What do u guys say when asking for permission to place a cache?

[Aquakeeper]

Im just curious what to actually say if you want to put a cache on someones private property. I can think of a few spots but they have got to be private property.

 

How do u find out who exactly owns the woods if there is multiple houses in the area?

 

Once u have established who owns it, do u ring there doorbell or write them a note or letter? How do u go about explaining to them what u are doing and what exactly geocaching is? Is there a printout or anything I could bring with me. It just seems like they would be more confused then anything and probably deny it just because they don't see the point in allowing people to tresspass on there property whenever they want.

 

Any ideas?

[+Jennifer&Dean]

I usually start by googling the name of the county I am trying to place a cache in and the letters GIS. So, for my home area I google "Missoula County GIS" From the search page I look for things that seem to be county run webpages. Then I start digging through the county webpages until I find the GIS online maps or online assessor maps. With Luck, these are available free to the public and are easy to find. Some areas don't make this stuff publicly accessible and it can be a real pain to get info.

From there, depending on the search options available I spend time zooming to a particular street, intersection or landmark.

Aerial photos are very helpful, I often locate the potential cache location using the geocaching.com google maps and compare those to the aerial photos on the county GIS.

Using the identify parcel option on county GIS maps you can often find out land ownership, contact address and names.

 

Sounds complex but I do this for my job on a regular basis, so I am used to these types of searches.

 

And once I know who owns the property, I know what method to use for permission. Private owners can be very sensitive to access requests so I usually don't bother trying to place on private property. But public entities usually respond well to Please and being educated about geocaching and CITO.

 

Good luck!

Edited April 24, 2008 by Jennifer&Dean

[+ProjectFred325]

MIGO, Michigan Geocaching Organization, had a great WORD doc you can download and use as an into on their website.

[+Snoogans]

What do u guys say when asking for permission to place a cache?

 

Please. PLEASE. PA-LEEEEEEEEEASE!

Edited April 24, 2008 by Snoogans

[+joranda]

You could go to the deads office in the courthouse to see who owns the land so you could give them a call.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

You could go to the deads office in the courthouse to see who owns the land so you could give them a call.

Not unless the location is a cemetery!

 

Seriously though, I just ask whoever is close.

 

If there are houses or businesses in the area those folks likely know who owns the land around them.

 

As far as what I say, I just explain our game.

 

I show them the container I want to hide and tell them where I want to hide it.

 

I tell them that geocachers are likely to come hunt it any time night or day but that beyond poking around the cache area they're not likely to cause any issues, but that it is a public game so there's no telling who might come looking.

 

I give them my phone number and tell them to contact me immediately if there is a problem.

 

I do NOT tell them that all geocachers CITO, that we have any supervision or control over what cachers might do or anything like that. Folks know when someone is pulling their leg and making promises like that will just cost you credibility.

Edited April 24, 2008 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+StarBrand]

Personal contact is best.

 

Be polite and explain things. Take some printed material with references to the website.

 

http://www.gpsmaze.com/uploads/files/GEOCACH_F2.pdf

 

Be prepared to offer estimates of visitors and impact.

 

Be prepared to hear a "no".

[+Castle Mischief]

As for finding out who owns what land, I've been using the services on http://www.emapsplus.com/ to locate property owners. Not available in all areas and sometimes even in areas where it's implemented you can't get all the data that you need without an account. Your mileage may vary, yadda yadda...

 

In most of the counties of North Alabama it's worked just fine.

Edited April 24, 2008 by ec3forme

[+egami]

I many places your county assessor websites will have some way to find the records online.