First Find.

[jrgomes11]

Recently I found my first, but it was tough. There have been lots that I have not found yet, is it a goos possibility that they were never replaced?

[+geocat_]

Congrats on your first find! Not finding caches is still my area of expertise after a few months now, haha! If you are a premium member, you could filter your caches to include only easier finds, those with a 1 or 1.5. Then you can step up the difficulty as you get experience. It is possible for caches to go missing, but usually a good indicator of this is a hide with several DNFs in a row, especially from experienced cachers. Good luck!

[+StarBrand]

Recently I found my first, but it was tough. There have been lots that I have not found yet, is it a goos possibility that they were never replaced?

That is possible that they are missing but it is far more likely you just didn't find them.

 

After 9+ years, I still average about one DNF log for every 5 I find.

 

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!!

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Before going out, lay out a plan of attack. On the site map out and check all of the caches that you wish to try for on that outing.

Check the size of the cache, the difficulty and terrain ratings -- but most importantly check the previous logs. If the cache could truly be missing, therein is your biggest hint, by the number of sequential DNF logs.

 

The occasional DNF doesn't mean much, but if there is 5 - 6 in a row, it may well be missing.

 

Chances are, at this stage of your game, you simply aren't finding them though. Practice makes perfect, ya know (well... almost).

[+Chief301]

Recently I found my first, but it was tough. There have been lots that I have not found yet, is it a goos possibility that they were never replaced?

 

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!!

 

You must have this paragraph saved as a macro or something

[+Chief301]

The occasional DNF doesn't mean much, but if there is 5 - 6 in a row, it may well be missing.

 

 

Most of the time, but not always. We hunted for one a couple of months ago that had 8 or 10 DNF's in a row before we looked for it (we DNF'd as well), and a couple afterwards. CO posted a maintenance note about a week ago saying that he went out with a new container to replace this obviously missing cache, and found that it was still in place after all. Just a darn good hide, I guess! I gonna have to go look for that one again...