It's Inevitable. I Will Never Have A Ftf

[+fly46]

Wait... Can it be? A cache on the email close to my house that hasn't been found yet? Fire up the gps!

 

So I get there, I find the spot, I find the spiders (see the other thread), I find the cache, I find.......

 

another signature on line 1.

 

 

What the heck?

 

Someone make me feel good... How many tries have y'all used to go and get to be FTF before you got your first one?

[Pto]

51 (of my 54) I think.

Only have 1-

And thats OK with me. . .

[+SixDogTeam]

41 FTF's out of about 180 cache finds and dnfs...you got to work at it tho. Monitor website often,then go right away, day or nite...

[+SixDogTeam]

Probably at about 85% or better success rate when trying to be FTF...

[+rusty_tlc]

If you wait for the new cache notification e-mail you will never get a FTF except by chance.

 

If you truly desire the FTF here is what you must do;

You must always be ready to go, have your geokit packed, ready, and with you at all times.

 

As often as possible log on and do a "search on closest to coordinates" . Pick coordinates that are central to your normal range of travel. When a new cache shows up GO.

 

Don't be afraid to set your alarm for O-dark-thirty and look for caches that were approved overnight.

 

Do these things and you may get a FTF.

 

I once drove across town in my open top rig in near freezing temps at 4:00AM. I scored the FTF about a half hour before the local FTF fanatic. That guys a real kook.

[+Anonymous']

No FTFs out of 94+ finds (the plus includes ones found before I was a member).

[koz]

i lucked out one saturday morning...rushed out amd got it...just wanted one and don't try anymore

[IronMaiden]

Don't feel bad Fly46 I haven't had any FTF either.

 

I even went on one cache with my hubby, we were looking for along time. Of course, Nature had to call me and off I went. When I came back he had a smile on his face. Yep, he found it, and he hid it so I had to find it.

 

So close but yet so far. But I know one of these days I will get my FTF. Keep a positive attitude.

[+Team Perks]

My observations:

 

1. Most people hide caches on the weekends. Best pickin's for FTF are usually earlier in the week when the approver has finished off the queue.

 

2. Most approvers do their dirty work in the evenings. Check late nights or early mornings.

 

3. The 1/1's go fast. Aim for the higher D/T caches or ones farther from main highways or populated areas. They tend to sit there for awhile. I've had urban caches FTF'd in under an hour (!!) after they've been approved. The 2/4 rated cache I placed in a canyon recently sat for a week.

 

4. If the FTF brags that they got up at 5 AM and found the cache at 6 AM, get up at 4:45 AM to find the cache at 5:45.

 

I probably have 30 or so FTF's. I won't often drop everything I'm doing to be FTF, but I'll take the opportunity if it presents itself. Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't. Either way, it's still a cache, and I still have fun.

[+ChileHead]

My observations:

 

1. Most people hide caches on the weekends. Best pickin's for FTF are usually earlier in the week when the approver has finished off the queue.

 

2. Most approvers do their dirty work in the evenings. Check late nights or early mornings.

 

3. The 1/1's go fast. Aim for the higher D/T caches or ones farther from main highways or populated areas. They tend to sit there for awhile. I've had urban caches FTF'd in under an hour (!!) after they've been approved. The 2/4 rated cache I placed in a canyon recently sat for a week.

 

4. If the FTF brags that they got up at 5 AM and found the cache at 6 AM, get up at 4:45 AM to find the cache at 5:45.

 

I probably have 30 or so FTF's. I won't often drop everything I'm doing to be FTF, but I'll take the opportunity if it presents itself. Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't. Either way, it's still a cache, and I still have fun.

 

1. Yup ... most of my 40 FTFs are during the week.

 

2. Most of mine are after 10pm (usually closer to midnight), or before 7am.

 

3. Good point ... people seldom go for the multi's at night. Those are much easier to get if you're willing to go when it's dark.

 

4. One FTF in our area likes to tell people this so they'll go out early while he sleeps in!

 

Lately I've been about 80% successful when going for a FTF.

[+The Jester]

My first FTF was my sixteenth cache and the first one I tried for. Sometimes I wait till the afternoon before I head for a new cache, just to give others a crack at it - but still I've collected a number. Why? It another challenge.

[MMACH 5]

Out of 239 finds, I have 91 FTFs.

Most of my finds are after midnight.

 

If you're willing to stay up late, you can bag a slew of FTFs.

 

I work 40+ hours a week and have a wife and three kids, which is why I hunt at night. I don't leave the house until the kiddos are in bed. It sort of allows my geocaching addiction to make a low impact on my family.

[+ChileHead]

Out of 239 finds, I have 91 FTFs.

