How long to search before you give up?

[+gpsgeology]

As the subject says, how long do you all typically hunt for a cache before you give up?

 

I need to check my watch, but I bet I give up after 15 minutes or so.

 

You all take it easy.

Steve.

[+ras_oscar]

When I find myself checking the same place a second time. At that point i usually re-read the cache page and the last few logs. If nothing pops into my mind I move on. There's no set time, i usually go until I cannot think of any other place to look.

[+mfamilee]

No time limit... we stop we feel we are about to go kwazy.

[+SkellyCA]

The search time proportional to the amount of time and effort it takes to reach GZ(Ground Zero).

[aniyn]

Usually a little over half an hour.

[+The Bakkers]

For me it depends on how long it took to get to the location. If I had to hike for 20 minutes I would defiantly spend more time looking, If it was a quick urban stop, I may give 5 to 10 minutes then mark DNF and put on watch list, knowing that after someone records a find I can return quickly. The reason is that since it is an Urban Cache, the odds may be greater that it is missing.

[+The Leprechauns]

I always stop looking when it stops being fun.

 

If I'm searching for a micro hidden somewhere on a trail bridge in the forest, I'm happy to stay there for an hour or more, listening to the birds and soaking in the sunshine.

 

If I'm searching for a small plastic box along the trash-strewn perimeter of a shopping center, I'll give up after five or ten minutes.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

We "kind of" wish we had a shopping center.

 

Depends upon how determined you are to put that smiley on the board. Some COs are pretty ingenious when it comes to camouflage and hiding abilities!

[+Team Cotati]

Never more than 30 minutes.

 

Typically 15-20.

[+ras_oscar]

it also depends on whether the hide is in my radius. Because, Man I OWN my radius. Don't you DARE put your little caches in my radius.I'll grab that ^%$# quicker'n snot .....

[+Team Cotati]

it also depends on whether the hide is in my radius. Because, Man I OWN my radius. Don't you DARE put your little caches in my radius.I'll grab that ^%$# quicker'n snot .....

 

Uh, like how much time might that operation typically require?

[+ngrrfan]

For me, depends on how many people are out caching with me. 4 people can cover a lot of ground several times in 10 minutes however if I am by myself I'll spend about 20 minutes hunting.

[+gpsgeology]

Seems like in hot weather I give up easier. Looking forward to cool weather, and no leaves on the trees. Seems like most caches are hid in trees around here.

 

I have done no urban hunting yet. Hunts have been off trail in dense woods.

 

Looking forward to taking the gps on the road into far West Texas.

 

Steve.

[+StarBrand]

Lots of variables here. Depends on the cache a lot. For a difficulty 2 or less - I'll search for up to 20 - 30 minutes. For difficulty 3 or 4 - up to an hour or more. But bathroom breaks for the kids, time pressures while travelling, "fun" factor, cool scenery factor and type of hide all play into the length as well.

[+briansnat]

It all depends on the cache. If it's a high difficulty cache and I have the time budgeted, I'll probably look for up 45 minutes. Same for caches that are long hikes, or on very difficult terrain.

 

For most other caches my limit is about 15-20 minutes, though I may go up to 30 if my wife is with me because she doesn't like to give up easily and I have to practically drag her away.

[+gpsgeology]

@ Starbrand and Briansnat,

 

Good points!

 

Wish I had someone along who had to be "drug away"!

[+ventura_kids]

We created the 7 minute rule years ago, when there weren't very many caches out there.

Now we stick by a 2 minute rule.

Once or twice we stayed and searched for the entire 7 minutes, but that is quite rare for us.

During our 413 find World Record day, we had a one minute maximum search time per cache.

Because of that, we ended up with 23 DNF's.

The 23 caches we Did not find WERE there. They were all found in the next week or so.

Therefore....ONE minute is NOT enough time. Stick with TWO.

[+Renegade Knight]

How long to search before you give up?

 

When we stop having fun looking, we move on.

