Cable gate - Keeping People out

[johnnyringo]

I have land that I recently acquired and I'm interested in putting a cable across the road that I'm going to make. The property has no fence and the only thing that currently keeps people out is the fact that there are no roads on the whole 80 acres and it is surrounded by a very steep ditch on the two sides that are accessible by the main road.

I understand that if someone wants in somewhere bad enough they are going to get in. And I know ATV's are impossible to keep out. But does anyone manufacture a cable or a lock for that matter that can't be cut with bolt cutters? That seems to be the tool of choice for cutting locks and cables. Also where is good source for cable?

My plan was to bury posts about four foot in the ground on both sides of the road and attach the cable to these posts. Any ideas on how to attach the cable to the post to make it hard to get off? Of course I'm thinking about wood posts but would metal be better and have some sort of metal eyelets welded on them? I thought about using wooden posts and threading the cable through the posts like a needle and attaching some sort of eyelet with a bolt through it and grind the nut until its round. Any ideas?

 

[dubba]

I don't know if you have a wooded lot or not, so most of this might be irrelevant..

In this neck of the woods, all a cable across a road means is "There is no one here, please stay out". Those posts will come out fairly easily, just mix 2 idiots, a 4wd & a case of beer It also can be a lawsuit when some idiot decapitates himself on it.

What sometimes works better is a driveway that looks maintained until it goes around a corner, and a mailbox with a name on it. Add someone in the neighborhood that "knows them new people put a modular up there, seem like nice folks" and it's almost bulletproof

 

[Deaf]

In our area we have all sorts of gates on the various camps and they reflect the owners willingness to spend money and/or to the work themselves. The one thing for sure the last rash of break-ins we had on our road none of the gates stopped them. Mine is a simple cattle gate mounted to post with a chain and lock. The guy up the rood has a really heavy duty thick wall tube gate with a hidden lock system. I believe it slowed them down but they still got in. What amazed me was the fact they did this during turkey season and at any point in time one of the camp owners could have driven up the road. I count my lucky stars I did not show up since I normally have a firearm or two in my truck. After thinking about it for a day or two, if I ever do drive up on that I will just beep my horn and write down what type of car or truck they have and get a licenses number and let them be. Nothing I have in our camp is worth taking a life over.

One of my neighbors tells me “a gate keeps honest people honest”. With that said I would spend a few hundred bucks and put in a good solid gate with a chain or cable. Post the property line and never leave anything there you would not want stolen. Enjoy the land and sleep well at night.

 

[johnnyringo]

Yes the acreage is 100% wooded so other than the roads I plan on building it is not accessible by vehicle.

 

[bones1]

I would just post some big no tresspassing signs and put up a gate with a solar light on the mounting 4x4,not a cable.People see the light at night and assume there is power on the property and maybe someone home even if they can't see the house. Someone could slam into that cable at night and you will be held libel.
Of course a 30 ft guard tower with a mock 50 cal and G.I. dummy in it would probably work as well.

 

[1bush2hog]

I currently have a cable up, but I wrapped mine around two trees rather than using posts. The only drawback is the atver's can push the cable up far enough to get under it, although cagers can not.

I'm planning on putting up a tubular farm gate instead, just as soon as I figure out how to dig thru all the rocks and roots to get my posts deep enough.

 

[JRobyn]

Kinda a funny story... We just have a cable (an old chunk of telephone pole guy wire) around a tree on one side, and chained to a tree on the other. Most folks respect it and stay out. We have given keys to one or two good neighbors, one of which is regularly on the property since it is his "ancestral hunting grounds". He watches over it for us and he is well known and respected in the local community, so anything that goes on there, he knows about. On several occasions, he has encountered strangers there. I don't know what he tells them, but none have ever come back!

However, our piece is where a number of the now older locals grew up and played, so they are very curious and interested in us and what we are doing with/on the old place. We had "chained ourselves in" one afternoon while working and were thus very surprised to have an old pickup come down the road with several of the neighbor men inside, and their wives riding on lawn chairs in the back! They had streched the cable high enough to drive under. They were quite surprised and a little embarrased to find us there to "catch" them! It probably didn't make them any less embarrassed when my wife made the crack about gates/chains "only keeping honest people honest".

 

[dmccarty]

One of the first things we did when we bought our land was to put up a 1/4 inch cable across the road. I put in two cheap metal fence posts to hold the cable and put orange flagging on the cable. There was no way to drive around the cable. One person tried to drive their car over the cable. The fence posts bent, the car lost quite a bit of plastic, and they did not get in. Another time a neighbor saw a couple "hunters" in a PU with ATVs stopped at the cable. They wanted in. They wanted in bad. They smoked some cigs. Thought. Pondered. Got in the PU and left.

I still had people WALK over the cable but it at least made it harder to get in which stopped the trash from being dumped.

Eventually we put up a cheap tube gate which has worked except for the one ATVer that drove around the gate. Since he was dumb enough to have done this after a snow storm he was easy to track down and have a long cold chat with his mom. Now the brush has grown up and an ATV could not get in that way. Someone could tear down the gate but that will take time and effort.

We had a guy a few years ago who had problems with a group of tresspasser on ATVs. I believe he had talked to them but they kept on driving on his land. He put up a cable. They drove down the road. One guy lost his head. The Sheriff said there was not criminal charge to file. I never heard if there was a civil case. I just happened to be rereading the NC state's Extension service page about land owner liability, trespessors and such. They tell you to put up a well marked cable....

