I have a question, as it were. I am looking at placing a cache sometime soon, and there is a game trail near the location to which I wish to bring cachers, down which I may choose to place a second stage of a multi. If I choose to do this, how is game in the area likely to be affected by the added human traffic in the area? Is this likely to cause deer and the like to avoid the area, or is it more likely that they will just continue to pass through and not worry too much about the increased traffic? I know that I have seen deer in the area, and some sort of other creature which MAY be either a wolf or coyote, but I didn't get a clear look, so it may have just been a feral dog or something. I do have an alternate spot that I could place the second stage, but I'm not sure I want to generate the additional traffic to that location which this would definitely cause.

My personal opinion is to leave them alone. Game trails are GAME trails. Please do not invite humans. They smell humans and will avoid using the trails, which will interrupt their NATURAL habits.

Personally I dislike multis in caches in the woods, esp, if the intermediate stage(s) are containers. There is a greater likelihood of needing maintenance, and since you usually need to drive a good ways to hunt these caches getting a DNF on an intermediate stage is "annoying".

Game trails are game. Deer, in perticular, will walk up and check out your truck while your in the tree stand hunting. LARGE amounts of hiking traffic MAY make an area less appealng to them. Bear love to play with cache containers just like your dog likes squeeky toys!
Personally, I Love multi's in the woods! There is a greater likelihood of doing a nice hike or bushwhack and the possibility of a DNF makes for a greater challenge.

Multis in the woods don't bother me. If I want to go after easy ones without worrying about an 'annoying' blue-frowny DNF - I just head down south for some urban cachin and pad my numbers.
Of course, your mileage may vary, whether its an Event Horizon, or a Delorme Challenge.

... and I use game trails if I can find them. And I agree with Brownie .... the amount of cacheing traffic generated won't usually deter them.

That's why I said it was just my opinion. But, as hunter, I have been taught to minimize my impact on the game habitat. They smell you anyplace you happen to touch. I guess it just really depends on the use of that area in question. If I was hunting it, I certainly would not want the natural flow of game to be altered by human existance. If it is in a WMA or public park that is not hunted, then I need to say here that I am marginal on my opinion, in that it is still their habitat, not ours. In that train of thought, I feel we must still tread lightly.

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Originally posted by geomuse:
In that train of thought, I feel we must still tread lightly.

Fair enough.

Certainly depends upon WHERE. City and county parks probably doesn't matter much. I alway notice tracks in 'HUMAN' trails, so they're obviously following my breadcrumbs.

quote:

Certainly depends upon WHERE. City and county parks probably doesn't matter much. I alway notice tracks in 'HUMAN' trails, so they're obviously following my breadcrumbs.

I just philosophically disagree (in general) with "USING" game trails for the purpose of placing a cache.

Given the potential added traffic from a cache placement, wildlife in any environment - either on hunting land or non-hunting land - interrupts the natural flow of wildlife.

Do we smell the recent presence of game as we walk along our manmade avenues in the forest? And, if we do notice sign, does that deter us from wandering further?

In the "game's" environment, a trail is different than a wide swath cut by man, whether a powerline, or narrow road, etc. If we walk through such an area, we are likely to touch nothing along the way. Walking down a (usually) very narrow game trail lends the hiker to push away branches that are taller than what would impede a deer, for instance. We also tend to grab branches and break them to remove them from "our" trail. All this leaves surprising amounts of oils from our skin that wildlife can smell. Then there are the residual smells from our boots such as grease from parking lots, restrooms, detergents, etc that are picked up. We don't even think about these things, but they are foreign to wildlife and therefore can potentially interrupt their normal activity.

I don't mean to imply this is devastating for them. But, it certainly does need to be considered as they cannot speak for themselves.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: geomuse,

Well, I have found a way to place my cache which will not require any game trail to be used. I'm just going to hide it in a different spot. Depending on the time to get my container painted and whatnot, I think I'll have it in place by the end of the week next week, and active perhaps as much as a week later, provided that it gets approved, which I have no reason to believe it won't.