How often do you look at the encrypted hint before finding the cache?

We're shameless. We always look. The PDA is set to automatically decrypt hints.

I usually never read the hints unless I am totally stumped. In fact, many times I don't even read the cache description. I guess that's why so many of my logs start off with "I don't think I came in the right way..."

I have used the hints sooner than I normally would have if we are pressed for time and want that one last cache, or if there are many people around and we don't want to give ourselves away. But even then, I never read the hints before getting to ground zero and accessing the situation.

But, to each his own - obviously if a hider gives hints he wants you to find the cache. :)

I always print it out decoded, but only look when I am stumped.

I often look when I print the paper for the cache, but try not to look again when I am doing it. Goodness knows, even the hints don't help me half the time - LOL!

Not only do I read them...I tend to analyze them...you know, think strategically...just what could this mean. Then when I get to the cache site, I've got the hint pretty well memorized. Usually doesn't help me either...

I read them about 75% of the time.. depends on how hard the cache looks..
Jordan

Oh I just thought they were more strangley written descriptions. :D I do take a peek at the hints on a regular basis. After all I AM out there to find the cache and not turn in a DNF. More than likely I'll can find it without the help, but sometimes as we all know I could have a neon sign with a big arrow and it wouldn't matter.

Hey the way I look at it is that the hints are there for a reason.........To use of course and I always do.

Hey the way I look at it is that the hints are there for a reason.........To use of course and I always do.

I suppose you could also say some cache hiders leave hints off from a cache for a reason, too! :D

I only decrypt the clues on the worksheet if they are way too long to decrypt in the field. I really try not to use them at all unless I have spent some time looking.

I always decode them, sometimes they help. Broken twigs and DNA fingerprinting usually help the most.

I have a high tolerance for pain ;) therefore I try not to look at the hint until I've searched for 45 minutes or so... This might sound odd but I'd rather take 15 minutes to find a cache than to find it immediately. Finding it too soon takes the fun out of it for me.

:o What can I say, I'm a cheater!!! I don't have a laptop, PDA, and multiple GPS's (like J&B Team!!:p - technogeeks!) to decrypt the hints. I hate it when I have a DNF, get home, check the hint, and find out it was under my nose the whole time!!!!I 'm out for the find, not the challenge...

I am not going to waste my time and gas and find out i cant find the cache. yeah sure, i think hints are good, if a cacher takes the effort to find it he ought to be at least be able to get help if he/she is haveing trouble. After all, what is it all about anyway --- GPS4FUN! Thats the way i see it at least.. So most of the time i find myself on a time sched. so most of the time i end up looking at them. But not always.. But hey, it not like a broken rule to read them. Doesnt make anyone of us a better or worse Geocacher. ITs all about the hobbie in general.

NOREASTA.......................

Sure I use them...it's all about the numbers, right!! :D :D

My navigator and I only use them when necessary. First we're just glad to be out and about, spending time together. If we have been out there for awhile, we will decode the hint in the field and usually find the cache. I too hate to go the distance to log a DNF.

Oh, but some of us have an ever growing list of DNF's that we are quite proud of - hehehehe! I look at them (yes, ALL of them!) as an opportunity to get to a great location a second time. Well, in all honesty maybe even a third or more :o

Going back to caches is nice. I've wanted to go back to a few DNFs, but they were archived, and haven't found another reason to go back yet. But I have revisited some with Lee that she had not done before (even a couple tough ones, like etna bog and dyslexic's nightmare), and it's nice to see it in different weather or a different season.

We don't mind going back at all. Like the North Island Visit cache we hit yesterday - it took 3 trips to log it. (1st time we didn't want to try the ice, 2d time the cache was missing).

And we got another DNF yesterday at a cahcfe that should have been EASY! A new cache, LOTS of footprints all around, but we didn't see it... :p

Don't feel bad WhereRWe, out of the 10 caches I hit yesterday, I had 3 DNF's IN A ROW :mad:
I chalked it up to snow cover until YOP told me that one of them was a real easy one. (I'm still using the snow cover story as long as possible.)
The bummer was that my DNF list had been cleared (except for archived caches). DNFs on my list bug me and I always go back. The worst ones I've done in 3 visits (like battleship for example)
I almost always try to find the cache without using the hints. If I'm under some time pressure to get to the next cache, I'll give up in 10-15 minutes, but I usually try to give it some time. My only peeve is when the hint includes info for parking, or other stuff that would be nice to know BEFORE setting out to actually find the cache. By the time you have been poking around in the woods for a half hour, you don't really need to know where to find the entrance to the park, etc.

If you are ever looking for a list of reasons that you have to log a DNF - feel free to ask me! :eek:

For example......I say definitely use the snow as a reason - what the heck, in Maine you can use that for a good chunk of the year! I'm pretty sure it snowed this summer more than once when I was looking for a cache or two.

Here's another one......brdad has ESP and if you have encountered a DNF at Old 470, it is likely because he knew you were going to look for it and scooped it up for some off site maintenance until you left - hehehe - jusssssssst kidding! :);):D

I was at some caches this summer where I could have claimed that the mosquitoes were blocking my vision! Anyone buying that one? ;)

I thought it was snow, but I bet you are absolutely right! I must have been those pesky mosquitos or the black flies that seem to believe they need to fly into your mouth!

We carry "mosquito wipes" as part of the loot in our geocaching bag, and when we encounter a REALLY buggy area, we try to include a couple of wipes in the cache we visit.

We carry a BIG spray bottle of bug dope for our own use... :D

Hints? When winter geocaching?! :rolleyes:

I find it helps to try to figure out which snowdrift (of many) it might possibly be under.

You know. The big ones that might have a rock hybernating under one of them... Or one of the REALLY big ones with a tree or two growing out from the middle of it. : )

Hints? When winter geocaching?! :rolleyes:

I find it helps to try to figure out which snowdrift (of many) it might possibly be under.

You know. The big ones that might have a rock hybernating under one of them... Or one of the REALLY big ones with a tree or two growing out from the middle of it. : )

We are finding out it is sometimes the story, that makes it a fun cache. Using the hints too early have only confused us. Or is that the reason it's there. Anyway thanks to all who have left caches for us to find. We love this sport.:D
Soon enough we will be hiding our own and I'm sure we are just devious enough to make it fun.;)

I was at some caches this summer where I could have claimed that the mosquitoes were blocking my vision! Anyone buying that one? ;)
As an entomologist, I can definitely buy that excuse, though I can't use it myself!!