Jump to content

How long do you search until you give up?


FantasticCat

Recommended Posts

I know it varies depending on circumstances but I generally will admit defeat after 20-30 minutes. I may give up a bit quicker if I am in an area I am unlikely to go back to and I have a list of caches to do that I know I can't complete. Whilst browsing yesterday I saw that ventura_kids (currently 7th highest finds in the world) http://www.cacherstats.com/Rank1-125.html have imposed a 2 minute limit on themselves to enable them to find more caches!! I am a bit of a numbers hound, but would be surprised if I ever did this- not that there is anything wrong with it- if it doesn't affect anyone you should be able to cache any way you feel.

Link to comment

I know it varies depending on circumstances but I generally will admit defeat after 20-30 minutes. I may give up a bit quicker if I am in an area I am unlikely to go back to and I have a list of caches to do that I know I can't complete. Whilst browsing yesterday I saw that ventura_kids (currently 7th highest finds in the world) http://www.cacherstats.com/Rank1-125.html have imposed a 2 minute limit on themselves to enable them to find more caches!! I am a bit of a numbers hound, but would be surprised if I ever did this- not that there is anything wrong with it- if it doesn't affect anyone you should be able to cache any way you feel.

Well if I had a 2 minute limit I'd have about 10 finds to my name and a couple of hundred wasted trips!

 

How long I take usually depends on the locale, if it's in an urban environment & I'm feeling conspicuous then I'll give up after 5 or 10 minutes, if it's in the middle of the country I'll keep going until I feel I've looked everywhere a couple of times and I'm certain that it's either gone, or I've ended up in the wrong wood.

Link to comment

I search until NHF (not having fun) sets in. For example if somebody has hidden a cache "under a rock" and GZ contains a huge rock-field I'll award a WOB (walk on by) and do exactly that. Alternatively a clever hide in an attracive location on a nice day could keep me busy for a couple of hours

Link to comment

I know it varies depending on circumstances but I generally will admit defeat after 20-30 minutes. I may give up a bit quicker if I am in an area I am unlikely to go back to and I have a list of caches to do that I know I can't complete. Whilst browsing yesterday I saw that ventura_kids (currently 7th highest finds in the world) http://www.cacherstats.com/Rank1-125.html have imposed a 2 minute limit on themselves to enable them to find more caches!! I am a bit of a numbers hound, but would be surprised if I ever did this- not that there is anything wrong with it- if it doesn't affect anyone you should be able to cache any way you feel.

Like you say it depends on circumstances, not finding after 20-30 minutes I would consider a DNF and like Deego I have to be dragged away kicking and screaming.......I also get the hump!

 

Some caches you can spot a mile off, we did an Ammo box which was just sitting off a path near a tree not covered at all, God knows how it hadn't been muggled that was just after spending 30 minutes looking for a micro by the same owner.......find the stump in the middle of the clearing, 10 paces this way, 20 paces that way, till you come to an ivy covered tree. Problem was there were multiple stumps and no ivy covered trees! AAArgh :lol: Probably go back and have another go though.......IT WON'T BEAT ME. :blink:

Link to comment

How many times do other folks re-look in the same place whilst searching also? In case the cache has magically re-materialised since you looked a few minutes earlier?

 

The same people who try the engine one last time when they have a flat battery just in case it miraculously starts that time.

 

And yes, I'm one of them! :blink:

 

I'm with McKryton on this one. I'll look until it's no longer fun.

Link to comment

Depends on the situation, what the weather is doing, if it is getting dark, and like others, If I can be bothered!

 

Normally check ground zero, then increase radius until the distance gets silly, then recheck same places - can often miss it first time if hidden well back. Check PDA for when it was last found, last logs.

 

Only log as a DNF if I feel I have spent long enough looking for it.

 

Then put it on watch, and find that the next person has found the cache in two seconds flat - must get eyes checked! :blink:

Link to comment

I DNF'd a cache for the 3rd time this weekend having spent a total of about 6hrs searching. (Not as It Seems nr Southampton for those that know it). Since I know this is a devil I don't mind the time, however other more 'normal' caches wouldn't get kind of treatment! Depends on the cache, location, weather and general attitude on the day.

Link to comment

I agree about the walk in, location and whether you just get that... 'vibe'. I remember a multi near Snowdon. Me and a mate looked for 45 minutes. So, in time purposes a total of an hour and a half. We didn't give up because we had that 'vibe' that it was there. And it was! And the last place we looked! ;)

 

But some urbaney type ones, even nanos, you either get the vibe that it is a honest DNF and you're just being stoopid or it really has gone walkabout. You can just sorta... tell!

