it would be ok to grab a little and let them know you were there, depending on the size of the area and how well they were tended i think they would notice. once on a job in kentucky our whole crew found a patch. we were doing geological surveying. it was a cross country one. it was probably 30 ft around and had chicken wire around it, they were less than a ft tall. all i have to say is that whoever owned it must have been freaked out when they came back. when people go through with machetties and clear brush, and 20 or 30 other people walk through doing their various jobs, it leaves a trail.our lines were getting laid less than 5 ft from this garden, no body touched it or as far as i know did anything about it because we were all a bunch of smokers anyway. it was a cool thing to see though. id be scared to go back to it, but maybe he/she got a harvest anyways.