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How many "finds" should someone have before hiding a cache?


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I don't want to start an argument but I am curious how many "finds" you think a geocacher should have before they hide a cache?...

 

Finding and hiding are two different things. They have different skill sets. Finding can give you ideas, but it can also rob you of your creativity and skew your muse to match the "local style" which in part is why regions have local styles.

 

The moment your muse whispers an idea to you, it's time to hide a cache. Personally I like when a persons enthusiasm shows up in their hides.

Edited by Renegade Knight
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The moment your muse whispers an idea to you, it's time to hide a cache. Personally I like when a persons enthusiasm shows up in their hides.

 

bingo.

 

invariably when a person hides a cache because they found a great spot and a good hiding place (not necessarily the same) or they had a good idea and searched for a location that would make the concept work, it's a good cache all around.

 

caches that are just tossed out there for whatever reason leave me underwhelmed.

 

oh, look! a pulloff!

well, look-a-here! isn't this a splendid guardrail?

my, what a fabulous parking lot!

huh. the road ends here. better toss out a gladware.

hmmmm. it's possible to park a car here. there ought to be a geocache, too.

if i toss out a bunch of containers, i can be the most prolific hider in my state.

i don't get enough attention at home. i'd better put out a buncha caches.

i have a lot of film canisters. and some notebook paper. what can i do with those?

i like to see people jump because i said so. here's a dozen FTF races!

 

and my all-time winner: i really, really like this here dumpster and i wish to bring people to this special place.

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I'd much rather they not be poisoned by the exposure to crappy caches. I've found awful caches hidden by new hiders (some with no clue), and i've also found spectacular caches hidden by cachers with only a few finds. As a general rule, the worst caches i've ever found were hidden by "experienced" cachers who "should have know better."

 

Kudos to you for stating the obvious :o

 

As a "new " cacher , I can tell you that my favorite find so far was hidden by a 9 year old . It was well thought out , the description was outstanding and the location of the cache was easily accessible ...yet the hiding spot took some good searching to come across .

 

Whereas another cache hidden by an " experienced " cacher had me regretting the fact that I forgot to bring my repelling equipment and hoping that S&R would find us before the growlies did . Yes ...a slight exageration ....but my point is the description on this cache mentioned nothing about the surrounding terrain it was actually in .

 

I don't think hiding caches should be limited to a issue of finding so many first....as much as it should to following the caching guidelines and above all...using COMMON SENSE :unsure:

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I don't want to start an argument but I am curious how many "finds" you think a geocacher should have before they hide a cache? I see people saying they are going to hide one now because they just got 50 or 100 finds so I was curious if there is a general consensus? Does the length of time the person has been involved with geocaching make a difference to your opinion?

 

27

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I am probably an exception to the "rule". I had found only 3 caches when I hid my first cache. The first cache that I found was a micro hanging in a tree. My wife who was watching was impressed that I got a FTF certificate on my first find. The certificate is still hanging on the wall.

I ended up moving my first hide about 15' after some environmental conditions changed.

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While experience can help, common sense is probably more important. And, you can neither teach nor dictate common sense.

What makes this shopping center parking lot so special?

Why did you hide a Pringle's can in the weep-hole in that wall?

Do you really think that take-out food container will survive under that rock?

Nope. Common sense is not not dictated by number of finds, nor is it common.

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Zero. I've seen some hides by geocachers that had never found a cache and the hides were excellent. There are plenty of geocachers out there with lots of hides that place really horrible geocaches.

 

I agree. I hid my first one after my 5th cache or so. I started caching July 08, as of today I have 255 F and 45 Hides.

 

I have 3 archived hides. It is a learning process as is anything else. It is a hobby, almost everyone has played hide & go seek as children, so I think hide as you wish, just be sure to maintain what you hide.

 

My first hide was a multi, CORDS got mixxed up, I got a lot of slack for that one. Most of my caches are of a creative CITO types. Rather than some plastic tupperware or ammo can ( I have only 1 ammo can hide ) Some are simple, some are just bottle cap nano's.

 

Hiding is as important to this game as finding them are. To set a min find limit, well just would not work. I sometimes rather just hide the items, easier and I know where they are. My biggest thing is maintenance. I keep up with the ones I have out, set up an excell sheet and do a check on several regulariy.

 

So I say hide em, hide em, and MAINTAIN THEM, simple, hard, clever, or whatever, have fun! Be creative , not all caches have to be plastic tupper and ammo cans!

