the northeastern states - I'm gonna go out on a limb here and predict that we will see documented wolf attack cases in Idaho in my lifetime. Unless we start "educating" the wolves by natural selection.

What has this to do with geocaching? Only that wild lands and wild animals are wild, and while we are recreating amongst them, we should exercise caution.

-ST

January 1, 2004

Here in Spain caching in the wildlife is safe, the problem is going by car, the roads have many curves and there are too many crazy people driving

2k · January 1, 2004

Ignorance and stupidity, we know how to cure the first, there is no cure for the second.

The biggest hazard in any outdoor activity any where is ignorance. Knowing what to expect and how to deal with it negates almost any danger you run into in the outdoors.

If your stupid you don't know it and nothing will help you. Tie a ham around your neck and go look for a bear den, I heard they like visitors this time of year. :unsure:

1.1k · January 2, 2004

Tie a ham around your neck and go look for a bear den, I heard they like visitors this time of year.

Oh, yea the Hungry Bear Locationless cache. Been meaning to do that one. And people say they can't get locationless approvals. :unsure:

January 2, 2004

Well, here in central Florida, we have gators and snakes mostly. There are fiddle-back spiders occasionaly, but mostly just the snakes and gators are the major obstacles.

2.7k · January 2, 2004

Hungry hungry hippos, mad cows, lions, tigers bears oh my. Marauding native americans, Herd of Bison? Falling meteors, Escaping ozone, nuclear missiles passing each other overhead, california falling into the ocean to hang out with hawaii (Alaska can come too) (word?)...

You name it, we got it in beautiful Indiana!

And Please, PLEASE, don't go walking in the woods between the hours of 1630 and 1830 Eastern Standard time (no daylight savings).

That's when the elephants are jumping out of the trees.

GERONIMOoooooo!

January 2, 2004

I live in Southern Ohio. Here in the northwestern Appie Mountains, we have just about every mountain/rural hazard you can think of. Copperhead and Rattlesnake, various spiders and bugs, Bear, Coyote etc, plus some reasonably hazardous terrain. The dangers are only moderately common though. It's not too bad of a place for caching, If you're prepared. I think in the winter things are pretty safe. Summer can be more dangerous, but I haven't had a run in with anything life threatening as yet.

~~Trudger

1.1k · January 2, 2004

Hungry hungry hippos, mad cows, lions, tigers bears oh my. Marauding native americans, Herd of Bison? Falling meteors, Escaping ozone, nuclear missiles passing each other overhead, california falling into the ocean to hang out with hawaii (Alaska can come too) (word?)...

You name it, we got it in beautiful Indiana!

And Please, PLEASE, don't go walking in the woods between the hours of 1630 and 1830 Eastern Standard time (no daylight savings).

That's when the elephants are jumping out of the trees.

GERONIMOoooooo!

Just a guess, but those mushrooms growing behind the Rec Center at Church Camp probably aren't safe for consumption.

1.6k · January 2, 2004

Hej (That's "hi") in Swedish:

I have actually geocached & hiked in Sweden (found 3 caches, I think). That was near Karlstad, and tried to in Ornskoldsvik, but no caches in town area back last year April or so. Biggest hazard THERE: Moose crossing the road!! They have signs (like we have in the US for deer crossing). Nice siloutte of a Moose. Wish I had a pic. Friend of mine over there almost killed himself & totalled his BM'r when he hit one. I'm talking 1000 pounds of Moose! Had a great time over there.

BTW - Sweden's military is serious. Some of my customers. I'll bet on them against many other's in Europe.

Hej (it also goodbye!)

January 2, 2004

In East Texas we have the usual poison ivy, poison oak, stinging bull nettles, run-of-the-mill thorns and giant mutant thorns. And of course giant banana spiders, smaller but more dangerous brown recluse and black widow spiders, big black and green stinging asps, and the standard chiggers, ticks and mosquitos so big three of them can carry off a cow. Lots of snakes in warm weather: copperheads, mocassins and timber rattlers. And red-tailed hawks who get mad if you venture too near their nest.

We also have the occassional Space Shuttle debris to contend with (most of the bulletin boards at National Forest trailheads list phone numbers to call if you spot shuttle debris).

And the most dangerous of all: thousands and thousands of drunk deer hunters. Blaze orange just gives them something easy to spot through the scope; they just aim halfway between the double image. Head to toe camo is a better bet; if they can't see you they can't hit you!

2.3k · January 2, 2004

Well, we live just outside of Chicago and we have our own special kind of hazard around here. :unsure:

Edited link.

Edited January 3, 2004 by Corp Of Discovery

3.5k · January 2, 2004

Here on the dusty plains of north Texas you have to be careful when urban caching around high noon. The occasional gunfight might break out.

* Horses can be ornery and they bite pretty hard. While its difficult to mark a waypoint while on horseback it *is* easier to lasso a cache away from an angry rattler from the saddle.

* Tumbleweeds completely obscure caches many times!

Sorry. Just preparing you for the stereotypical images that will be presented to the nation at the Cotton Bowl game here in Dallas Friday. If there's not some yokel in chaps, a big hat, twirling a lasso outside the stadium I'll be feakin' amazed. :unsure:

January 2, 2004

Politicians, mosquitos - sorry, I'm repeating myself. Snakes, ticks, spiders, drivers, old bridges, high water, building businesses in 100 year flood plain area - yeah, how smart is that - forget 1993 so soon? :unsure:

Edited January 2, 2004 by Ferreteer

2.5k · January 2, 2004

Well, we live just outside of Chicago and we have our own special kind of hazard around here.

