On Permission And Pantywastes

[Cathunter]

I tend to let my thoughts go unspoken but I’m glad to see that i’m not alone-

posted with permission-

“On Permission And Pantywastes, A hearty “Shut the hell up from me.”
Reposting this as a link.

I hold much respect for those who have worked with the DNR and other agencies to improve caching in WI.

I also don’t understand why I can go crashing through the woods with my gps, my dog, my rifle, and enough ammo to cut down a tree, yet some people believe that I should get permission before placing a cache in those same woods.

Do those same people get permission before walking through the woods, boating around a lake, or taking their dog for walk?

If I had the demeanor of a soft-spoken preacher instead of that of a mountain man, I might not feel so bad about having to sell myself to the local authorities. I tend to avoid people in general, especially those who can take away my freedom.

I open this topic out of interest in others opinions. This is a discussion board- isn’t it?

[This message has been edited by Cathunter (edited 11-29-2003).]

[kbraband]

I have seen that person’s postings in the gc.com forums and usually choose to ignore them. Now one of them has been thrust into our otherwise civil discourse here in wi-geocaching.com. I’m not going to respond to all of the rants because there are too many to know where to begin. However, one of the most blatant lies of that message is about park officials. Most are very cooperative, friendly, and willing to listen to thoughtful proposals from geocachers. The time has passed when geocachers can operate under the radar and do as we please. We are in a new era; an era of awareness brought about by large numbers of geocachers that requires cooperation and dare I say it, compliance with a base set of rules.

[sbukosky]

Having read the post before it became a link, I agree with the message it holds. Covertness is part of the geocaching experience. We are hiding things intended for only certain people to find. A park ranger could patrol his area for ages and not be aware there are caches out of view, just waiting to pop up and bite him in the nose. It seems to me that most objections to caches are based on paranoia rather than facts. I just witnessed this in Indiana where the rules are to stay on trail so as not to impact the growth. I saw zero impact at the cache site. However, it was not hidden with the intention of baffling as many as possible without giving a useful clue to help prevent such impact from happening. Laughingly, near by was a fenced off area to keep deer out so their impact on the plants could be determined. Again, I didn’t see any difference inside the fenced area from the outside of it. When exiting the nature center, I talking with a park ranger about the area. I mentioned how nature quickly reclaims most of man’s impact on an area. He agreed. It would have been a good time to mention geocaching but I’ll let that for the locals to deal with.

The point that I got from the message is that a don’t ask and don’t tell policy is the writer’s preference. It seems to me that has been the policy on nearly all of the existing caches in our state. What fun are permits and tracking down someone for permission to hide something they otherwise would never know was there?

[wzbt03]

My 2 cents on the subject –

I have found that by taking the time to educate those who are responsible for land management can put our activity in a very favorable light. We have a number of board members that can help or advise on ways to do this in the most positive way.
In this day and age our activity is walking a very thin line. Finding ammo boxes in the woods or stumbling across a hidden camo box could cause most non-geocachers to over-react. I have wondered recently how many geocaches are in the woods around Ohio Interstates and the risks of such a thing at this time with the sniper.
Face it folks – we appear a bit weird to those who do not understand what we are doing. I commented the other day to my daughter – “old guy” in woods rummaging about – High Risk in the eyes of some others in the woods, “old guy” with daughter – Risk free .
So for everyone who thinks we can and should be able to do whatever we want – get over it as it could be the beginning of the end.
In my opinion, everyone needs to do their part in this – if meeting with local parks people to explain geocaching is too uncomfortable then perhaps just finding caches and not hiding them is more of what your involvement should be.
Anyone with differing opinions need not be offended – its an open forum here and different opinions are always welcome.

[kbraband]

quote:

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Originally posted by Cathunter:

I open this topic out of interest in others opinions. This is a discussion board- isn’t it?

[This message has been edited by Cathunter (edited 11-29-2003).]

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Sure, discussion is good! I have no problem with forum members posting their own comments in a courteous fashion. Originally the first message in this topic was simply a cut-and-paste from one of Criminal’s postings in the gc.com forums with no comment at all by Cathunter. I see he has now added his own comments and opinions, and this is good.

[pogopod]

Interesting descussion, but whoever started all this should know that the word is pantywaist, not pantywaste. I think that is something very different.

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