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So I'm thinking of putting a geocache at a location near my house. But a part of me is saying that the location I want to use it too close to my house. So what do you think? How close is too close?

What makes you think there's "too close"? There's nothing at all wrong with having a cache right in front of your house if you want. My first hide was such a cache, about 20m away from the front of the house. I've also found quite a few others that were in front of the owner's residence.

 

Go for it!

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So I'm thinking of putting a geocache at a location near my house. But a part of me is saying that the location I want to use it too close to my house. So what do you think? How close is too close?

 

I'm rural and I always think about having a cache that people can pull up in my drive and retrieve a (driver-side) cache without even having to get out of the car. It would be cool.

 

Then I think about having people pulling into my drive.

 

nah.

 

Close is what is comfortable but my honest opinion is keep people away from your home. Keep the activity on public property and you will have fewer issues and concerns.

 

bd

Edited by BlueDeuce
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I have one in the back alley-but it's a puzzle, and the locals who solved it know where I live anyway.

 

Then there's some fellow cachers who have a cache in the alley as well. Only he rigged up a doorbell, if you want to chat, have coffee, or trade TB's. Only problem with that is cachers don't know how to get their house from the street :laughing:

 

I've been to one in someones driveway. There are also local cachers who play a QR code game with one on their back window-again only the people who know them already would go for that. It depends on how comfortable you are with strangers around your house. And remember there is a chance a neighbor will call the cops when seeing someone root around on your front lawn or something.

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The good and bad thing about this hobby is anyone can play.

- I don't think I'd like them all to know where I live.

 

We were hassled a couple of times by neighbors.

A few with that "neighbors side of the bushes" thing and a couple when the CO didn't tell immediate neighbors that strangers will be lurking when they're not home.

I like neighbors watching out for each other and that's why we no longer do those kind of hides.

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Ultimately, it's up to you. You can put a cache on your front doorstep if you like.

 

However, I've found a couple like this and felt like a creep. If you're going to do it, my preference is that you put it right next to the sidewalk or end of your drive, not on your property, with a good hint so I can make a quick getaway. Also, please do tell your neighbors!

Edited by The_Incredibles_
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Thanks for the replies everyone. I wasn't thinking my property, but rather my street. :)

 

Alot depends on your neighbors. How well do you know them? Some people may be very amused by the entertainment, some may get annoyed at strangers poking around near their yards, not to mention the extra vehicle traffic. Is there lots of parking available on your street?

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Thanks for the replies everyone. I wasn't thinking my property, but rather my street. :)

 

Alot depends on your neighbors. How well do you know them? Some people may be very amused by the entertainment, some may get annoyed at strangers poking around near their yards, not to mention the extra vehicle traffic. Is there lots of parking available on your street?

 

It's a weird street. Houses only occupy one side of the street and the other side is a fairly decent look over a valley. I was thinking of putting it there. So across the road from any house at the back of suburbia... so not much traffic to begin with. Does that make sense?

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Depends on how much you want people visiting your property.

 

If you put it near your location, you'll get the satisfaction of watching them scramble all over GZ :)

 

I have one on public property, 325' away in clear view of my living room window. Out of 101 finds, I've witnessed exactly 1.

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Thanks for the replies everyone. I wasn't thinking my property, but rather my street. :)

 

Alot depends on your neighbors. How well do you know them? Some people may be very amused by the entertainment, some may get annoyed at strangers poking around near their yards, not to mention the extra vehicle traffic. Is there lots of parking available on your street?

 

It's a weird street. Houses only occupy one side of the street and the other side is a fairly decent look over a valley. I was thinking of putting it there. So across the road from any house at the back of suburbia... so not much traffic to begin with. Does that make sense?

 

Is it public property?

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Thanks for the replies everyone. I wasn't thinking my property, but rather my street. :)

 

Alot depends on your neighbors. How well do you know them? Some people may be very amused by the entertainment, some may get annoyed at strangers poking around near their yards, not to mention the extra vehicle traffic. Is there lots of parking available on your street?

