Fun game but wild Pokémon not findable

Its a fun game but the Pokémon "in the wild" around my neighborhood and elsewhere that I walk are impossible to find. If you click on them it just says "find them in the wild" and I will walk back and forth all over the area until they disappear and never find them. Sometimes there will be ones on the side of the road but they are always pidgies and other extremely common Pokémon. The rarer ones say they are there sometimes but you just cant find them.

MrsHowell about Pokémon GO, v1.39.1