Geocaching during Hunting Season

[Cachelovskys]

I know obviously that this is not a smart idea, but I was wondering if it should be common practice to put a warning on your cache page if it is dangerous to search for during hunting season. I am not a huge fan of putting caches on any private land of any kind, but I think it could just make it a little bit more black and white if there was a standard practice of doing this.

I have seen it on a couple, but I think it should be standard. Almost part of the reviewers “job” to look over caches, and have the hider add this tag if it could be dangerous. Just a thought.

What do you think ❓

[EnergySaver]

This is not just an issue with private land … some DNR land has hunting too, as is other land such as some county land.

For example, “Lions Den Park” (county park, Ozaukee County) is closed to the general public right now for a special limited hunt.

Harrington Beach State park (north-east Ozaukee County) has Muzzleloader hunting right now, then bow hunting … I planned on shutting down my caches in those area, but the park ranger encouraged me to keep them out but with specific “rules” … in fact there’s actual a big sign at the park along the trail when you reached “the zone” with similar alerts … see what I have posted at this listing: GC13FWY

[Timberline Echoes]

Rib Mtn State Park has the muzzleloaders too. Walked by two different ones while caching on Sat. Good thing we always carry blaze orange vests with us. Several times we heard shots too.

TE

[djwini]

this time of year i prefer to hunt in city parks, but we do have the blaze orange jackets with us.
we’re going on a 10 county cache trip over thanksgiving. it’s hard to know ahead of time just what type of land we’ll be on. having something in the cache listings would be helpful. some do.

[Team Black-Cat]

We were out Sunday, but made sure to stay within the city limits of the towns we were in. Anywhere out of town seems to be potential hunting land.
A notice on the cache page would be a good reminder, but in Wisconsin it’s not hard to wander into a hunting area.
If you’re in the woods, just be sure to make some noise, and try not to look like a deer.

[cheezehead]

Well, that’s what the little deer in the attributes section is for. Uh here most public land is hunting land. Weather it’s county, State or Federal.
One should always wear some sort of orange as in early fall it Grouse season, and bow season. As a hunter, I wear a blaze orange hat when I’m in the woods in the fall. There are chunk of land where I can come from one direction and there could a fellow hunter that parked somewhere else. During the 9 day gun deer season, I wouldn’t even recommend going n the woods around here. Just not worth it.

[rogheff]

I have a cute little story about geocaching in deer hunting season.

It seems my brother-in-law and a group of his buddies were out hunting in an area where I have several caches stashed. A couple of the guys were sitting in their deer stands when they saw two guys stroll across the open field and go nosing around in some brush.

“Those guys were looking for something,” I’m told.

“They nosed around, went into the brush and a few minutes later, they left!”

“Did they plant a bomb? Did they hide some money?”

The hunters had to go find out. What else was there to do on a non-productive deer hunting day?

They strolled over to the brushy area and after a little while, they found a box! Now up in northern Minnesota, my caches aren’t disguised very well – sorry folks. The muggles found the cache.

“What’s that? Should we open it?”

“There’s a bunch of junk in it.”

“And a camera”

“Jeremy, drop your drawers, we’ll give them a photo to remember.”

True story.

[gotta run]

I think that the “hunting” attribute is warning enough. It’s really up to the searcher to determine the degree of risk related to the attribute, time of year, and related circumstances; i.e., ticks are a problem at only certain times of the year, etc. True, you don’t get shot by a tick…

Interestingly, a cache that I did put a note on saying that the area was closed for hiking gun deer season just got found…

On the Left Side of the Road...

[Team B Squared]

I disabled the caches we own that are in hunting areas for the rifle hunting season up here. I don’t worry about doing that for bow, small game, or black powder though, just the two week rifle deer season.

[TyeDyeSkyGuy]

I’m with Team B Squared. I also disable my caches during rifle hunting season.

I have one at Bong State Park, and a few others that are near private property that have to be disabled this time of year. One is very near my home, but on city land. It borders real close to a guy that hunts in EVERY season on his property. We hear the gunshots daily. Definitely not worth the risk.

[Team Hemisphere Dancer]

If you are brave enough to go out during hunting season. Be sure to leave the fur coat and antler hats at home.

[Mathman]

Each cache page has the option of listing “Hunting” as an attribute. Common sense should tell you to stay away during the hunting season.

[zuma]

@Cachelovskys wrote:

I know obviously that this is not a smart idea, but I was wondering if it should be common practice to put a warning on your cache page if it is dangerous to search for during hunting season. I am not a huge fan of putting caches on any private land of any kind, but I think it could just make it a little bit more black and white if there was a standard practice of doing this.

I have seen it on a couple, but I think it should be standard. Almost part of the reviewers “job” to look over caches, and have the hider add this tag if it could be dangerous. Just a thought.

What do you think ❓

Personally, I avoid being in the woods during deer hunting season. Last year, I hunted myself and wore orange and caried a rifle while cachin in the woods. This year, I didnt feel much like hunting, so am sitting this year out hunting wise.

My personal solution to the hunting issue is go to Minnesota during the Wisconsin gun deer hunt season. Had an awesome day caching in Duluth yesterday. I know that is a long drive for most of you, but Duluth is an awesome place to cache. Tons of great views, and great walks in the woods.

As to disabling caches in hunting areas, personally I do not do that, since I feel most people have enough common sense to wear orange or avoid the woods during the gun deer hunt.

zuma

[TyeDyeSkyGuy]

@Mathman wrote:

Each cache page has the option of listing “Hunting” as an attribute. Common sense should tell you to stay away during the hunting season.

Very true. But I’ve noticed that people frequently do not read the cache pages before they go to a cache.

[MikeB]

Did a little caching up in the Merton area last weekend — definitely felt uncomfortable on the Monches segment of the Ice Age Trail. No hunting (I think) on the trail itself, but heard lots of shots just before sunset from neighboring farm land.

[Author]

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