Originally Posted by
Walter S
Personally most of my camping is "in the woods". It may often be private property. That does not mean I know who owns it. And if I did, I still may not want to face the angry dog etc while I go knocking on a stranger's door and explaining my situation.
If I can be stealthy in and out of the woods, leave no trace, and be gone by sunrise, I usually prefer that to asking around. It may be your definition of trespassing. But I prefer the legal definition myself.
I'm not entirely thrilled with the idea of property ownership anyway. Certainly not to the extent that I can be bared from laying my head down for a night of sleep just because all these woods are "yours" or "his". It's God's creation.
I always camp on unimproved property away from towns and usually not within sight of a house.
I can tell you now that I, as an employee on a farming property that you most likely would find most attractive because it appears to be unoccupied and with considerable bushland, to get the hell off and not return.
We don't allow anyone to camp, one of the reasons being hygiene, and another being the fact that I and the owners don't know if you are there for a night or want to be there for a week. We have valuable farming equipment and various chemicals, as well a fuel in bulk on the property, For all we know, you're there to steal that stuff, and that's a risk we can't take.
Public land is fine. But I've never camped on private property without permission and never will.
You also might think you are stealth camping, but a property owner or manager knows their land intimately. You may think you are hidden, but you aren't.