Mistake #1 – Permission

Have you ever been searching for a cache in a parking lot or other private property and been confronted by an angry property owner, asking what you are doing trespassing on their property? Some of us have even spent some time being questioned or detained by local law enforcement over trespassing issues.

Here is what the guidelines say: “You assure us that you have the landowner’s and/or land manager’s permission before you hide any geocache, whether placed on private or public property.”

Your reviewers try our best to catch placements on private property without permission, but as a cache owner, it is your responsibility to know who owns the land where you are placing a cache and to have obtained permission. If you are having trouble determining who owns a particular parcel of land, your reviewers can usually help, but in some cases, you will need to go down to the assessor’s office and check the plat books. Once you know who owns the property, you will then need to contact the property owner for permission.

For most public property, such as parks and county forests, you mostly need to check with the parks department to make sure you have complied with any geocaching policies they may have. Parks departments with known geocaching policies include: Dane, Milwaukee, Washington, Waukesha, and Waushara county parks, City of West Bend Parks, Wisconsin DNR Property, USFWS property, and NPS property. Note that geocaching is also not allowed in Federally designated wilderness areas.

When it comes to private property, sometimes contacting the property owner can be difficult. You might need to send them a snail mail letter, as mailing addresses are commonly the only information available from the taxing authority, but if the owner local, nothing beats knocking on their door in person and asking for permission. This way, you can explain what you are doing, show them the container, and hopefully convince them that their property will not be overrun by a bunch of weirdoes. Note that wearing full camo to ask for permission is probably not recommended, particularly for parking lot hides.

Next months topic: Commericialism and Agendas