Finding a Missing Cache

[+GeoCraig]

What should the requirements be for logging a "find" when it is obvious that you are in the right place, but the cache is missing?

 

Do you log it as a find because you found the place the cache was located or as a "not found" because the actual cache could not be located?

 

Thanks.

 

GeoCraig

[+weezer]

I would just post it as a not found. Its really no big deal, but if I dont actually touch it I havent found it.

I have seen where people have claimed to be in the right spot and the cache must me missing only to find they just missed the cache.

Just log it as a not found and email your concern that it is missing to the cache owner. Hopefully they will confirm its actual status.

 

Weezer

[+Peanuthead]

There is a brand new category that I think was created just for this situation.

 

When you log the cache there is now an option, "Cache should be archived."

 

I think this is the situation Jeremy had in mind when he made the new category this past week.

 

[+briansnat]

I can't tell you how many times I knew I was in the right place and couldn't find the cache, only to locate it a half hour later in another spot.

 

Anyway, unless you actually found the cache and logged your visit in the log book (if one is available), its a not found. We look for caches, not for the spot they are/were hidden.

[+The GeoGadgets Team]

If you didn't sign the logbook, you shouldn't be able to log it as "found".

 

To echo other posters, too many times even very experienced cachers can miss an existing cache. Doesn't mean it isn't there, but if they didn't find it, or even eyeball the container, ain't no find.

 

See if others in the area have found it recently. If one or two others have attempted it and come up no joy, then it may be gone, but it still isn't a find. After all, it isn't a virtual or locationless cache. No box, no log, no find.

 

One of the caches on my watch list has had three or four Not Founds on it recently, but a few days later someone logged it as "found"... signed the logbook, traded from it, everything. A few days later someone else went for it and couldn't find it. Is it a "disappearing/reappearing" cache? I don't think so. I'm going to check it out later this week as the owner hasn't archived it.

 

----------

Lori aka: RedwoodRed

KF6VFI

"I don't get lost, I investigate alternative destinations."

GeoGadgets Team Website

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"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is." - Yoda, Jedi Master from Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

[+georgeandmary]

quote:

---

Originally posted by GeoCraig:

What should the requirements be for logging a "find" when it is obvious that you are in the right place, but the cache is missing?

 

Do you log it as a find because you found the place the cache was located or as a "not found" because the actual cache could not be located?

 

Thanks.

 

GeoCraig

---

 

You may be in the right place, but if you didn't find it, you didn't find it. Either log a "could not find" or a note. There have been a few times when I was sure the cache was gone, and it wasn't. Some are hidden really well. I hunted for one this weekend that I decided must be missing. After going back and reading the logs and the hint. I'm pretty sure it's still there. I was looking for the wrong type of container. I now think it's a cache disguised as a log and I probablly just stepped over it. I'll go back soon.

 

george

 

Remember: Half the people you meet are below average.

[+15Tango]

Log it as a didn't find, or post a note, but make some kind of attempt to contact the cache owner before thinking the cache should be archived. I placed a couple of caches last week, and one of them has only one log posted, and it's a didn't find, and I'm close enough to go check and make sure the cache is still there and my coordinates are good. 15T

 

www.1800goguard.com

[kenny&lisa]

I will log it as not found, as well. I may be new to geocaching, being able to navigate the planet is no big deal for many. It's the actual "container" that I am hunting.

 

"Beer is proof that GOD loves us and wants us to have fun." -- Ben Franklin

[k2dave]

You are really on your own on making your own rules. The one I use is it's a no-find if I did not find it. If I were to find fragments in an area that I was 100% sure was part of the cache I would log it as a find.

 

One cache was blown up by the bomb squad but I found a piece of the container along w/ cache item fragments so I logged it as a find.

 

Another cache I was certain I was in the right place and found a cache trinket nearby and assumed a plunder. Since I couldn't know for certain that the cache was here I withheld my findings until I could contact the owner or a find was posted. When a find post came in I logged the no-find.

 

Barring these circumstances If I go and don't see any evidence of the cache it's a automatic no find, If I turn back it's a no find. If I turn back (w/o getting to the cache area) with the intent to go again it's a note.

 

----(sig line)---> Did you ever do any trail maintainence? - if so you will know that all but the most worn trails need continuous maintenance to prevent mother nature from reclaiming it. herd paths are quickly reclaimed - k2dave