[+Renegade Knight]

it also depends on whether the hide is in my radius. Because, Man I OWN my radius. Don't you DARE put your little caches in my radius.I'll grab that ^%$# quicker'n snot .....

 

Radius slaves do operate by special rules as in "however long it takes" becasue it's all about keeping that radius clear come hell or high water.

[+Woodstramp]

Five to ten minutes max.

 

One exception being the cache is in a nice or historic place. One recent DNF find was a hide at a scenic mountain view. Spent 10 minutes looking for the container and another 20 sitting on a rock just admiring a sunset. That was one of my favorites.

[+SilentWolf]

My time limits are basically only based on two things... First, how much time to I have to cache before I have another commitment I need to get to - since I work full time and have things that need to get done at home my caching time amounts to maybe a half hour before work and a few minutes on the way home from work, but on weekends i've spent the whole day caching before, and usually I'll look until I find it or am almost positive the cache may be missing. My only other "limit" would be if I am in a high-muggle area, I'm not going to linger in one spot looking "suspicious" for too long... i'll spend a few minutes, then move on and come back later.

[+Crafty Turtle]

Half an hour. ....if it's a wilderness cache with nobody around to catch me, and I can merrily scratch away at tree roots and such. If I can't find it after half an hour, I start to get all "grrrrrr".

 

5 minutes. ....for an urban cache where stealth is necessary. I can sit and look around at possible hidey holes, but if traffic doesn't allow me to stick my hand in there, then I'll go away and come back later - maybe at night or very early morning when there's nobody around.

 

So - two time limits for two reasons. (the first is a logged DNF, and the second is a "come back later")

[+Night Stalker]

As Renegade Knight mentioned we use a fun meter. When it is no longer fun we move on. Works for us even if we do have a few more DNF's.

[+Twitch Hugs Trees]

I'm still new at this game but I have searched before. It gets pretty hot here (in the 80's in October!) so I stop when I get too hot or my asthma starts acting up. Most caches are urban here, so I don't like to spend a lot of time getting sweaty in public.

 

Now this summer when I get to drive up into the mountains and do some serious outdoors hunting, I don't plan on stopping until I find it or get eaten by a mountain lion. Whichever comes first.

[+lookin4busstop]

It depends on the difficulty of the cache. I usually go about thirty minutes though.

[+Arrow42]

Well, it all depends I guess. If it's close too home, low @ difficulty I might spend less time then I would if it was far from home and/or higher difficulty.

 

Basically until the frustration of not finding the cache overwhelms the fun of looking. Hot weather can make a difference.

[+skeezicks]

I will search for a long time...over an hour or more if I am out of town in a secluded type location. If it is a muggle heavy area, I usually limit it to around 20 minutes or so. Even then, I will somtimes search longer... I have a hard time giving up.

[+popokiiti]

When we get to GZ, it depends on the difficulty. If we are having fun, no time limit. If the air starts to turn blue, for whatever reason.....5 more minutes and that is it - on to the next cache. Generally, our average time on an average difficulty would be 20 - 30 minutes.

[+Skywatcher71]

I'm still VERY new to this game, only 11 finds so far in my first week. I spent about 1 hour and 15 minutes looking for a cache in the dark tonight in a very dense wooded area near a bridge. I was about to give up because my GPS was bouncing around a 100ft radius but it would take me back to the same tree several times. I decided I would spend some time around that tree and search carefully with my headlamp. After only five minutes of crawling around on my hands and knees, I found the cache. I guess I have more patience than most.

 

Skywatcher71

[+Crid]

It depends. I've spent 40 minutes hunting for (and eventually finding) a cache in a wooded valley, GPS bouncing around all over the place. When I finally found the cache my GPS said I was a couple of hundred feet from GZ. Since other cachers had managed to find it and the location was one where the cache was unlikely to be muggled, I stuck at it.

