Thieves?

[Coffee Biatch]

I am very new to Geocaching (just started this past weekend) after downloading the Iphone app. I heard about it last summer and have been intrigued ever since, so when I saw the app..... I knew I had to get it!!! But, here is my dilema.....My daughter and I had a blast "Searching". As that's pretty much all we did. We found our very 1st cache and were so stoked for the next. There was no next However, I am wondering if the items are still there. All of the 5 we did NOT find....the last person who found it was the same person. and 4 of the 5 had post from others after this person that said they could not find it either.

 

What should I do? chalk it up to being new? ask all who placed if the items are still there? Ask the one who last found it (what would i ask them), don't go to anymore that person has found?

 

Again, had a blast and am a little discouraged, but my daughter and I are just beginning and can't wait to find some more!!!!

[+bittsen]

I am very new to Geocaching (just started this past weekend) after downloading the Iphone app. I heard about it last summer and have been intrigued ever since, so when I saw the app..... I knew I had to get it!!! But, here is my dilema.....My daughter and I had a blast "Searching". As that's pretty much all we did. We found our very 1st cache and were so stoked for the next. There was no next However, I am wondering if the items are still there. All of the 5 we did NOT find....the last person who found it was the same person. and 4 of the 5 had post from others after this person that said they could not find it either.

 

What should I do? chalk it up to being new? ask all who placed if the items are still there? Ask the one who last found it (what would i ask them), don't go to anymore that person has found?

 

Again, had a blast and am a little discouraged, but my daughter and I are just beginning and can't wait to find some more!!!!

 

Log a DNF (Did not find) and Email the cache owner and let them know of your concerns.

Unfortunately there are cache thieves out there. I lost the first cache I placed after 3 days.

[+StarBrand]

Sometimes they are just tough to find. Never assume just because you didn't find it that it is really missing. Log your DNF (Did Not Find) log and then let it go. The owner can decide if it needs some attention from them. If you see a long string of DNF logs with no owner maintainance over a period of time then log a "NA" (needs archived) log on it.

 

Here are some general hints:

 

Look for caches with a difficulty of 2 or less for your fist few caches. Stick with regular sized caches for your first few. Micros can be quite hard to find sometimes. Stick to areas you are familiar with. Look for anything out of place or unusual. Look for unusual piles of sticks, grass, leaves, rocks, sand, etc. Feel where you cannot look. Think vertical, not all caches are on the ground. Look up or at eye level. Look for traces of previous searches to zero in on the spot. Think like the hider - where would you put a container in this location? Look for things too new, too old, too perfect, not like the others, too many, too few. Change your perspective - a shift in lighting can sometimes reveal a cache. Keep in mind that many micros are magnetic or attached to something (via string, wire etc). Slowly expand your search area to about 40 feet from where your GPS says ground zero is. Bring garden gloves and a flashlight - they help! Be prepared to not find the cache more often then you think.

 

Most of all - have fun!!

[+steel city babes]

It is kind of weird the last person to find the ones you didn't find is all the same. I see you didn't even post your find.

 

I would just post all the dnf's (did not find) and move on.... the dnf will give the owner the heads up....

[+Team GeoBlast]

I am very new to Geocaching (just started this past weekend) after downloading the Iphone app. I heard about it last summer and have been intrigued ever since, so when I saw the app..... I knew I had to get it!!! But, here is my dilema.....My daughter and I had a blast "Searching". As that's pretty much all we did. We found our very 1st cache and were so stoked for the next. There was no next However, I am wondering if the items are still there. All of the 5 we did NOT find....the last person who found it was the same person. and 4 of the 5 had post from others after this person that said they could not find it either.

 

What should I do? chalk it up to being new? ask all who placed if the items are still there? Ask the one who last found it (what would i ask them), don't go to anymore that person has found?

 

Again, had a blast and am a little discouraged, but my daughter and I are just beginning and can't wait to find some more!!!!

 

I am an iPhone owner and I have and use the Geocaching application for some things. Using it as your sole device to find caches is going to get you some DNFs because it really is not all that accurate when you get inside 50 feet. It is much, much, harder to use than my Garmin 60cx. I love the phone but I would not suggest ever using it to place a cache.

 

Until all the caches are confirmed gone, I would not do anything. You can put a watch on them and watch to see if there are other DNFs logged. Now you might understand the reason for logging your own DNFs a little better, if there are two or three DNFs logged it is a very good indication that there is something gone wrong. Right now, there's just finds. Log em as DNFs and see what happens.

 

PS: Just checking... those are not puzzle caches are they? If they are, then they are not located at the posted coordinates.

Edited July 21, 2009 by Team GeoBlast

[Skippermark]

I'm an avid iPhone GC App user and love it, but it is a little "slow" to update when showing the distance to the cache. I've done some caching with a 60CSx, which has very quick response times, making it easier to know where to stop when you're close to the cache.

 

It's also possible that the coordinates of the person who hid it weren't very accurate, which can make searching tougher.

 

How many notes were posted after the last find saying it wasn't found? I often take that and the difficulty into account when debating whether or not to do caches.

 

Echoing everything Team GeoBlast said, if the cache is lower rated, like a 1.5 and it has a lot of DNFs in a row, I'll usually skip it figuring it has a problem. But, if the cache is higher rated, like a 4 and has a lot of DNFs, I will do it, figuring it's just a high difficulty cache.

 

Lots of people don't log DNFs, but that's one example of they're very helpful. You could keep an eye on them and see what happens over the next couple weeks.

[Coffee Biatch]

thanks for your replies. I logged my DNFs and there were more than I thought, but same issues. I am gonna keep an eye and see what others say. They were mostly easy ones to find (or so i thought they would be) but I tried to keep it close to home for our 1st trip. Hopefully when we venture out, we'll have better luck and/or the person in question won't get there first

 

Thanks again!!!!

[+niraD]

At least two of your DNFs are micro-caches. It may help to stick to small and regular size caches at first, before trying to find a micro. But then again, after finding a large cache and a regular cache, the next few I found were micros...