PRIVATE LANDS -- Being a hunter, I cringed Sunday morning as I read The Spokesman-Review's front page story about Spokane’s deserted property explorers, who "look for the humanity in abandoned places."

The story was good; the subject was alarming.

These tech-savvy but socially clueless explorers use Google Maps and social media to find abandoned buildings and then explore them, often with the added thrill of doing it without permission.

Then they post photos and locations to gain stature as "discoverers" of the way people lived or worked as noted from what they left behind.

Honestly, unauthorized people who venture onto private property are usually thieves. It's been that way forever, including tomb pillagers and the explorers who raided the ancient Native American ruins of the Southwest.

If one explorer is honest, that doesn't mean he's not having impact. Posting photos and location information online of illegally accessed property should be a crime in itself. 

Even public lands officials are concerned about people posting routes and coordinates on social media for special places discovered while exploring off trails.  Public lands are open to exploration. I do it all the time.  But to pinpoint a hidden off-trail spot online could trigger a steady stream of  people to follow -- and cause irreversible impacts.  Think about it.

But it's the story's revelation of the flagrant abuse of private property rights that galls me. Hunters are drilled on the concept of asking permission to go onto private land. Abusers of this principle whittle away at trust and cause us all to lose access.

Rural families have enough reason to be suspicious of the public.