 

This weekend, on the other hand, I gave up on a cache after about 10 minutes because the previous logged entry was a find 3 weeks earlier and some woodland clearance work had been done fairly recently. I guessed (correctly, as it turns out) that it had been done since the last find and the cache was buried somewhere under where the cleared vegetation had been dumped at the sides of the path. (I pity the cache owner who now has the fun task of finding his own cache under all that lot).

 

Somewhere in the middle, I've previously given up fairly quickly on caches that probably are still there but have had a large number of DNFs from cachers with a lot more finds than me and the some of the found logs commented on the difficulty of finding it. One in particular when I was away on holiday - if it was close to home I'd probably keep returning until I found it, but when I'm far from home I eventually have to "pull the plug" and admit defeat.

[+Bundyrumandcoke]

Not quite the same, but I co-own a 5/5 that a 5000+ find cacher spent a whole day trying to crack, and it beat him.

[+fegan]

Anywhere from 5 minutes to 1 hour...depending how hot the day is, how difficult the hide is, and how much free time I have.

[+ventura_kids]

Our normal time spent is around a minute.

We give up after about 2 minutes if we are not sure the cache is even there.

We give up after 7 minutes even if we know the cache is there....after all...we created the rule.

[+brslk]

Depends on the rating. If I know ahead of time it isn't going to be easy then I spend more time.... If it is "supposed" to be easy then less... I and my better half mostly look until one of us finds it, depending on our schedule.

I love finding a difficult one (to me) but I also like the easy finds.

I have no set time limit

 

Bruce.

[+bouffantloup]

27 minutes, 48 seconds.

[+TeamTunsKeen]

i only look for about 30 mins max after that its a return trip for another look.

generally the easier they are the harder a job i have finding them

[+geodarts]

If I am with my noncaching family, I might only get a few minutes. If I am with my dog, until she starts to whine. If I am with other cachers, until there is a group consensus. A cache near home will get more time. A cache out of town will get less. If it has an interesting name or is in an interesting location where it will be fun to write a found log, I will give it more time. If the cache is placed in front of someone's window or in a public area with lots of people around and my daughter dying of embarrasment, it might get a quick pass. If I have hiked a long way I might give it more time, but will stop once it is no longer fun. If no one else has been there, I might give it a couple extra minutes. So if you average it all out, 10 minutes. But sometimes I think I have only spent 10 minutes and my annoyed spouse waiting for me someplace tells me it was a lot longer.

Edited December 4, 2009 by Erickson

[+Ed & Julie]

As the subject says, how long do you all typically hunt for a cache before you give up?

 

I need to check my watch, but I bet I give up after 15 minutes or so.

 

You all take it easy.

Steve.

 

3-5 minutes, then the NHF (not having fun) rule is called.

I want to find caches, not waste time looking for "evil" caches for missing caches.

[+SkellyCA]

As the subject says, how long do you all typically hunt for a cache before you give up?

 

I need to check my watch, but I bet I give up after 15 minutes or so.

 

You all take it easy.

Steve.

 

3-5 minutes, then the NHF (not having fun) rule is called.

I want to find caches, not waste time looking for "evil" caches for missing caches.

 

OT ~ I noticed your ID is Ed & Julie. That made me laugh!

 

Why?

 

Because my name is Ed and my girlfriends name is Julie! LOL

 

Although my Julie doesn't go caching with me

Edited December 5, 2009 by SkellyCA

[+Border Caz]

My record was an hour and a half - I was determined to find it because it was a long hike up there and I didn't want to hike up there again. I got it in the end - The GPS was playing up because of high cliffs and I'd spent well over an hour looking in the wrong place.

 

Quite often I have just been on the point of giving up when inspration has struck.

 

On the other hand, if I don't spot a drive by pretty quickly I might give up and try again another day. I wouldn't log that as a DNF, though, unless I didn't find it on the second sortie.

[grammynmaggie]

I looked for 2 caches each with in1 mile of my home for 3 mo, Finally had to ask for hint....but most often I spend up to 15 min. And most of the time I come back and look again. I have only been caching for 4 mo. so I might change my ways with more time under my belt