@EnergySaver wrote:

Keep something in mind … there are many people out there that NEVER log their finds.

I’ve noticed as geocaching has become more “common news” in society, that people are trying it and never bothering to log finds.

In the last 2 weeks alone … I’ve run into 3 people … the guy that fixes my car, the gal that cuts my hair and someone at a store that regonized me from an article in the paper two years ago 😯 … all 3 have been caching for 6 months to a year and have never logged a find online.

They just don’t see the point of it … they just cache to have fun and don’t want to spend the time going back online. I tried to convince them otherwise … since I “live” to read people’s log entries.

I am the same way, makes my day when I get an email about someone finding a cache of mine. I’m glad that most people do log the caches they have found online.

Averith

@wooden_nickel wrote:

Does anyone only seek caches that haven’t been found?

Are you referring to ones that are lost???

😉

@Cachelovskys wrote:

A few times we have been frustrated that a cache seems to be unfound, but when you find it, it already has been signed. I am not just talking about 15 minutes, but it was found a few hours ago.

Is there a general rule about how soon after you are a FTF that you should log your find?

If I have the time to do some serious caching, I will be gone for most of the day. More than just a few hours. I may also be on vacation somewhere, where I don’t have access to a computer. So, if I am a FTF, it may be days or even a couple of weeks before I am even able to log any finds. Should there be a time limit on FTFs. I don’t think so. If there is on FTFs, there may as well be a limit on every find.

I suspect that anyone getting the first to find on a cache within a reasonably populated area, i.e. Green Bay/Fox Cities or SE Wisconsin, is actually trying to get the FTF. In those cases, it would be nice of them to log it quickly, not everyone does. You should also understand that the FTF game is strictly unofficial. Presumably, you had just as good of a time finding the cache second as you would have had finding it first, so this is only a “numbers thing”.

I believe that what you are really saying is that you would NOT have gone through the effort to run out in the middle of the night, looking for a film can in the crotch of a tree in a normal city park without the motivation of getting a FTF. From what I have seen, most people eventually quit trying for FTFs and just try to enjoy the game without it. I personally started to question it when I grabbed a FTF in the middle of the night (like 2AM) and the next day received an email from the owner asking if I agreed with his assessment of how beautiful the setting was, less than a mile off of Highway 20. I revisited the site later that day so I didn’t have to admit that all I could see of the setting was what was illuminated by my flashlight. Eventually, you have to ask yourself why you are doing this and, more importantly, why you geocache. If you are like me and realize you geocache to spend time with family, make friends, and enjoy the outdoors while satisfying that inner “need to explore”, FTFs just become unimportant.

I personally think trying to be FTF is very much a luck and/or hit-or-miss thing at best … I don’t think someone should be disappointed if they’re not FTF ….

(1) As we’ve already stated, not everyone logs or logs quickly.

(2) I’ve read log entries where people find out they missed FTF by 10 minutes, heck I’ve ready logs where #1, #2 and #3 all ended up in the parking lot at the same time … and this is even in my area, where the population is not very dense.

… you take your chances when you go after FTF, that’s life … or that’s the geo equivilent of life.

I find this all very funny – in the caching crowd I find myself in now it is considered bad form to race out just to be FTF when there a perfectly good or even excellent caches you haven’t found. There is even a little light hearted jibbing if you get more than a couple in a few weeks. It is also common practice not to log FTF until someone finds it. To me it is all a game and I just don’t understand the need to be FTF. If the cache is worth doing it is worth doing. But there are a lot of things I don’t understand in what people do.

When the timing is right, I love the ftf run, but lately thats been few and far between. As for logging it, I try and log it as soon as I can, I have gone crazy and re-arranged my schedule just to make an attempt at one only to find that I was usurped by mere moments, so I try to log it fast so no one else does the same thing.