Trespassing & Neighbor Etiquette

[Peacock]

Having never lived in a rural area before (and this is only sort of rural), I'd like a lesson in neighbor etiquette. Before you bash me for being dumb or rude, please take into consideration I AM asking in the first place.

Let's say you were my neighbor. You own a 60-acre landlocked field with a dirt access road. You do not live there, or even in an adjacent lot - your home is about five minutes down the road. The field is currently used for growing hay and is surrounded on all sides by dense woods, and on one side is a row of subdivided, large residential lots.

One of the residents in this row of home lots has a gate in her back fence, and though she knows the woods behind the fence are not her property, she's taken to poking around them a bit in search of wild raspberries, jewel weed and other useful plants. There's a clearing, though it's a bit overgrown, creating a path through the woods to the hay field.

Would you, the owner of the acreage, be upset if you discovered that this person sometimes entered your property for the purpose of leisurely taking a walk along the dirt path surrounding the hay field, enjoying the quiet beauty of the woods and field, leaving nothing but footprints?

I noticed about a week ago two kids on ATV's zooming up the access road (two lots over from mine), which would explain why a bunch of the hay had been smushed down. Not so nice.

It seems to me that the boundaries of privately owned land in rural areas are a little more relaxed than in suburbs/cities - people use others' land for horseback trails, ATV trails, etc. Doesn't make it right, I guess, but it's done.

Maybe I should contact the owner of this field and ask him if he'd mind - I'm not going to DO anything there, just take a walk. It really is pretty up there; it's on a wide, flat hill and there's a great view. Or would he think I was crazy or totally out of line?

EDIT: A wide, flat hill? If "flat hill" isn't an oxymoron, I don't know what is! How about flat topped hill.

[sisterpine]

u know , as silly as it might sound to some i would think that calling the owner and asking if you could walk around would be a very nice thing to do. owner is probably irritated at all the folks who do not ask!

[james dilley]

Theres nothing wrong with asking permission first.. In fact its the right thing to do..

[MoonShine]

The right thing to do is to ask first. Me personally,no,I wouldn't be bothered with you coming onto this property. You're not tearing anything up or abusing the land. There used to be an old man that walked the hills and he would come into the orchard and pick fruit. I didn't care. He wasn't hurting anyone and as far as I was concerned,he could take home whatever fruit he could carry. No harm,no foul.
On the other hand,found deer stands will be torn down and smashed to pieces

[TxCloverAngel]

yup, I'd ask him.
And offer to keep an eye on the place...
notify him of problems etc..
might be a good deal for the both of you..
new friends... & it would let him know he could trust you.
and bein friendly w/ your neighbors is always a good thing

[HilltopDaisy]

I would never walk on someone else's property without permission first. If someone were on my property without asking, I would be upset, mostly because of liability issues.

[MELOC]

i live across the road from a 300 acre farm that was sold and developed into various sized lots. i am lucky at this point that the ones close were 5 acres. but i digress.

until the land was sold, there was a caretaker and his wife who lived there. he chased everyone off. he may have even shot at trespassers in years gone by. he had a bad reputation to many folks and no one bothered to talk to him. they would sneak back to a private lake and fish and risk being run off or shot at. some folks would sneak in and hunt.

i used to walk across the land to get to the fish and game i was a member of. he never said much as long as i was just passing through. we were neighbors and all. over time, i talked with him and asked permission to hunt and fish on the property. he let me, no problems. he asked that i only fish in the big stream and not the lake as the lake was the actual land owners families property and had a private cemetry and lake house and such. really, i think he was just afraid i would drown. he also asked me not to hunt deer, just the small game. i was the only person he allowed access and probably because i was the only one to ask.

i bet you could get permission to walk and forage if you ask nicely. the farmer would probably appreciate an extra set of eyes on the hay field. atv's destroy crops really fast.

[Jen H]

You know, I even asked the timber company if it was ok if I walked their logging road when it wasn't in use. They were surprised and pleased that I asked permission - and granted it. I just figured it's not my land, and it's not my road. (I'd rather walk the logging road across from my land than dodge traffic on the main road) I don't have any problems with my neighbors to the north and across the street coming onto the property - they've asked us if it's ok and gotten permission. I have permission to go onto our neighbor's property and pick apples and cherries from their wild trees - they live out of state and won't use them anyway. The key thing here is that I've asked for and received permission, and our neighbors have done the same.

