When placing a geocache on public lands, it is highly recommended that the land manager responsible be notified of the placement. For locations without specific notification/approval requirements, the following generic geocache notification form (PDF version) (Word version) can be used.
Never bury a cache. A cache is considered buried if it must be dug up by hand or by tool. Placing rocks, bark, logs etc. over a cache is not considered burial, nor is placing a cache into a naturally occurring crevice or hole. If a shovel, trowel, or other pointy object is used to dig to hide or find a cache, it’s not appropriate.
Be responsible for your cache. There is no time limit for placement of the cache but it is recommended the cache be monitored at least quarterly.
Do not place a cache in an area that could cause geocachers to cross dangerous or private land during their approach. Consider from where a geocacher might approach and how they might hunt your cache. Remember that their GPSR readings could easily be off from your posted coordinates by 100 feet or more. If warranted, provide parking coordinates and notes to allow a safe and permissible approach to the cache.
When placing a cache, be sure that it is at least 528 feet (0.10 miles) away from any surrounding caches. This includes all waypoints of surrounding multi or mystery caches.
Do not place a cache within 150 feet of railroad tracks. The right-of-way along the tracks is private property. Remember the error range of the typical GPSR when placing a cache anywhere in the vicinity of a railway.
If you place a cache or a stage of a multi-cache hunt within a commercial location, keep in mind the prohibitions against commercial caches. If a fee, purchase, or solicitation (monetary or otherwise) is required to gain access to the cache or waypoint, the cache is not allowed. Caches placed to promote commercial, political, religious, or other social agendas are also disallowed.
Do not place the following items into caches:
Food of any kind (sealed beverages are permitted, but are not advisable during Wisconsin’s cold weather when they may freeze and burst inside the cache container).
Pocketknives or weapons of any kind.
Illegal items such as drugs.
Material restricted from minors: tobacco, adult publications, alcohol, etc.
When choosing a terrain rating, keep in mind the following guidelines:
A rating of 1 means that a person in a wheelchair can get to the cache location and also retrieve it. If you feel you have a cache that is handicap accessible, you can get a useful rating used by disabled cachers at Handicaching.com.
A cache with a rating of 5 would require special equipment to get there, such as climbing gear, scuba gear, or a boat.
