Trespassing & Neighbor Etiquette

LOL Its one of those homesteading questions that just keep interesting folks!. So Edayna Fess up what happened inquireing minds want to know!

No flour?

Shooting is never an option with a trespasser. Instead charge money.

As to asking ... you put the landowner on the spot if he says yes because now you are an invited guest rather than a trespasser. By his gracious assent he has agreed to be responsible for your health care and pain and suffering should you have any accident that he might have foreseen. By asking permission you are asking for his financial commitment to make you whole.

I respect a trespasser a whole lot more than I respect a freeloader.

Arrrgghhh... the Ghost of Trespasser's Past has arisen...

Folks, please take this kindly...
IF you own property you aren't living on, just plan on it being used by someone else. There is no such thing as unused land. Someone is going to be 'filching' blueberries, riding horses, atv's, cutting firewood, maybe even 'borrowing' topsoil.

You'll not 'own' it, in the eyes of the locals (for good or bad), till you live on it. Old patterns die hard... I still have vivid knowledge of thousands of acres of land, that I no longer have access too.

Iffen I were King of America, I'd decree that you couldn't purchase an ATV without owning acreage, or a signed rental agreement with someone 'with' acreage, or a signed permit of a public lands agency (USFS, BLM, etc.). I know way too many people with atv's that cost more than my truck, and they have nothing but a postage stamp backyard... they trespass as a rule, for all the local large tracts of private land have been leased up for generations.

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

it's all happy and gay until someone files suit for adverse possession or a right of way.

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this message has probably been edited to correct typos, spelling errors and to improve grammar...

"All that is gold does not glitter..."

Asking is good of you. The person with a gate to the field should ask. The ATVers would bother me a lot and they should definitely ask - they're destructive.

A concern is that I have read that in some places if someone uses your land without your permission long enough they can 'take' it. Nasty laws.

We have several flat hills, or mountains rather. The ridge up behind our house has about 20 acres of flat. There's another one near the north east of our land like that too. Glacier probably shaved off the top of the mountains. Big glacial drop rocks up there too. What is really amazing is there are building foundations from long ago.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Politeness is the same whether you live in a city or out in the country. I'd personally be really glad that we have dogs if I saw a stranger walking out of our woods. We have only 27 acres but they are our 27 acres. I would let people hunt coyotes on our place but I certainly wouldn't want anyone to ride an ATV. I wouldn't let anyone but relatives come play in our creek. I wouldn't want to take the liability.

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Moms don't look at things like normal people.
-----DD

My grandfather owned 79 acres that he would let a few hunt on but one of them brought more and more. They all got a visit from the game commissioner and fined when one of the young guys bragged about being in the barn and described it while at school not knowing who owned the property. I called my grandfather after school that day and most of the hunters stopped.

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I ask for so little. Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want. Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave. Jareth, Labyrinth

It doesn't happen to be my responsibility to entertain other people's children. It's not my responsibility to take on the liability for someone's injury while riding an ATV on my property. Heck, I'd like one but I cannot afford one.

I don't intend to repair ATV damage done to my property. The trails on my property are for horses, not vehicles.

It seems kind of foolish to spend all that money on an ATV if you get bored riding on your own land. If you need more trails you can modify your property to make ATV trails. Maybe you can set up your place so that you can entertain all those adolescents who don't have enough available ATV riding property.

It sounds like the OP has the right idea. It's always polite to ask. Please don't be hurt if someone says no. Cookies or pie can say thanks in a wonderful way.

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Moms don't look at things like normal people.
-----DD

Well my humble little farm is completely fenced and surrounded by other larger farms and we all have gates to each others pastures in case the animals get out. I understand the trespassing issue and like my privacy too but if someone was just looking to walk my little bit of woods like the OP presented I think I would be inclined to say yes.

What I do find kind of humorous though are the posts that dont like people shooting on their own property, dont like the sound of ATVs or dirt bikes, etc. I shoot competitively and have a range on my property (sometimes I bump fire my AR-15 on full auto even), my tractor is strait piped just like it came from the factory 62 years ago, my 23 year old Ford F-250 diesel truck has a banks turbo and strait pipes and if its under load it makes noise and smokes, I love ATVs, and you may at anytime during the day hear me grinding, cutting wood, or other things that make noise on my homestead. I like the country because I can do those things and though I also enjoy peace and quiet and respect my neighbors and dont make noise 24/7.....some of you sound like misplaced city folk searching for an HOA.

Wow, just realized this was a 2006 thread...sheesh!!

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www.salmonslayer-simplelife.blogspot.com

Texican, I agree with you that in order to own an atv you should have written permission to use a certain number of acres for riding and a way to get said atv there. I think WV has the highest accident rate and maybe death rate for atv accidents in the nation. Person almost across the road has maybe a half acre for a yard and I have counted as many as 6 atvs coming and going from his place in a day. These dumb kids try to use the main road, which is a state road with center and side lines painted, for a race track. No lights at night and loud noise at midnight is no fun. We are really surprised that someone hasn't been killed as the drilling companies run water trucks up and down the road all day 7 days a week. These same kids have been chased out of hayfields and off privite property. They or future atv riders don't realize that all you need is a pair of tire tracks going up a bank tearing off all the ground covering that this makes a big wash out real fast. I had a 4 wheeler that I used to get up our mountain but got rid of it because if someone saw me going on my land they thought here we go a new trail. No doing. No atvs allowed. Go buy your own land to ride on. Just my thoughts, Sam

We have only ten acres at the farm and it is all fenced. One year hunters wanted permission to shoot into our fields for deer and pheasants. We said no because we have goats that look very much like deer and a horse we don't want spooked. We also have a twenty acre wood lot in an area with no houses. Two fellows asked permission to hunt there in season which we allow them to do. They don't hunt when we are working in the woods with the horse and they watch the property so people don't use it for a garbage dump. It works well for us both. So I guess it all depends on the circumstances and what people want to do. For us hunting is alright but we don't want ATV's tearing up fields and woods and scaring wildlife.

We're happy to have people walking, snowshoeing and skiing. If there's enough snow they're welcome to cut across our land on snowmobiles. IF they stop at the house to ask about hunting we will probably tell them yes but tell them there are few deer here. When we had livestock we needed to be able to tell them about the goats that look like deer and the miniature cow that looked like a bear at a distance. No dogs, ATV's and take out everything you bring in.

Maine has a good Samaritan law and little tolerance for frivolous lawsuits. If I let you use my land for common recreation and you break your leg, it's not my fault. If you trespass and get hurt, not only is it not my fault, I can charge you with trespass. We live two hours from a state park. Thankfully, land here is most often shared with people who are respectful.

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Robin

sign "No Tresspassing, enforced, violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law""

I once had a neighbor kid politely ask if he could collect arrowheads on my place. I explained to him that since I had told everyone else no tresspassing that I couldnt let him either.
Then as he stood there I also explained that if someone I knew was out on open ground and not around my buildings and was fairly quiet about it The chances where pretty good Id never notice them.
Then he replied "So its ok?"
"Nope" I said ," I cant give you permission.
Im just telling you that if your quiet I wont notice."
LOL we went back and forth like that a while before he got the idea.
Ednaya if you havent asked already you might want to couch your question in terms of "If I quietly went for a walk alone on your place and didnt touch anything would it upset you?"

If you are having problems with ATV trespass lay some wire in the ruts. The wheels will pick it up and wrap it around the axle.

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"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin