Did Not Find (DNF)

I have an ever growing list of DNF caches and I added a couple more to it over the weekend. Several other people on my friends list also reported DNF's in other places, I feel for you they are very annoying. You spend ages looking around trying to decide if the cache has been muggled or if it's just well hidden then you give up only to have it found the next day by a dog or tiny child according to the logs. Sometimes I swear I am blind on a second visit the cache is right where I'm sure I looked before! Anyway I thought it might be nice to offer up some tips for DNF's from someone who's been there repeatedly.

1. Double check the coordinates, recheck puzzles that have lead you to the coordinates does it fit and make sense? If you are in the middle of a field then maybe you or the owner have got a number wrong ;)

2. Get out of the tree cover and get several accurate readings to zero in on the location

3. Check obvious places near to ground zero - ivy covered trees, stumps, trees in general, piles of stones and sticks all clichés but they are clichés for a reason! Also look for a "Cachers trail" previous visitors to a site will leave their mark some trampled down nettles is often all the sign I need to find a cache.

3. Dig deep and widen the search, get in there and have a root about uncover those leaves. I have started putting together a caching kit one of the most used items is a simple pair of gardening gloves. With these I have braved thorns, glass, nettles you name it which these my hands can boldly go where no sane person would put them, the only downside is the sensitivity to touch is less but it's generally worth the trade.

5. Read the hint if there is one! Sometimes there are hidden hints in the name of the cache for example.

6. Look at the status of the cache live on geocaching.com is it down for maintenance?

7. Read the logs, when was the last time it was found? are there any useful hints in the logs?

8. Look at the size of the cache what are you looking for a nano or micro is going to be in a different place than a bigger cache. A lot of nanos and micros are magnetic so look for metal objects.

9. Look at the difficulty and terrain rating are you looking in the right place, if its terrain is 3 or higher look up the tree rather than around the base of the tree for example. Don't expect a difficulty 5 to be in plain sight and easy to find.

10. Phone a friend who has found it previously, are you looking in the right place?

11. Leave it for another day and come back with fresh eyes preferably when someone else logs a find so you know it's still there.

12. Log that you couldn't find it this is useful for the owner and other cachers. That you couldn't find it means very little. That ten people couldn't find it means it is probably gone. Don't forget that you can notify the owner that maintenance is required or that the cache should be archived if enough people report DNF's or you find the cache in a bad state.

13. Bring some backup, my wife has in the past walked right up to a cache that I've spent hours looking for previously

14. Add a watch to the cache so you get an email when it is found

15. Consider contacting the owner directly

Above all know that you will get better at finding caches. Once you find a particular type of cache you will be more likely to find similar caches of the same type in the future. A lot of people talk about "cachers eye" the ability to spot a likely cache site in the area, which also improves with time.

Do you have any other tips you would like to share?