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When do you become an "FTF Hound" ?

SaltercreaseRangers
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Headhardhat

+Headhardhat

Posted
Posted

Was that five in one day? :)

 

When other geocachers call you to see if you already picked up the FTF so they can go to the geocache after work. You're a hound..

 

When you keep a consistant 20%+ ratio of FTFs... your a hound.

 

When the police know your cachemobile at night and wave when they see your flashlight... you're a hound.

 

-HHH <_<

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markandsandy

+markandsandy

Posted
Posted

What defines an "FTF Hound" ?

I picked up #5 today and I'm worried I may be getting obsessed :)

 

Is it 50 FTF's ? 100 FTF's ?

a grab bag by the door for the moment a cache is published ?

notifications pushed to cellphones ?

 

Actually, you can be an "FTF Hound" and have no FTF's. If you are a slow hound. <_<

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Buggheart

+Buggheart

Posted
Posted

We ran into a cacher and he stomped his feet and whined like a baby when he realized it was us that got a FTF before him the day before. That's a hound.

 

I have to agree with you on that one. I've never seen it myself but I've heard others tell a similar story. Also agree with phoning someone to find out if they've found it or to get in on that person's search so they can claim it as a shared FTF.

 

Another sign is when a cacher literally pushes another person out of the way to get to the cache first. I had that happen to me last week and it wasn't even an FTF hunt. I'd hate to see what that guy would do if it was an FTF. Ticked me off in a big way.

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Search4Lancer

+Search4Lancer

Posted
Posted (edited)

We ran into a cacher and he stomped his feet and whined like a baby when he realized it was us that got a FTF before him the day before. That's a hound.

Yeesh! The one time I beat someone to a FTF and they showed up while I was still there, they bought me a celebratory Slushie! Two memorials about 10 miles away had new caches published at the same time. I got the FTF on the one closer to me, they got the other.

 

In any case, I get 10 miles to my phone and 15 miles to my email. I just wish the coords would come over the phone.

Edited by Search4Lancer
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knowschad

knowschad

Posted
Posted

If the logs in your area often say, "I was sure that (insert your name here) would have been here first", then you are officially an FTF hound.

 

(raising my hand and looking guilty)

deb3day

 

I think that is the right answer. Others have to give you that label. You can't label yourself that. After a while, you can shrug your shoulders and quietly "admit".... "yeah, I guess I am" :blink:

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CosmicMiami

+CosmicMiami

Posted
Posted

I dont care so much about FTF per se. What i do like is being FTF and signing the log in the back very small and then letting the STF think they are the FTF. At least until they see my log a day or two later with the time i found the cache. :blink::blink:

 

That's great. I'm going to use that one. I was FTF for the FT last week. Not because I cared but because the publish notice came up on the 'Berry and the cache was just a couple miles from home and I was on my way home. What the heck. I wish I had done that on this one as there were several local FTF hounds that were hot on my tail. LOL.

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Star*Hopper

+Star*Hopper

Posted
Posted

...I was FTF for the FT last week. Not because I cared but because the publish notice came up on the 'Berry and the cache was just a couple miles from home and I was on my way home. What the heck. I wish I had done that on this one as there were several local FTF hounds that were hot on my tail. LOL.

 

Not because you cared.....

 

Yet, you have notices set up on da 'Berry.

An-n-n-nd....just 'happened' to have a GPSr with ya.

 

Yeaaa-a-a-a-a-ah.....you don't care, awright.

Keep tellin' yourself that.

:blink::P:D

:blink:

~*

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Sparticus06

+Sparticus06

Posted
Posted

I am up to 11 FTFs. My FTF radius is 20 miles, but if I think I can make it, I will go further. And yes I am a FTF hound. There was one just this week that several of us were trying to find and different times. Just could not locate the cache. Finally one of the other hounds found it...lol

But I am a nice FTF hound. Sometimes I will run out and get that cache, other times I try to be nice and let one of the other hounds get it.

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ArtieD

+ArtieD

Posted
Posted

I have 106 FTF's out of 511 caches found. I suppose that makes me a FTF hound. :laughing:

 

Seriously, though, I had never had a FTF until one day eight new caches got published and I got FTF on all of them. After that, the thrill of getting a FTF drove me to full hound status. I would go at all possible hours to get them, with my goal being 100 FTF's by the time I hit 500 caches. I achieved that goal quite well.

 

My best FTF day was 16 FTF's in one caching trip.

 

Once I hit 100 FTF's, I eased up. Now, if I get it, great, but I don't go rushing after one cache anymore just to get FTF. If I can tie it onto a couple other finds, then I go for it.

