Quickest first to find

January 7, 2014

I hid my third cache at the weekend and it was published yesterday evening. It was found within 40 minutes of being published! It got me thinking, just for fun, what's the fastest time from publish to FTF that you have seen? Was it your cache or were you the FTF?

January 7, 2014

I've done them in under a half hour when they're within a mile or two of my house. 18 minutes might be my quickest--not sure.

4.6k · January 7, 2014

About 5 minutes - cache was published 184 metres from where I was sitting in the car

2.7k · January 7, 2014

One of my FTF was logged within seconds of it being published. A few of us had found the cache, by accident, signed the log, and when we tried to log it, there was no listing.

A few days later, the cache published, and as soon as notifications were received, the FTF logs were added. It kind of blew the mind of the cache owner.

2k · January 7, 2014

A challenge was published almost next to my work. As soon as the mail came in I ran to my bike, cycled to the cache and signed the log. The CO was mildly amused. Btw, it was a country-based challenge with 3 previous easier versions. I knew I'd qualify and was hoping it would be published. Downside: it was below freezing and thin office trousers and shoes, and no gloves weren't such a good idea.

Another time, same story. Only this time I arrived at GZ and there were two other cachers already :yikes: Unfound caches don't last here for long.

Mrs. terratin

1.3k · January 7, 2014

Nine minutes.

http://coord.info/GLBZN9V1

1.2k · January 7, 2014

-5 days, resulting from a pre-publication snafu.

January 7, 2014

Finding the cache before it's published? Mind. Blown.

14k · January 7, 2014

Happens more often than you'd think. Since the cache should be in place prior the listing submitted for review there's a window of opportunity where a geocacher that notices what appears to a good place to hide a cache, searches that place, and discovers that someone else had the same idea. Then there is the beta tester/friend that is there when the cache is hidden and "finds" it just after it's been placed.

I think I got one within 12 minutes of it being published once and was second to find on one about 8 minutes after it was published. There really isn't much of a FTF game in my area so I've seen easily accessible caches go unfound for a day or two. Last year I saw a cache published on a Thursday afternoon, the day before leaving on a business trip to it's location, 9400 miles away. After traveling from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon I got to GZ and was FTF.

January 7, 2014

I saw it happen a couple of winters ago up here. One of our local cachers was putting out a cache-a-day series for the winter --- all winter-friendly caches. One of his placements was a LPC at a local cinema. Between the owner hiding it and its publication date, someone else thought that same spot would be a great place for a cache and discovered it when he went to place his own. So, he signed the log. Once it published, he logged his backdated FTF with the whole story.

In short ... sometimes, great minds think alike.

1.2k · January 7, 2014

I've seen it happen a few times, twice to me and a few others. Someone places a cache to be published on a certain date, and the Reviewer misses that note and publishes it "early" while dealing with their daily workload. Usually followed by a panicked email from the CO asking for the cache to be unpulished, and therefore made unavailable. If one can catch it while it is still available...easier FTF pickings.

Just one more good reason to not overly burden your Reviewer with requests to publish on a certain day and/or time.

Edited January 7, 2014 by JBnW

January 7, 2014

About 5 minutes, +/- a few seconds or so. Got the notification while at work, looked at the map and saw it was immediately next door to the south about 300 feet from the front door. Since it was right at lunchtime, I just strolled over to it. No GPS needed, as it was an obvious spot.

1.4k · January 7, 2014

Has happened several times here, when a series of caches was not published in one go. If you have caches named, say, "Powertrail #1" though "#43", all along a certain road, and #43 is not at the end of that road ... well, you just drive on and see if you can find a film canister at the next street sign as well . Did ~10 FTFs that way several days before publish.

4.1k · January 8, 2014

I have seen caches found before publication a few times. The most impressive (if that is the right word) was when one was found on a little used social trail miles from the trailhead when the finder had no idea the CO had been there or had placed a cache. The finder just happened to be wandering in the area and just happened to look underneath something. I was the second to find (the first after publication) and can confirm that the container was not visible nor was it hidden in a geopile. It had not been accidentally published and the hide did not have any particular identifying characteristic. And of course it was not part of a power trail and it did not have any geocoins or travel bugs placed in it. Just a random micro in one of the more remote areas where I live.

That story inspired me to create this cache, which originally was going to state only that a container was placed so go ahead and find it.

