[Yawningdog]

Well, It sounds like everyone here has no problem with the “pay for extra services” plan that J-man has implemented. I’m also sending in my $30. I think I would rather be charged a small amount (optional, at that) than have to put up with advertising on the site, which would be his next obvious source of income. He does have some minor ads on the site now but it could get much, much worse. Member only caches sound like a good thing, too. I can see one of my future “hides” being a mocache for the first month or two.

[Yawningdog]

Hi Sylvanis,

I’m using the Etrex Legend and it shows bearing and heading on the same screen. It’s just a matter of configuring the screens to your liking.
The Vista model of the Etrex will also give you the compass on your wish list for $100 more.
As far as an external antenna, I haven’t had the need for one, other than while hiking in deep woods and it’s not likely that I would use it then. While driving it always gets great reception.

~ Sam

[Yawningdog]

Well, I’ve got a tie here. The first evil cache was one called “They’re Here” that Thraxman and I did while bummin’ around St. Louis last year. We spent over an hour in the woods at around midnight looking for this dang thing. After twisted ankles and scratches and curses, we finally remembered that the clue was letterbox format and followed it straight to the cache. Doh!
Evil cache #2 was infinitely more embarrassing, since it was at last years picnic and there was a reporter from the Sentinal with us who was thoughtful enough to mention my grousing and whining (“I can’t believe this. It’s driving me crazy!”) in his article. Not only did it take an 8 year old girl to find the cache that I walked right past several times during that long hour but I then had to spend the next two weeks getting razzed by every human being I know (and Rem the Dog, too) about my “so called” hunting skills.
Thanks SO MUCH, Jeremy!
Truth be told, though, I would much rather spend an hour in a frustrated search for the booty than walk right up to a cache that’s out in the open. For me, the fun is in the challenge.
Oh yeah, I have to admit that I grinned from ear to ear when I read that Jeremy couldn’t find my Ottawa Panorama cache. Tell the truth, J. Were you just trying to make me feel better? What a guy!

[Yawningdog]

Oh, come on now. This is getting silly. We can’t say “****s” on these pages? My vacuum cleaner ****s. Mud can **** your boot off.
This ****s.

(Edited to add a smile) (heheh)

[This message has been edited by Yawningdog (edited February 25, 2002).]

[Yawningdog]

Well, there’s a lot to be said for ecological diversity. There was once hundreds of miles of prarie in Wisconsin but most of it is lost now, having been taken over by Box Elder, Honey****le, and other “giant weeds”. Don’t get me wrong, I love the woods and can easily be accused of being a tree hugger, but I would really like to see more of our public land being restored to it’s natural state so that indigenous flora can, once again, thrive here. Let’s hope that these woods didn’t get destroyed just to make way for Garlic Mustard and Purple Loosestrife.

[Yawningdog]

It’s interesting how many comments I’ve seen on the boards and the cache page and emails I’ve recived from people commenting on the dangers of walking on the ice since we placed Island Sanctuary. It seems that, somewhere along the line, falling through the ice came to equal certain and instantanious death. This is the first time that I’ve made this statement in public since we placed that cache and I fully expect to be reprimanded by people who have a hundred “death on the lake” stories to relate, but here goes: If you fall through the ice, the trick is to climb back out and go home to dry off. If you are inclined to panic or can’t swim then you are in trouble, but I’ve lived on the lake my whole life and have broken the ice a couple of times. It ****s, and once it took me a while to break my way to a spot that would hold my weight again (that was a bad one), but I never came close to the instant death that people have been accusing me of dooming local cachers to. I did not place that cache to put anyone in danger and it is rated a 5 because that is what the rating system told me to make it. My standard comment to the emails that I’ve recieved is for the person to wait until the ice melts and then go there in a boat. The Island is better in the summer, anyway. And as far as scolding me for placing people in danger, I only placed a cache, I didn’t push anyone out on a lake.
Well, I’ve said it now. Feel free to “rip me a new one”.

[Yawningdog]

Regarding Steve’s last posting;
I’ve been considering something very similar to what, I believe, he was alluding to in his message. I have, sitting next to me right now, my next cache container. It includes some moderately valuable items that fit a theme that I plan to attribute to the hunt and they may temp an unscrupulous hunter to clean out the container. In the past, I had a very unhappy experience when I placed a cache called “Collectables Cache” and one of the groups who visited it helped themselves to everything of any value in the container replaced them with things like cigarettes and condoms. These items did not fit the theme I had intended, to say the least
Anyway, this time I am considering placing the cache and then immediately archiving it and allowing the hunt by invitation only. For obvious reasons, I am struggling with the possible ramifications. Will I, and those I invite to the hunt, be seen as elitists? Am I hurting the sport by not being inclusive, even though I may put the future of the hunt itself at risk? Am I truly an insipid bozo for making caches with contents that don’t just come out of my kitchen junk drawer?

What do you guys think?

[Yawningdog]

As Brian mentioned, I did get permission from the highest level before placing a cache at Mill Bluff State Park, and I’m glad that I did. They provided me with very valuable information regarding the rules prohibiting climbing on the bluffs and the reasons that the rules existed. Thanks heavens I asked, for my original plans included multiple stages that would have made my caches not only unfriendly to the local environment but, also, quite illegal!

In a similar instance, I recently traded emails with a local hunter who is a state ranger and he was kind enough to point out to me the negative impact that one of my caches (Grant’s Tomb) may be having on the landscape of the area. His input has convinced me that it would be in the best interest of the park for me to move the cache to an area of lesser impact, which I plan to do very soon. This conversation got me to thinking that, had I contacted the park officials and made my intentions known, they could have shared their expertise regarding the fragility of certain aspects of the landscape and, perhaps, influenced my cache placement.
Anyway, my point is, maybe it IS in everybody’s best interest to check with the local authorities before placing a cache?

[Yawningdog]

Oops, I was reading the forums from the last to the first and just discovered that Ken already started a thread like this in the General one.

[Yawningdog]

I agree. We might as well open up a place for hunters to comment on the placement of existing caches in the area, too. I’ve recieved some comments on the placement of certain hunts that I’ve put together and would love the opportunity to defend myself in a public forum, rather than getting into a pissing match right on the cache page, as a local hunter tried to get me to do just the other day.

We could use this forum to help each other find the contacts needed to secure permission in public areas, too.

[Author]

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