Snowmobilers cutting through yard ruining landscaping!?

Or use bales of cheap bedding hay stacked against each other at angles? There has to be all sorts of things that could be used as temporary obstacles.

.

I remember about 25 years ago I was at an office party in Northern Illinois and someone came in to report two teenagers were decapitated by a wire across a trail. Party ended soonafter.

A funny thing happen to us a during the first snow storm of the year. A few snowmobiles decided to use our lawn as a thoroughfare as oppose to using the other side of the road (which is a wood lot with plenty of road edge. My better half has a old leaking cast iron pot that she fills with dirt and plants. Image something the size of 4 cinder blocks (2 high, 2 wide) frozen in the ground. One of the snowmobiles hit it and by the looks of it, lost control, almost hit a tree we planted but found the drainage ditch the county put eons ago further down the property. I wonder how long I'll be picking up snowmobile parts.

As far as posting/fencing my property etc. why? If it isn't yours, you should get permission. If they would have asked I would have let them on the property and let them know about hidden obstacles. Would they like someone doing something to their property? There are more cattle then people on the road that I live on, maybe 20 houses for 2 miles of road.

__________________
http://www.pkbrownwoodworking.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pkbrownwoodworking

I second getting some T posts and orange snow fencing. Not too expensive, easy to put up and take down, and very visible.

I agree with calling the local snowmobiling club.

Then I'd call the sheriff's office, and give them dates/times/locations. Be VERY specific.

Post the property "No Tresspassing".

How about doing what some people do when their neighbor's dogs keep straying onto their property....shoot them with paintballs? Then you can call the Sheriff's office, tell them what you did. If the police happen upon a snowmobiler later in the day who is covered in paint splatter, they'll know they have their tresspasser. Even if they don't get caught, I have to imagine that getting blasted with paintballs would be a deterrant to crossing your property........

__________________

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Miniature Bull Terriers
www.PatronusMiniBulls.com
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Agree. We have VAST (Vermont Association of Snow Travelers) and they will and have rectified such problems quickly. They will put up signs stating "area closed".

BTW, trespass laws vary greatly from state to state. Find out what laws in your states are. It may be just an issue of posting your property.

In VT privately owned land is open to public use (hiking, snowmobiling, 4 wheeling, horses, hunting, etc.) unless posted. You also may want to make sure there is no old right of way on your property. We have some defunct ancient roads that run right thru peoples yards/structures and are legally still open to public use.

Good luck.

I do not recommend shooting them with paintballs. That's just going to get you in trouble with the law.

Use the hay bales and soak them with some water.......bale-sicle barrier. And in the spring, use the hay for mulch or into a compost pile.

__________________
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons...for you are crunchy and good with ketchup!

Fenceing will somtimes work but not all the time. around here it is not snowmobiles but 4 wheelers. They have cut many 6 strand barbed wire fence posted and all. Many farmers went to a steel cable that had a lock on it. Some sued the land owner when they hit the cable even though they were almost dead center of his 200 acre farm. This proplem needs adressed badly. Many tresspass here to steal natural herbs that they sell. After posting my properity and calling the cops so that I had covered my bases I escorted 2 of them of my land at the end of a .357 and have not had any trouble since. I also called the law and told them that I had done it cause I feared for my property. They were happy enough with me since I never tried to shoot them. Next time you see them coming stand in the yard with a shot gun fire a round in the air if they don't seem to want to stop. when they do tell them that you don't want them on your land. Make sure that you do call the cops frist and let them no that you are having this problem and that you fear for the safety of our kids as you should if they are flying through your yard.

Next time you see them coming stand in the yard with a shot gun fire a round in the air if they don't seem to want to stop. when they do tell them that you don't want them on your land. Make sure that you do call the cops frist and let them no that you are having this problem and that you fear for the safety of our kids as you should if they are flying through your yard.

couldn't that get you in trouble for brandishing a weapon?

I have found in the past that a camera is sometimes more effective than a gun. Pictures do not lie and a picture is worth a thousand words. Good luck with you problem. Sam

I'm seeing lots of people saying put out line, wire etc. I don't think that is wise even if it's just above the snow. That wire or line can get knocked around and end up to high. Even a loose wire can be trouble if it gets looped or snagged on something. Then you've got the potential for a real problem. Just one flipped machine or worse yet snagged rider and things could get real bad real quick. My dad once told me of someone he knew who saw a helmet in the snow one day and picked it up. Do you want to guess what was in it? They looked around and found the machine flipped over and the body. When your going as fast as some of those machines do the wire doesn't necessarily have to be at head level and pulled tight.

My parents live on a lake and someone across the lake used to ride around it on their 4wheeler tearing up the beach areas that people had made down by the water infront of their houses. One day I went down there and confronted them (it was a younger teen/preteen girl driving with her grandmother on the back). I started off very polite, but they argued with me, saying that the property only goes down to the high water mark and that they weren't hurting anything. They tried to drive off so I took the keys out of the ignition. The grandmother called the SO saying that we were being threatening and stole her keys and such. The responding deputy knew me because he goes to the gun shop I used to work at. We both said out piece and he said that I had to give the keys back. He told them that they were trespassing and had to stay on their own property. He then asked how old the girl was and when he found out he said that she was too young to operate the 4wheeler and that the grandmother would have to drive. The grandmother protested that she didn't know how to drive it and that she have been drinking. It ended up being quite comical. The end result was they now stay on their property and tear their own property up, and my folks don't have the yard getting torn up and we don't have to worry about the kids that play down by the lake in the summer.

Moral of the story is, try to talk to them about it. It may get you somewhere

Get a camera.

We've got a guy over here named Ward Bird. It's a classic "he said, she said" with an armed homeowner and a trespasser. He says she saw the gun after he turned to go back inside. She says he charged her, waving the gun. He's now serving the minimum three years for criminal threatening with a handgun.

Yes, there's a back story about a disputed land sale, and he has a history of doing stupid things with guns. Still, it's a homeowner in jail.

I like the idea of plowing the snow into a big pile along the property line(have no plow but sounded good) but they are using my hilly uneven worn gravel driveway for a jump ramp or something .
Using Your driveway ? How about asking a neighbor to plow or just shovel it down close to the ground and then sprinkle ashes or sand right at there take off point , not Your fault that there use made it icy there and you get stuck .
Do You have the property Posted ? Trespassing with written permission only ?
Bandit

If you can afford to fence get some rebar and pound it in along your fence line. it will be the start of a fence and make it difficult for them to get by.

__________________
http://thegreatfallarizona.blogspot.com/

http://argentallc.wordpress.com/

Hm. I just caught a snowmobiler here on monday. I saw him go by sunday night (saw the headlights). Then he came through on monday and I walked up and just happened to catch him coming back. I stood in the trail and waived him down.

He stopped I asked who he was and we chatted. He wasn't a kid but a forty something year old guy who seemed decent and friendly enough. I'm not sure how I feel about this. He is my neighbor (or closest thing to a neighbor). Am I liable for a law suite if he breaks his neck riding around here?

Other than that I don't really care because he seems to just ride through (so far) and no damage done. I'm kind of straddled between being a tolerant neighbor and protecting myself from liability.