Trespasser with a tractor!!

[kebo]

This was a bit humorous and does involve a tractor, so I thought I would share it. My hunt club has our two main leases in one location that are adjacent to one another. The smaller tract is 274 acres, the larger is 360 acres. The owner (who buys/sells/owns and manages land for timber production) had this 274 acre tract thinned out this past summer. One narrow strip maybe about 1 acre wide by 5 acres long was completely clearcut because it was separated from the rest of the tract by a set of RR tracks. Because of the RR tracks blocking access, the loggers had to get permission from another tract owner to cross their land and use the nearest RR crossing (also on that same tract) to get to the nearest paved road. This adjacent land was also leased to another hunt club.

Last Friday afternoon, as I was driving by the club, I looked over at the RR tracks (which run parallel to and are only about 100ft or so from the paved rd) and just on the other side where the 5 acres had been clearcut, I saw a black truck with a trailer and tractor on it. I was pretty sure it wasn't any of the guys in my club so I turned around and parked at a pulloff on our lease. Walked through the woods and began watching the guy. He was unloading the tractor so I just wanted to watch and see what he was going to do with it. Soon he started using the bucket to try and push some brush piles around. It looked like he was maybe clearing out some area to plant a food plot?? The guy had a subcompact Zen-Noh tractor with a Koyker loader on it. It couldn't have been more 20hp, but that tractor ran quiet as mouse!

Well, I don't think he spotted me right off cause I was standing on the shoulder of the tracks (opposite the side he was on) and I was visible from about the waist up. Anyway, I watched him for about 10 minutes or so before he finally acknowledged me and waved at me. Shortly after, he shut it off and walked over to the tracks. We introduced and I asked him if would mind telling me what he was doing. He said he was trying to clear out a place for a food plot. I informed him that he was doing it on the wrong property!!! He said that when he joined that club, he was told they leased everything on that side of the tracks. I told him that was not totally correct. I then pointed out the orange paint on the boundary trees that bordered the small clearcut where he was planning to hunt. Everything on the side of the orange paint where we were standing at was part of our lease!!

Turns out he was from Brevard, NC and that he had only been in that hunt club for two years. He was really nice about it, as was I. He asked if he could leave his truck and trailer parked there while he worked on a couple other food plots he wanted to put in on their lease. I said no problem, I know how hard it is to maneuver trucks with long trailers on these logging roads. I explained to him that because the loggers had used their logging road, it appeared that this strip was part of his lease, since the logging road led right into it. He then thanked me and apologized for disturbing me. I told him it was no problem, no harm done. So, I got back in the truck and left and he went on about his work, but on their lease!!:thumbsup:

The end result is that it was good because we got this cleared up before he had a chance to hunt it. That could have resulted in a trespassing offense and a fine. The other thing we learned is we need to get over there and put up a cable or a gate where their road ends at our property line, and put up some posted signs as well. Really though, we would like stay on good terms with this other club. We might want/need road access to that small strip ourselves one day and have to go through their gate to get to it. Right now the ONLY way we can get to it legally is to walk across the tracks, since you can't drive anything across the RR tracks. I seriously doubt that Norfolk Southern would spend a dime to put in a crossing for us just to get a tractor over to that 5 acres.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Sounds like two reasonable people avoided a problem.
I have a question on your club. How many people hunt the 534 total acres at one time ? Does each have their own stand or area or does everyone go where ever when ever? Just curious how clubs do it. There are none or very few up here. My land is not posted and at times there are to many hunters (IMO) and they get in each others way. They dont seem to be bothered by it but I am.

 

[kebo]

Sounds like two reasonable people avoided a problem.
I have a question on your club. How many people hunt the 534 total acres at one time ? Does each have their own stand or area or does everyone go where ever when ever? Just curious how clubs do it. There are none or very few up here. My land is not posted and at times there are to many hunters (IMO) and they get in each others way. They dont seem to be bothered by it but I am.

My club has too many members, that's jmho though. There is no "limit" as to how many members could hunt the 634 acre main tract at the same time. I tend to hunt a couple of our other smaller leases a few miles from the main lease, less crowded there! You can put up your own stand(s), but if you're not in it, then it's technically *open* for some else to hunt it. We preach respect and courtesy though. Not fair for someone to work hard and put up a nice stand, and then opening week another club member takes a nice deer from it while the stand owner is at work. Each club is different though. Sounds like hunting up your way is the way it used to be here many years ago.

 

[Redbug]

Kebo...That sounds like you made a friend. You guys traded emails/phone numbers? Maybe have him as a guest and vise versa...and enjoy both properties.

 

[sandman2234]

Might want to confirm even walking across the tracks isn't trespassing. I had a run in with a train and the attorneys talked differently. Railroads are paying to close crossings to limit liability and chances of encounters with vehicles and yes... people so your statement is probably well founded about not getting a crossing installed.
David from jax

 

[tallyho8]

We have had dealings with the railroad for years. If you want to put in a crossing (Federal, State, Local or Private) you must agree to close 2 present crossings.

Even the federal highways have been forced to follow this rule.

 

[TripleR]

Property lines are often hard to determine. A few years ago someone was logging Royal Palowania trees. I drove by him several times and didn't pay any attention. A little later our neighbor called and asked if we knew someone was logging on our land. I said, no but someone is logging on yours. He then informed me it was our land and showed us the property markers. I called a Deputy Sheriff friend of mine and he hopped onto the back of my ATV so we could get close to where he was logging. Our only access to that piece of property is by going through our neighbor's driveway around his house, through his pasture and back down through the woods. That was the last and probably only time I have ever been over there.

We have a crossing the BNSF has been trying to pay us to close for years, but the people who farm our land need it to get equipment in without having to go around the highway. Chances of getting any RR to put in a new crossing are probably non existent.

 

[kebo]

Property lines are often hard to determine.

So true!! Lot's of times you can't follow unmarked boundary lines, especially if both tracts have the same age timber on them. That's one thing about all the timber management going on here. It usually makes it easy to tell where the boundary lines are due to the age difference in tree growth.

Chances of getting any RR to put in a new crossing are probably non existent.

My thoughts exactly, UNLESS you have very good connections with someone on the inside of the RR company who has some pull.

 

[kebo]

We have had dealings with the railroad for years. If you want to put in a crossing (Federal, State, Local or Private) you must agree to close 2 present crossings.

Even the federal highways have been forced to follow this rule.

Hypothetically speaking:
How can a land owner who has NO crossings (but wants one) agree to close two, just to get one on their land??

For the last ten years I've worked for two different companies (not at the same time) that sell equipment to RR's and have not heard of this rule. Not saying it's not true, it's just new to me and I've been out on many trains working on company equipment and talked with a LOT of railroaders.

I can certainly understand why the RR doesn't want to add anymore crossings though, unless they just absolutely have too. It adds more maintenance costs, and increases the chances for a train vs car accident.

 

[LBrown59]

Hypothetically speaking:
How can a land owner who has NO crossings (but wants one) agree to close two, just to get one on their land??

It's not the land owner it's the RR.