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Private Property Caches


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Has anyone had success in talking with property owners of large areas of land (Farmers etc) and been able to secure rights to geocaching? I've been considering it but was not sure if anyone else has had success with it.

 

I'd like to put together a night cache, but the forest preserves all close at night. Campgrounds seem "Commercial" to me so I was considering asking some of the farmers in my area if they might be interested in supporting a cache in their area.

 

Anyone else been successful with this?

 

--

SpongeRob

rwmech@keenpeople.com

www.keenpeople.com

WPWU826

 

Cache'n Retrievers

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For those of you who are going to reply, without any actual personal experience to share, just copy and paste this, then fill in the blank:

 

"Hi, I have no actual experience to share, but here is my opinion about something vaguely related: ___________________________"

 

For those of you who don't want to be bothered with READING the original post:

 

"No caches on private property!"

 

For those of you who think that the lack of a sign equates to permission:

 

"Go ahead and hide the cache, the farmer hasn't told you not to!"

 

And for those of you who are me, just go ahead and post this message in its entirety.

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Despite Snazz's diatribe, there are a couple of considerations to understand:

 

Even if you got permission, have you informed the individual who own's the property of the liability involved with allowing a bunch of bumbling cache hunters to stumble about hunting for a tupperware container? If someone should trip and hurt themselves, are they prepared with plenty of insurance? With all the available parks and open spaces, it just seems less complicated to NOT put caches on private property.

 

If YOU are the owner of the property do you really want to accept the responsiblity yourself? In today's litigious society there are those that will not pass up a chance to sue you if they stub their toe on your property.

 

On the other hand, what happens if the owner changes their mind and decides to call the police on some poor cacher that didn't get the word? Who is then responsible for paying the citation for trespassing, if not bail money???? LOL.

 

So, it just seems easier to stick with the "No caches on private property" chant....

 

JMHO..... icon_biggrin.gificon_biggrin.gificon_biggrin.gif

 

texasgeocaching_sm.gif

"Trade up, trade even, or don't trade!!!" My philosophy of life.

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In Idaho if the farmer doesn't charge for the use/access to his land, there is no liability.

 

If you have permission for the cache to be there, what's the issue? Quite franky the further East you go, the less public lands there are and so it probably is appropriate to get permission and use private property.

 

Wherever you go there you are.

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In Idaho it seems that it would be ok to post on private land. In addition the guidelines state:

 

quote:
There are always exceptions. If your cache fits within these areas, please explain in the description (or hints) of the cache. For example, if you are given permission to place a cache on private property, indicate it in the description.


 

I'm intereted in hearing about people who have placed them on private property rather than those who think it should not be allowed.

 

I'm sure for legality issues disclaimers in the cache such as (visit this at your own risk) could prevent big lawsuits ( or perhaps not) . It does seem that there are some laws aready out there regarding this issue (idaho for example).

 

So has anyone posted any on private land?

 

--

SpongeRob

rwmech@keenpeople.com

www.keenpeople.com

WPWU826

 

Cache'n Retrievers

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We haven't placed it YET.. but our first cache will be on private property... of course though, we know the owners and they have no problem with us using their land... I love the idea because with it being private property, it is a place people normally wouldn't have had access to.

 

icon_biggrin.gif

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"Hi, I have no actual experience to share, but here is my opinion about something vaguely related: ___________________________

 

I'm looking into placing one on my company's exercise trail. It is set back about 15 feet from the sidewalk (public property) with no fences or no trespassing signs between the two. I'll be contacting site security to find out if the trail is open to the public and if a microcache would be allowed. "

 

BTW, Thanks for the form starter Mr.Snazz! icon_biggrin.gif

 

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My first cache was on private property. I wrote the out of state owners explaining geocaching and my opinion of the responsible types who participate. To my pleasant surprise I got their supportive approval. The land is about 20 acres of undeloped overgrown pasture/scrub land in the middle of a resdential area. The cache (Cattail Oasis) has seen lots to visits.

 

M/W

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I encountered one today in Crozet. It's above an orchard and totally surrounded by private farm land. The cache itself is virtual and very visible from a good distance, but the cache creator wants to know the name of some power device on the actual tower. No such luck. I turned around and got off the property before someone decided to use my truck for target practice.

 

I drove a long way to get to that beeeyatch, so I claimed it as a find.

 

BTW, the trip was made totally worth the while by a most rightous Mullet sighting!!! The guy had a mega 80's mullet with the nicely trimmed goatee and earing to boot. He was posing outside of a Texaco (one leg up on the wall); watching some people fix their car. It was bichin!

 

[This message was edited by OlyHippy on April 06, 2003 at 05:09 PM.]

 

[This message was edited by OlyHippy on April 06, 2003 at 05:10 PM.]

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Trespassing laws vary from state to state. (or country to country) depending on the trespassing laws in that jurisdiction.

 

For instance:

Here in Virginia, even if the landowner doesn't have his property posted, you would still need verbal permission from the landowner to go on the property. Legally speaking, each geocacher would need to obtain verbal permission from the landowner. (Which could become a nuisance to the landowner)

 

If the property was posted, each geocacher would have to have written permission from the landowner to go on his property.(an even bigger headache for the landowner)

 

Of course that's just the law in Virgina. The point being, many states or provinces may have different rules and laws, so check carefully.

 

--------------

Changing some folks mind, is like trying to herd cats.

 

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"Hi, I have no actual experience to share, but here is my opinion about something vaguely related: ___________________________

 

I have thought about this for several sites. I think the problem of written permission might be solved by posting the land owner's permission letter as a jpeg on the cache page for the hunter to print out.

 

Might be a little difficult to get enough resolution for a readable printout. Possibly could link to your web page where it could be downloaded as a pdf or doc.

 

Might say something in the order of: 'I, the landowner of this property, do hereby give limited permission for the holder of this letter to enter on my land for the purpose of hunting a geocache. The holder assumes all risks.'

 

Any lawyers out there?

 

Caint never did nothing.

GDAE, Dave

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