Trespassing & Neighbor Etiquette

Why would it be some land owners responsibility to keep other peoples kids from hanging around the malls smoking dope? Better smoking dope there than on my property. Why can't they walk, ride ATVs, and smoke dope on their own property?

It’s not your responsibility to do anything for my kids. Legally you could probably walk away while they are being molested, raped or even killed. Why you would want to do anything for anyone is beyond me.

I hope that makes my point that when we live together, it is common courtesy to do nice things for each other, and to watch out for our neighbors best interest.

Responsible kids need to have good wholesome entertainment available to them. When I was a kid, country kids fished in the local ponds, drove dirt bikes under the hydro towers and even had the odd camp out beside the local creek. These activities didn’t harm or bother anyone. Kids knew to stay off the plowed or seeded fields, but once the crops came off no one minded if you went for a “rip” across them on a bike. The odd grumpy old man who had some sort of vendetta against kids having fun was steered clear of, and was generally unpopular with the larger part of the community.

As anyone who has ever been on an ATV knows, you quickly run out of trails on your own property. You can probably lap a 100-acre farm in less than 5 minutes. The farm access roads are connected together in many areas and you can go for dozens if not hundreds of miles in any direction on these trails. A responsible group of kids on a few quads or bikes don’t hurt anyone with this recreation. By the time you hear the bike and walk outside they are already two farms over.

Try encouraging healthy recreation for a change. A 16-year-old boy is not satisfied with playing checkers and reading romance novels, nor should he be. Encourage him in his development into a man. He could be the next kid you are asking to lay down his life for your freedom.

Pete

Encourage him to respect others property. I would never expect him to give me his ATV. Why should he expect me to provide a place for him to ride.

I agree, I'm not a land hog. Asking is the best. Also beware, eminent domain will prevail. DO NOT have the trails exit at the road, in fact have the entrance to the trail at your house. The problem is if you have a trail exit to the road, passerby's on ATV's will see it as a invitation.

Wow, some interesting and diverse opinions.

What it boils down to is ... Ask, and respect the owner's response. Since that's what you decided to do anyway, no big deal.

As to the other issue about allowing access to a large property ... I see both sides of this issue. I deal with people all day long, some of them are definately not the brightest crayons in the box, and when I get home I want sanctuary and time to decompress. That's one of the reasons I'm looking for a large rural acreage, so I can have my peace and quiet. I think I would be a bit miffed if the neighborhood decided my property that I pay for and pay taxes on became the local picnin area and riding trail, thus disturbing my peaceful enjoyment.

But ... I can also see the value of allowing others limited access to the property to be "neighborly". Once again, it depends upon the neighbors and whether or not they abuse the priviledge.

Hmm, now that I read back through this, my comments were not very helpful. Oh well, guess it goes back to being the individuals decision.

Nikki

Since the Goverment owns your property, you have no right to tell them No, try not paying land taxes and see how long you own "your" land.

Yes you do have the right to tell them no and in some states to protect that right with deadly force.

and you better kill them if you do, if a theif can sue for you defending your home and you shot him, I suspect the law will be on his side when you shoot him on your land, when the trespasser may not know their trespassing.

Not according to the Castle Law which is in effect in many states.

I couldn't find no Castle law(google turned up a bunch of law offices, eh)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Doctrine

ATV riders are not attacking you, so how does the castle law apply?

Show me where your land is protected?

Personally, no matter how nice you unless you were a well established family friend I wouldn't want you walking my land any more than I'd want you storing something in my garage, cooking in my kitchen or using my bathroom. I'd let one of my friends have access to the whole works if she asked, but that sure doesn't apply to everyone else down the road. My land isn't "something out there", it's as much a part of my home as the inside of the house. In fact, we think of the house as something that can be replaced or changed, but the land as something much more important to us.

Your neighbor might see it quite differently. Then again, he may see his land and crop as his family's livelihood and bank account, or his land as "family land" that is being appropriated step by step by outsiders.

I can look out at our front yard and see the hand cut wooden rails of our fence. Each one of those means more to me than my sister's town house means to her - because she views that townhouse as a temporary home for only a few years. Our fence was our sweat and was a personal investment in our family.

Land can be very personal, and as you talk with your neighbor you should consider that. You might be asking for permission to access a remote field and he may not mind a bit. Or you may be asking something that feels like he's being asked to let you have free access to his home. Personally, I would only ask those things of my real friends, and I would very much respect their right to say no.

Lynda

And that is your perogative. Your problem is that you refuse to recognize another persons right to say no.

