Four wheelers tresspassing.

[ArmyPair2]

We bought 22 acres of forest land 5 years ago to build our new home on and to have some peace and quiet. This land was never posted till we got it and has many old logging trails on it. After I was done with the house and had some time I posted all the trails leading off the property to the end of five streets. The first year we had a few hunters that thought that forest is forest and they had hunted there for years and who was I to say no now. We also had a few four wheelers keep coming threw on weekends and again was told we have done this in the past. Now before some one says it I am not anti hunting as my freezer now has 110# of venison burger in it (been a very good season so far). I also owned a four wheeler for many years and loved ridding. I have always looked up the owner of any land I wished to hunt or ride on and got permission FIRST.

After the first two years of living here the trespassing had come to an end and we have enjoyed our land for three years with out any problems till a few weeks ago when I notice some one had gone up and down all my trails and dug them all up with a four wheeler at high speed. I placed a few large logs across the trail they came in on hopping they would not return. The next weekend we were out on Sat. and on my Sunday walk found the logs moved and the trails dug up even more and many trees painted with bright orange paint. I checked a few of my trail cameras and found a picture of a woman holding a spray can of paint.


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I put all the logs back across the trail and put up a camera at the entrance from this street and a sign in the middle of the trail with a note that you must call my number before entering my land please. The next weekend we were gone on Sat. again and on my Sunday walk found the logs moved once again and some nice pictures of the four wheeler.


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I know someone that lives on the street they are coming in on and asked them if they had seen anyone and was told no but that they would keep an eye out and call if they saw anyone. Well this past weekend they called and said that someone from the house across the street from them had just drove two quads out of their garage and down the street to our land. We were not home but headed there after the call. It was about two hours before we got home and I walked out back to find all the logs moved once again. This time I walked out to the street and call the police and had a cruiser meet me in front of the house the quads had come from. It was a very good friend of ours that showed up and asked what I wanted to do and I said I just wanted him to go down the trail to see that it was posted and that I did not want anyone coming on the property. As we walked back out to the street someone in the house was watching so he asked if I wanted him to talk to the owner. I left it up to him and headed back down MY trail to put the logs back and go back home.

The office called me to let me know that it was that house and that the lady in the house said her husband and daughter had gone for a ride and was put out that I had a problem with them ridding on our land. She even told him if that was the kind of neighbor we were going to be well. I took a walk later in the day and this is what I found on my trail.

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The officer called and said that the women had called and said her daughters quad had broke down and that they had gone back home to get a rope to tow it. I walked back and sat on the log to wait for him to return and asked why they had not asked for permission to come on our property. To this he had no answer so I offered to get my tractor and get the quad out of the woods to the street and told them I did not want any trouble just to be able to enjoy the land we had paid $300,000.00 dollars for in peace. So yesterday I was in the back yard and who should go driving by but this same piece of crap.

Sorry for the long post but I just needed to get this off my chest. And what do you think I should do now. Perhaps I should take my tractor over to their back yard for a spin .

I have respect for all of you that try to work things out but for me it only takes one time and a example will be made out of the offender. Maybe it is just me but I go by that old saying " give a inch they take a mile" but then again you have to live with them.

The info was good that you should document everything you can and file it. The only non lethal advice I can think of is can you use something like a spike strip like johnny law will use to stop a vehicle? It's your land as long as you pay the property tax and maybe you can send them a bill to restore your land to make them think twice.

There will be a time just being the good neighbor that you want to be will just not work with others. I commend you for your patience for I have zero. Booby Trapping your own land is " Against the Law in most if not all the states" but the combat engineers taught me some nasty tricks.

If worse comes to worse get a lawyer and make them pay for his or hers service. Remember just keep the side of the law on your side and you will be ok but that is just not me.

From what I have seen posted you got some good advice on how to resolve this issue and now it is up to you to act or give up. P. S. you missed a good opportunity to sell a vehicle on Craig's List.

 

[Looking4new]

Tank traps, only not as big come to mind.

 

[sld]

I'd go with the calm cool collected face to face talk.

Be direct but don't make any threats directly. Just imply them.

I would have zero tolerance for this stuff. You have way more patience than most.

 

[pokerboy57]

I use much bigger logs......

 

[newbury]

I've got a power line ROW that run's diagonally across my little 75 acre lot about 75 yards behind my house. When we started moving in about 3 years ago there was ATV traffic across it about twice or more a week. Ruts were getting so deep it was impassable in places and they were starting to make trails to go around.

In Mississippi all land is private

In the State of Mississippi any person who enters the land of somebody without consent or without being accompanied by the landowner, lessee of the land, or representing agent will be guilty of a misdemeanor or more, depending on intent.

Read more : Mississippi Trespassing Laws | eHow

I started going out and using it as a shooting range for my 12 gauge, at rather random times.

Haven't heard an ATV since.

 

[MossRoad]

We had a similar situation about 20+ years ago when we bought our land. Someone decided to put about 2 miles of dirtbike trails criss crossing the property. They used saws, marked the trails with directional arrows, made ramps and jumps, etc.... So, I posted no trespassing signs wherever the trails went on or off our land, put up orange surveyor's tape all over the trees near the entrances and signs that the land was private and the trails will be closed in a month. Then 3 weeks, 2 weeks, etc... On closing day I cut down several 10"or so diameter tress and formed them into large X's across the trails and wrapped them in orange surveyor's tape. Came back the next week and the logs were tossed to the sides and trails being used. Put them back up. The next time they stole the logs completely and dragged them down the trails onto other people's property. So I called the cops. Showed them the muddy trails, followed the trails across several other owners' lands and out onto a road where the mud tracks on the road led away. Followed the mud tracks down the road to a house on about 1 acre. Several dirt bikes and ATVs. The cop had a talk with them and it never happened again.

