Cache On Your Own Property

38.2k · February 26, 2003

I know some geocachers have placed caches on their own property,or on the property of a family member. Cache owners, what have been your experiences with this? Positive? Negative? Mixed?

A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away. -Barry Goldwater

[This message was edited by BrianSnat on February 26, 2003 at 05:28 PM.]

5.9k · February 26, 2003

There are three I have declined to hunt for that very reason. I just don't feel right about it. I have hunted other caches and screwed them up by coming in from the wrong direction or something, and ended up in totally the wrong place. I don't want to do that on someone's private property.

EDIT: Typo

http://fp1.centurytel.net/Criminal_Page/

[This message was edited by Criminal on February 26, 2003 at 06:38 PM.]

2.7k · February 26, 2003

All I have to do is look out the window to watch this cache. Its kinda funny when people hit the Cache. I'll come out the door and usually say thats a dangerous game.

Well if they don't know me the looks on their faces is rather funny.

I'll introduce myself and we usually have a good chat. Its been well received in its new location.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=10741

Tahosa - Dweller of the Mountain Tops.

24.7k · February 26, 2003

I hate the feeling that someone is watching me. So either I blatantly knock on their door and introduce myself or I manage to do them by stealth so I don't get busted with a dumb look on my face.

Wherever you go there you are.

February 27, 2003

I placed a Cache on my land(The "Kings" Cache)and got a nasty gram from TPTB that it needed to be removed.Seems that this uptight cacher was upset because he had to park on the side of my country road.He said that he sat there for 10 minutes and 10 cars went by and that it was a dangerous location.10 cars my @$$.Not in my neck of the woods!!! A complant was made,so I pulled the Cache.I just felt that if this guy spraned his ankel,got a scratch,got a slight sunburn while hunting my excellent and well thought out Cache ,"ON MY LAND",that this knuckelhead might take leagel action against me.Something to think about if you hide on your own land.

February 27, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by cwoper:
I placed a Cache on my land(The "Kings" Cache)and got a nasty gram from TPTB that it needed to be removed.Seems that this uptight cacher was upset because he had to park on the side of my country road.He said that he sat there for 10 minutes and 10 cars went by and that it was a dangerous location.10 cars my @$$.Not in my neck of the woods!!! A complant was made,so I pulled the Cache.I just felt that if this guy spraned his ankel,got a scratch,got a slight sunburn while hunting my excellent and well thought out Cache ,"ON MY LAND",that this knuckelhead might take leagel action against me.Something to think about if you hide on your own land.

That would be my fear. I could see a person suing me because he was searching for a cache on my property and he is allergic to cats or dogs. He / she sues me for putting him / her in danger.

If a criminal can come on your property, break into your house, cut himself on the glass he broke and then sue your homeowners insurance for damages and win! Putting a cache on my own land and advertising it as such is just asking for trouble.

Vini Vidi Velcro I came I saw I stuck around. Capn Skully

February 27, 2003

I have been concidering placing a cache/letterbox in a roadside mailbox outside my house on my property. I get my mail now in a green box down the road and have my original roadside mailbox, the mailman has never delivered to our door, but at the beginning of the lane of a deadend. Someone complained about there own unsecure mailbox and the post office and they installed a set of lockable boxes.

My reasons not to place this.

I am hesitant to post my home coords

There is nothing in the area special, unless you really like being in the country side

It would be a 1/1 drive right up to cache

Would people be confortable to open a road side mailbox or would they start searching else where on my property or worse next door. I would have to state something about the box and would make this really to easy.

Will have to think about this some more, maybe a leg in a multi cache. I may get a web cam in the future and aim it at the box. One thing, it makes it easy to maintain when on your own property.

Car37

Car37 & Shnde

2k · February 27, 2003

quote:

Would people be confortable to open a road side mailbox or would they start searching else where on my property or worse next door. I would have to state something about the box and would make this really to easy.

Personally I wouldn't do that. I would be to paranoid I'd be opening the wrong mailbox or especially in these times someone calling the police saying someone suspicious is leaving things in mailboxes.

