Last night (4/6) I went looking for a cache nearby and I was trying to find one that was a quick to find because it was late and I was trying to keep my 100 day challenge streak alive. I went to a cache which was a bison tube, but when I got there, all I found was the top of said bison tube, the bottom part with the log was missing. I logged it as a find anyways, even though I couldn't sign the log (I did find the cache, after all, IMO). I also left a message that the cache needed maintenance.
This morning (4/7) I got notification that my log had been deleted. The message I got from the cache owner said that I should have logged it as a DNF. Yes, technically, I should have. I'm not worried about my streak ending, because I was only 14 days into it. If I didn't find the cache container completely, yes I would've logged a DNF, but where I found part of the cache, I felt I should be able to log it as a find.
I know it is at the discretion of the cache owner whether to allow this or not, and in this case, the cache owner decided not to allow it. If the exact situation happened to one of my caches, I would have allowed the log, but that's just me. I know that I'm supposed to sign the log in order to claim the find, but in this instance, I couldn't.
Did I misstep here?