If you ask, I can't imagine the farmer would have any problem with you being on that land. As was stated before, you're another set of eyes out there in case there are problems.

[Peacock]

Thanks for reinforcing what I thought. Now I have to do a little research and make sure the person who owns it is who I think owns it...

[insanity]

Originally Posted by MoonShine

The right thing to do is to ask first. Me personally,no,I wouldn't be bothered with you coming onto this property.

Ditto!
When i was growing up it was well known around these parts that unless it was posted you could just help yourself to a walk.As long as it wasn't hunting season (where you might be spooking game) and you didn't stretch there fences when crossing.
Used to be called passing threw.Now its often considered trespassing.

[donsgal]

I would not want people poking around on my property without my premission. That's what state parks are for. If I discovered someone had been on an ATV on my property, and I found out who they were, I'd call the sherrif.

donsgal

[Cheryl in SD]

The only reason we go on the neighbors property is if some of our livestock is out. Even then when we bought the goats, we called and let them know and asked permission to trespass if we needed to. They were more than happy to grant it. I also asked permisson to be on their side of the fence while putting up our new fence to keep said kritters off their land, again they were happy to let me. In return I keep an eye on the place, and call if anything is out of order.

[rwinsouthla]

I'd say ask first, too. I have 300 acres behind me. The owner is NEVER there. I asked if I could hunt it (and I know this is a bit different than walking it just for the pure joy of nature) and he said "By all means!!!" He went on to ask if I would just "keep an eye" out on the property and even pitched in permission to fish a pond and graze a horse if I wanted. Some of the absent owners may appreciate the occasional visit by you.

[DixyDoodle]

I happen to own one of those large properties, but I live on the front part of it. When we first moved in, I could not believe the amount of neighours that thought our trails were for public use. Did I mention that to access these trails, you must drive right down our driveway which runs beside our house?

We put up a fence and gate, but neglected to put a lock on the gate. Next thing we knew, the neighbour drove down there on his ATV and unwound the chain that was holding the gate shut. Can you get anymore dense than this? His reasoning: "I wanted to check my property" which runs beside ours, which he could have accessed through his own backyard (but which did not have a nice trail to play on). Gimme a break! I told him that because of liability issues, we did not want people on our property, we could not be responsible for their safety. Keep in mind that this guy's property only went to the treeline, but he was 'checking his property' way out in the back of our trails, along with his buddy who was also driving an ATV. After this event, the lock went up on the gate.

The trespassing (and yes, it is trespassing ANYTIME you go on someone's property without permission, whether they live there or not) went on over the course of a few weeks til the main offenders realized that the free ride was over. In my area, boundaries to land are not more relaxed, people just assume it's ok to trespass, mainly because it's only a field or forest, right, no one lives there.

I'm sorry if I sound a little hot on this topic, but when you've had groups of people go on your property with ATV's, and they bring their friends on dirtbikes, their dogs and their beer, it gets a little much. Or you're riding your horse on your trail and come across a hunter who "didn't realise he couldn't hunt here" although he had to climb a fence to get there.

I think you should stay off peoples' property unless you have specific permission; this does not mean that if John Doe has permission, it's ok for you, too. Ask and be sure. Personally, I don't want strangers on my property, period, even if they "aren't going to DO anything". Next thing you know, you have 100 people up there not doing anything, until someone gets hurt and then you get sued. Besides, I bought my property for my own enjoyment and peace and quiet.....if I wanted to open a park, I would put up a sign. I don't pay a mortgage/taxes so other people can enjoy my land for free and then sue my butt off because they break their citified leg tripping over a tree stump!

Ooops, but there I go getting grumpy again, sorry! LOL

Edayna, I would ask the owner first. If he catches you up there, he won't care if a thousand other people did the same thing, it's you he caught. He is more likely to not mind if you ask first. BUT I bet if you mention the ATV's etc, he is more likely to check it out. I imagine he will be a little peeved at having his hay tramped down. Maybe he'll put up a gate. Maybe you will end up being one of the chosen few!

[brownthumb]

Before you ask, get to know your neighbor. Start by delivering some freshly baked cookies or bread.

