Clearing Forested Fence ROW

MarEng · Jun 13, 2006

HighBeam:

Nothing read into or inferred from your suggestion re: barbed wire. However, the number of times I've been told that because I'm a Deputy I can just shoot people is staggering. I work under even tighter rules than a homeowner - even when I'm acting as a homeowner. I have these discussions with my wife on a regular basis - and she was a Deputy.

My prayer is to finish my involvement with law enforcement with as many holes as I started with and with all my bullets still in the gun.

I do however intend to use my understanding of the law to its fullest extent and prosecute whenever possible - especially when I've had a face to face and been told where I can go and what anatomically impossible acts to perform when I get there.

Here's to hoping that stout fences make for good neighbors . . . I really don't want to start a battle I'm not completely certain I can win.

To steer back to the original content. I will take the chainsaw and the FEL and try to find my way to the corners this weekend. Once the corners are built and set I'll start clearing the southern ROW. I'll see if the wife can make some pictures. The tractor is looking extra mean as the grill ate a stump last week - the beginnings of the road warrior look.

Highbeam · Jun 13, 2006

I just mowed my property line roads over the weekend. The longest is 1200' straight and this is the first time I've needed to mow it. I just run the tractor as close as I can to the fenceposts and it leaves a sharp looking trail. If you can find the corners and see one from the other then you are in great shape to just use a rifle scope setting on one corner looking at the other. Points on line are easy. If you have a single hump between corners from which you can see both corners then you willneed a simple and cheap transit that you can use to loacate your instrument on line and then glass each corner to set points on line.

I have found it very useful to then string the line with mason string so that I can set fence posts. Remember that once you fence the line that you can't get to the other side to remove brush and junk that is setting really close to the fence. So it is pretty important to actually clear a little bit on each side of the fence.

In your line of work, motion activated game cameras have gotten to the point of taking very good and clear color photos that are more than adequate to identify the trespassers. The cameras can be located and operated as not to alert the trespassers to their presence. Your credibility as a deputy goes a long ways towards getting some enforcement done where folks like me are given a lower priority so I think you will find success.

MarEng · Jun 13, 2006

HighBeam:

The game cameras have already been in use - pointed at my barn before we moved on property. Found some beautiful deer, some very curious squirrels and no interlopers. Will move the cameras to the back once the fence is up, to catch anyone cutting fence.

john_bud · Jun 13, 2006

On the use of game cameras. A few years ago, I had a group that wanted to lease my land for hunting. Had the check in hand. They went out and were harassed by young hooligans on 4wheelers. I lost the lease, which was five thousand dollars in a multi year deal.

So, I re-posted and had the signs "fall off". So I put them back, and added a note that due to trespassers costing me $5000 in a lost lease, I would fully prosecute any and all persons found on the property. AND if they were identified as the hooligans they would be sued for the lost lease plus expenses. Then I hid a game camera so that it covered the trail and the sign. Many people stopped and read the sign. None went in. I write good "grumpy note".

I have been thinking of adding a new set of notes. Declaring the land a "Hunt club" and posting daily charges. Something like, trespassing $250. trespassing during hunting season $500. Unauthorized hunting $1000 - defined as having a weapon or being with a person with a weapon. Driving on the land - $1 per foot traveled during non-hunting season. $2 per foot during hunting season. Game cam's are so cheap now that you can put up signs like that and have a cam on each one. It should help in small claims court, a pic of them at the sign - doncha think?

jb

firemanpat2910 · Jun 13, 2006

I swear this is a true story. We put a camera up at my buddy's stand, well inside his property line, 200 yards from his house,less than 100 yards from the shop,boat sheds and tractor sheds. He went to check on camera one day and as he got close it looked like it was crooked on the tree. when he got right up to it the lid was not closed correctly,and when he opened it up the film was gone and somebody put $4.00 in where the film roll goes. Must be a poacher with a concience.
He will trespass, but not "steal" the film.(oh I did get accused of taking female riders on my 4 wheeler and having to get rid of the evidence,but I swear I didnt do it, heck if I had I would have at least developed the film and let him have copies !!!)
So If you put up cameras secure/hide them.

MarEng · Jun 13, 2006

I set my camera almost at ground level - usually hidden in a patch of scrub. Seem to get much better sensitiviy and pictures than my Father in Law who tries to get his UP UP UP. Besides the wildlife, I got some really good pics of the guys putting in my power poles. They couldn't have been 10' from the camera. I did disable and tape over the flash to get rid of the reflective bits.

I will add some signs to my fence when done. POLICE TRAINING AREA - FIRING RANGE ought to do it. Of course I will also splash around a lot of the purple paint required here in Texas. It's funny, our county range is at the end of a long isolated road near a prison and nothing ever comes up missing - despite the calibre of people who drive by every day.

slaveToHorses · Jun 13, 2006

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I will add some signs to my fence when done. POLICE TRAINING AREA - FIRING RANGE ought to do it.)</font>

Excellent!! I love it!
Some of us citizens are behind you, officer...
I wonder what the official color is here in Oregon