I have found a cache prior to publication when I was aware that the CO had been in the general area and saw a spot where I might have placed a cache. A friend of mine once did the same thing. But neither of these was as spectacular as the story with the first cache.

Edited January 8, 2014 by geodarts

1.5k · January 8, 2014

I've done it, too...

Edited January 8, 2014 by Ladybug Kids

3.7k · January 8, 2014

Probably 10 minutes. We've had a number of caches published close to home.

January 8, 2014

Years ago there was a “loophole” in the geocoin/TB placements map that meant that if a CO placed a geocoin/TB, that you had a watch on, in a yet-to-be-published cache you could use the map of the geocoin/TB to get a pretty good idea of where the cache was. Assuming it was a traditional and the physical container had already been placed, you could try to find it. I got a pre-publication gold in this way once. I think this loophole has been closed now though.

Most of my other pre-publication FTFs have been on short series where not all have been published at once and you can guess where one or more of the remaining ones might be.

But my most unexpected one was where the CO put a big hint in one of his logs on an existing cache that he had hidden a new cache in a parking lot nearby.

I happened to be going past the area so I thought "What the the heck - I'll just go and have a wander around".

I parked the car and got out, looked down next to the nearest tree and there it was - a fake dog poo!

Edited January 8, 2014 by Bunya

38.2k · January 8, 2014

Happened to me. I was hiking a new trail system looking to hide a few caches along it. I climbed a nice overlook and from some distance saw a perfect rock crevice for hiding a cache. I tucked my cache in it, took a reading then was about to go on my way when I decided to toss a few leaves over it to conceal it better. What did I uncover but a brand new Lock n Lock, with an empty logbook. The cache owner had recently hidden it but hadn't gotten around to submitting his listing.

And of course, because this is only a listing service, people can get cache coordinates elsewhere before they are published here.

January 8, 2014

A friend and I saw a pattern of cache placements and we staked out another logical location. We saw the cache owner place the cache and a short time later it became active. We went over and FTFed it.

3.6k · January 8, 2014

Yes... that would really blew me away as well.

January 8, 2014

It is common practice in some locations for some folk to pre-sign the log before the cache is placed so that they can can claim the FTF when it is published.

38.2k · January 8, 2014

Is that really a common practice?

January 8, 2014

I once used the "geocoin exploit" to find a pre-published cache. What was amazing the published coordinates for the cache were 200 feet off.

3.6k · January 8, 2014

A friend of mine just happen to see a cacher hiding a cache. When the cacher left he walked over found it and waited til it went live and logged at as FTF the day before the published date.

3.6k · January 8, 2014

Hmmmm... You heard it right. I know someone that does that. He got caught doing it.

January 8, 2014

It happen to me.... TWICE! :antenna:

-33 days on GC4PJRX

I was out looking for places to hide a cache one day and stumbled across this one.

-60 days and still counting (still unpublished)!

After a day of caching, I past a cemetery close to my home. I found it a bit unusual that this one didn't have a cache in it as practically EVERY cemetery in my area has a cache in it. I parked the car, did a quick search, and BAMMM!!!, there is was. It was another cache in an ongoing puzzle series. I chatted with the CO at our monthly cacher's meeting and he confirmed the find. He told me that he didn't even have a puzzle made for that one yet!

1.2k · January 8, 2014

Another form of common practice around here. Once the FTF clique figured out that the Reviewer has a very reliable routine, they would (and still do) inform themselves when one of them has submitted a new cache. They will then all gather together at the designated time somewhere "nearby" waiting for the notification, then they all go grab a group FTF. These are usually claimed within mere moments.

3.7k · January 8, 2014

Never timed 'em before...but one was published maybe 600 feet from where I was standing, so I dragged the family over with me to grab it about 5 to 10 minutes after getting the email on my phone. Another was published at night in my neighborhood, so I hopped in the car and found it within about 15 minutes of publication.

January 8, 2014

In my town there's a FTF fiend who, rain or shine, night or day, grabs the FTFs (and does very little else - I can see local caches he's not visited when he's been beaten to them). I am very tempted to set up some sort of April Fool wild goose chase of a multi, knowing full well that this chap will be there 2 minutes after it's published. Cruel?

3.3k · January 8, 2014

A friend of mine found a cache some days before it was published, simply because he thought the spot might be a good place to hide a cache, and found a cache there. He couldn't figure out which cache it was, so I emailed a reviewer and determined it wasn't yet published.

