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The Search Goes On!
Ever wonder how long to search for a find or when to post it as a Did Not Find?
Sometimes it’s not that easy to just stop and grab a cache and go on your merry way. If that were the case, we would all have thousand’s found already, but as it is, some caches just aren’t that easy.
While I personally do not have that many finds under my belt, I have come across some caches that I can see from my car and therefore able to jump out and grab with no problem and then there are those caches that I have finally had to log as Did Not Finds (DNFs).
Two major questions that some cachers may ask (especially newbies to the sport) are "How long should I spend searching for a cache?" and "When do I post a DNF?".
The great thing about Geocaching is that there really isn’t a time limit. Geocaching is set up in a way to be convenient for everyone to enjoy at their leisure. That leisure can be a set time between the house and work to stop and grab a quick cache or an entire day on the lookout for the small treasures.
If a person refuses to give up and has the time to look, it doesn’t really matter how long is spent looking. On average most cachers say they spend up to 15 minutes (give or take) looking for a particular cache before moving on to another one. Any time limits are at the discretion of the cacher.
One rule of thumb is to consider how many caches are being hunted in the given time slot: if you have a set amount of caches you are going after then you may want to spend less time looking per cache, but if there are only a handful of caches in an area and those are the only ones being hunted then more time can be spent searching. Plus, if you are going to work or other location that requires you to be there at a particular time, you don’t want to spend so much time looking for a cache that will make you late for your previous engagement.
Once it is determined a cache is not going to be found at that time, the next thing on a person’s mind is "should it be marked as a DNF?"
Again, this is up to the cacher looking for the cache. I have met many cachers who usually say they might look for a cache at least three times before conceding in not being able to find it. If I’m in an area and I find that I spent a good bit of time hunting the cache and feel frustrated then I might go ahead and mark it as a DNF.
The cacher who has hidden the cache may provide extra hints for it if you really want to find it and just aren’t able to pinpoint it. All you have to do in this situation is e-mail the cache owner and let them know you have searched for it and just need another hint to get you going in the right direction.
DNF’s should not come about after only spending about 5 minutes looking and then giving up, nor should a cache be marked as DNF if you go to the site and give up before even starting because there are too many muggles in the area around it.
One reason to mark a Did Not Find is so the cache owner will be alerted that there could be a potential problem with the cache. If many people in a row end up not being able to find a cache, it may have gone missing. In this case, the cache owner will need to check on it to make sure it is still where it needs to be.
In the meantime... the search goes on for more caches!
In the world of Geocaching (and ham radio), I am known as kc5nvj, but to family and friends I am Angela Cunningham. I was born and raised in Louisiana but currently reside in Kentucky with my husband and daughter. When I'm not thinking of a new article to write for onlinegeocacher.com, my days are filled with a full-time job at a local high school as a teachers aide in the special education department, a full-time mom of a three year old (hyper) girl, a full-time student (enrolled in online classes for Psychology) as I hope to one day get my Psy.D Degree (Docterate of Psychology) and become a Clinical Psychologist, and finally a part-time Geocacher. I say part-time because I am still new to Geocaching and can't wait to get out and about and hunt some more. You are welcome to leave any feedback to articles I write as well as send any features you would like for me to touch base on. I look forward to this new adventure and hope many of you find Geocaching as much fun as I do. E-mail: kc5nvj@yahoo.com
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