Get your trackable USA geocoins at http://www.usageocoins.com

38.2k · February 27, 2003

I'm asking for actual experiences people have had. We all know the potential problems and pitfalls. The purpose of this post is to see if anybody has actually run into them, or if the cache has been a success.

A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away. -Barry Goldwater

February 27, 2003

It would be the only mailbox on the road, the mail has been delivered to the corner down the road for years so if your are in the right area, it will be the only mailbox there. I live in a real quiet area

Sorry to BrianSnat about my post, I read yours and added my own thoughts. It was after I posted and reread the start I most likely should have started a new topic.

Car37 & Shnde

February 27, 2003

I share these concernes a bit, hence my original post, but living on a private lane, we already face the risk of someone coming down here and then suing us. Kids just cruising the hills looking for places to party (we live within a half hour of LA) show up out here a few times a year.

Mountian bikers and hikers frequently come through, and all out neigbors use our creek access all the time. I think most of us have friends who visit just for the great hiking around here, somehow it has seemed to me that cachers would be the least of our worries.

I even wonder if such a cache, involving an invitation to walk a half mile of private road, would be approved.

quote:
Originally posted by Capn_Skully:

quote:
Originally posted by cwoper:
I placed a Cache on my land(The "Kings" Cache)and got a nasty gram from TPTB that it needed to be removed.Seems that this uptight cacher was upset because he had to park on the side of my country road.He said that he sat there for 10 minutes and 10 cars went by and that it was a dangerous location.10 cars my @$$.Not in my neck of the woods!!! A complant was made,so I pulled the Cache.I just felt that if this guy spraned his ankel,got a scratch,got a slight sunburn while hunting my excellent and well thought out Cache ,"ON MY LAND",that this knuckelhead might take leagel action against me.Something to think about if you hide on your own land.

That would be my fear. I could see a person suing me because he was searching for a cache on my property and he is allergic to cats or dogs. He / she sues me for putting him / her in danger.

If a criminal can come on your property, break into your house, cut himself on the glass he broke and then sue your homeowners insurance for damages and win! Putting a cache on my own land and advertising it as such is just asking for trouble.

_Vini Vidi Velcro I came I saw I stuck around. Capn Skully_

Nesdon

"Sacred cows make the best hamburger."

Sam Clemens

2.6k · February 27, 2003

I've had friends hide caches in the middle of their own orchards, far from the house where you can't be watched..... no problem with that one.

I've also found caches within full view of large bay windows, 50 ft from the front door. Not too comfortable of an atmosphere.

george

Pedal until your legs cramp up and then pedal some more.

1.1k · February 27, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by georgeandmary:
I've had friends hide caches in the middle of their own orchards, far from the house where you can't be watched..... no problem with that one.

I've also found caches within full view of large bay windows, 50 ft from the front door. Not too comfortable of an atmosphere. george

I could be mistaken, but I believe the above-referenced "not too comfortable of an atmosphere" cache site would be one that my husband has placed in our frontyard. Interesting that George finds it not too comfortable now, but at the time, pre-BS days, he found the cache and then proceeded to come inside the house and visit for a while! My, how things change....

Jaimee

Too bad closed minds didn't come with closed mouths.

1.2k · February 27, 2003

....in her front yard.

I found that one, and the fact that I knew whose house I was in front of just added to the fun!

If I had come upon a stranger's front yard, I might have been a little uncomfortable, but it wouldn't have stopped me. I would have assumed that the cache hider had permission and that the home owner was *in on* the cache hide/hunt.

I've found lots of caches along fence lines at the edge of neighborhood parks with two-story expensive houses looking down on the caching area. Yes, it's a little uncomfortable, but what the heck it's also part of the experience and the fun of handling someone's inquiry as to what you're doing.

I've used all kinds of answers when asked about my activity...looking for the *rare banana slug* is my favorite, and that was to a security guard on a college campus. Carrying a clipboard works; gps can become a cell-phone checking in with *headquarters* about some gas/electric/sewer/cable-tv line. You have to think on your feet.

