Ftf Hounds: Thwarted!

[+dingermcduff]

First off, I'm going to say that I have no problem with FTF 'hounds'--I've got about a dozen FTFs myself, though lack of time and gas money are making them harder to come by . Second, I'll also acknowledge that the FTF grab around here is competitive, but not as cutthroat as it appears to be elsewhere.

 

Anyway, it seems I've thwarted the local FTF hounds this time--unintentionally. I created a 7 cache series that covers a fairly large geographic area and submitted the entire series at once. I had asked our area approver to publish the entire series at once because, well, it's a series--and he was gracious enough to do so . Next thing I know, I'm getting logs from cachers saying they finally got a FTF. Only 6 of the 7 have been found so far and there were 5 different FTFers involved--noone could hit all of them in time. It didn't hurt that one of the big FTFers just happened to be out of town, either.

 

It was great seeing a few other people getting a stab at an FTF.

[bogleman]

A big pat on the back for you. I am sure others were very excited to be able to get a FTF on a virgin cache. Nothing better than seeing your name at the top of the list.

[+Mudfrog]

Thats cool and it goes to prove that FTF hounds dont get all the FTFs like some people seem to believe!

[+Renegade Knight]

Acing them is even better this way.

[+LaPaglia]

A big pat on the back for you.  I am sure others were very excited to be able to get a FTF on a virgin cache.  Nothing better than seeing your name at the top of the list.

I have to ask , can you get an FTF on a non virgin cache?

Edited September 1, 2005 by LaPaglia

[+Bindle Babe]

Some of the same thing goes on with the letterboxing we do. Lots of our boxes have the same FF (first finder)

 

One of my recent boxes was designed to encourage some "fresh" first finders

http://www.letterboxing.org/BoxView.php?bo...UNTED_shipwreck

 

So far, the only email I've gotten with what appears to be a serious interest/intent was from a fellow cacher, as this dive is not really for beginners due to the depth.

 

Enjoy!

---Bindle Babe

[+Isonzo Karst]

A cacher around here released 45 caches on a single day. He'd been placing them over a period of many many months. They were spread out over 4 (possibly 5) counties. About half were found the first day of release (a Saturday). It sure gave a lot of folks a chance to MEFF.

[+Yamahammer]

 

You know, last week I was the topic of the FTF thread. The guy that was posting dribble about my technics and other items of fiction, hasn't hit the road since then. I've left FTF's sit out there for 2 days or more since his posting and also before his accusations. ... But you beat yours fair and square. Cryin' about it doesn't do much. You gotta want it.

 

[+Alice Band]

My local FTF hound is self employed so he's always able to beat people. He also moans like hell if there are no prizes in the FTF he gets to This is putting me off placing caches, as I would like some others to get the credit for a change and being unemployed I cant afford to place anything much in the form of a FTF prize.

 

Am I being mean?

 

And while we are on the subject, do people place FTF prizes in Micros?

Edited September 1, 2005 by Drum Major

[+Kealia]

My local FTF hound is self employed so he's always able to beat people. He also moans like hell if there are no prizes in the FTF he gets to This is putting me off placing caches, as I would like some others to get the credit for a change and being unemployed I cant afford to place anything much in the form of a FTF prize.

 

Am I being mean?

 

And while we are on the subject, do people place FTF prizes in Micros?

Let's see....complaining because somebody didn't give you something for free = tacky.

FTF prizes are a bonus, not a requirement.

 

You can always REQUEST that your caches get approved on weekends so that more people have a shot at the FTF. Keep in mind it's a REQUEST though and the approveres can't always oblige.

 

FTF in micros - seen it. Again though, not a requirement.

[+Renegade Knight]

Ditto what kealia said.

 

Somtimes I do a FTF prize. Sometimes I don't. Sometiems I have swag in my caches, sometimes I don't. Sometimes poeple whine about it, but then I really don't care about what the moaning myrtles have to say.

[+Team Perks]

I don't normally put a FTF prize in any cache. My last "prize" was letting the FTF pick the name of the cache.

 

I used to care about FTF a long time ago, until I realized being first means you're likely to be first to discover faulty coordinates. Now I normally wait until a few others have found it, so I know what to expect.

 

My last FTF was a complete surprise to me--I knew it was just recently posted but didn't know it hadn't been found. That made it more satisfying than rushing out the door to be first has ever been.

[+Miragee]

This happened to us yesterday. The coordinates were off by 80 feet.

 

We found it, as did two other people, because the hint was somewhat specific.

[+bigdog999]

I'll be the first to admit that if I can beat the local FTF hounds, I will. Prize/no prize, doesn't really matter. If its a really cool FTF prize, that's a plus. I really just appreciate that someone put out a new cache locally.

[+Ed_S]

Dinger, as someone who certainly fits the description of a "FTF Hound", I say good for you! That solves the problem in a way that nobody can carp about!!

