Protecting seedlings from snowmobilers?

[gregsons]

A suggestion CYA. What everyou do , and it may be too late, do it before the club marks the trail. If your going to put up a fence do it ASAP. never do anything once the snowflies. you could be found liable for injuries. Same story here, Small farm guy got upset due to sleds on his winter wheat field so put down RR ties, snowmoblier was hurt bad and later got a large check in the mail.

 

[merrickvilleguy]

I have a 20' gap on a private road that goes down my property, after having issues with snowmobilers going in there and getting stuck (and knocking on my door for a tow) i put a length of 3/8" nickel plated chain across it along with long strands of orange trail marker tape ... haven't had a problem since

if thats not possible, try the skid idea with some marker tape/caution tape tied to it ... a note tho ... the yellow stuff tends to be hard to see with a bit of snow blindness, so see if you can find orange or red

 

[rjkobbeman]

Why are clubs marking trails on private property?

 

[gregsons]

Here by me clubs will have trails on righ o way along roads so your front yard on the outside of snow pile from plow. story of the farmer was one side of hedge row was club trail ( not his property) and on other side his property. i cant remeber why they would always go on his side..... maybe bumpy trail? They would meet back up with the club trail about 700-800 feet later.

 

[PILOON]

Couple of years back, during a TV interview, snowmobile club stated that land owners needed to share their properties with sledders!

A land owner who had a tree plantation was getting is tree crops damaged by the sleds and the mayor of that town was the person who made that dumb statement.
Shucks let the sledders purchase their land like that tree farmer did.
What do they not understand.
A person does not purchase land with hard earned money to share with wild drunken fools.
Private is just that PRIVATE!

The mayor of that town was quoteing all the economic windfalls from sledding activities.
(think he owned the local bar and motel)

Put up a sign; CAUTION LANDMINE FIELD AHEAD
or
stake your trees with lengths of rebar; you do want them to be real straight, don't you?

 

[GGB]

I used to trail ride on motorcycles when I was younger. A lot of fun-I've still got 3 bikes, but seem to have more fun on the tractor and mower these days....I'm not complaining, though!

In our area, we don't get enough snow for snowmobiles, so I confess that I'm not familiar with what goes on further north where that is a huge winter time activity. Still, it is hard to understand people going on private property without permission. When we were trail riding on motorcycles, we wouldn't have even considered going where we thought might be private property. There were and still are public riding areas we could use that were plenty of fun. Same with going hunting, which I still enjoy.

Unfortunately, I know that not everyone is that considerate. Maybe growing up in a small farming community, with most of our family and friends involved in farming makes one more sensitive to the importance of private property. I know my Father certainly instilled that in me, and my Grandfathers would if he hadn't.....

Oh well, maybe I'm just showing my age. I just know that it would really make me unhappy if someone were trespassing on my property today without my express permission. When you spend your precious time and money on something for your own use and enjoyment, it's no small wonder folks consider drastic attempts to keep people out.

GGB

 

[GGB]

I should add that I'm not condoning drastic attempts to keep people from trespassing, but I can definetly understand the frustration. Most of our frustration comes from trespassing from hunting and fishing. I love to hunt and fish-that's why I work to make our properties better for those activities.

At our home place, we've got a pond with a nice rock seawall just 10 yards from the back of our house, which is one of the big reasons we bought this place. I've restocked the pond, spent a lot of time cleaning up excess cat tails and other weeds, and worked to keep algae in check. I've come home more than once to find people fishing in our backyard, with the excuse that a neighbor told them it was okay. I do give permission to our neighbors-great people, and I don't mind it when they have the occasional guest with them (usually friends of their kids), but the guests (kids) then took it for granted that they could come out anytime they wanted, with or without the neighbor. My neighbor had not told them they could be there anytime. Fortunately, he took care of it-he wasn't any happier about it than me.

This is tame stuff compared to the horror storys I've heard and read about here and elsewhere. Others haven't been so lucky-too many stories of property owners being assaulted or killed when confronting trespassers. We had a fellow in our home county nearly die when he confronted what turned out to be a father and his two teenage sons who were poaching a deer. The father shot the property owner to keep from being caught. Fortunately, the shooter was caught, prosecuted, and is now jailed for what I hope is a very long time. Little wonder we have generations of people with little respect for others property when they have parents like that.....

Again, I love to hunt and fish. Over the years, when we were with other friends hunting or fishing on someone's property, we never took it for granted that we could come back to that property without the people who had permission, unless we had contacted the owner ourselves to get permission. I thank my parents for that lesson in respect.

GGB

GGB

 

[radioman]

ggb- issue is that land for riding is getting less and less every year and there are more and more snowmobiles being made. When there ar less land to ride on, sometimes trails gets broken by owners who got fed up with bad riders so new trails needs to be made. sometimes old trail is still there but need detour by riding on roads then back on trail. some riders ignore this with no sense of respect.

compound this problem with faster and lighter snowmobiles with lots of power. mentality has it where people buy them and WANT to use all that power but no place to go but on private lands that looks WIDE open. Its a shame that snowmobles are not being used as workhorses anymore, but for entertainment only with TOO much power.

I grew up with snowmobiles and currently have one for kids to ride on grandparants land for fun, but we don't go on trails as there are too many riders showing off and making bumps on trails. Its not what I want to teach my kids.

 

[GGB]

Sounds similar to here and most other places. The "bad" actors/characters have caused many formerly agreeable property owners to place their land off limits to everyone. Liability concerns have also caused many owners to close off access.

It sounds like your kids have good parents, too!!!! Thanks!

GGB

 

[RoadHogg]

I do not envy you guys and the litigious society you live in....

I like many, many things about America, especially now that your Commander in Chief is able to exit off the side of the stage where the door is unlocked, but the concept of having to worry about being sued for protecting your property blows my mind!!

Hot coffee anyone??

-Jer.

It works that way in Canada too. Put up a fence around your property in the city, someone runs into it, you can make them or their insurance company pay for it. Put up a fence around your property in a rural area, someone runs into it, they can sue YOU for damages, and will likely win.

That's because lawyers and judges usually are born and raised in the city and their concept of property ownership in rural areas is somewhat askew. They seem to think that all that empty land (the same land that provides their steak dinners and puts bread on their table) is worthless and nobody owns it so it is free for the use of anyone who comes along.