Remember....*it's a game* !

Ron

I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

2.6k · February 27, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by JaimeeG:

quote:
Originally posted by georgeandmary:
I've had friends hide caches in the middle of their own orchards, far from the house where you can't be watched..... no problem with that one.

I've also found caches within full view of large bay windows, 50 ft from the front door. Not too comfortable of an atmosphere. george

I could be mistaken, but I believe the above-referenced "not too comfortable of an atmosphere" cache site would be one that my husband has placed in our frontyard. Interesting that George finds it not too comfortable now, but at the time, pre-BS days, he found the cache and then proceeded to come inside the house and visit for a while! My, how things change....

Jaimee

Too bad closed minds didn't come with closed mouths.

Jamie, way to jump to conclusions but it wasn't you're cache.

Think basketball hoop.

george

Pedal until your legs cramp up and then pedal some more.

1.3k · February 27, 2003

I think one of tneigel's caches was in his yard. Not any more though. (And he knows what I look like now even if he didn't approach me and say who he is. )

I'd suggest not placing caches at the edge of the park abutting someone's backyard. I found such a cache once and it was pretty funny because the homeowner got into his car and drove all the way around just to ask me what was going on. He couldn't do much, of course, as I didn't trespass into his property but he was justifiably paranoid.

1.2k · February 27, 2003

....I found that one too.

It was at the dead-end of a public street. It was a cache stuck in the support mechanism for one of those portable chilren's hoops.

How this differs from finding a cache attached to a phone booth or inside a newspaper vending machine escapes me. They all involve the possibility of people watching you, whether it's from a living room window or an office nearby.

Ron

I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

2.6k · February 27, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Ron Streeter:

How this differs from finding a cache attached to a phone booth or inside a newspaper vending machine escapes me. They all involve the possibility of people watching you, whether it's from a living room window or an office nearby.

Ron

__I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.__

And you'll recall, someone called the cops on a local cacher because they wanted to know what they were doing hanging around the area?

george

Pedal until your legs cramp up and then pedal some more.

1.1k · February 27, 2003

duplicate..sorry again

[This message was edited by JaimeeG on February 27, 2003 at 02:44 PM.]

1.1k · February 27, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by JaimeeG:

quote:
Originally posted by georgeandmary:
Jamie, way to jump to conclusions but it wasn't you're cache. george

LOL..yea, I'm buying that!! Is it jumping to conclusions or being realizing of situations?? Hmmm...not sure!

When I just looked back at the top of the thread, the person starting this topic was asking cache owners if their experiences with placing caches on private property had been positive or negative. Like usual, the CVC bunch has managed to turn it into a bickering!

I have a cache on our property, and my husband does too. My cache is at the back of our acreage, while his is at the front. You can access my cache from a canal bank or by walking through the pasture. A few cachers have taken the walk through the pasture because we happened to be home and told them it was okay. I have had concerns about doing that though because we have horses and I worry about someone getting injured and being sue-happy.

My husbands cache sits near our brick fence in the front of our property. Actually, it technically isn't on our property anymore but instead is on the easement. As stated previously, it is in direct vision of large windows and our front door. The cache was placed there because my husband wanted it somewhere safe. He had it placed elsewhere, and, because of its size, it was found by noncachers shortly after being placed. Do we sit around and watch out the windows to see if we can catch a cacher? Uh..no. We have been home when some people have hunted the cache, and my husband will usually go out and say hi.

Overall, I like the idea of having caches on our property. We can do pretty much whatever we want (within the Geocaching rules, of course) and also don't have to be concerned about the cache being plundered, etc.

Jaimee

Too bad closed minds didn't come with closed mouths.

[This message was edited by JaimeeG on February 27, 2003 at 01:53 PM.]

Too bad closed minds didn't come with closed mouths.

1.2k · February 27, 2003

....the police being called on the Basketball Hoop cache, NO I didn't know that. But I only have 700 posts on the forums (compared to George's 1700) so I must have missed that.

************

BACK ON TOPIC....