Its quite frustrating to take the high road, ask people politely to stay off your land, take the time to close the trails and post the land only to have people not only ignore the obvious signs, but to actually take down barricades and remove them.

What it really boils down to, as others have mentioned, is someone moves out to a rural area and sees all that land as a great place to turn their kids loose on without asking for permission first. Now, I would not let people ride motorized equipment on my property, but I'd certainly let them walk or hunt it if they asked. Very frustrating. I feel for the OP.

Give the police the photos and ask them to talk to the neighbor and tell them you will press charges if it ever happens again. Don't be nice about it. Don't go over there. The neighbors don't get it. The police do get it.

 

[EddieWalker]

There is the old saying that good fences make for good neighbors. Of course, some people will never get it and think that just because they got away with something for so long, they are entitled to it. My guess is they are angry at you for taking away from them what they think of as their play ground. Getting the law involved is probably going to be your only way to resolve this. Just be sure to put up more cameras, including some on facing your house because vandalism is a favorite way for cowards to react. If they cause any damage to your place, then it's time to file charges and then go after them for the cost to repair what they destroy plus damages to the point they have to sell their house to pay you back.

Eddie

 

[Gary Fowler]

I am glad we don't have that problem anymore. When my Brother in law and I first bought our42 acre parcel, the large pond on it had been fished for many years by locals. Some would come in and fish all day, take home a large catch also (verified by contractor building B.I.L's house). Taking large catches from a pond will fish it out pretty quickly. We put up no trespassing signs first but folks kept coming even as the first house was being built. Finally we put in auto closing gates to driveways and that pretty much put a stop to unauthorized visitors.
Fencing is usually a pretty good deterrent but some folks think nothing of cutting a fence to trespass especially if the area is out of sight.

 

[Looking4new]

There is the old saying that good fences make for good neighbors. Of course, some people will never get it and think that just because they got away with something for so long, they are entitled to it. My guess is they are angry at you for taking away from them what they think of as their play ground. Getting the law involved is probably going to be your only way to resolve this. Just be sure to put up more cameras, including some on facing your house because vandalism is a favorite way for cowards to react. If they cause any damage to your place, then it's time to file charges and then go after them for the cost to repair what they destroy plus damages to the point they have to sell their house to pay you back. Eddie

Eddie has a good point there. They sell their house to pay for the damages and problem solved. House sold, they move.

 

[JamesHW]

In NY State if undeveloped land is not posted it is legal for people to use it for recreation. I have 80 acres and am only there for about fours weeks out of the year, so when there we occasionally hear ATVs on our numerous trails (used to be pony trails used by my mother and uncle when children). I started posting the land (due to some dumping about 8 years ago of some appliances and carpeting), but have only done about 40% of the border (every 100 foot is the requirement), focusing on where the trails access from the road and the rear of the property. I've gotten pretty good at determining where the actual line is and in the woods place my posted signs back a bit from where I estimate the line to be so I do not tread on any neighbors toes. Posted signs encroaching on a neighbors property are usually by law exempted from any possibility for adverse possession issues. You can also post parts of your property and leave others open for access if desired. NY State provides "Ask" stickers you can put on your signs if you want to. NY State exempts home owners from liability if someone injures themselves while recreating on your land. Since my posting is not complete it is possible hunters may enter the property from a different approach away from any signage and they would be in the right unless I had expressly forbidden them or the posting was completed.

Obviously man traps, spikes, caltrops, barbed wire placed at head level across a trail or an open well not covered would open a land owner to liability inn my opinion and should be avoided unless you like being sued for everything you own as others have advised.

Maine, the OP's state, has even looser requirements for posting for posting you land. I do not think anyone has mentioned painting prominent purple one x eight inch paint stripe sat least 3 foot off the ground that can be painted on trees or rocks. Also in Maine you can make signs that specifically state what you are restricting, like no motorized vehicles. My reading on Maine's requirements is that just the purple stripe every 100 foot and at every vehicular entry point qualifies as posting the land and you do not even have to do the entire property to show intent and restrict access. In NY State they state if you send a registered letter to a person known to be trespassing stating they are prohibited from entering your land, you do not even have to post the land for that to be considered trespassing if they do set foot on your property without your knowledge. This might be a way to go since the OP knows his trespassers. A lawyer could write a good, tactfully written letter for not a lot of money and maybe even send it under their letterhead for added weight.

As for our place, there are a few spots where the pony trail is a bit rutted from ATV traffic, but since the property is mostly sand and drains quickly, and the trails are mostly well established, there are few bad spots. I can tell from the condition of the trails that the ATV'ers do not approach my field where I have barn timbers stored or our house and stay on the trails farther back on the property. Since we are only there for a short while for our working vacations fixing up the old house and clearing brush and some modest timbering, we made a choice not to get in a twist about the incursions. It has only been a few hours on weekends, so I have felt no need to confront anyone, at least until we are living there full time. I did stop one fellow on an ATV a while back who had traps on his bike and when asked admitted he was trapping on my property. I explained we do not allow hunting of any sort (my late Mother's wishes at the time) and he said he would remove the traps.

There is one trail which enters the property at the SE corner, as far as possible from where our house is. It covers a small level path of about an acre and then descends a 45°m 50' incline to a flat swampy area where an active stream runs, crosses a makeshift log bridge and then ascends the other side, up another 50 foot. Fairly gnarly trail and I could see the attraction. I posted that corner some years ago where that trail enters and noticed that the trail is becoming overgrown and unused, so at least at that corner the posted signs are doing their job, or the ATV'ers stopped for some other reason.