I think he found it 4-5 days before it was published. He was visiting the UK and by the time it was published he had gone back home.

10.2k · January 8, 2014

I've found two caches in the same park on the same day before publication. I know the cache owner, and she was just being a procrastinator, I emailed her, and she finally submitted them. Forum guidelines prevent me from saying what I was doing in the park, and how I stumbled on them.

3.7k · January 8, 2014

I have found one prior to publication. Story is a trail is slowly being constructed here in the SE part of Atlanta. A local cacher had placed a mini walking "power trail" of about 15 caches along a completed portion. When the next stretch of trail was opened, I waited a couple months to see if she would put some more down. When she hadn't, I went down there and dropped three caches along the new portion of the trail and published them that day. By a crazy coincidence, this cacher had apparently been down there THE VERY SAME DAY...because as soon as mine were published, she sent me a message asking me if I would be willing to archive since she had been doing this power trail and all. I told her I really wanted to keep mine, but would be willing to shift them if possible so that some or most of hers wouldn't interfere with the 0.1 mile rule. Turns out two of mine were placed within a few dozen yards of two of hers...and the third was about midway between two others. I agreed to move my third one away from one of those, but to do so for her to publish it, she had to give me the coordinates so that I could get it far enough away. So when I went down to move my third cache, I hopped over and "found" the cache...which I actually count as a valid find since all I had were the coordinates (which is what I would have had anyway after publication). So yeah...time warp FTF, I guess.

1.3k · January 8, 2014

A buddy and I found close to one hundred geocaches prior to publication in March, 2012. A publication snafu, again. Lone Star Trail #14 , a power trail in North Texas, was published early. Who numbers a new geocache #14 if it is not part of a larger numerical series? We found said geocache and began searching every tenth of a mile from ground zero and found many of the remaining geocaches on the trail. To be fair, we also logged our DNFs on the ones we missed after they were published.

January 8, 2014

I had a challenge cache where the reviewer told me he thought it was too difficult - I had to talk him into publishing it.

It was found (by a qualifying finder) in under an hour.

January 12, 2014

All this talk of FTF.... I had never got one until two days ago, now I have found three! Maybe starting this thread was a good omen! I found them all within 30 minutes of publication :D

2.7k · January 12, 2014

Congrats times three.

January 14, 2014

I only have two FTF's I think as I don't drive, however closest was a park nearby, took about 45 mins after it published.

2.1k · January 16, 2014

This past monday night I was on my way to work and noticed I had an email. It was a new listing. That email was at 8:43pm. Cache was located and logged by 9:25. So about 40-45 minutes for me.

1.4k · January 16, 2014

We have found a few quickly and know of some who found them before being published. My favorite was I was about a hour away from home. I had just left a job and was looking at my phone to see what one I wanted to grab when a notification came up. It was so close but still out in the woods. For some reason my phone said 30 min but I knew that wasn't right so I took a different turn and then it said 1 min. Got there and actually made a mistake and went up the hill. Then realized it and found it. The CO was so amazed as it was out in the middle of no where and I found it in about 5 min. Should have been sooner. That can be so fun!

January 16, 2014

Only happened once to me. A buddy and I found a night cache pre-publication - GC4WPEW. We saw fire tacks, so we followed em. Low and behold.....a new cache.

On the other hand, it's never happened to me as a CO. It's quite the opposite. In fact, here's my two most recent caches - GC4WTVX and GC4T2ZZ. One of them is going on two months without a find.

7.3k · January 16, 2014

In central Florida, a cacher was releasing a long power trail in bits and pieces. About every 12th cache was a "bonus" - bogus coords, build coords from

info in logs on the previous caches. After the first 30 or so has been published, a number of people were working the unpublished series, and a couple of guys quite specifically working the "bonus" hides. Many of the hides ended up with pre-publication finds ;-)

3.3k · January 16, 2014

My first FTF was based on seeing the listing 17 minutes after publication. No notices - just looking online at the right time. I zipped over & bagged it within 45 minutes of publication. Another new cache was published near it at the same time, so the FTF hounds were swarming. Lucky me!

3.3k · January 16, 2014

Uh, oh! You might be getting hooked! You might soon officially be an FTF Hound!

3.3k · January 16, 2014

Wow!

Quickest first to find

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