Over a year ago a cacher from Arizona who was visiting his parents (or in-laws) came to California and placed a cache in the middle of an area that accessed about 5 houses in the country. I couldn't find it, and because some of the text said to wave to the nearby homeowner near a horse corral, I went up to the door and talked to the horsie owner. He didn't know anything about it, so I had a little egg on my face, but no big deal.

I looked some more and found the cache. I then EMAILED the cache owner and suggested that he have his relative let all five homeowners know what was going on.

This was early in geocaching's exisitence and my feeling was that if the other homeowners saw a string of strangers coming along and taking and putting things in a one-gallon container (sometimes at night) that it might look a little like a drug drop or something.

The cache placer let his relative know...the relative let the neighbors know, and it became more *OK*.

So, there are some valid concerns with this kind of thing, but there are so many individual circumstances that I don't think there is ONE answer, so I guess *mixed* feelings about this makes sense.

***************

The basketball hoop cache was the first cache placed by a cacher who had maybe 6 finds under his belt. The funny thing is, I THINK, (stress I think) this was a micro container that George had made available to people so more caches would be placed in the area. Talk about irony !Someone with more experience (than the hoop cacher) might not make that decision...but who knows. EVERYONE has their own way of seeing things. No ONE person is the end-all and be-all of geocaching.

The cache that Jaimee's husband placed is on THEIR property and Jaimee has expressed some of their concerns. The *sue happy* state of some people is a sorry one, and I doubt that all the disclaimers at geocaching.com would dissuade a truly *sue happy* person from starting an action, but I doubt it would be the case for MOST cachers. I subscribe to the theory that if it's too dangerous or questionable in some other way, I just use common sense and don't do it.

Ron

I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

1.1k · February 27, 2003

Why is everything duplicating..grrrr

2.6k · February 27, 2003

All this because I said I was uncomfortable finding a cache like that.

It was a new cacher and there for I cut them a lot of slack and didn't berate them. I figured they'd learn as they went.

But the question was asked and I listed two examples, one way was not a problem, and the other had potential for problems and did lead to problems with the police that were quickly cleared up.

Wow.

george

Pedal until your legs cramp up and then pedal some more.

1.2k · February 27, 2003

....and gosh-a-rootie !

But I think even George will admit that giving an example of a cache placed on *private property* and then having it turn out that the cache is one HE MOST LIKELY PROVIDED to a newbie cacher, IS pretty ironic.

Actually, the dead-end street wouldn't be considered private property, but the basketball goal would be.

Caching... a laugh-a-minute!

Here's the cache in question:

Dead End...for now

I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

2.6k · February 27, 2003

At this point I personally don't want to get in a pissing battle over this, but here is my two cents.

I do feel uncomfortable about caches on private property unless it is specifically listed as being ok on the web page or if I personally know the prperty owners.

I know Jaimee and enjoyed her caches on her property. In fact, I usually enjoy her caches. In regards to the dead end for now cache, I was reluctant to mess with the basketball hoop because it belonged to someone I didn't know. I believe that the cache Ron referred to was in Thorton and I had no problem looking around because the cache owner stated that the property owner knew about the cache and approved its placement.

I also would like to provide an example of a cache we placed. It technically wasn't on private property, but it was very near my father-in-laws house. We stated that it was ok, but we received numerous comments about cachers feeling uncomfortable there. We even received phone calls from cachers we are friends with who had the same feelings. We eventually pulled the cache because of this.

I believe that the cache owner needs to think it over and ultimately make his/her best judgement. As witnessed here he/she will hear about it if fellow cachers don't approve of his/her decision.

Mary

Pedal until your legs cramp up and then pedal some more.

February 27, 2003

I have a cache on my private property and it has worked out well. In the past year there have been fifty logs. We left a camera in the cach at one point, which yelled pictures of some of the GEOCACHERS. We used the pictures and copies from the logbook to educate members of a computer club about the sport of Geocaching.

It is important to show your neighbors your GPS and Cache. Give explanation of how it works.

Tell the cachers exactly where to park.