 

It's a weird street. Houses only occupy one side of the street and the other side is a fairly decent look over a valley. I was thinking of putting it there. So across the road from any house at the back of suburbia... so not much traffic to begin with. Does that make sense?

 

Is it public property?

I believe so.

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I was giving serious thought to hiding one on the road right of way on my property. Then I started thinking about the logistics. It's a one lane road so they would have to park in my driveway. I spent a lot of years teaching people not to park in my driveway and do things they were doing. It wasn't Bible study by any stretch of the imagination. My house sits about 10' above the road and I can't see the end of the driveway. I don't want to start that problem again and I don't want to listen to the alarm going off either. Another problem is I have a ham radio antenna tied off with parachute cord down there where I can reach it easily. That would be untied quickly and often and I would be real unhappy to have my antenna laying on the ground and on top of my car.

 

If I get rich and famous some day I would buy a different place and that would give me the option of putting a cache there. Trouble is if I become rich and famous I probably would be trying to figure out how to keep people away from me instead of giving them coordinates to the place.

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If you want geocachers to come and enjoy your view of the valley, see if there's a place to hide a cache on that side of your street - guardrail caches are popular around our area, although some local highway departments are no longer allowing them. If the valley side of the road has vegetation, maybe a bison in a tree? I don't know if you live in a suburb or a more rural area; if you have a long street frontage and no neighbors nearby, you could place a cache under some rocks or on a post or something and say "placed with owner's permission." (Maybe you don't need to say you are the owner, unless you're hoping to meet the finders as they come.) You do want to be sure it's located so cachers wil feel at ease about grabbing it, so not right near the front door of your house, or where any neighbors would be upset and call the police!

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527 feet. Oh, wait, wrong question. :anibad:

 

I debated setting a cache up in our yard, but as we rent, I thought about explaining geotrails to the landlord. Also, since we live on a busy one way street with no parking, I know they'd either tie up our driveway (which we share with the house next door) or the B&B just up the street. So I ultimately opted for setting up a virtual multi stage nearby on a side street.

 

We're fixing to move to another town, and one of the places I'm looking at is on a 5 acre lot and has a roadside shed with its own pullout that is set a little ways from the house. If we end up getting that place, that seems ideal for a "front yard" cache that will allow us to maintain a sense of privacy and will not repel cachers who dislike front yard caches.

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Like others say, it could be on or near your property but 3 things to consider.

1) Do you really want people on your property?

2) Many cachers are uncomfortable about being on someone's property

3) Would the neighbors want all these strangers showing up snooping around?

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There's a cache just barely out of view of my bedroom window.

 

One local cacher has set up geocaches at a number of Little Free Library installations in front of peoples' houses around town here in Atlanta. She gets permission from the owners to install one of those library card pockets you would find on the inside of a library book and people who find it sign the book checkout card inside it. It's a great idea and helps promote the LFLs in town. Example here...

Edited by J Grouchy
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I did one in rural pennsylvania that had a hint "its in the barn" I was a bit dubious abour wandering around in a barn, but was pleaseantly suprised to arrive at GZ to find 2 "mailboxes" one was a traditional USPS container. The other was a minature barn. The roof was hinged and revealed an ammo can. Still one of my all time favorite finds. I'm fairly certain this was placed in the CO's front yard, althougn I never asked. If you choose to place a hide in your property be sure that the neighbors are aware of the container.

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There's a cache just barely out of view of my bedroom window.

 

One local cacher has set up geocaches at a number of Little Free Library installations in front of peoples' houses around town here in Atlanta. She gets permission from the owners to install one of those library card pockets you would find on the inside of a library book and people who find it sign the book checkout card inside it. It's a great idea and helps promote the LFLs in town. Example here...

 

Those Little Free Libraries are a great idea. I may make one like that "Cedar Sunrise" (rather than pay $600 for it). I've got some western red cedar and clear pine in the basement from a cedar strip kayak I built so ought to be able to handle building a little library. I live on a fairly well traveled road and it's the kind of thing that would likely take off in this town. Since I had to archive the cache in the park across the street due to construction that compromised the hiding spot I could push a cache in it as well.

 

 

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