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Uneasy About Trespass


gallahad

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Quite a few of the local benchmark descriptions include directional instructions that include going up someone's driveway and continuing on through open fields to locate a benchmark. I'm wondering how those of you with experience handle this kind of challenge. I'm assuming you avoid the growling dogs, knock on the door, explain your purpose, reveal that you have no weapons and get permission to tresspass. Or am I misunderstanding the "driveway" reference? B)

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Once I figure whose property I am on, I have always asked for permission. Sometimes this means going back a couple of times. But once I identify myself and expalin what I am doing, I have always been given permission. NO exceptions to date. I even had one old timer ask if he could come look with me. That was a great bonus.

 

It helps if you look the part.......GPS, Compass, camera, clipboard or manilla folder full of paperwork and maybe your favorite ground probe.

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To put it simply, I knock and ask. I have gotten anything ranging from an odd look to a walkalong to show me exactly where the mark is. And one guy even dug out a spot on his driveway to show me the station -- Avon, Lebanon, PA. I have been pretty lucky in finding people outside too, so I don't feel so guilty dragging them to their door to talk to some nut looking for a survey marker as a hobby. Still, they have, as a lot, been very understanding!

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Spoo, I have had about a quarter of them want to accompany me! One took me up a hill and helped me find all three marks of a triangulation station. He thought he knew what I was looking for (their corner property mark) but was surprised when we found the Campbell station and reference marks. He had lived there all his life and never saw them. As I said above, another dug the mark out of his driveway, and at the same location another person was willing to dig the reference mark out of the yard. A motel owner let me dig one out, a security guard at a business followed me around watching what I did (curious, not hostile!). One landowner insisted on showing me all three marks of a triangulation station and thanking me for asking permission. One business owner, after I dug away at a hillside just off his property, wanted to see where it was because I was the first to find it and quite a few had looked! And on and on!

 

So by all means, ASK!

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If the benchmark is in the woods or on a mountain and the land is not posted I don't worry about going in. If it is posted or close to a house I go a knocking. I have never been refused access to the mark. As others have stated quite a few have come looking with me. I always give them the discription and the small topo map of the area that I use.

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Thanks a bunch for the info. Based upon what I've learned up to this point, I think I'll spend some time studying this aspect of the geocaching sport and logging some of the "not on private property" benchmarks for a while. That'll prepare my head so that I don't appear to be stupid when I ask permission to find something I am neither sure is there or, if it is, whether it's above or below ground. Don't want a land owner to watch me dig hole with nothing but dirt at the bottom.

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Usually I avoid marks on private property. But because of this thread I asked permission for two marks. And received permission. The people I talked to were friendly. I did not find one of the marks because it was in thick undergrowth. I will try there later. I live in the same area as mloser. I noticed he found some marks nearby on private property. One was less than a mile from where I live. So I will be asking permission more often. ;)

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I have three rules regarding marks on private property:

 

Rule 1. I don't go on posted property, residential property, railroad rights-of-way or military facilities without permission.

 

Rule 1.A..... unless I can get on and off without being spotted, in which case I give in to my predisposition for misdemeanor and go where ever I need to.

 

Rule 2. Where Rule 1.A. doesn't apply, I'll seek permission if the property owner is accessible.

 

Rule 3. Otherwise, I pass (and post a NOTE describing the mark as being inaccessible on private property).

 

Typically I hunt benchmarks while I'm enroute to do something else, so I'm disposed not to spend a lot of time or effort to get permission to hunt (though I'll spend lots of time actually hunting for an accessible mark). Property owners have granted me permission on all but one of the few occasions I've sought it. I've been escorted off property by a security guard on one occasion and have been chased by dogs on two (one mark, two approaches thereto, two dogs). I generally steer clear of dogs - my idea of where their territory ends may not be the same as their idea of where their territory ends.

 

7

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I agree completely with your Rules 1 and 1a. It seems a lot of marks in my area are on railroads, and I just can't ignore that! So if I can get in and out quickly, I simply do it. Or even if I can climb the bank and stand on private property if a train comes I will do it too. As for military, it is always best to ask there. After all, they have the ultimate authority, as well as quite a large number of weapons, I hear. My local base said just check in before hunting--they even promised access to posted restricted areas, as long as I don't come when they are shooting at each other.

 

I have a few marks that I think are undoable--two are on railroad property in deep cuts and would require walking along the right of way to find them. One KW0880 would be an easy get if I could just GET THERE, and that just drives me nuts! I will stop by whenever I am in the area though and if there is a work crew nearby I won't hesitate to ask them. I would lay bets that they would be agreeable and curious about what I am looking for. I have found railroad workers to be friendly and open to any specific and realistic trespass request.

 

I have never been denied or chased off, as I have said before, and dogs haven't (yet) been a problem. But I certainly won't argue with a landowner, so the time may come when I can't recover a mark.

 

My hunts are generally that--a day spent hunting for marks, so I am not in a hurry and will spend the time to get the recovery, including knocking on doors to ask permission.

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