Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just took up Geocaching. I decided to incorperate it with herping, in addition I am going to start listing finds by my latitude and longitude.

Any other geocachers/herpers out there?

I don't like the idea of it. No better than littering. Last time I found a box I chunked it in the trash. They can change the coordinates if they want, but I don't want a bunch of people putting all sorts of junk out where I am herping.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

If you steal in hunger, I will kick you when you try. These stand for me. Name your god and bleed the freak. I'd like to see. How you all would bleed for me.-Alice In Chains

The way I understand it is that no more than a little package is left behind. This is just another excuse to get out and enjoy nature... to appreciate what might be destroyed if we're not careful. Not too much worse than you leaving a foot print or a flipped board or rock even if it is replaced.
I'm finding a good deal of this 'control' mentality throughout todays society and I'm sorry to say that I'm just as guilty as the next guy but I'm hoping that because I recognise this I might be able to change.
Take note... the world is shrinking and the only way we are going to survive is through compromise.
(whoa, too deep for this early in the am.)
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

I'd say it's a lot better than littering. Lighten up!

Mike

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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

The only difference is that you provide coordinates so someone else can go look at the litter.

Littering is disarding trash (eating a candy bar and tossing the wrapper, which I have seen many a herper due). Caches are not trash, at least not to the great many people that do it. I'd be careful I think the general public is much more open to the idea of geocaching than some wierdo's looking for snakes. I'm always looking for aliiances, groups with a common purpose, saving open spaces, enjoying nature. That's why I am morphing two of my favorites into one. If you don't like it sorry, I'll keep on doing it.

Let me see if I have this straight. If I eat the candy bar and toss the wrapper on the ground it is littering, but if I take the same wrapper, put it in a Tupperware container, place it under the rock it fell on when I just tossed it, and post GPS coordinates to it, it's not littering, it's a harmless game?

Exactly. Either way, you are leaving unnatural objects in nature. Either way, they can both end up hurting the ecosystem. And either way, I will continue to throw away the boxes when I come across them. People can but them in their backyards if they want, but I don't want a bunch of trash in my herping grounds.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

If you steal in hunger, I will kick you when you try. These stand for me. Name your god and bleed the freak. I'd like to see. How you all would bleed for me.-Alice In Chains

Nice logic....I'll have to remember that. Coincedently I don't want trash out herping which we all know is happening on a daily basis. So to each his own.

It is not really that bad. It is not a bunch of junk, just a little trinket box. I think it sounds fun, the only mild downside I see to it is that fact that it brings more humans out to my beautiful hillsides. We found one once with some interesting stuff like some figurines and a bag of weed. It was a fun after noon and then we stumbed across this and we were apalled, just as you would have been Andy . later....chad

Funny you should mention littering, part of geocacheing is collecting litter. If you go to the geocaching site you'll see a whole section on it.

Not to sound to dumb but what is Geocatching ? And what does it have to do with trash and or not putting fliped rocks or boards back. - One of my big pet pevs, Just put things back were you found them. ie-almost every thing. Matt

People basically put a box out and put some objects in it with a log book. Then when other people come, they sign the book, take an object out, and put one of their objects in, or something to that effect. The coordinates of the boxes are posted on the net and you go out and find them. In my opinion, it is no different then me just throwing all the trash out of the side of my car.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

If you steal in hunger, I will kick you when you try. These stand for me. Name your god and bleed the freak. I'd like to see. How you all would bleed for me.-Alice In Chains

your house is an unnatural object so, using your logic, it's trash too. I think you should tear it down because I don't want it in my way when i'm herping in your back yard!

Eric

But his house is on his own private land, put there with the owner's permission. I don't believe Andy has a problem with doing the same with geocaches. If Andy decides to build his house out on public land without permission, I say raze the sucker.

You're correct. However, you surely realize i'm demonstrating absurdity by being absurd.
You did you use one very key word though. And that word was "public" land.

Eric

I should also mention that here in my area W/C IL. & N/E Mo. the State parks are now issuing special use permits to place geocaches in the parks. DNR is beginning to loosen up & issue permits as well, thanks to a lot of hard work by many dedicated individuals who have taken the time to give power point as well as hands on presentations to those in charge.

Eric

Yes it is public land, and whether you just toss the trash on the ground or place it deliberately, the end result is the same. There is trash where nature should be. I wouldn't want herpers going around placing plywood or stacks of tin wherever they wish. That is putting the enjoyment of the few at the expense of the many.

There's a big difference between placing a cache & setting out tin/boards. Caches are "usually" hidden where no one will see them unless they are looking for it.

Andy, finds them and he is not looking for them.

How many has he found?
I found one accidently too, in a very remote area. That's how I learned about it. I have since fallen in love with the game. I've hidden 30 caches of my own & found 278.

Eric

I don't know, you would have to ask him how many. So I guess using the same logic, as long as I put my tin/boards "off the beaten path" so not very many people would run into it, that would make it ok?

if I just decide to toss all of the trash out of my car (and for those of you that have seen my car, you know what I am talking about) and into the bushes where no one walks, that apparently would be ok by the same logic. I mean...people probably wouldn't stumble across it. Maybe from now on I should just start leaving all of my cigarette butts in a little box in a public park. I can call it my geocache. Anyone want coordinates?
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

If you steal in hunger, I will kick you when you try. These stand for me. Name your god and bleed the freak. I'd like to see. How you all would bleed for me.-Alice In Chains

That is one beautiful Milksnake you found. Happy herping

Mike

There are caches in over 200 countries world wide. There's NO stopping it! Check out the map link below.

Eric

PS Thanks for the kind words!
cache map of the world

There are drugs being moved around in more countries than that I would venture to say. No use trying to stop them either I suppose. We might as well just succumb.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

If you steal in hunger, I will kick you when you try. These stand for me. Name your god and bleed the freak. I'd like to see. How you all would bleed for me.-Alice In Chains

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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

I brought this same subject up 2 years ago when I first learned about geocaching & man did I get blasted; you'd think i'd cut down a sequoia tree with a spotted owl living in it!

I belong to a gecaching club in St. Louis called "SLAGA" St. Louis Area Geocachers Association. & one of the biggest tree hugging liberals I ever met in my life is a member. He goes by the name Myotis, which is the genus name for an endangered bat.
This guy has successfully sued the government & won on several occasions regarding environmental issues & he see's no problem with geocaching. In fact, he has hidden over 100 caches himself.

Here's a twist though, the guy got mad at me because I took my dog to hunt one of his caches in a wooded area where there are no dogs allowed. Go figure, I guess dog poop in the woods is somehow worse than rabbit, coon, coyote, etc. poop! LOL

Keep on herping/caching & God bless!

Eric AKA: Believer in the geocaching world