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Buggheart

+Buggheart

Posted
Posted

You get labeled an "FTF Hound" when someone near you whines about their not being willing (they will claim 'able') to get there first. :laughing:

 

Oh, and along the same lines... when a new cache is published and you log a note on the cache stating that if you were not on vacation/away on business/at work/etc you'd be all over it.

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craftypants

+craftypants

Posted
Posted (edited)

I am a slight hound, perhaps a hound in training as I do not yet have any FTF's.

 

I am not sure that you even have to have 1 FTF to be a hound though, it is a state of mind (watching your inbox for notifications within your sphere of willingness, gear to the ready, fuel in the tank, civil twilight times for your latitude). Just because more doggedly determined cachers always seem to beat you to it doesn't make you less of a hound, just a less successful one.

 

 

EDITED TO ADD MY FIRFT FTF AT 6:10AM THIS MORNING

Edited by craftypants
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CosmicMiami

+CosmicMiami

Posted
Posted

Not because you cared.....

 

Yet, you have notices set up on da 'Berry.

An-n-n-nd....just 'happened' to have a GPSr with ya.

 

Yeaaa-a-a-a-a-ah.....you don't care, awright.

Keep tellin' yourself that.

:laughing::laughing::D

:laughing:

~*

 

Ah, perception is in the eye of the beholder...LOL. Truth be told, it's easier to keep my CacheBerry database up to date this way. Instead of running a PQ for all new caches in the area, then unzipping it to the desktop, then loading into GSAK, then loading into CacheBerry, etc. ad nauseum. When a new cache pops up, I simply click on the link, save to 'Berry, then add gpx to Cacheberry, all on the phone. Then when I get around to it, I'll load into the GSAK and then the GPSr. AND...the GPSr lives in my car anyway.

 

This one will probably be one of my few and far FTFs. I guess you could call it "The Accidental FTF!" That's why I like the story. The cache is, GC1NYHN if you want to read the log. Funny how the normal FTF hounds in the area were all scrambling. I was just driving home!!

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WRASTRO

+WRASTRO

Posted
Posted

Around here most of the rabid FTF hounds are fairly new cachers. Chasing those FTFs can be stressful so people tend to get burned out on that part of the game, or they burned out on the game completely. As they say, "moderation in everything". Have fun, don't be crazy about it. :laughing:

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Keruso

+Keruso

Posted
Posted

i've got 6 FTFs so far in my 2.5 year caching career, two in one day, one was a Multi cache, another was when i was looking at the maps looking for another cache and happened to notice another. Did i mention i didn't have a GPS or my Tomtom yet when going for it?

 

i think i qualify as a hound........

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Marcas_Found

+Marcas_Found

Posted
Posted

Distance to the cache when you get the alert is relative to say the least:

 

If you get an alert for a new cache and know just by the distance and bearing from your home coordinates what the competition (i.e other FTFers) will be based off of where they work, their hours at work, where they live and how late at night or in the morning they'll go after a cache.....then you are an FTF hound......not that we would know...... :)

 

I will caveat this statement with our enjoyment of FTFs is going head to head against friends. Getting an FTF is fun, getting an FTF with friends who meet at the some point at random days and times of the week and finding them together then shooting the bull before parting ways (or caching more) is a blast!

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Marcas_Found

+Marcas_Found

Posted
Posted (edited)

I dont care so much about FTF per se. What i do like is being FTF and signing the log in the back very small and then letting the STF think they are the FTF. At least until they see my log a day or two later with the time i found the cache. :D:D

 

That's great. I'm going to use that one. I was FTF for the FT last week. Not because I cared but because the publish notice came up on the 'Berry and the cache was just a couple miles from home and I was on my way home. What the heck. I wish I had done that on this one as there were several local FTF hounds that were hot on my tail. LOL.

 

ah a curse upon you both! :) Another prolific FTF hound in our area will seriously "delay" their logging of a cache just to pour salt into the wound of the 2TFer. This drives us nuts to say the least but we take it in stride because it's all in fun. We on the other had will log a cache from the 'berry out in the field so that others know it has been found. This is primarily because where we live (in southern New Jersey, and don't laugh when you read the rest) some of these caches can be quite remote and hard to get to with the possibility of getting vehicles stuck.

 

Oh, and for the signing the log somewhere else than the first page, we're on to that trick young grasshopper! :D On FTF hunts, we thoroughly check the log because "friends" have nailed us on this trick before! ...fool me once..... :D

-galaP-

Edited by Galap
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WHO-DEY

+WHO-DEY

Posted
Posted

I think of FTF hounds as those folks when you visit a cache and you wonder, "Let's see who the FTF was, oh wait, let me guess it was _____" and it usually is...