For the cable I was able to get it through the fence posts and crimp it togather. The gate has to 6x6 posts 2-3 feet in the ground that hold up the two 10' gates. There are two 4x4 posts on either side of the 6x6s with a three boards running to each post. The gates came with hinges and it was pretty obvious all someone would have to do it lift the gate off. So I put in two lag bolts just above the hinges to prevent the gates from being taken off.

Later,
Dan

 

[Highbeam]

I have an old cattle type gate with a chain and lock supported by tall sections of old telephone pole. The gate was most recently cut with a pipe cutter to get the chain out of it. I know I can't keep them out. I try and keep things out of sight from the road, make it looked mowed and maintained, keep any dumped trash picked up, and post it well with no trespassing signs. Don't put up anything so nice that people want to steal it. Nice solar lights, new cattle gates, and even nice long chains have pretty high value in a rural community.

People use cables most often in our area. Half inch is typical and around a tree with a clamp that is welded shut. Otherwise a section of well casing with a hole torched out to thread the cable through and clamp as above works for a post.

Try and anticipate that someone will break in and when they do, don't make it too hard. It is cheaper to replace a padlock than the whole gate and posts.

 

[MX5000]

In our area, we have some good solid gates to keep the locals out with their 4 wheel drive jeeps and pickups. They bring a gas torch setup and cut the gates down. One trick is to pour concrete in the posts. Usually, they just cut the pin that secures the gate to the post that the lock runs through. Scum bags are persistant and many don't have jobs, which gives them nothing to do all day, but figure out how to get through your gate. I've installed good sized rocks around the areas on the road to make it difficult to drive around the gate, they just use a winch and move the rocks or find a spot to drive around the rocks. Even if you catch them, It's a pain to posecute them. After all is said and done, they'll probably be back that same week cutting the gate or lock to get on the property again. Hopefully, your a very patient person and can manage to put up with it. Good Luck...

Howard

 

[shvl73]

How about puting the cable through a piece of pvc pipe with some reflective tape wrapped around it? Cheap and easy to replace when/if it gets wrecked.

 

[dmccarty]

The PVC idea is a good one. No matter how tight I tied the flagging it would end up in the low spot of the hanging cable.

The good thing about the cable is that it is cheap and quick. You see it used all around my area. You can always put up a more solid and expensive structure if the cable does not work.

Later,
Dan

 

[stumpfield]

...new cattle gates, and even nice long chains have pretty high value in a rural community.

It's interesting you bring this up. I put a chain across the entrance to my property (cheap but nice looking grade 70 new chain I bought from habor freight). A neighbor drove by and notice it right away. He told me that chain was too nice looking. Someone will definitely try to cut it just for the value of the chain. He said I should install an old rusty gate or something bulky that's too much trouble for most people willing to haul it away. May be he's right. I guess I need to find an old rusty gate soon. It makes me wonder if I should keep a tractor there....

 

[slowrev]

I like what a friend did. He had some remote property , posted, gate, etc and the 4 wheelers kept ripping his place up. Well cinder blocks old scrap iron etc scattered among the weeds was a bit hard on their equipment apparently
they gave it up after a while.....
I like the shot up targets hanging on the gatepost method myself.

 

[schmism]

My friend building a house in a wooded area doubled up on his "gate"

pushed a 10" tree trunk across the driveway, then a cable above it.

Even with the cable out of the way, you need more than an avg 4wheel drive to get over the tree trunk, which he has.

but again, soulution is only to keep those "snoopers" out those that WANT in, will get in

 

[midlf]

Get some Tanglefoot bird repellent and coat the cable and post with it. Then getting in will have a "cost". Moly grease would also work. You just need to have a set of "gate gloves" with you to handle the cable when you want to get in.

 

[texasjohn]

What amazes me about this thread is the number of people in various states represented... all with a single theme.... ATV folks disrespect private property and will destroy it regardless of what you do. There certainly seems to be an ugly side to some of the people in our area, whereever that is. My own experience from the property that has been in the family for over 150 years is that not only ATV people but 4WD people will do the same thing. They will enter, leave gates open, shoot both wild and domestic animals, poach, fish, even with people living on the place and obvious activity. Further, prosecution is useless. Terribly frustrating, makes one think devious thoughts to withstand the attacks on hard won property.

 

[Highbeam]

Trouble with the devious thoughts is that those same stinkers are very good at revenge. Things like scattering roofing nails over your entrance, welding your padlock shut, writing names in your field with gasoline, turning you in to the authorities for your semi-illegal clearing activity, etc. I don't have trouble with ATVS or 4wd people but I do get thieves and garbage dumpers.

 

[dieselsmoke1]

but I do get thieves and garbage dumpers.

Same here. Went out to the FIL's farm a while back, some scum-sucking sob had literally ripped the dash out of his 3000. Oh, and left a pile of trash as a memtento.

Silhouette targets shot full of holes posted near the entrance......have not seen that one before. Thanks for the idea.

 

[MotorSeven]

My east neighbor had a large cable and they cut it twice with an axe. Keeping that in mind i put up a simple coated clothes line cable w/surveyor tape tied every foot, which was just looped onto an open eyelet. I figured it gets the point across and only cost about $6. The only problems i have had in 5 years was from those that i had given permission....live and learn! If they are h-bent on getting in, nothing will stop them.

RD