[Dubai Vol]

Cookies are always a good idea when visiting. Best peanut butter cookies ever:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

[Beltane]

There's no harm in asking first...I'm sure your neighbor would really appreciate that. We have a right-of-way through the back part of our 40 acres that the 4-wheelers use. We have permission slips signed for each person that we KNOW rides back there that states that they will not use excessive speed ro litter. Our land is only posted NO HUNTING and NO WHEELED VEHICLES....so everyone else is basically welcome to enjoy the beauty.

[Ken Scharabok]

I own a large parcel of land also. Entry permission is selective and specific. For example some neighbors can swim in the creek but... They can bring friends ONLY if they are with them and children must be accompanied by an adult. They go out of their way to tell their friends they cannot come onto the property on their own or else they lose their access. One neighbor can take his dog down to the creek for swimming, but not grandkids, etc. A couple of other neighbors/friends can put minnow traps in the creek. Definitely not open access.

Problem lately has been ATVers riding the creekbed. Technically the water belongs to the Army Corp of Engineers as the creek is considered to be nagivational waters of the U.S. As long as they stay in the water they technically are allowed access to the creek. However, as soon as one wheel comes out of the water on a gravel bar they are tresspassing. That part is what they don't understand. They think their rights extend to the creekbed (bank to bank), not just the flowing water.

(At least locally the property line runs to the middle of the fastest flowing water in the creek. As the creek shifts, so does the property line.)

Beavers have built up a low dam at my low-water crossing backing up the creek about 12-16" behind it. Became too deep for ATVs at one spot so they started coming up on my bank in one corner of a field, used the gravel road along side the field and then over my low-water bridge back to the creekbed. I put up a no tresspassing sign at the point they were coming up the bank. Checked next day and they had switched to an old access road to the creek nearby. Cut down a tree across it. I will also run two classified ads noting all of my land is posted, which includes the gravel bars in the creek. Will that help, probably not. Does let me desires be known to the community in general though.

Down creek a neighbor has pasture on both sides. The ATVers go so far so to cut the cross creek fencing.

About 75% of the parcel is woods rented out to a hunting club. Tresspassers there are somewhat their responsibility. The ATVers like to get on the old logging roads up there. Found out some of the kids of one of the leaseholders was among those doing so. Talked to the one who signs the lease for the group to advise him the hunting lease didn't extend to family members being on the property, such as joyriding on ATVs. My power there is the lease is year-to-year and WAY underpriced for what others have offered for it.

On giving entry permission the problem becomes how to keep it from becoming public access. Entry seems to grow geometrically. That is not 1, 2, 3..., but rather 1, 2, 4, 8... When some people see someone else doing it they assume they can also.

By all means do ask. If they so no then don't take it personally but respect their decision.

[BamaSuzy]

I don't want ANYBODY on my property without permission and I don't give permission for anybody to just come and walk through our woods or whatever...it's hard to limit them once they start.

We only have 15 acres but it is ours and I don't want anybody hunting here or doing anything else like that. Also there is liability and lots of other issues.

We also have animals on part of the acreage.

Our next-farm-over-neighbor is kind of a grumpy fellow (but really good at heart). He has 180 acres and has leased about 100 more, including a pond that my kids grew up fishing in. The pond belongs to an elderly neighbor across the road.

My ADULT kids ALWAYS ask permission to fish there now when they come to visit (usually only a couple of times per year).

His only request is that they enter and exit the pasture a certain way because he has many head of cattle in that area.

I even told him that two of my ducks had taken to flying over there every afternoon and swimming in the pond....i was afraid he might shoot them! He said that was perfectly fine because the wild geese visit every day as well...

I do not mind if he or any of his workers come over here, if some of their livestock get out or whatever. As a matter of fact it was quite exciting when he got a real "cowboy" on a horse with a lasso to come over and round up a cow that got loose!

But he doesn't let folks come on his property just for the heck of it. He does have an area on the back that he allows his firefighters to come up and deer hunt on in the winter (he is the fire chief) but that is only at certain times of the year and only in a certain area.

I think folks that allow their kids on four-wheelers to ride all over others' property without permission should be fined and later jailed if it is not stopped.

[backwoods]

I consider my property,(68) acres, to be an extension of my refridgerator.

If anyone takes anything from another's property,no matter how small,without asking
it is STEALING.

Coming onto someone's property without asking is TRESPASSING.

Damaging someone's property,Atvs etc without permission is VANDALISM.

I find mostly the people that do these things,or feel they have a right,do not
own property,or live nearby.