For those of us non-AOL users, what does it say?

2.1k · January 2, 2004

For those of us non-AOL users, what does it say?

I believe it says "please buy AOL".

:unsure:

1.4k · January 2, 2004

Ignorance and stupidity, we know how to cure the first, there is no cure for the second.

There's always the Darwin Awards

2.7k · January 2, 2004

NH suffers from rabid touristism in the spring/summer/fall seasons. Winter is dead empty for some reason...

Best to cache in winter to avoid being bitten...

1.2k · January 2, 2004

Hej (That's "hi") in Swedish:
I have actually geocached & hiked in Sweden (found 3 caches, I think). That was near Karlstad, and tried to in Ornskoldsvik, but no caches in town area back last year April or so. Biggest hazard THERE: Moose crossing the road!! They have signs (like we have in the US for deer crossing). Nice siloutte of a Moose. Wish I had a pic. Friend of mine over there almost killed himself & totalled his BM'r when he hit one. I'm talking 1000 pounds of Moose! Had a great time over there.

BTW - Sweden's military is serious. Some of my customers. I'll bet on them against many other's in Europe.

Hej (it also goodbye!)

Hej och tack så mycket! (Hi, and thank you very much!)

Here is a pic of moose sign - we Sweds doesn't see them too often nowadays, since the Germans are crazy about moose and steal the signs!!!

The Swedish military is almost gone, so we gonna introduce a new thing instead. We are gonna place telephones along the border and write signs at the phone saying in a lot of different languages: Call home for free. Then is the military gonna monitor the phones and see if anyone calls to Russia for example :unsure:

Then they know that we are gonna be invaded soon...

Or there is just a bunch of poor exchange students on their way...

2.3k · January 3, 2004

Well, we live just outside of Chicago and we have our own special kind of hazard around here.

For those of us non-AOL users, what does it say?

Oops! Didn't know others may not get the link, sorry. Try this.

That one is to CNN.

January 3, 2004

southeastern north carolina. hazards: mosquitoes, ticks (esp. seed ticks!), poison ivy, poison sumac, idiots, chiggers, and no-see-um midges. we have representatives of all the different kinds of poisonous snakes found in north america, but they are seriously overrated as a hazard to people. the other fauna are mostly benign. it isn't the large stuff that gets you, it's the small ones that you can't see! -harry

1.1k · January 3, 2004

I can't believe that I didn't even think to mention the Peregrine Falcon. After being nearly wipped out by the pesticide DDT they have managed to stage a comeback, even here in Cincinnati. Why dangerous you ask? Well it is the swiftest bird, which also classifies it as the fastest animal on the planet. Able to dive at speeds exceeding 125 mph (200 km/h) we finally have a successful predator doing its best to control the winged rat (pigeon) population in downtown Cincinnati. Gotta love the winged predators.

2.6k · January 3, 2004

Well after reading all the above posts, all I can say is you lucky people. I noticed all the other So Cal posters refused to mention our most dangerous animal, luckly it only arrives during the summer. If you should ever see one you should hide as quickly as you can as they are very dangerous.

The best way to tell one is by there plumage, starting at their feet, white socks to the calf with sandals, then covering the lower body shorts, their top plumage is usually a very bright obnoxious or hawiian shirt.

Sometimes they are known as tourist, the very worst of the bunch is a sub species known as zonies, luckly those usually only congregate in the very southern part of the state

4.8k · January 3, 2004

So you think garter snakes aren't dangerous ...
Snake Poop

Yeah, I grabbed one once that I thought I might have hit with the lawn mower and that happend. But I grew up raised by biologists (actually entomologists) and minored in biology in College, so it was no big deal to me. I was more happy to learn that the snake was safe. The darn little ones tend to dive in front of the mower! I'm always terrified mowing my lawn. Not because of a fear of snakes, but because I worry I'll hit one! I love those little snakes and even try to name them, but since they all look alike, it gets difficult.

Here in Spain caching in the wildlife is safe, the problem is going by car, the roads have many curves and there are too many crazy people driving

Maybe not even in wildlife areas. My friend Ramon was run off the toll-way between La Coruna and Santiago. Fortunately he was OK!

Edited January 3, 2004 by carleenp

2.7k · January 3, 2004

Cats

4.8k · January 3, 2004

Is that a mountain lion track Tahosa? Dang I wish I could see one! Supposedly we have them in Eastern Nebraska now, since one was sedated and caught in urban Omaha, but I want to see one on my own (hopefully from a safe distance)!

January 4, 2004

Southern California has and I have seen all of these...

Earthquakes...

Rattlesnakes...

Scorpions... (Although poisonous are less frequent.)

Skunks...

Angry deer...

Mountain Lions...

Bobcats...

Alligator lizards... (I know they aren't poisonous, but let one latch onto you.)

and of course the obvious dangers of overheating, dehydration from the heat

and such.

(For those who don't think that may be an issue, check out... mike's memorial cache

There are other dangers aside from this, but I will leave this list as is.

You will see nothing more amazing though than coming over the hills and running

smack dab into the middle of a herd of deer. Cool and scary all at once.

Cheers !

What Hazards Do You Have In Your State/country?

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