Land Ownership

[+Xantos10]

When placing a new cache, how do you find out who owns the land that you are placing the cache? Also, what constitutes trespassing? I have seen that if you are not Hunting Animals, the landowner must have "Not trespassing" signs before you can be arrested. Also, if you are asked to leave, you face arrest if you return.

 

There are lots of great looking places to hide caches, but I just don't know how to find out the name of the landowner. I don't want to place a cache on someone's land that does not welcome other cachers to hunt for it.

[+Minimike2]

Check with the County Assesor's office. Most of the time you can do this online. They have maps of the county with land marked with the owner's name. Sometimes you can even get the address of the owner right there. Otherwise you will have to search further for contact information. If the property is 'out in the country,' a visit to the nearest home will probably get you either the owner or information about the owner.

[+GeoGeeBee]

In the county where I live, you can easily find this information on line:

 

Durham GIS

 

In smaller or more rural counties, you might have to actually visit the courthouse to get this information. Either the Tax Assessor or the Register of Deeds will know who owns any property in the county.

[+okie-wan]

Town hall or county seat works here.

[+Castle Mischief]

This site often helps me: http://www.emapsplus.com/

 

However, it's not available in all states or in all counties in a given state.

 

Trespassing laws differ from state to state, county to county. I know that our local county courthouse is online, but you may need to take a trip to get information from the horse's mouth.

[+Cache O'Plenty]

As far as the "No Trespassing" signs go, here in CA, agricultural land does not need NT signs - it's a given. Especially orchards! They get a lot of people stealing fruit from the orchards so they usually come out to see you with weapons......

[+ironman114]

When placing a new cache, how do you find out who owns the land that you are placing the cache? Also, what constitutes trespassing? I have seen that if you are not Hunting Animals, the landowner must have "Not trespassing" signs before you can be arrested. Also, if you are asked to leave, you face arrest if you return.

 

There are lots of great looking places to hide caches, but I just don't know how to find out the name of the landowner. I don't want to place a cache on someone's land that does not welcome other cachers to hunt for it.

 

For your area I would try HERE:

 

Many states and counties have online data for property ownership. There are various ways to search this info. A tax number is the easiest but addresses or street/road names work also. sometimes you have to get close then scroll across the map to get the parcel.

[+uxorious]

I see you are from Lacey WA. I know that King, Pierce, and Thurston counties all have on-line interactive maps that will give you that information.

I have used all three of these, but a quick check fails to remind me where the Pierce and Thurston county maps are. You will need to do a little search starting with the home page for the county.