The August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area was purchased by the Missouri Department of Conservation in 1947 from the federal government. A donation of $70,000 toward the purchase of the area was made by Mrs. August A. Busch, Sr. as a memorial to her late husband. The conservation area includes a wide range of outdoor facilities, including a public lodge building that houses a visitor and activity center, a shooting range, a field archery range, and 38 numbered fishing lakes. It also allows (with license) public fishing, hunting, and dog training and hosts field and retriever trials during winter months.
This cache is placed at the entrance to the Ahden Knight Hampton Memorial Lake, a refuge area where no hunting or fishing is allowed. Most of the area's lakes are designated for multi-species fishing, but five are reserved for catfish and three for catch-and-release. All fishing in the conservation area requires an appropriate permit.
The Hampton Memorial Lake also houses an unusual man-made structure that gives this cache it's name. A wooden "bat cave" has been built near the parking area, and you can often see bats sleeping there during the day. Also, a murky backwater slough was separated from the main lake in order to attract the flying insects on which these bats feed.
Please note that this cache is located within the fenced area of the conservation area. The gated entrance is open daily from 6AM to 10PM so the cache is only available during those hours.
This cache placed with permission from the Missouri Department of Conservation. For more information about the August A. Busch Conservation Area, please visit the MO Dept of Conservation web site.
NOTE: PLEASE LOG YOUR DNF! I know some geocachers are reluctant to log unsuccessful attempts so that they don't spoil their find ratio. However, without DNF log entries the owners (like me) can't determine whether to raise the difficulty, describe the cache more explicitly, and/or add more hints.
FTF honors go to woolenstgeos, who logged the FTF about 16 hours after it was published.