 

-Rozie

 

right on. Around here, it is the same half dozen guys. It is ridiculous. I mentioned in another post, they posted on one Cache that one was driving in to the parking area, and he looke din his rearview, saw another hound, and as the pulled up the cache...saw another one drive from another direction. all men over 40. All with no kids in tow. Someday it would be nice allow some kids the fun....but alas, not in West Michigan.

Oh, and one of the 6 is a cop. So he is free all the time for FTF's.

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johngie

+johngie

Posted
Posted

I think of FTF hounds as those folks when you visit a cache and you wonder, "Let's see who the FTF was, oh wait, let me guess it was _____" and it usually is...

 

-Rozie

 

right on. Around here, it is the same half dozen guys. It is ridiculous. I mentioned in another post, they posted on one Cache that one was driving in to the parking area, and he looke din his rearview, saw another hound, and as the pulled up the cache...saw another one drive from another direction. all men over 40. All with no kids in tow. Someday it would be nice allow some kids the fun....but alas, not in West Michigan.

Oh, and one of the 6 is a cop. So he is free all the time for FTF's.

 

Points of clairification:

 

1) 2 of us were over 40.

 

2) The third was a couple in their 30's WITH 2 of their children.

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drfred

+drfred

Posted
Posted

How about when an event gets thrown for your 500th FTF? We have a local cacher with such an honor. I got to where I was very proud to take a STF in our area because the first line was always a given. I'm happy to have more STFs than FTFs here...

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Jeep4two

+Jeep4two

Posted
Posted

My area has a very low cache density within 10 miles so getting out there quickly enough for those that are in the Louisville Metro some 40 miles away (with hundreds and hundreds of cachers) is unlikely.

 

For me FTF is a treat. I have only one of 90 finds as an FTF (Thanks to FindItFixItDave) and only because it was less than .2 miles from work. Work clothes didn't allow me to get it on my way in to work (very wet from morning dew) but nobody beat me to it before lunch (thanks to some local cachers in route to Geowoodstock).

 

I look forward to getting more but I don't ever see me being a hound due to my geographic location.

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absophoto

+absophoto

Posted
Posted

I think of FTF hounds as those folks when you visit a cache and you wonder, "Let's see who the FTF was, oh wait, let me guess it was _____" and it usually is...

 

-Rozie

 

right on. Around here, it is the same half dozen guys. It is ridiculous. I mentioned in another post, they posted on one Cache that one was driving in to the parking area, and he looke din his rearview, saw another hound, and as the pulled up the cache...saw another one drive from another direction. all men over 40. All with no kids in tow. Someday it would be nice allow some kids the fun....but alas, not in West Michigan.

Oh, and one of the 6 is a cop. So he is free all the time for FTF's.

 

Points of clairification:

 

1) 2 of us were over 40.

 

2) The third was a couple in their 30's WITH 2 of their children.

 

So, we were the first ones into this parking lot--us and our 4 CHILDREN! Johngie, Sfly, and us all shared the first to find, even though he used his super caching senses to find it first. When we see a new cache come up in our area, us and our 4 CHILDREN are out of the house in under 90sec (btw, our kids are 10, 9, 7, and 10 months) because it is a COMPETITION to get FTFs and we know we have to cruise to get them. Last week we arrived at a cache 9 min after it was posted and were still beat out by tourists caching here from K-Zoo. No hard feelings, because the whole fun of caching is just in the challenge and adventure of finding a cache. My suggestion to all is to try to enjoy just finding the caches and spending time with your family doing it(much better than TV or video games) don't make it a competition unless you are ready to compete. BTW, Johngie, Sfly, and all the other cachers we have met are helpful, kindhearted people that are far more concerned with having fun and helping other cachers than they are about snatching a FTF. Please don't spread false rumors about others, even careless, frustrated words can cause big trouble for others-as Johngie said. Also, good caching friends of our who have loads of FTFs go out with their children who are even younger than ours!

~Jason

 

P.S. Geocaching is meant to be a fun and interactive community, we know many local cachers, participate in some of the meet n greets(which are open to all) and even have get togethers. While we are all friendly with each other, we don't form any "survivor" type alliances, or clue each other in to upcoming FTFs, its a game of honor, and none of us would corrupt that.

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Sioneva

+Sioneva

Posted
Posted

<snip>

 

Oh, and one of the 6 is a cop. So he is free all the time for FTF's.

