shooting..and neighbors

Nope not at all. First off remeber what we are talking about IS WHAT THE POSTER DOES TO SOMEONE ELSES GROUND.
I dont think the complainer would have said a thing if the OP had stayed on the OPs land.
Second I havent seen many here say she should stop. what most said is it might be to her advantage to be nice and relive the neighbors fears.

Two ways.
You take them to court...sue them, restraining orders etc.
OR and worst of all
You change the law to suit yourself...... scary common.

Please re-read the thread, fantasymaker. The OP clearly stated several times that the OP stayed on her OWN land, and what the neighbor was complaining about was the noise, not anyone coming on her *property* and shooting.

Worked at one on TAMU campus, it smelled to high heaven. Have helped my vet give vaccinations at several others, they smell to high heaven. This is Texas, and we have CAFOs. Hog, cattle, chickens....there is a CAFO or six for whichever critter within 20 miles of me. At that, it is better than Dalhart, Texas, because the *whole town* smells like those cattle feedlots.

There are *some* CAFOs that have the whiz bang, handy-dandy, new pumps and such, but that is entirely dependent upon state law. Most states do not have laws requiring CAFOs to control odor pollution, so it is a catch as catch can if you live in a state that doesn't have them.

You are comparing apples to oranges. And the only comparison is that they are both fruits. (An individual or a factory farm both buy land.)

My neighbor can pour used motor oil on his yard EVERY DAY for a decade, and even if the rain runs off towards me, it is not going to have a determinable negative impact on me or my property.

But if 1,000 people dump used motor oil on his yard every day, within a year, I would not be able to grow anything.

Likewise, if my neighbor gets 4 or 5 hogs, for his use, and doesn't keep them well, even though I am down wind from him, it will not adversely affect my property. My well water will still be fine, and it will not effect my health.

However, if my neighbor gets 1,000 hogs and stuffs them on his property, the place will soon be unlivable. My well water will be contaminated with bacteria and unsafe to drink, I will be breathing in that bacteria, and subject to the infections they cause, etc. It will VERY negatively effect my land, my health, and my quality of life.

Likewise most things that homesteaders and country people do. The amount that one or two people can do, even if they are not being responsible, is pretty negligible. The amount of damage a business can cause, with thousands of whatevers, though, is much, much different.

It is all about scale.

How much mercury in your food will effect your quality of life? All food has *some* mercury in it, it is a trace element. But too much of it will kill you.

There is a line that is between "It's my land and I can do what I wish" and "What I am doing is *harming* other people". The old saying that your right to swing your fist ends at my nose.

Complaining about the neighbor's target practice scaring one's goats when one lives out in the country is silly. The goats *will* get used to it, and better now, with a few rounds going off once in a while, than during hunting season when hunters will be using the land around the community as deer leases.

If the OP was opening up a gun range on her 32 acres, with shots being fired nearly constantly, then the lady would have a right to complain. A gun range could effect both her quality of life and her health.

But there are also limits on what one can do with one's own property. Every heard of deed restrictions? I live 26 miles from town, yet my property has a deed restriction on it that I can neither drill an oil well on it, or set up a CAFO. The restrictions were put on the deed 75 years ago, by a previous owner who is now dead. All of the properties surrounding me also have such deed restrictions.

There has not been a SINGLE CAFO in my county, of the many, who did not first go to court and have the deed restriction on the property they used, that specified NO CAFOs, overturned. There are PLENTY of properties that do not have anti-CAFO deed restrictions in the county that the companies could have bought, however, they were not AS easily accessible to the major highways. (It wasn't that they were UN-accessible, just not AS accessible.) Therefore, people who did their research, bought land under anti-CAFO restrictions, and made sure that the land nearby had anti-CAFO restrictions before they bought, were forced to live next door to a CAFO and have their property values plummet, just because folks with lawyers and money decided those people's lives and rights were not as important as their profits.

That is the other thing. If the neighbor lady who complained to the OP had done HER homework, if target shooting really bothered her that much, there are plenty of places to get land were there are ordinances and restrictions against the discharge of firearms. She, either through ignorance, apathy, or the seeking of a good deal, chose instead to buy land in a place where shooting and hunting on private property is unrestricted. Then, instead of again, doing the research and noting that she bought land in a place where shooting and hunting on private property is unrestricted, and either realizing she should suck it up, or that she should be more careful in the future when buying property, decided to call up the OP and attempt to get them to stop pursuing their hobby. Even though her own hobby occasionally causes an odor nuisance that her neighbors have been politely sucking up.

The OP would have been perfectly within the limits of politeness to offer a compromise and say, "Okay, my target practice that I do a few times a year bothers you. Your buck, who stinks to high heaven, bothers me whenever the wind shifts. If you get rid of your stinky goats, I'll do my target shooting at the gun range."

Then, she could have listened to the neighbor lady sputter in anger and defend her goats, and eventually hang up in a huff, and would have never heard from her again.

__________________
Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck

So she shouldnt complain when the bullets rain down on her since the OP is still on her own property?
Im sorry but the SOUND is tresspassing.

as usual, your comments don't make sense when compared with each other. You mentioned that the gunfire was scary, you said, "yes other things are loud but not as scary as the sound of gunfire. my neighbors VERY loud trctor wont likley run over my house!" So apparently you think the OP must stop shooting because it is scary to this one neighbor.

sound is trespassing only in fantasy(maker)land. However, it might rise to the level of criminal nuisance

Public Nuisance legal definition of Public Nuisance. Public Nuisance synonyms by the Free Online Law Dictionary.