The only trouble I have had, I found a beer can one day.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=6963

March 1, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by BrianSnat:
I'm asking for actual experiences people have had. We all know the potential problems and pitfalls. The purpose of this post is to see if anybody has actually run into them, or if the cache has been a success.

_A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away._ -Barry Goldwater

I've done two that were on private property (owned by the hider). One (Eagle Landing) was in a quite remote area. There are woods, hills, and fields. The cache page said it was private property and it was OK. It was a very nice and fun cache, even if the drive took longer than the find!

Another one was on a cacher's property. His rural drive crossed a bridge. The cache was hidden under it. We got to meet the hider and had a good time chatting.

I'm sure that the concerns about law suits are realistic. I do think that a hider would do well to consider the element of risk to the seeker, just for the hider's protection.

Oh! I remember a third. It was in heavy woods at the top of a steep valley, I had trouble finding access and parking. I ended up parked in an iffy spot and walked back across who-knows-whoes land. The cache was just OK. So I might suggest good parking coords and pretty good clues about permitted access.

Any way, I think that hiding on one's own private property is a good idea if done right and you can accept the risk of litigation.

Keep on caching,

Bluespreacher

"We've got the hardware and the software, the plans and the maps ..." -- Citizen Wayne Kramer

1.8k · March 2, 2003

For what it's worth to the Washingtonians reading this thread:

quote:
RCW 4.24.210

Liability of owners or others in possession of land and water areas for injuries to recreation users -- Limitation.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, any public or private landowners or others in lawful possession and control of any lands whether designated resource, rural, or urban, or water areas or channels and lands adjacent to such areas or channels, who allow members of the public to use them for the purposes of outdoor recreation, which term includes, but is not limited to, the cutting, gathering, and removing of firewood by private persons for their personal use without purchasing the firewood from the landowner, hunting, fishing, camping, picnicking, swimming, hiking, bicycling, skateboarding or other nonmotorized wheel-based activities, hanggliding, paragliding, the riding of horses or other animals, clam digging, pleasure driving of off-road vehicles, snowmobiles, and other vehicles, boating, nature study, winter or water sports, viewing or enjoying historical, archaeological, scenic, or scientific sites, without charging a fee of any kind therefor, shall not be liable for unintentional injuries to such users.

(2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, any public or private landowner or others in lawful possession and control of any lands whether rural or urban, or water areas or channels and lands adjacent to such areas or channels, who offer or allow such land to be used for purposes of a fish or wildlife cooperative project, or allow access to such land for cleanup of litter or other solid waste, shall not be liable for unintentional injuries to any volunteer group or to any other users.

(3) Any public or private landowner, or others in lawful possession and control of the land, may charge an administrative fee of up to twenty-five dollars for the cutting, gathering, and removing of firewood from the land. Nothing in this section shall prevent the liability of such a landowner or others in lawful possession and control for injuries sustained to users by reason of a known dangerous artificial latent condition for which warning signs have not been conspicuously posted. Nothing in RCW 4.24.200 and 4.24.210 limits or expands in any way the doctrine of attractive nuisance. Usage by members of the public, volunteer groups, or other users is permissive and does not support any claim of adverse possession.

(4) For purposes of this section, a license or permit issued for statewide use under authority of chapter 43.51 RCW, Title 75, or Title 77 RCW is not a fee.

Emphasis added.

"I'm sure she would have been thrilled to find so much pooh in a little metal box."

March 2, 2003

Okie Cache Guide (with Okie pronunciation help)

I put a cache deep in the forrested private land my brother own's here in Okrahoma. I said that it had hundred dollar bills, hand-held GPS's, and cases of AA batteries in the cache!

We then post all sorts of "no trespassing" and "no Geocachers allowed in heeaaarr" (pronounced hey-are) signs all around the land.

Then we sit on the front porch with rifles and wait...

Mostly, we just spit two-backy (pronounced too-backy) and lie to each other, but one of these days some dang-fool Geocacher is gonna try to git our tupperware, 'n then they'll be some fireworks, by-doggies!

YYYeeeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhaaaaawwww!!

--majicman

Cache On Your Own Property

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