If you found this would you open it?

Pacific NW Ron · July 22, 2017, 12:46:24 PM

If you found this would you open it?
Yesterday a friend and I were fishing and we saw this strange looking cone thing hanging in a tree.

We kept looking at it and talking about it wondering what it was. Eventually we decide to go check it out. We want to see what this thing is.
We pull in to take a closer look. No markings of any kind on it. All it has on it is a green plastic lizard. Still don't know what it is. He decides to cut it down so we can check this thing out. So it has a water tight cap on the flat end of the cone. He takes the cap off and there is a short section of PVC pipe attached to the cap. At this point he puts the cap back on and hands it to me. He says, here you open it. You're more mechanically inclined than I am. I ask him if he wants me to open it while we're in the boat or if he wants to let me off on shore so I can get farther away from him in case it blows up? He says "I'm good with opening it in the boat".
I take the cap back off and pull out the PVC pipe. It's capped on the end. There are alignment arrows marked on the tube and on the cap.

Again we discuss whether to go further. At this point we have to find out what this is. When I twist the cap on the end of the PVC tube to remove it sirens start going off in the little town on the lake about a mile away. My friend says "now you did it. They are coming for you"
When I get the cap off there's another small tube with a cap on it inside the PVC tube.

This tube has a "Kleen Bore" logo on it. As many of you know this is gun cleaning equipment. Now we are really confused. What is really in this tube. Slowly, very slowly I remove the cap on this smaller tube expecting something to happen. Inside we find a note
By now many of you have figured out what it is. Now we know too.
We have just screwed up someone's game. Now do we take it back, keep it or just throw it in the lake?
There is no contact number to call to tell them we have it.
Ron

Donald Garner · July 22, 2017, 01:01:02 PM

That was interesting. I'd take it back

Princeton_Man · July 22, 2017, 01:30:06 PM

I recognize the black cone bottle. They sell poison mole peanuts in those. I'd have left it myself. If it peaked my interest at all, I'd have probably given the location to the local water cop.

zippyduck · July 22, 2017, 03:39:13 PM

I would have kept fishing and probably would not have noticed it at all. I get too serious when it comes to fishing.

FD · July 22, 2017, 03:40:55 PM

Put it back where you found it. You can go the geocaching dot com and look up the location by a map and leave a note for the owner. It's a cool game. The kids and I played a lot when they were small.

Sent from the end of the paved road.....

SFL BassHunter · July 22, 2017, 04:09:39 PM

I wouldn't have touched it. lol

cd1 · July 22, 2017, 06:59:30 PM

I would have filled it with glitter so the next guy that opened it got covered in that stuff.

SteveTX · July 23, 2017, 01:16:38 AM

We had that geocaching stuff showing up in cemeteries real bad around these parts a few years ago. It was not only distasteful (playing a game in a cemetery) but ticked off quit a few family members. Being a caretaker I got blamed by families for allowing it to happen.

I didn't even know what it was until it was found to be happening. Needless to say I told every stray game player I found afterwards I would burn what ever was left and to keep it out of the cemetery and to pass the word.

Personally would have kept fishing if I had seen it. But the glitter idea sounds great. To bad exploding silly string or whipped cream couldn't be rigged into them for cheap.

Wizard · July 23, 2017, 06:52:53 AM

I'd take some Tincture of Iodine, household ammonia and--------nope, can't give you the recipe for that.

Pacific NW Ron · July 23, 2017, 08:56:27 AM

to bad exploding silly string or whipped cream couldn't be rigged into them for cheap.

[/quote]

That's what I kind of expected to happen when I opened the caps.
Ron

SteelHorseCowboy · July 23, 2017, 01:32:15 PM

Quote from: Fishindaddy on July 22, 2017, 03:40:55 PM
Put it back where you found it. You can go the geocaching dot com and look up the location by a map and leave a note for the owner. It's a cool game. The kids and I played a lot when they were small.

Sent from the end of the paved road.....

This ^^^ !
Some folks are serious about the game. Not serious enough to get upset, they know geocaches sometimes go missing. But the folks who play absolutely love it! Wouldn't want to ruin someone else's fun now, would we?

Quote from: cd1 on July 22, 2017, 06:59:30 PM
I would have filled it with glitter so the next guy that opened it got covered in that stuff.

Pure evil genius! I love it...

Quote from: Wizard on July 23, 2017, 06:52:53 AM
I'd take some Tincture of Iodine, household ammonia and--------nope, can't give you the recipe for that.

I have that recipe lying around here somewhere, never know when you might need it. Also have a few others that are much more harmless but cruel fun.

Sportsman, may also consider filling it with some good stinkbait if ya wanna be mean. Meh, I'd go with glitter though. Rather just make someone cuss instead of puke. And definitely wouldn't want someone to draw back a nub.

cortman · July 23, 2017, 04:24:03 PM

I'd put it back if I were you. Geocaching is kind of a cool idea, although putting one in a cemetery is extremely distasteful. I've found a couple caches but never anything inside something that elaborate.

cojab · July 23, 2017, 09:33:30 PM

To those of you familiar with geocaching, are the containers all similar to this one or can they be any type of container? Is there a standard for them I guess is what I am asking.

I ask because in my line of work, I can see someone calling in on this container and a full on bomb squad response showing up. Seems like a waste of resources that could possibly be avoided.
Not judging the geocaching community, just curious.

cortman · July 23, 2017, 10:45:25 PM

Quote from: cojab on July 23, 2017, 09:33:30 PM
To those of you familiar with geocaching, are the containers all similar to this one or can they be any type of container? Is there a standard for them I guess is what I am asking.

I ask because in my line of work, I can see someone calling in on this container and a full on bomb squad response showing up. Seems like a waste of resources that could possibly be avoided.
Not judging the geocaching community, just curious.

I've never played the sport, just have happened upon a couple already. One was just a plastic bag and one was in an old ammo can. I think it's just whatever is reasonably weatherproof.

cojab · July 23, 2017, 11:07:59 PM

Gotcha. Thanks Cortman

SteelHorseCowboy · July 24, 2017, 06:08:56 AM

Most seem to be ammo cans, but yes, the general rule is that it needs to be reasonably weather proof.

Geo caching seemed to really take off about the time I started doing something similar. I majored in Forestry with a concentration in Wildlife Law Enforcement, planned to be a game warden until my plans were interrupted by divorce.
Anyway, lot of land nav work, using maps and GPS to track down different species of plants and wildlife.
I've come across many geocaches. It's customary (or was) to carry a small gift to exchange with one that may be inside. Usually a small toy such as a matchbox car or a souvenir item like a bottle opener with a town's name on it, like you'd find in truck stops.