Most of my finds are after midnight.

 

If you're willing to stay up late, you can bag a slew of FTFs.

 

I work 40+ hours a week and have a wife and three kids, which is why I hunt at night. I don't leave the house until the kiddos are in bed. It sort of allows my geocaching addiction to make a low impact on my family.

That's exactly what I do. My wife still thinks I'm nuts though! But I've been enjoying the late night walks, especially when there is a full moon.

[+Sevateem]

Our teams first ,FTF was by with-out trying. We were just lucky. Our only other FTF , I went out at 12:30AM. My caching partner lives 30 miles from me and the cache was only 6 miles.

[+Renegade Knight]

I don't even know which of my caches were a FTF.

[+Robespierre]

I have half a dozen...it won't change your life. Mostly, I don't make that much effort, and sometimes I have stayed away and let someone else have it. One that I really went after, I was 4th, but first to log.

[+GreyingJay]

You guys are all crazy. I'm too scared to go exploring the woods at night

 

Anyone ever get the FTF and then sit around nearby to see how close the next guy is?

[+Mudfrog]

I dont keep track and havnt ever counted but i know that we have had our share of FTFs. Some of those were due to me doing one last "area" check before going to bed and finding a new cache just listed. Needless to say, we would get dressed and go for the find right then. Others, we just got up early the next morning. Now we pretty much take our time because caching has gotten so slow around here. Ive seen caches sit over a week before being found! Heck, we hid one back in March and it still hasnt had a find!!!

[+beatnik]

The 2nd cache I ever found was a FTF. Kind of took the fun out of it after that. I'll get a wild hair and go for one every once in awhile. But unless there is some great FTF prize you are probably not missing much. Just my $0.02.

[lowracer]

Head out to Rocksprings, Texas. i have a virtual out there (Devil's Sinkhole) that no one's logged yet.

[vagabond]

My last ftf had been sitting for 2 months and it was only a 1.5 by 1.5, 2 others had tried to find it and dnf it I didn't even know I was first until I got home and logged it and checked the log.

[+WAAS-up]

You've got to be "auto" informed of a new cache within 30 minutes or less. There are a number of ways of doing this (i.e., automaticaly previewing pocket queries every 30 minutes and flagging HTML changes). There is a thread on this topic.

 

And/or you can torment your local FTF king/queen publically so they will feel bad a let you get a few of your own (assuming you are friends they have a sense of humor). Here's one I posted after getting yet another second to find... Feel free to modify for your own uses.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...b5-d3459e8826d4

[+Wacka]

I have 3 FTFs out of 675 finds. One I tried to be FTF on, but the other two were pure luck. hiiden by the same person in the same town but on different weeks. One I found at 9:30 AM on a Saturday and the other at Noon on a Saturday!

[+Shop99er]

I have 4 FTF's out of 321 finds.

 

One was because I outwaited a guy that was there hunting when I arrived, and the other 3 were because I was faster than everyone else. On my last FTF, I beat the STF by about 30 minutes.

 

It's either trust to luck and speed, or go in the middle of the night.

 

I'd rather sleep.

[+Kfam]

If you really have a lot of trouble, maybe a Reserved FTF is for you.

[+robert]

agreed on not waiting for the weekly email. just go to the main geocaching.com page and choose your state from the drop-down menu on the right. the resulting page will show you:

 

1. events in your state

2. the latest caches placed in your state

 

you want #2.

[+briansnat]

I don't track my FTF's but I'd estimate I have about a dozen. All were accidental. In most cases they were out there several days when I happened to be the FTF. If you want to get a FTF, come to NJ. Many caches here wait as long as a week before the FTF. I have one placed on 9/26 that has yet to get a find on it.

[thorin]

Sorry I can't make you feel any better the first time I went for a FTF I got it

 

Thorin

[+joefrog]

I scored the FTF about a half hour before the local FTF fanatic. That guys a real kook.

LOL -- yep, we've got a FTF freak around here, too. If he doesn't find it first, he doesn't care to search for a month or two later.

[+joefrog]

You guys are all crazy. I'm too scared to go exploring the woods at night

 

Anyone ever get the FTF and then sit around nearby to see how close the next guy is?

I've been doing a lot more night caching lately. I've also discovered I need a better flashlight!

 

I hung around one to do just that once... and came prepared. Wore all black, found the cache, signed it, and hid nearby. Sure enough, saw a flashlight coming along the path, and it was a cacher who I had ribbed earlier about not being able to beat me to a cache near his house.

 

And you know, a well-tossed rubber snake will really liven up a quiet night!