It all comes down to reasonableness. routine cannon fire might be ruled unreasonable, but it is unlikely that occasional gun fire, in an area where hunting is allowed, would probably not be ruled unreasonable.

Creation of a public shooting range may very well be a criminal or civil nuisance, especially if it operated at late or early hours. An individual enjoying the use of his own land would most likely not be a nuisance.

If firing into a neighbor's land, that could be criminal on a number of levels but that has not been alleged in this case, so your comments on that are irrelevant.

The OP already stated that ~no bullets~ from target shooting went anywhere near the neighbor's property. None. All bullets from target shooting remained on the OP's property, and were collected and accounted for. What the neighbor was complaining about was the *noise*.

Those of us that do our own reloading often DO collect spent bullets from target practice to re-cast and reload. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that the OP would want the bullets to remain on her own property as well.

Again, it was stated repeatedly that the neighbor was complaining ONLY ABOUT THE NOISE, and that the OP was shooting responsible, keeping bullets in a proper bank and collecting them afterwards.

__________________
Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck

~chuckles~ The SOUND of my neighbor's tractor (he is cutting hay today) is TRESPASSING on my property and causing my LGD to bark his head off, creating a nuisance for me. I guess I should call him up and tell him that he shouldn't cut hay, or rake it, or bale it for that matter, since the noise from his tractor is causing doggie havoc over here, which is causing the goats to be jumpy.

It's a crappy hayfield anyway, and what comes off of it is crappy hay...so he shouldn't bother with it since the noise from that tractor, the few times per year that he uses it, causes my dog to bark and my goats to get jumpy, right?

__________________
Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck

[[[[..........trying to get their homestead started and a large confinement hog operation is starting up, just down the road......]]]]]

Sorry, but if you purchase land in an area where pig farms are legal, then you take your chances about pig farms.

Don't buy in areas where it is legal to do something that you absolutely can not live next to. If you can not tolerate pigs, there are plenty of places where you can buy where it would not be legal for the neighbor to raise pigs. Read the zoning laws before you buy land.

Yes but sometimes things can happen that are completely unforeseen.

Acquaintances bought timber and pasture land out in the middle of nowhere. No hog confinements in the area or planned. They checked. They built a new home with all the bells and whistles. A year later, a cell tower went up across the road from them complete with blinking lights. Now a huge sheep operation is going in within a mile from them. No pigs but lots of baaa baaaa baa-ing going on. LOTS!

Personally, I would prefer sheep to pigs but that isn't the point here.

If you live in the country you can expect certain things. Horses, Cows, Pigs (no confinements, just your usual pigs in the barn so you have bacon in the winter sort of operation) Chickens (Roosters just don't crow at dawn. Is the neighbor going to get her hackles up if a Rooster decides to crow before dawn or in the middle of the day or night as they sometimes do?) and the usual variety of country farm sights, sounds and smells. Including the sounds of hunting and target shooting.

Folks around us start sighting in their rifles and shot guns in September for the November hunt and bow hunters set up their targets for practice in August.

Amish trot their buggies up and down our road all day and sometimes night and our dogs respond accordingly barking their heads off. We don't tell the Amish to use another road nor do they ask us to pen our dogs up.

What I'm saying is that there are things that equal country living sounds just as there are city noises that you can expect when you move into town. Personally, I consider target shooting to be one of those country sounds. It doesn't bother us. So far no complaints from our neighbors (many of them shoot also).

You can't please everyone. At the most the OP can expect a sort of truce with the new neighbor. They won't be inviting one another to Sunday brunch but that's ok also. I sure wouldn't let it spoil my lifestyle. As said before, if (and OP has said they are) the shooters are practicing safe shooting habits, on their own property, shoot on! We sure wouldn't call all of our neighbors every time we loaded up a handgun to target practice nor would we expect our neighbors to call us. If they did, we'd just tell them to come on down and use our berm! We'd get a weapon or two out ourselves and shoot with them.

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I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here!

Nope not at all did you even read what you quoted from me? the last line you quoted was"
Second I havent seen many here say she should stop. what most said is it might be to her advantage to be nice and relive the neighbors fears."
Opps I didnt realize we were in a court of law here.
The point I was trying to make is the sound doesnt stay on the OPs place It travels to the neighbors and bothers her.
If it was something more phisical would it be easyer to understand the argument> Say a cloud of poision gas?

Yes its the noise we get that , Whats hard to understand that the noise is theALARM for a situation?

Yes, but Fantasymaker. What if the neighbors goats make noise or smell (never met a goat that smelled GOOD, sorry. I like goats but the truth is the truth). If the smell travels over the property line, or the sound of their bleating travels does that mean that the neighbor is trespassing on the OPs land? Does the OP then have the right to complain because she doesn't like the smell or sound of goats?

Then neighbor deserves to own goats just as the OP and her husband deserve the right to safely target practice on their property.

Sorry, you cannot contain sound, noise or smells on a farm. Even if the sound is from target practicing. Isn't even logical to think you can, any more than you can contain the sounds of traffic, kids or civilization (if you want to call it that) in the city.

Nor can you get along with all of your neighbors all the time. True, there are some neighborhoods, even rural where you are blessed with lovely neighbors, but the likelihood of getting along with ALL your neighbors All the time isn't logical to expect either. The best you can hope for is a state of ignoring one another when you have a neighbor you don't get along with.

I respect your opinion, but I just do not understand how anyone can consider noise to be a trespassing offense.

Noise happens.

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I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here!

The discussion here is just going around and round in circles and is not making any headway.

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This is the government the Founding Fathers warned us about.....