 

(OT: I'm not really a FTF Hound. True, I currently have 66 FTFs (and out of 410 caches found, too! Beat THAT percentage, all you Hounds!) <G> I've been caching for a few years now, and was lucky enough to be in an area where there weren't that many really active cachers. I'm a firefighter, so I work 24 hours on and 48 off. This means if a new cache comes up at 10 am on a Tuesday, on 2 out of 3 Tuesdays I'm free to go for it if I happen to notice it. As I said, I'm one of the older cachers in my area. A good many of my FTFs laid there for several days before I noticed them. And still today there are many cachers here who avoid multis. I like 'em. Now, if I'm not a FTF Hound, as I claim, why do I know my 'stats?' Because I have some friends who cache, and THEY keep track of their FTFs. I just want to crank them up a bit! It's honestly not that important to me, except for good-natured teasing. Bottom line - I was in the right place at the right time!)

[+Ed_S]

And while we are on the subject, do people place FTF prizes in Micros?

Sure people put FTF prices in micros. They put TravelBugs in them, too, when they'll fit.

 

One micro's FTF prize I found was a Geocaching pin. I found it a couple years ago, and still wear it on my motorcycle vest, along with a bunch of motorcycle-related pins. Every now and then another motorcycle cacher sees it and says something.

[+4leafclover]

A big pat on the back for you.  I am sure others were very excited to be able to get a FTF on a virgin cache.  Nothing better than seeing your name at the top of the list.

I have to ask , can you get an FTF on a non virgin cache?

I was wondering...are we sacrificing virgin caches now?

[+Yamahammer]

(OT: I'm not really a FTF Hound. True, I currently have 66 FTFs (and out of 410 caches found, too! Beat THAT percentage, all you Hounds!) <G>

 

... some friends who cache, and THEY keep track of their FTFs. I just want to crank them up a bit! It's honestly not that important to me, except for good-natured teasing. Bottom line - I was in the right place at the right time!)

Ed, you're at 16%, we're at 19% FTF ratio's.

 

And good natured teasing is what is done on the local level ... most of the time.

 

[+JohnnyVegas]

Anyway, it seems I've thwarted the local FTF hounds this time--unintentionally. I created a 7 cache series that covers a fairly large geographic area and submitted the entire series at once.

 

In the Sacramento area and the San Francisco area 7 new caches would not do much the FTF hounds, there are so many FTF hounds in most cases they would get them all within and hour or two, in Sacramento if you are not on the way within minutes of a new listing you might as well stay home if you want a FTF. Some cache here have gotten 6 finds in an hour.

 

One time I got to a new cache in less than an hour and some one was already looking for it, 10 minutes later 7 more people showed up.

[+Ed_S]

Ed, you're at 16%, we're at 19% FTF ratio's.

 

And good natured teasing is what is done on the local level ... most of the time.

 

Yeah, I gotta get out there and grab some more FTFs - there was a time when I was up around 20%. But the FTFs aren't laying around for days on end any more, either.

 

Hey, Yamahammer, what kind of Yamaha do you ride? In my profile you can see a pic of my '96 Royal Star. Best ride I ever had! My last tank, with 55,000 miles on the bike, got 51.66 mpg! Not bad for a 750 lb cruiser!

[+TeamAO]

Ok, I actually looked up the word thwarted, and it's actually a word!

 

Hopefully I'm not the only one who thought that it wasn't.

[+Ed_S]

Ok, I actually looked up the word thwarted, and it's actually a word!

 

Thwart did you thay?

 

There's lots of verbosity and cacalogy around here. (there's a couple more for ya!)

[+rjb43nh]

Let me get this straight because I'm a little confused.

 

1) Someone places a cache with the expectation of it being found.

2) An inspired cacher follows the rules of the game and finds the cache first, and this is somehow "bad".

3) Another cacher eventually get to the cache days later, and this is somehow "good".

 

Am I missing something or do some cachers just like to complain about any minutiae?

[+Yamahammer]

Ed, you're at 16%, we're at 19% FTF ratio's.

 

And good natured teasing is what is done on the local level ... most of the time.

 

Yeah, I gotta get out there and grab some more FTFs - there was a time when I was up around 20%. But the FTFs aren't laying around for days on end any more, either.

 

Hey, Yamahammer, what kind of Yamaha do you ride? In my profile you can see a pic of my '96 Royal Star. Best ride I ever had! My last tank, with 55,000 miles on the bike, got 51.66 mpg! Not bad for a 750 lb cruiser!

Nice ride. Mine is a 4 wheeler, Yamaha Big Bear 400. No street ride.

 

And to comment on rjb43, AMEN Brother!

[+2VW's]

Here in the backwoods of the Central Valley in California, we see FTF hounding as sort of a community obligation. About the closes we've to to a professional FTF hound is winini who comes to town every once in a while and sweeps up all our caches that've been languishing in the 101 degree heat for days without being visited yet..

