Four wheelers tresspassing.

[dave1949]

I didn't realize that. Here there are restrictions, but motorized traffic is generally allowed. I Jeep Colorado a lot. The National Forests there are generally open. Wilderness areas are generally closed.

Ya, there's not very much Federal lands in the Northeast. Many of the state forests in Maine are working forests that get harvested for the income. I think they also serve as study areas for the state forestry division.

Any place that gets repetitive ATV traffic gets chewed up with ruts that grow into mudholes that become runoff sources that impact streams. The cost of improving trail surfaces to prevent that would be very high. People are fussy about their trails through wood lands; they don't enjoy looking at rutted tracks and rightly see it as an abuse of the land.

It's enough of a problem here that we have a state law requiring written landowner permission to ride an ATV on unposted lands. A warden can issue a citation just not having that written permission.

Maine's open land access tradition works fine for hiking, hunting, even snowmobiles that ride on snow over frozen ground. It hasn't worked very well for ATV's and contributes to posting land--which Maine folks don't like to do.

 

[square1]

Two comments bear repeating: Get serious about it now & Increase the size of the logs to where the trespassers can't move them.
Confronting them likely won't work as they've already ignored your wishes. Around here the PD doesn't work either. ..oh sure the police come out with their chest all pumped up and give stern warnings but if the trespassers ignore them nothing is done about it.

 

[zing]

We get the same thing with our hay fields from time to time. Some guy with a postage stamp sized property in the burbs goes out and buys atv's for his whole family, and then acts surprised when people don't want him tearing up their property. The ruts they leave in my fields make it dangerous for my kids riding their horses, makes it haying harder on the body and the equipment, and reduces the yield from the field. There is an RV campground a couple of clicks up the road that tends to produce kids with atv's in the summer as well.

I won't pretend that driving over to their house and tearing up their lawn with my truck hasn't crossed my mind, but I wouldn't really do it. They used to just turn around and drive away when I approached them, but since I got my Teryx UTV for field work and dragging my ring, it is no problem catching them. They always pretend to be surprised that it bothers me to have them in my fields, but thankfully I haven't had anyone as ignorant as you are dealing with. I have yet to get a repeat offender after I have caught and confronted them once.

 

[MarkF48]

Perhaps if the land was posted with a few of these or similar ....

 

[Looking4new]

We shoot [pictures of both camera and rifle] every third trespasser, the second one just left.

 

[bcp]

Some good ideas in this and connected threads:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/218241-best-ways-stop-trespassers-when.html


A collection of links to articles:
The ATV Trespass Problem

Bruce

 

[Scooby074]

From the pics they look far too old to be acting this way!

Sounds like they were marking the trail for winter? They got snowmobiles?

Anyways, you have lots of evidence, keep on the police to address this trespass. I say this as an ATVer and Snowmobilier.

 

[zing]

Some good ideas in this and connected threads:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/218241-best-ways-stop-trespassers-when.html


A collection of links to articles:
The ATV Trespass Problem

Bruce

Interesting. In the linked article it actually says that deploying booby traps designed to disable the vehicle is legal in some states. Quote from that section...

Fortunately, NY law provides alternatives to personal confrontation. The highest Court of New York has declared that landowners have a common law privilege to "destroy" the "instrument of trespass" (e.g., vehicle) used by "defiant trespassers." People v. Kane, 142 N.Y. 366, 37 N.E. 104 and 131 N.Y. 111 ("The ownership and possession of property confer a certain right to defend that possession, [including] a defense of it which results in an assault and battery, and that which results in the destruction of the means used to invade and interfere with that possession.") Accordingly, NY Penal Law Sec. 35.05 provides: "Unless otherwise limited by the ensuing provisions of this article defining justifiable use of physical force, conduct which would otherwise constitute an offense is justifiable and not criminal when:1. Such conduct is ... authorized by law...." NY statutes specifically authorize the use of non-deadly "force ... in defense of premises" (i.e., land). Therefore, it seems that it is lawful for landowners in NY (and other common law states) to defend their land by deploying nails-in-boards, caltrops, roadspikes, etc. as is customarily done at parking lots in NY state. Road spikes, caltrops, spiked fences, etc. deployed at a perimeter are generally considered to be "non-lethal" force:
IIS 7.5 Detailed Error - 404.0 - Not Found
Yahoo! - 302 Found
404 - File or directory not found.
http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=004B4h (After "Yet another death", farmers/landowners deploy nails-in-boards to fight ATV trespass)

Of course later on it also says this...
On your "privately" owned and "posted" land you can lay boards down and if they have nails in them well it is on your land. (officially). Unofficially if the trespassers get hurt most will sue. And with our "liberal" courts the landowner is about 75% sure to loose. Wish the odds were better."


Damned if you do and damned if you don't I guess.

 

[TomSeller]

I would have crushed that abandoned ATV, picked it up with my grapple and dropped if off in their driveway. Beyond that I would block access with larger logs they can't easily move.

I would not do the nails in boards, etc. I would be mostly worried about an injury that someone sues for. Crazy that someone can trespass, get hurt and sue you, but it happens.

 

[Parkanzky]

I would not do a larger log. You'll never stop them, and you're just giving them a challenge to defy. Deal with them like an adult, always have the moral high-ground, and use the law when they force you to (which I think they already have).