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The moment your muse whispers an idea to you, it's time to hide a cache.

Muse is a wonderful thing. It can spark a hide in an awesome location, great write ups, spectacular hide techniques, etc, etc.

What muse cannot do is tell you that the Gladware you want to hide at the amazing waterfall you grew up playing at, is a really crappy container.

Thankfully, experience can teach that to those capable of listening.

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What muse cannot do is tell you that the Gladware you want to hide at the amazing waterfall you grew up playing at, is a really crappy container.

Thankfully, experience can teach that to those capable of listening.

 

...or experience might teach you that a crappy gladware with a loose notebook page stuffed in is the standard practice.

 

it's a crapshoot.

 

in the time and place where i started caching, a rubbermaid box was the very height of container extravagance and durability. thank goodness i had been reading the forums and had heard of ammo cans.

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or experience might teach you that a crappy gladware with a loose notebook page stuffed in is the standard practice.

For me, experience includes learning. If I found a crappy Gladware, my first thoughts would be, "Wow. That sure is a soggy logbook. Guess I better not use Gladware for my hides". True, some folks simply are unable to grasp such subtle observations, or if they do realize that the logs from every Gladware they've found are soggy, they may not be intuitive enough to grasp why. However I would consider these folks the exception, not the rule.

 

Perhaps I'm niave, but I honestly believe that most people bright enough to turn on a GPSr are bright enough to learn from the mistakes of others. Your mileage may vary.

 

a gladware under a bush was very cutting edge. the first guradrail caches were clever and unexpected. the first nano we saw was brilliant.

Cutting edge? Clever? Brilliant?

Not exactly the words I would use, but to each their own, I reckon. :yikes:

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Cutting edge? Clever? Brilliant?

Not exactly the words I would use, but to each their own, I reckon.

 

yes.

 

i said each of those without a trace of irony.

 

 

and yes, people do learn from others' mistakes, but to my experience about half the time what they learn is that the inferior thing is the standard and they don't think of improvements.

 

YOU would think of improvements. I do. too often though (and increasingly often), i see some cache page that contains some variant on this text: "i'm a new hider and i was in (insert name of region several hundred miles away) and i saw hides like this and i thought it would be great if we had them here".

 

that is, for example, how my region got our first collection of film canisters hidden at every starbucks.

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Cutting edge? Clever? Brilliant?

Not exactly the words I would use, but to each their own, I reckon.

 

yes.

 

i said each of those without a trace of irony.

 

 

and yes, people do learn from others' mistakes, but to my experience about half the time what they learn is that the inferior thing is the standard and they don't think of improvements.

 

YOU would think of improvements. I do. too often though (and increasingly often), i see some cache page that contains some variant on this text: "i'm a new hider and i was in (insert name of region several hundred miles away) and i saw hides like this and i thought it would be great if we had them here".

 

that is, for example, how my region got our first collection of film canisters hidden at every starbucks.

I saw somebody do a Wally LP say (paraphrasing) "I just wanted to expose people that have never seen this kind of hide" he didn't bother to check out the local LP series on the same road that he planted smack in the middle of.

So that and one other reason I will say you should at least find what you are hiding near, non-traditionals being the other.

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I started hiding around 100 finds, because I didn't want my caches to become known as crappy. I try not to exceed a 10:1 ratio. But that’s just the rule I use for me. There is no restriction and should never be one. It’s all a learning curve. I know some people learn about this sport and go crazy with it. They go finding 100 in a month or less of starting. And that’s fine, but when someone places 15 hides with only 10 finds under their belt they are going to lack the experience to ensure it is safe, waterproof and interesting. When bad caches are placed, good cachers find them and force themselves to never place a bad one like it. Just as I have done.

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Disclaimer: I'm new to geocaching...31 finds in 2 states.

 

I've placed two caches with the help of my lovely girlfriend, and both have received nothing but praise. I know to some that may sound blasphemous, but honestly it's all about reading guidelines and placing your cache accordingly. I know there are some that love to brag about their find count (the minority, most folks are friendly and easy going in this great game) but let's be honest...if you have more finds than me it just means you followed a GPS out to a spot in the woods and looked under rocks or by trees more times than I have. Read the guidelines, use some common sense, make your cache interesting, and there you go.

 

No disrespect to the cachers with more seniority, but I do think it's possible to place a good cache without reaching an arbitrary "found" number.

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