Link to comment

Micros get about ten minutes MAX!! All they are good for is numbers, and if I am not getting numbers its not worth wasting the time. If it's an ammo box or a large container in a nice location I don't mind spending longer. As has been mentioned before, time can be a factor so if there's a long list and I am not doing very well I will scarper.

 

I love the NHF factor. That sets in quite often on a whirlwind micro hunt ;)

Link to comment

How many times do other folks re-look in the same place whilst searching also? In case the cache has magically re-materialised since you looked a few minutes earlier?

 

Saturdays caching trip ended with three consecutive DNF's ;)

 

Jon

 

Last Sunday I spent a total of an hour at one cache. I was determined to not let it beat me. I went to the spot, gave up after 30 minutes, then went to another cache, then came back and spent another 20 minutes, then gave up and went to another one, then came back a third time, and after another 20 minutes finally decided that this newbie was not going to find this cache on this day. But it appears that this one has beaten others so I didn't feel so bad. I'll be back for this one after I have a little less newbie in me: GC16J5V

 

It takes me a very long time to find things right now, since I just started geocaching a week ago. I have a lot of laugh out loud moments when I find a cache that has been right under my nose for a half hour. But I think as I get more experienced hopefully it won't take forever for me to find every cache.

 

Earlier in the week I went to hunt my first micro. Having never seen a micro, and it being well camoflauged, I had the thing right in my hand and looked right at it and just thought it was part of the thing I had in my hand. I put it back and went in circles for another 20 minutes until I took another look at that thing and realized it was right there all along.

Edited by jenwardwell
Link to comment

Most of the time the one's we do are urban. I am usually the one who gets all the info together and Chip is the one stuck with finding the caches unless they are accessible enough for me to look for in my wheelchair. I'm usually in the van while Chip is out searching and after about 20 min. I usually tell Chip to forget about it, that it is not worth it because by that time he is usally crawling around in some weird positions to locate it and people start to stare in the the urban areas but he says that only makes him want to find it more so he will keep searching til he gets it and usually does. Unless he hurts himself or it gets too dark for him, he usually does not give up. If I was the one seaching then I would probably give up in that 20 to 30 min time.

Link to comment

I know it varies depending on circumstances

 

I feel the more public a cache is the more obvious it's location should be, either using geosense or a descriptive clue. This doesn't mean it has to be easy though.

However, if a clue is in an area that allows a good rummage then no problem.

 

Using this criteria I wil spend as little as 2 minutes or as long as it needs to find a cache.

Link to comment

My searching goes approximately like this:

 

10 mins search (providing Im not being regularly disturbed by muggles otherwise much shorter),

Read the clue,

10 mins search,

Re read the clue, looking to see if Ive interpretted it correctly and stand back looking around the area for something more obvious,

10 mins search,

Review the other visitors logs for any missed clues or PAF (especially if they have done the cache already)

 

So really between 20 and 40 mins searching, although on some caches Ive done a much longer search over a number of visits.

 

Mark

Link to comment

Just a thought here but the cache always has to be in the last place you look ??

 

for us it

Depends on the rating but 10 minutes re read the clue and previous logs

Another 10 minutes get a stick as its probably buried under leaves etc.

We then search until we are fed up / scratched and stung too much to care about it at which point we PAF if we know they have done it.

But it really does depend how much time we have invested before hand and its D rating.

Link to comment

FantasticCat, I'm going to give myself 5 seconds to find your new caches in Harrow in the morning, if I don't I will simply walk away :D

 

...wrong cat ;) . Found Mountaincat123 cache today in 4 seconds another second I still would have given up!

 

I must say this had me wondering what you meant today :D:D

Don't worry, I will give you a cache or two to spend 5 seconds on in the near future.

Link to comment

Not long usually, but this one had H stumped - GC17EM1.

 

Whole evening was a disaster, see also log for GC17EMC, and I left the interior light on in the car so it didn't go in the morning - panic!

 

Tried again, tonight, and went straight to it - Mr Sod and his law, I guess.............

 

H

Link to comment

I search depending on the circumstances, how long it's taken me to get to GZ and how badly I want the find.

 

If it's supposed to be a cache and dash and is a micro that I'll be passing again in the near future I won't spend much time hunting. If however I'm in an area I won't be visiting again, it's taken a 2 hour walk to get to GZ and I know there's geocoins in the cache then I'll search for alot longer before I decide I'm not having fun anymore.

 

I think the longest I've searched has been about an hour, It wouldv'e been my 100th cache.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...