am I going to have neighbor problems?

Could always put up a sign that says,

"No trespassing
Violators will be shot.
Survivors will be shot again"


Or

"Owners believe in the SSS security system."

If there actually is a real roughneck in the area, such a sign could really backfire on a person.

Really not that funny. Push comes to shove. Starting off with a threat is going to buy you a load of trouble.
Sure, I agree that no one has the right to be on your land. This thread was started about a folding chair and four wheeler tracks. Signs like you suggest will label you as a trouble maker and may buy you more trouble than you want. Such signs will insure that you can't step on their property or worse, get your dog shot the first time she steps off your property line.
I don't think you need to be a door mat, but get yourself established as a reasonable neighbor, before threatening to kill someone.

I would begin by meeting my neighbors. I would not automatically assume they were "bad" folks.

They may have had permission from the former owners and since the place has been vacant for a long while they may be used to having the run of it.

Let them know you have plans for the place maybe ask advice (some folks LOVE to give advice!). Ask about the area, just be what used to be called neighborly.

Then see what happens. If things stop, you have good neighbors and have made a beginning on turning good neighbors into friends. Folks you can count on when something goes wrong. We all need more of those!

If not then you can begin with cameras and signs and so forth.

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2Ti 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Luceo non uro

Glad you're not my neighbor if you can't see humor in that. It may be dry, but come on folks.


Its ok to make comments like that in a drugstore, but when you try to suggest its use in real life it's suddenly wrong.


Would it be more appropriate to say "This property protected by Jesus."

And then show a picture of a rottweiler with a stud collar and a name tag with "Jesus" on it? (Think Spanish pronunciation here)

The last time I related this I got called a liar. When you move into an area, you don't know who or what you're dealing with. I'm not saying you would be one to come off as the biggest and the baddest. A few years ago an ex-wife showed up outside her ex's trailer with her boyfriend. The ex-husband had custody of the kids which weren't present. The unarmed boyfriend was deliberately shot and killed while standing on a US highway behind the car.

The killer got off with misdemeanor manslaughter. Those types of altercations are common enough that it's called the West Virginia Gun and Knife Club in the news. Obviously you don't have something romantic going on. Until you get the lay of the land, don't do anything perceived as unfriendly. Needs killing is reality in rural areas. Law enforcement looks the other way. If you do aggravate someone make sure you ALWAYS wear lots of blaze orange when you go out of the house during hunting season. even if it's just to get the mail.

As someone else said, you get one chance to make that initial impression. You may find that one of those neighbors is a good sort that will watch your property when you're gone.

Put up a gate, lock it and give the power company a key. Also put up no trespassing signs. Power right of way isn't public access.

I don't think its legal to hunt on 3 acres. Here I believe it must be a minimum of 10.

I only fenced off where the problems were. I my case that was only 60ft or so.

Darren - it must have been a pretty naive someone who didn't believe your post. Growing up in rural Maine it was well known that hunting season was the time to "accidently" shot whomever you had a beef with. My dad did all the local autopsies, he always talked about it and how you couldn't ever prove it if done right.

To the OP - lots of good advice above. When we moved in one of our neighbors had tried to warn us off of buying it, we are pretty sure he stole the part of the heating system and water filtration system. But he and my husband get along fine, help each other out frequently. He may be more than a bit of an outlaw, and it would have been easy to get off on the wrong foot with him, but he's a good neighbor.

you need the signs, not only no hunting but no trespassing signs, get a sign that has it all..make sure your signs are not just paper or cardboard as they'll only last a year, get them in plastic..post them properly every 50 ' or so along the proprty on prominant trees or posts. Good idea that the signs say, violators will be prosecuted.

Then also yes introduce yourself to the new neighbors as many as you can reach, and especially those in the direction of the violations..and let them know that you are avid hunters and that privacy is very important to you and if anyone NEEDS to come onto your land that they should PHONE first (give your #) so that they aren't in danger of being shot .. we did that with our neighbors and they were good about it.

when you are used to target practicing and hunting on your land you don't want someone behind where you are hunting if you miss..

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Brenda Groth
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/

disregard

Hard to tell that you meant it as a joke. I live in an area where SSS can be too real. Currently, I'm staying in an area where push comes to shove results in daily drive by shootings. Posting a joke on your property line that someone might think serious, is just the first push.
Get a better feel for the neighborhood before you threaten them, joking or not. It's all fun and games until someone doesn't get the sarcasm.

pretty sure you put up a sign that is humourously put together, it would be clear. Been trying to post an actual example of what I mean, yet all it puts in the postings in a link. Not sure why pictures don't seem to work.

New neighbors moved in and put that up vs a "No Trespassing, Violators will be prosecuted" would get a less than warm welcome than something with a sense of humor to it.

Likely get a friendly visit from me a lot quicker too.

are they hunting on your property or just using the trees for some cover too shoot onto theirs?,it may be a good hunting spot that you may want to use in the future if it overlooks theirs,don't cut yourself out.
what you do now will influence evry thing that happens in the future so start off playing nice but if the situation all of a sudden turns nasty you'll have to change strategies.

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Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
Henry David Thoreau

I'm just an old country boy but I don't see a problem here....yet. putting your best foot forward as you meet your new neighbors will get much better results than putting up offensive signs. No trespassing, no hunting, no fishing, no dumping etc are very offencive to folks.its like you are accusing people of committing a crime they haven't committed.

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

We had a similar situation with our place, which includes 14 acres of prime hunting ground. The previous owners didn't really mind folks using it for recreation, and word spreads fast in a small town. When we bought the place, we found 3 deer stands set up and wanted them off. We introduced ourselves to the neighbors, some of which admitted to owning the stands and kindly removed them. We never found a claimant for the last stand, so we removed it. Our trouble was that we didn't live there for 8 years after purchase, which made it impossible to enforce anything. As a compromise, we invited a very responsible bow hunter (they obviously have a much longer season) to hunt here anytime he wanted during our absence, in exchange for keeping an eye on the place and keeping other hunters out. Seems to have worked. We've had no more signs of trespassers, and the deer population is great.

Introduced ourselves to some of the neighbors today. I think the culprits are the neighbors across the street, as they are the closest neighbor to that side of the property and I noticed a few 4-wheelers in their carport. Didn't mention the 4-wheeling or hunting, just made them aware that the property was occupied now and tried to appear "neighborly". Hopefully that is enough. I don't want neighbor trouble, but we value our privacy and quiet, not to mention we don't want to open ourselves up for lawsuits if someone gets hurt.

Speaking of which, my wife and I were doing some work in the backyard today and talking about how to handle people roaming around our property, and I looked up and noticed a little boy playing on the edge of a 20 ft. cliff in our backyard. We told him it wasn't safe to play there and he ran off through the woods. My wife went and spoke with the neighbors through the woods to tell them that we aren't comfortable with small children playing on our cliff and possibly falling; apparently the mother didn't realize he was over there. It's just funny because one of the reasons we decided to move out to the country was to have distance between us and neighbors. Maybe one day we can afford a fence.

I'll post a picture below of my place to give you an idea of what it's like:

after 50yrs here(c.n.y.)neighbors come and go.but my hedge rows are forever!

eew,neighbors way to close,north and east are gonna be problems with out boundry markers,of course it's only my opinion.

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Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
Henry David Thoreau