this has been a fascinating thread to read. I've been cycle camping since the early 70's and took it for granted that most cyclists did a combination of campgrounds, cheap motels, hostels, camping with permission on private property and more than occasionally doing what you are referring as "stealth camping". I've toured this way through all of New England, much of eastern Canada, once across Canada and twice across the US- a northern and a southern route.
When I'm 20 miles from the nearest campground. Thirty miles from the nearest town and it's getting towards the end of the day I see no harm in bushwhacking a couple hundred yards into the woods, finding a clearing and setting up my tent, that's not much more than a bivy sack to keep the bugs and rain off, and hunkering down for the night. I don't light any fires or even cook under those circumstances. I sleep much better there than a campground and since I've sacked out and fallen to sleep by 9 pm I'm usually up just before sunrise and on my way. I dig a small latrine, if needed, and make it a game to leave everything in such a way that one would never know I was ever there.
I've had some funny, strange and curious experiences while "stealth" camping but, fortunately, never run into anyone like some of the posters in here who would chase someone like me off their "private" land- though I'd be real cautious about camping sans permission in agricultural areas of California, Florida and other states. Land owners get real territorial about places like orange groves and corn fields.
BTW, I own some acres in a remote wooded area near the Appalachian trail and though I've never found someone camped in "my woods" ( since "my woods" are surrounded by 18,000 acres of state land) if ever I did I'd probably wake them with an invite to breakfast and an offer for a hot shower.