Almost Year Round / Seasonal Caches

[CodeJunkie]

I did some digging but couldn’t seem to find anything on this topic. What’s the opinion (good, bad, otherwise) on almost year round / seasonal caches. I have access to various parcels of land, but the owners won’t allow the caches to be placed because they use the land in the fall to hunt.

Is it possible to disable the cache during hunting season?
Just request users not “hunt” the cache during specific hours?

I’ve seen some of this requested on other caches, but am wondering how well it’s respected? The Omro school series in one that I know of where specific days / hours are listed.

[Trekkin and Birdin]

Most of the caches I’ve seen where fall hunting season is an issue either state this clearly and advise no searching during gun deer, or in some cases, the owner will actually disable it during the season.

We experienced a close call on Sunday. We were doing a little caching in Shakopee MN while our kids were at the Ren Fest. Stopped to look for a cache in a city park, though it was on the outer edges of the city. Found the cache in the woods by a pond, and after putting it away…..shotgun shells came whizzing by at close range!

All we can figure is maybe there was some kind of special duck hunt there. It really wasn’t much of a spot for hunting, and nothing posted at the park entrance. Not even a big park!

[sandlanders]

Private hunting land is highly prized and most often very tightly controlled by those who own property. If you are lucky enough to get permission to place a cache on some, I would disable the cache for the hunting season, checking with the land owners as to which dates they don’t want any non-hunters in the area, then maybe disabling a bit before and after to be safe. Put this on the cache page for year-round viewing, then each season put a note in the cache logs saying this is what is being done.

Then, because some people will try to look for caches even thought they are disabled, mention that the cache container will be removed for the duration and then remove it. No container, no incentive to go for the smiley. But then don’t forget to put the container back and write a maintenance log and enable the cache.

If the land owners still don’t want a cache on their property, respect their decisions, thank them for their time, and leave graciously. Good will is more important than another container in the woods.

[labrat_wr]

I do have several caches placed on WDNR property and along with the Hunting attribute, I also disable them during the 9-day Gun Deer season, and I would think that I will, if I didn’t last year, keep them disabled until after the late herd control hunt in December.

while, WDNR land is “public access land” and cachers have just as much right to use that land as hunters do, It is not worth the risk to life and limb to be walking around when firearms are present even with the proper blaze orange clothing. I would however also advise that anyone caching on WDNR lands during any hunting season, including Bow Deer season, to use some common courtesy and if there are vehicles at the parking area near the cache location, use extreme caution or avoid the search altogether. Some folks get really possessive about things that they don’t own during the fall hunt.

Safety First – the smileys can wait.

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[TyeDyeSkyGuy]

I have had several caches in the past that I disabled during season. I also added a warning and a link on the cache that took cachers to the Wisconsin hunting schedule.

Disabling them has never been an issue. This reminds me it’s almost time to disable Match Head for the winter. Anyone still wanting to get it in this year should do so before December 1st or the first snowfall, whichever comes first.

[djwini]

disabling them would be very important for some of us. i don’t read the cache pages before going out hunting. i do a pq with the option checked for IS ACTIVE. so if the cache is temporarily disabled, i will not go looking for it, but if the owner just makes a note on the cache page, i’ll never know it.

[Braid Beards Gang]

I personally will not hunt for any cache listed on hunting grounds after the first week of September until January. The idea is that deer bow hunting season runs during that period. Those hunters are not required to wear blaze orange and they tend to be cranky about any noise or disruption of their hunting area. I know most are on public grounds, but it is better not to anger a twenty something with a razor sharp stick. I am sure you could disable caches during that time period.

[RSplash40]

‘Blessed be the Rock” the lonely one on delorme page 57(?) gets shut down for the winter months…with good reason, took Justin and I a half hour to get it out last year. It was a tad frozen then it dropped further down than I could squeeze into.

[zuma]

@CodeJunkie wrote:

I did some digging but couldn’t seem to find anything on this topic. What’s the opinion (good, bad, otherwise) on Ialmost year round / seasonal caches. I have access to various parcels of land, but the owners won’t allow the caches to be placed because they use the land in the fall to hunt.

Is it possible to disable the cache during hunting season?
Just request users not “hunt” the cache during specific hours?

I’ve seen some of this requested on other caches, but am wondering how well it’s respected? The Omro school series in one that I know of where specific days / hours are listed.

It is possible to disable a cache during hunting, if that is what you want to do, or if it is what the landowner prefers. Personally, I do not do that, and dont really see a need to do so on public hunting lands.

Looks like I am once again in the minority, but in my experience, public hunting lands are only full of hunters on opening day. The rest of the season, there are very few hunters out there on public lands.

Personally, during the gun deer season, I enjoy to combine caching with hunting and go for the caches a long ways off into the woods on public hunting lands, carrying a rifle looking for deer at the same time. My experience with this is that public hunting lands are very sparsly hunted and that caching during hunting season is a good way to explore public hunting lands.

I had a great time caching/hunting last year in Eau Claire, Rusk, Barron, Washburn, Sawyer and Trempeleau counties and saw very few hunters, except on opening day. I would not cache on opening day, but the reason of the season, in areas that I go, there is no issue.

The other thing I want to mention is the interesting way that we look at risk. Several here seem to feel that it is quite risky to be in the woods during deer hunting. While accidents do occasionally happen, the actual risk of being involved in a motor vehicle crash on the way caching is statistically much more likely than being accidently shot by a stranger while geocaching.

Anyway, to each there own, and we are all free to make our own choices, but personally I enjoy caching and hunting at the same time.

[sandlanders]

I think we have five caches on public hunting land, and other than one where I KNOW there is plenty of pressure during the gun/deer season (tons of cars at the parking spot and along the road most days), we don’t plan to disable any of them, just have the “wear orange” notice prominent on the cache page, maybe log a note. We won’t go out ourselves during gun season, but if people want to cache there and are appropriately dressed, they can.

Private hunting land is another thing, and I think maybe that’s what CodeJunkie was asking about. We wanted to place a cache just on the edge of someone’s property, quite near the road, no need to go in further, disable during gun season, dire warnings on the cache page, etc. No go, and these are people we know. Private land owners can be very protective about their land when it comes to hunting, especially gun deer hunting.

[cheezehead]

The majority of caches Up North are on county property, which is open to all types of hunting. I do take my shot gun when checking on my caches as the caches are on trails that I hunt. The woods are open to all, even them damn mountain bikers. It comes down to common sense. During the opening weekend of the gun deer season, might not be the best time to go caching. After that, the woods tend to empty out.

[labrat_wr]

Okay, Maybe if I carry my GPSr and a shotgun 😀

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[gotta run]

They stay active with the hunting attribute and a note on the cache page, in the short description, to watch for hunting with links to the DNR page. I disabled them one year but won’t do so again. It’s public land and finders should take the time to figure things out before they go and decide what is the best time. If you’re just waypoint caching and don’t take the time to figure anything out, well it’s not my fault you’re lazy.

On the Left Side of the Road...

[cheezehead]

@labrat_wr wrote:

Okay, Maybe if I carry my GPSr and a shotgun 😀

I take my shot gun when the season is open. It’s always open season on mnt. bikers aint it???? 😉 😛 😛 😈

You be surprised that they still argue with ya and say that the trail in the woods is theirs. ME with a shot gun,hunting vest & 3 dogs, them in their spandex shorts and a bike………

[gotta run]

@cheezehead wrote:

them in their spandex shorts and a bike………

Well, it looked like it had horns…

On the Left Side of the Road...

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