Yet again seek advise from my peers

[+Davequal]

This time I am asking before I do anything. How would you approach this situation ?

 

Today I went to a good friends sons birthday party. He lives in an area that I had not cached in before. So for giggles I threw a few caches in my GPSr, did NO research on them, did not even look at them on the map. So things got a little slow and I turned on my unit and walked a way for a moment. When I got back to my GPSr I looked at it and low and behold, I was less than 500 ft from a cache. So I started to sniff it out.

Turns out that it is on my buddy's property, which he bought about 10 years ago. It backs up to some local water shed property. The area has an old access "road" which neither the state nor he maintains in the winter or any time for that matter. The area is pretty remote.

 

It seem that the CO has 88 caches in that area of the state and 2 of which are on my buddy's property.

 

Now he has no issue at this point in time with them being there BUT one of them is in the area where he is going to build his son's home. He is unsure of when construction is going to begin.

He has "turned away" one rude couple who drove up his driveway looking for a few in this series of caches. ( his property is CLEARLY marked " NO TRESPASSING" ) He had one other guy that he came across last fall, that was geocaching that was really nice and pleasant and he let him continue on his way. There are 55 logs on the one closest to his house and 66 on the other one on his property. So obviously most cachers are stealthy.

 

Reading some of the logs for these caches the are in need of some TLC due to wet logs, going back towards the beginning of the year.

 

Now that I have typed out a novel, on to my question.

 

How would you approach the cache owner, about them being on private property? As I said my buddy has no issue for the time being but would really prefer that the were not there, especially the one closest to his house.

[4wheelin_fool]

How would you approach the CO?

 

Just tell them the same thing you told us. Mistakes happen.

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

Your friend will appreciate you taking the lead and contacting the CO. Us cachers will also appreciate it as we do not want to infringe on your friends property. If no reply within a week, post NA.

[+dorqie]

You said it backs on to the public watershed. The CO is probably unaware of where the line is.

I'd just tell him what you told us. Obviously the cache that's on the future building site will have to be archived when your buddy gets around to building there, a heads up to the co would be nice.

[+captnemo]

Your friend will appreciate you taking the lead and contacting the CO. Us cachers will also appreciate it as we do not want to infringe on your friends property. If no reply within a week, post NA.

+1

[+baloo&bd]

Now he has no issue at this point in time with them being there BUT one of them is in the area where he is going to build his son's home.

 

Sounds like there is nothing you need to do. CO should have got permission, however in this case, the property owner is aware and does not mind. When the construction begins, someone will post a NM or NA.

[Hunter275]

Contact the CO if that does not work go to the reviewer, state that it is on private property and the land owner does not with to have the cache there. If that fails contact Groundspeak. The problem will not be solved immediately even if the listing is taken down, some people will still show (as is the case with archived caches)

[+briansnat]

If your friend has issues with the caches, then he should ask the CO to remove them, or remove them himself. He'd also be wise to register on this site and issue a NA because if he simply removes them people will still come.

 

If he has no problem with the caches being there for the time being I think he should send a nice email to the CO stating that he is the land owner, but he's OK with the caches, for the time being.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

If you find out that a cache is on private property without permission log an NA.

 

That gets the Reviewer and the CO communicating about the issue to get it resolved.

 

In most case it:

Gets the cache removed (if that's what the land owner wants), giving the land owner a warm fuzzy that the game is being monitored and property rights respected.

Gives the Reviewer the opportunity to remind the CO that permission is required on private land.

Alerts the Reviewer that this is private property so he can avoid future hides there.

Alerts geocachers not to hunt the cache until the issue is resolved.

 

All good things.

[+bflentje]

The real question is whether or not you logged the find.

[+Davequal]

Well I wrote a polite note to the CO and he archived the one on and the one close to the property line.

 

Thanks gentlemen and ladies.

[AZcachemeister]

Your friend would be wise to put out a few signs just to let people know where the private property is.

If one Geocacher thought it was a good place for a cache, others might think so too.

[+jbar]

I'm the cacher in question. The caches were on an old town abandon road, there were no posted signs and the caches were on or within 10 feet of the road when placed. The op emailed me to explain the situation and I have archived the caches. Situation resolved.

[+Davequal]

Your friend would be wise to put out a few signs just to let people know where the private property is.

If one Geocacher thought it was a good place for a cache, others might think so too.

 

At one point in time there were signs...some have faded some are no longer where they belong.....new signs were bought today and will be hung.

[+Davequal]

I'm the cacher in question. The caches were on an old town abandon road, there were no posted signs and the caches were on or within 10 feet of the road when placed. The op emailed me to explain the situation and I have archived the caches. Situation resolved.

 

Jbar I am glad that it is done and over. As I stated he had no issue with the caches being there for the time being. He is thinking of starting site prep soon.

[+Coldgears]

some people will still show (as is the case with archived caches)

Keep in mind, this will only last about a month, and will be due to outdated PQ's. You'll progressively get less and less people searching for about a month, until virtually everyone in the area has updated their PQ's.