Home › Forums › Geocaching in Wisconsin › General › My brush with law enforcement .. a request to properly label
This topic contains 10 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by TS 19 years, 5 months ago.
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04/24/2006 at 4:42 am #1723235
I slept in this morning after the events we ran yesterday. Shortly after I had gotten up, we had a Milwaukee County Sheriff at the door.
Yesterday, as part of Earth Day events in Underwood Park, a suspicious ammo can was found. The Police were called, the Fire Dept was called and eventually the Bomb Squad. The ammo can was x-rayed and when it was determined the contents were ziplock baggies, a small notebook and pens it was opened. The problem was, this ammo can still has the military markings on it.
The officer at my door had seen the Fox6 news story that I spoke about hiding geocaches. After contacting Fox6, he tracked me down through the City of Greenfield. He asked if I was familiar with xx cache and quite honestly, I had not heard of it. We opened the box together and looked at the log book. The really only way we could determine it was a geocache was the first page said welcome to our cache, was dated September 05 and was signed by the placers. I am thinking it was never submitted or was submitted and not approved. Either way, I now have the suspicious ammo box and was asked if I could return it to the owners. PLUS, I may have recruited this officer to try out geocaching and he may be attending one of my upcoming classes to learn more.
Really folks, can I really stress the importance of properly labeling your geocaches!
04/24/2006 at 2:35 pm #1761493I paint over all of ours, and used paint pens to write Geocache on both large sides as well as the handle of the container. Except for the most recent adopted cache, I also put the GC number on the outside. I do always put the cache name and GC id onto the cover of the log book.
I think that at least the log should be required to have the GC ID and cache name on it as part of the process.
04/24/2006 at 4:18 pm #1761494I did a quick look in the Underwood Parkway area (south of 108th & Capitol Dr) and found nothing submitted to geocaching.com and never listed that would fit the description. Do you have any idea EXACTLY where it was found?
04/24/2006 at 4:33 pm #1761495Tie,
I will email you off list.
AuntieNae04/25/2006 at 3:08 am #1761496I can’t even begin to count the number of just ammo boxes that I have found that don’t have the ammo information either taped over, painted or covered with a geocache sticker. I generally email the owner to let them know it should be covered. To date of the ones that I have notified, I cannot recall anyone that has responded.
Question, If I add a can of spray paint to my backpack. Would it be appropriate to paint over someone else’s container as long as it doesn’t destroy the integrity of the container or hide? Or a roll of cammo tape to do the same thing?
Just a question.
04/25/2006 at 3:36 am #1761497All caches in DuPage County, IL (right next to where I grew up) require all ammo cans to be see-through. Cache owners use a sawzall (sp?) and cut out the sides of the container. They they screw on pieces of plexiglass onto either side. I bead of silicon glue keeps it watertight. The cache containers look cool, you can see inside of them, and they’re still waterproof.
In addition, DuPage County has stickers that they administer for each cache. It’s a pretty slick system. Each cache has its own serial number courtesy of the county.
It would go a long way to ensuring the future of caching with ammo cans in this state if the WGA required similiar restrictions. Thoughts?
04/25/2006 at 4:02 am #1761498quote:
Originally posted by Green Bay Paddlers:
All caches in DuPage County, IL (right next to where I grew up) require all ammo cans to be see-through. Cache owners use a sawzall (sp?) and cut out the sides of the container. They they screw on pieces of plexiglass onto either side. I bead of silicon glue keeps it watertight. The cache containers look cool, you can see inside of them, and they’re still waterproof.
I’d love to see a picture of one of these!
Bec
There are no shortcuts to any place worth going04/25/2006 at 11:34 am #1761499Ask and ye shall receive…
05/02/2006 at 3:38 pm #1761500The cat story:
Saturday morning we were placing caches for the WGA campout. Another couple had set out at the trailhead about the same time. They would frequently stop to take photos as we combed the area for our first hiding spot. After finding a suitable location, we made the hide and paused to do the paperwork. As they came past, I volunteered, “I suppose you’re wondering what we’re doing.”
“Well, yes, we noticed that you seem to examining just about everything.”
So we explained geocaching, the upcoming event, and showed them our hide. Yes, they had heard of geocaching, it sounds like fun. As they turned to go on their way the man asked his wife, “Do you think that I should tell them about the cat?”
“Yes, go ahead, tell them about the cat.”
He explained that their cat had died a while back and he decided to place it’s remains in a local park. As he gathered stones to mark the grave he uncovered a camouflaged ammo box. Just as he picked it up he realized that it probably contained drugs or other contraband, and now his fingerprints were on it! So he hurled as far away as he could and got out of there.
A few days later, a friend stopped by and told him of geocaching. The friend went on to vent his frustration about a cache he hunted earlier in the day with no success. Asking his friend about the location and container, he realized that what his friend was seeking was the container he had pitched away a few days before. Together they returned to the spot to find the cache and replace it, but to no avail.
So this is another good reason to label your caches. And if you’re out looking in a park for a camo ammo box under a stone and instead uncover a dead cat, I guess you could count that as a find…
TS & Lorie
05/02/2006 at 4:15 pm #1761501Cat Story … I love it. But I guess if it was me, I’d have reported it to the police, rather the hurling it. If you didn’t do anything wrong, why not now do what’s right?
The clear panel on the ammo box … Very cool and I can see the advantage in “windowing” what’s in there for the world to see. But I guess before I’d go through the effort, I’d just buy the best quality clear container of a similar size, that I could find. But then again, I don’t have the tools to cut an ammo box side open with ease.
05/02/2006 at 4:23 pm #1761502quote:
Originally posted by EnergySaver:
If you didn’t do anything wrong, why not now do what’s right?
I suspect that he wasn’t supposed to be burying cats in the park and didn’t want to explain why he was looking under rocks…
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