How Long Do You Look For A Cache?

[Crockett3663]

This came to me as sort of an off shoot from the “Crazy Antics” thread. In that thread, it was mentioned that, after being unable to find a hidden cache container, the cacher placed a second one in an attempt to be helpful, thinking that the original container might have gone missing.

My question (and pardon me if this has been asked in the past) is, when you reach ground zero for a cache, how long do you spend looking for the container before you give up and consider it a DNF?

I’m assuming that a large part of that time frame is dependant on the idividual circumstances of each hide. If it’s a micro, do you spend more time looking for it, simply because it’s tiny size makes it much harder to locate that an ammo box, for instance?

I liken this situation to searching for a lost ball on a golf course. In that sport, the general rule of thumb is that once you reach what is believed to be ground zero for the ball, you don’t spend more than 60 to 90 seconds looking for your ball before dropping a replacement.

Obviously there is no time limits in looking for cache, but realistically how long do you usually spend before you give up? My son Drew and I recently went looking for Creek View (GCYAD3). We looked on both sides of the creek and probably spent a good 15 minutes there before we gave up the fight.

So again, how long do you look, and what kind of criteria determines the time you’ll invest before giving up?

[gotta run]

How many mosquitoes are there? How much time have we invested to get to the cache/how long did we have to walk to get to the cache? Is it a railside cache that “should be right there?” Did we spend hours solving the puzzle and now we need to find the cache? Is it the Xth cache of the day and the kids are cranky? Are we just on a mission to get this one no matter what?

So our criteria is really “How important is it?” Some aren’t worth more than a cursory search, other times we have spent an hour or more, and multiple trips too.

On the Left Side of the Road...

[stagercrew]

I recently spent 30 minutes looking for one and finally found it.

That was in town, though. If I was in the woods and the skeeters were real bad, that would shorten my time considerably.

[Team Deejay]

We are the opposite. In town, we are likely to exhaust all possible locations in 10-15 minutes. In the woods, this might take a couple hours.

[Crockett3663]

Mosquitoes don’t exist is urban areas??? Well then, someone should tell that to the billions of skeeters my son and I encountered right here in town alongside the creek that passes through Hartford, because we got chewed up like crazy!!

[bnb]

This past spring I searched GZ for 40 + 20 minutes for a DNF (2 attempts in the same day). I would not consider 20 minutes unreasonable unless some of the negative factors listed below are in play.

For me, search time is determined by a lot of factors:
– If the difficulty rating is 3 or less, I’ll assume I should be able to find it so I’ll look longer (which is why I get very frustrated with 3’s that should be 4 or 5 when I find out their camo requires direct hints).
– If it is not a micro, and the surroundings limit where a non-micro could be placed, I’ll look longer.
– If it is a micro, or there are just too many places where something could be hidden, I’ll give up sooner.
– If I’m somewhat hidden from muggles, I’ll look longer.
– If I’m in a hurry, because this cache hit wasn’t the purpose of the trip, it will be a shorter look.
– If I won’t be able to come back and the logs have led me to believe that this is an unusual cache or hide that I’d like to see, I’ll look longer.
– The environment certainly comes into play as well; cold and/or wet may shorten the search, bugs or a nasty location will certainly shorten it.

Once, determined to find the final of a series but missing an important coord I searched the entire 1/10 mile it could be in, in a thick forest, in pouring rain. I was absolutely determined to not be outdone by Bobcat but, unfortunately, did not succeed.

[-cheeto-]

usually not long enough because I always miss them…

[Team Hemisphere Dancer]

I usually search until I find it or one of the kids wet themselves.

[Barry Butrymowicz]

living in the northwoods, we don’t go out without DEET, so bugs are usually not a factor in our time, when we head somwhere we usually want to find as many there as possible, so we will spend some time trying to find them, but when we are in the land of micros (put city name here) we have a 5 minute rule, usually muggles are around and if you look like you are doing something unusual for more than 5 minutes, people start to wonder.

Besides our 5 minute micro rule, we will sometime spend 30 minutes or more looking for the cache

Barry and Valarie of sweetlife

[LightningBugs Mum]

I will hunt until it stops being fun.

Sometimes this is 15 minutes, sometimes 45, depending on many variables of course.

[zoesbrother]

If it is on a cannon in the middle of the road as long as it takes. In the middle of the woods I search until I get sick of the cache or I determine I have donated enough blood to the SBB (Skeeter Blood Bank)

[zuma]

@LightningBugs Mum wrote:

I will hunt until it stops being fun.

Sometimes this is 15 minutes, sometimes 45, depending on many variables of course.

Agree. The biggest variable is whether it is a nice area or not. It it is a place that is nice to be, I will (and have) searched for well over an hour. Recently tried one that was a breath mint container wedged into the brickwork of a brand new Menard’s right under a security camera. I was ready to go almost immediately.

Another factor is how the hide is rated. If it is rated a 1 or 2 for hide, and I dont find it within 10 minutes, I generally assume the cache is missing, or the coordinates are bad, or the cache hider is an idiot, or I am blind. Whichever of those is the actual cause of the dnf, I can never sure of, but I move on quickly if the hide is rated low and I dont see it in a reasonable amount of time.

zuma

[Mathman]

All of the previous posters had valid points in how long a search is made. One other factor that Iuse is whether it was previously DNF’ed a few times and there wasn’t owner validation that the cache is still there. I will then spend less time especially if it was almost always found but now it is being DFNF’ed. The rating of difficulty is also important. The time put into the hunt is also a big factor.

Recently Rick Blick and I spent a while getting to a “Northwoods” cache (Pleasant Pines) and we were both there for 45 minutes but it hadn’t been found since last September. We went over the area for a small/large cache for a long enough time to finally call it quits.

[ecorangers]

Assuming the difficulty level is accurate 🙄 I like RPaske’s rule of thumb which is 5 minutes for ever star.
Thus one star difficulty=5 minute search, 3 star difficulty = 15 minute search etc. Tami

[Sparse Grey Hackle]

@Team Hemisphere Dancer wrote:

I usually search until I find it or one of the kids wet themselves.

OMG that is a classic!

Me! That all DEPENDS!

2 Funny Hemi…..

[Author]

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