Eh guys... very new to the game and still learning the ropes. Been doing a lot of reading of various guides and I appreciate all the input from the community. Joined a relatively small server population and spawned in Krutoy Cap... did a quick search of the buildings to the north then promptly angled west inland. Came across a couple of farm houses with some regular sized barns and grabbed a couple items. Saw some lime / tomato seeds there- I imagine that's for growing gardens etc once you figure out a base location... I haven't read about how long it takes for anything to grow? Also... I'm getting cold all the time even mid-day so is weather a factor? Anyway... Kept moving west and at some point had to leave the game and come back a few hours later. I found a bush and racked out for a few hours. When I got back to the game, I reloaded and sat still for a few minutes listening for any activity. While I was there, this fricken huge deer with an enormous rack was walking past slightly up the hill. That was pretty neat. I watched it do its thing and went back about my business. The fact that it was alive and not being shot at was reassuring to me- meant I was likely alone out there. I continued west and bumped into another couple small buildings. I found a compass and was using the map on that STALKER guide to get a bit of an idea as to where I was. Didn't have any real landmarks except I could see the castle waaaaaaaaaay off in the distance. Gave me a bit of perspective of where I was (I reversed the bearing from the castle to me and just drew a rough line on the map so I knew I was somewhere near that line) and I came across a road I was able to tentitively identify from a fork heading in a certain direction. I just needed to head up and over a nearby ridge to confirm a town was there... and it was. I confirmed I was near MSTA. After sitting back and watching it for awhile from cover I made my way through some of the bigger houses... I didn't see any movement at all around MSTA- except a boar I could see making its way around a field slightly north. I had no real weapons (cough- actually, had weapons but no bullets) so I left it alone. I didn't want to spend too much time there but found enough supplies to get energized, watered and fed. Also found some warmer clothing to manage that part of the problem. Once I left I zig zagged my way north with the intention of hitting the next town up and once I got into the thicker trees I huddled down and waited to see if someone was following me. Brings me to the question about grass and cover... I know the draw distance restricts how far away grass is actually visible... while our characters remain openly visible... I tend to hide under trees or closer to bushes to break up my outline / profile- is that an effective practice? Satisfied that I wasn't being followed, I resumed my trek through the trees, keeping to the shadows and my head on a swivel. I wasn't going super tactical or anything... There was 5 people on the server at the time so I was taking appropriate precautions. In my travels I stumbled into a couple cans of spray paint so I painted my SKS just for the novelty of it- but didn't have anything else to paint. I wish there was a way to soil some of the brighter coloured bags... put the bag in the mud or something... Probably not THAT big a deal but I have my eyes open for darker coloured dry bags / backpacks. I made my way down a hill and caught a glimpse of a few buildings in the distance that were close to where I expected them to be... so I made my way over to a good vantage point to do a quick distant recce. The plan is to sit there for a few minutes and just watch for any activity whatsoever... knowing full well that someone else could be looking down on it in the same fashion from elsewhere- but again... 5 guys in there... what are the odds? I'm reading 5% chance of running into someone- per person in the sever. I'm keeping my eyes open for the fire axe since I hear that's the best melee weapon around so far (or at least one of the top)... need that can opener so I stop spilling my food everywhere. Peaches please... oh yeah, and ammo / clips for my SKS! That was pretty much my first day in DayZ and I was pretty stoked about it!