Edited September 4, 2005 by 2VW's

[The Band of Brothers]

My local FTF hound is self employed so he's always able to beat people. He also moans like hell if there are no prizes in the FTF he gets to This is putting me off placing caches, as I would like some others to get the credit for a change and being unemployed I cant afford to place anything much in the form of a FTF prize.

 

Am I being mean?

 

And while we are on the subject, do people place FTF prizes in Micros?

For this guy I would place a

special" FTF prize like a bag of dried dog poop with a note on the outside that says "FTF Prize"

The Band of Brothers

[+Grumpster]

Let me get this straight because I'm a little confused.

 

1) Someone places a cache with the expectation of it being found.

2) An inspired cacher follows the rules of the game and finds the cache first, and this is somehow "bad".

3) Another cacher eventually get to the cache days later, and this is somehow "good".

 

Am I missing something or do some cachers just like to complain about any minutiae?

I think you are missing something. Playing nice in the sand box. In other words, allow some one else the opportunity of getting a FTF without having to become a FTF whore just to get one. It's exciting for most all of us. Personally, I'm just not willing to compete for it. I play nice in the sand box by allowing others to play as well.

[+rjb43nh]

djstern-"I think you are missing something. Playing nice in the sand box. In other words, allow some one else the opportunity of getting a FTF without having to become a FTF whore just to get one. It's exciting for most all of us. Personally, I'm just not willing to compete for it. I play nice in the sand box by allowing others to play as well."

Actually I think you're missing something by implying that someone getting FTFs is somehow wrong. Playing nice in the sandbox also means not whining if sloth prevents you from being successful doing something that you’re vilifying others for doing. You have stated that: “I'm just not willing to compete for it.” You have chosen how you want to ethically play the game and the FTFers have chosen how they want to ethically play the game. To complain about their way of playing the game when you admit that you have chosen not to play that way is petty. The best advice I can give you is to follow your own advice: “I play nice in the sand box by allowing others to play as well.” Let them play their game.

[+Mudfrog]

Let me get this straight because I'm a little confused.

 

1) Someone places a cache with the expectation of it being found.

2) An inspired cacher follows the rules of the game and finds the cache first, and this is somehow "bad".

3) Another cacher eventually get to the cache days later, and this is somehow "good".

 

Am I missing something or do some cachers just like to complain about any minutiae?

I think you are missing something. Playing nice in the sand box. In other words, allow some one else the opportunity of getting a FTF without having to become a FTF whore just to get one. It's exciting for most all of us. Personally, I'm just not willing to compete for it. I play nice in the sand box by allowing others to play as well.

NO! You are missing something djstern. There's not a thing wrong with wanting and getting FTFs. Yes there are some who are more obsessed and have the means to grab more than the rest of us. So what.... that's what they like and they arent hurting a thing. (they're making geocaching more interesting if you ask me)

 

The rest of us who want FTFs will just have to work a little bit harder for them. We ourselves like making legitimate FTFs but we're not interested at all in claiming one that was "given" to us!

[fishiam]

And while we are on the subject, do people place FTF prizes in Micros?

I enjoy putting prizes for the FTF. It promotes some excitement and a race among the locals. In a recent cache I put a brand new, uncirculated 2005 Washington Geocoin, a couple of months ago I put in a new 2004 Washington coin. I've also left brand new TBs, TB tags, bison capsules, etc. peace, fishiam

[+Yamahammer]

How many days after approval do you wait until you go after a FTF? I had one of mine approved today and it was posted FTF within 30 minutes. Good for her! I've found them and posted within 2 hours or less. I've also watched a cache for 5-6 days before going after them and getting the FTF, one was 125 miles from here, (it was on the way to our river camp).

 

Some people have voiced 'concerns' and then said, 'we're not being competitive but it shy's others away if one gets all the FTF's.' If you weren't competitive, then why the 'concerns'? All the 'concerns' about FTF's only makes me want to get more. ... I play fair; I'm a premium member (my choice and you to can be a PM); I wait for the emails to pop (what if I had a DSL on my pc?); and I chase FTF's.

 

So the question still stands for those 'concerned' about others getting FTF's, How many days after approval do you wait until you go after a FTF?

 

You gotta want 'em!

 

[+Ed_S]

I wait for the emails to pop (what if I had a DSL on my pc?

 

You gotta want 'em!

 

You're right. I've thought I was gonna bag a FTF and been beat out by someone WITH DSL hooked to their laptop! The cache was about 10 miles from my house, and they were from a hundred miles away, but in the area caching. :shrug: they found it first. I didn't stomp and whine, I legitimately found it second, and that was that. That's the way it goes - life isn't always "fair." (1)

 

(1) by "fair" I mean "fair for ME, and nuts to anyone else!"