Ah yes, let us all consider what Oilpatch197 has posted before. To paraphrase "I'm going to do what I want and if the owner isn't around I will go on their property whether it is posted or not". If someone else wants to search his posts for the exact phrasing have at it.

OilPatch doesn't have to be a land hog.....he jsut abuses other peoples private property.

That isn't his proogative, that is societies perogative, as many people live more in cities than in years past, the countryman has less representation than ever before, so when a city 'kid' comes out to the country with the cooler to a atv party on sombodies land, he might have respected the owners, but the ones he brings may not, and the land owner probably will not discover all the beer cans until weeks later.

General rule of thumb, if it's not hunting season, and the atv trail appears well used, then nothing will stop ATV/horseback riders.

LOL mike you have to bring up that arguement, it's called common sense, the topic is long gone, I said somthing to this effect:
If you own a 1 acre wide by 2,000 acers long piece of land with no tresspassing signs all over it, and your not around, lets say your in florida and I'm a cross counrty hiker, you expect me to go out of my way to get your permission to cross that 1 acre?
-I have NO IDEAL WHO YOU ARE
-I would have to hike to the courthouse and see who owns it
-then I would have to contact you

That is ridiculous, if its just simple farmland and nowhere near buildings I see no problem with trespassing over your goverment lease.

I had 20 acres in Montana and a retired school teacher, who had 5 acres across the road would walk his big dog across the front of our property to let his dog poop on our place. One day he started to walk in and spotted my hubby and stopped. He realized I'd seen him and he walked in and introduced himself to my hubby. I walked down from the cabin and told him right to his face that he did NOT have permission to walk on our property. The next time I went to our cabin, I was sitting out one evening; just after dark and I spotted him starting to walk in...he caught sight of me sitting quietly on the front porch and turned around and walked back out. I sent the bugger a certified letter telling him if his five acres wasn't big enough to walk his dog, he needed to move elsewhere. I also asked him in the letter what part of "your don't have permission to walk on our property" did he NOT get???

We finally sold the cabin; I couldn't babysit the place while we weren't there. The guy was a real jerk!!!

You really are amusing OilPatch. My personal experience is that it is fairly easy to stop trespassers. They just have to understand that there will be consequences to their trespassing. As I like to say, the trespasser has to get away with it every time...we only have to catch them once.

Common sense says that yes you DO have to get permission to cross that 1 acre. If you want to travel cross country then stick to the public roads. We know you have no problem with trespassing..... let's look at an earlier post (2004) of yours.....( thread is Indestructable No Trespassing Sign)

"I've learned the best things to do if ya got to go on other peoples land to fish/hike/investigate.
#1 don't draw attention- if there is trucks parked by the road, chances are there are people in the woods.
Avoid Dogs-They Bark
If your using a ATV, install a Silencer on it! Noise is Bad!
don't trespass around popular hunting seasons.
always tresspass unarmed, with knives.
If they got No Trespassing signs, just cover them up, mud, rip it down, so you can proclaim your innosence latter on
if they got that "special paint" on a tree, just bring your OWN special paint and turn that "circle" into a gang symbol.
The best time to Trespass is Mon-thrs. Usually the Landowner is at work, and the Landowner usually is off on the weekends.
KNOW the landowner, if you can."

About the best way to ward off trespassers is signs, period.

I'm talking good Heavy duty steel signs, well secured, somthing with visuals and words.






Keep the signs in good readable order, not like this one, it will be ignored:

Ahhhhh Oilpatch........try that "logic" out at Prez Bushs' little ranch down in Texas......bet you won't want to try it again!!! And if you try strolling across the WhiteHouse lawn to "get to the other side"......hmmmmmm?

Protesters Arrested Near Bush's Ranch
Yeah they sure did use land rights in that case didn't they? They Banned protesting outside of "the Ranch" walking over their right to protest in favor of the landowner by banning protest in public places?

I guess when your a wealthy landowner the cause of the "little man" isn't soo important!!

Are those signs from your personal collection of signs you have pulled down? (See quote from Oilpatch from 2004).

Ya know Oilpatch....you have convinced me to get active in getting the trespassing laws tightened up here in Ohio. We got that done with poachers (illegal hunting on other peoples land) a couple years back. Now they can confiscate anything involved in illegal hunting including your vehicle, weapons and other gear. I think that would be an excellent idea. And given that it is an election year it might even be possible to get it moving forward quickly (kind of like the proposed changes to concealed carry law that both candidates for governor are supporting).

I know my position (trespassers should have no rights) is considered extreme by some. I do have a feeling quite a few folks (property owners) would support tightening up trespassing laws.