 

Boy, you really have it in for the police, don't you? Even after getting called out for a similar crack in that other thread you mentioned, you're not going to give up, are you.

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NYPaddleCacher

+NYPaddleCacher

Posted
Posted

I think it isn't so much as the raw number but more along the lines of the percentage of new local finds you are FTF - that defines a hound.

 

I think I've got somewhere between 15 and 20 FTFs. I never become a FTF hound because

 

A. I have a full time job.

B. I have a full time family

C. I really don't care if I am first to find on a cache.

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todd300

+todd300

Posted
Posted

To those FTF cachers that say they sign their name in small print or on the back of the log to deceive another cacher into thinking they got FTF - I have one question for you - how do I know you didn't sign that after I found the cache for the FTF? For all I know, you could have done that after I got there for the FTF and you signed the log in the back in small print and then claim the FTF and then claiming you did that BEFORE I got there when it's not true. All I have is your word for that, right?

 

To me, FTF's are such that it's the first signature at the top of the log sheet and if I don't see a sig there, I will claim the FTF along with the date and time that I found it so it obviously can't be missed. I'm not wasting time looking through every page of the log book or log sheet looking for a sig. I'm signing the first available space I see, whether it's a cache with 100 finds on it and a worn log book or a newly published cache in which I sign at the very top of the first page.

 

For the record, I have 5 FTF's out of my 166 finds (as of this post). 3 of those were slow FTF's meaning I found them long after publication (I found one just the other day two weeks after publication because it was 35 miles away from me - the other two slow FTF's were about 6 hours after publication because I was at work when the notices came in).

 

The two quick FTF's, I found right after publication when I was out of the house anyways and happened to have my PDA and cell phone with me. Got the notice on my cell both times and used my PDA at a wi-fi spot to get the coords and made the quick finds.

 

Otherwise I'm not an FTF hound. To each its own.

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eridge74

+eridge74

Posted
Posted (edited)

I started to get to be a FTF hound but quickly figured out how pathetic it was. I have 16 FTF's out of 276 total.That is all since March 1 2009. But after a while I almost felt guilty. So my rule now is for every FTF I get I have to have a hide. I am now up to 17 hides. I think that is a fair trade off. The local FTF hounds here love to brag about it in their logs, but they are kind of laughed at by the local cachers in general. If every FTF hound adopted my rule there would always be a lot of new caches. Oh well I guess now every FTF I go after will be to try and ruin the local FTF hounds day. :unsure:

Edited by eridge74
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Jagski

+Jagski

Posted
Posted

What defines an "FTF Hound" ?

I picked up #5 today and I'm worried I may be getting obsessed :D

 

Is it 50 FTF's ? 100 FTF's ?

a grab bag by the door for the moment a cache is published ?

notifications pushed to cellphones ?

 

:unsure: ...FTF Hounds are all around my area. Literally, if you aren't out the door within 15 minutes of noticing a new cache, you might as well forget the FTF. We have one FTF and that's only because it was at night and I happened to be reading my emails and it was 2 miles away. We had to fly out the door to get there. I think it's fun to try for FTF at night when you're ready for bed :cool: I believe many local cachers in my area tell each other they have a cache coming out, and I notice that some of them are "beta testers." Why do you need a beta tester when you have over a hundred caches out already?!

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Jeep_Dog

+Jeep_Dog

Posted
Posted

We ran into a cacher and he stomped his feet and whined like a baby when he realized it was us that got a FTF before him the day before.

 

I don't think there's a magical number or percentage associated with "hound."

 

Indeed, if you find yourself stomping your feet and whining about not being the first to log a cache, and the first person who logged the cache could care a less about FTFs (someone like me :unsure: ) yet went out of their way to be a FTF for the entertainment value of watching you stomp and whine -

 

You just might be a FTF "hound."

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geodarts

+geodarts

Posted
Posted

Not having your gpsr with you and stopping to get a new one at the outdoor store.

 

Leaving the house at midnight to drive 15 miles with your new headlamp.

 

Using the three initials and adding a lot of wahoos, yahoos, and extra smiley icons.

 

Getting up from dinner with your wife/family/significant other so you can get to a cache.

 

Going out of your way to drive 30 miles just because there is a film cannister in a lamp post.

 

Forgetting to turn the gas off on the stove because you rush to get out, realizing three blocks later that you forgot to turn it off, and not going back.

 

The same as the above, only there was something on the griddle.

 

Logging it online before going to get it so that others will not get there first.

 

Getting four different traffic tickets for speeding on the way to the cache.

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