[+AuntieWeasel]

I got one FTF, and it was newbie's luck. I think it was my twelfth find.

 

Four or five new caches appeared one Friday night in the same general neighborhood. Early Saturday morning, I thought, "what the heck? why not weasel?" and got FTF on the first try. The next finders walked up to me as I was logging. I walked up to them on the next one. As it turned out, there were four of us out there bumbling around like Keystone Kops, crossing paths and bumping into each other all day.

 

They were a congenial lot, but I decided I didn't much like the FTF scramble. I enjoy a leisurely, stop-and-smell-the-roses sort of hunt, and solitude on the trail. I also like to let a cache mellow a bit and get the benefit of other people's logs before I decide if it's one I want to do.

[ju66l3r]

Find the nearest biggest city that has spaghetti for a road network. Live there and know your way around. Find all of the urban caches before anyone else.

 

When I apply myself to trying to get there first, I can usually beat out the local crews to the cache, simply because getting into Downtown Boston is hell for a suburbanite...so it keeps the competition limited to city dwellers.

 

I have also gotten FTF by being up at 5 AM and insanely gulping coffee on the way to the cache.

 

I think I have 3 FTF out of the 81 caches I've done.

 

Another thing I noticed is the delay that multi's have over regular caches in terms of how fast the FTFers go for them. That may be your market ("King of the Multi-cache FTFs").

[+Monkeybrad]

Look at the area surrounding nashville. Caches out in murfreesboro or my neck of the woods regularly sit for a week without a find. Angelflye's newest one sat for three weeks before I got the FTF.

[+Runaround]

I know I have a few FTF's but there were all accidental. I've never raced out for one. They don't mean anything beyond bragging rights anyway.

 

Mainly the hardcore FTFers also get to be the first to discover the cache coords are wrong, or the cache is on private property, or that a skunk shares that neat hollow log with the cache. Also, don't forget the bees, poison plants, snakes, and other problems. I prefer to let others do the dirty work. Besides, the website scores that "10th to find" the same as the FTF.

[+fly46]

Look at the area surrounding nashville. Caches out in murfreesboro or my neck of the woods regularly sit for a week without a find. Angelflye's newest one sat for three weeks before I got the FTF.

Monkeybrad, you're forgetting a couple very important facts.

#1. Where do I live in relation to you?

#2. Where do I live in relation to Murfreesboro?

#3. I have never in my life been to said area.

[+Cherokeecacher]

Fly,

Do not feel too bad. We have about 126 finds to date and 0 (zero) are FTF.

 

PS

Check your e-mail

[+Monkeybrad]

Monkeybrad, you're forgetting a couple very important facts.

#1. Where do I live in relation to you?

#2. Where do I live in relation to Murfreesboro?

#3. I have never in my life been to said area.

You are about 40 miles north of me and less than 20 mile wnw of Murfreesboro. Take Nolensville Road south to Monkeybradville, take 24 E to Murfreesboro. Or you can try Lebanon 8 miles east of you on I-40, stuff out there will usually sit for a day or two.

 

My point is to watch the outlying areas. In town ftf's are tough to snag unless they are on ridiculously hard caches. Speaking of that, I have a cache in Franklin (20 sw of you) that has been out since February and has not yet been found. Of course, it is a puzzle and it is just devilishly difficult, but the ftf is still out there on it.

[+fly46]

*looks around sheepishly* I kinda don't know how to get to Franklin.

 

Murfreesboro is about 30-35 minutes drive from me.

(I drive through it to get to my Aunt's house)

 

BTW... That will be a good FTF option for you. My Aunt lives in Ivy Bluff (look it up, I'm sure you'll have to) and I'm going to put a cemetary cache out there.

Just so you have them now, the directions to the cache will be turn off the paved road and drive until you think you're lost then go about another mile and you'll find it.

[+Monkeybrad]

*looks around sheepishly*  I kinda don't know how to get to Franklin.

That is what gpsr's and maps are for, grasshopper.

 

I-65 south

 

Or from your house...

got to I-40 W, to 440 W to 65 S, when you get to Cool Springs you are there. Major caching area, but many of them (mine anyway) are difficult.

 

I don't usually chase ftf's, I let someone else check to see if the coords are right before i go a hunting.

Edited October 8, 2004 by Monkeybrad

[+AuntieWeasel]

My Aunt lives in Ivy Bluff (look it up, I'm sure you'll have to) and I'm going to put a cemetary cache out there. 

Ha! I own a chunk of rocks and cedars in darkest Dekalb County. I'd put a cache out there, but my tenant would probably shoot at people.

[+MarcB]

114 finds, 0 FTF's.

dadgum you Snerdbe!

MarcB