Stopping a snowmobile without injury

[murphy1244]

I imagine nation wide 99.9% of snowmobilers just ride snowmobiles- without a chainsaw, but on TBN 2 posts say they do, and 0 don't. If I didn't know better, I'd think every teenager I see tooling around on his sled had a saw up his sleeve.

Maybe we don't have many TBN Teenage snowmobile riders...

 

[dave1949]

99.9% of ill-prepared sledders do not carry a chainsaw, or a saw of any kind. :laughing:

I believe their motto is: "Never clean up anything on a trail that can be ridden over or around. Just leave it for someone else to do."

 

[Scooby074]

99.9% of ill-prepared sledders do not carry a chainsaw, or a saw of any kind. :laughing:

I believe their motto is: "Never clean up anything on a trail that can be ridden over or around. Just leave it for someone else to do."

Thats it!

We usually always ran with a chainsaw on the ATVs if we weren't going mudding. Axe or bucksaw was a minimum. It was not uncommon to see some sort of cutting tool strapped to to a rack when passing others on the trails either.

 

[jel1988]

I had a similar problem with theft. It was only my newspaper, it stopped immediately when I put out a trail cam.
PS Put it up high enough so it won't be stolen or damaged.

 

[super55]

I used to snowmobile for years until it got to be too much of a pain in the *** to get anywhere. 20 years ago in my area all the parcels of land where still held by farmers that had been in the area for generations. Then all these farmers started passing away and their heirs would split the parcels into 20's and 40's and the area became a retirement community.

Anyways people all wanted their own little personal utopia and **** would freeze over before they would share it which they have every right. Most of these trails were there since the 60's and ran along abandoned railbeds and such. Sometimes people have a particular parcel that can shut down a whole trail system. Instead of completely restricting access is there a way to have them navigate so it is not so much of a particular inconvenience.

As much as people always despise snowmobilers they typically bring significant incomes to small rural communities at a time of year when most of them are at their slowest time of the year. In my area a couple individuals completely posted their property which essentially shut down what you could say an unwritten established trail system that snowmobilers could not circumnavigate. The end result was that 1 diner completely closed and 2 went only to being open in the summer costing probably about 20 people winter employment and income typically when it is most needed.

If you have lived in the area for any amount of time you probably know somebody locally that snowmobiles. It would not hurt to do a little research to see if you can work with them to jointly come to a solution. Most people don't even realize that their actions might directly effect your local gas station or restaurant 10 miles down the road.

 

[Scooby074]

I used to snowmobile for years until it got to be too much of a pain in the *** to get anywhere. 20 years ago in my area all the parcels of land where still held by farmers that had been in the area for generations. Then all these farmers started passing away and their heirs would split the parcels into 20's and 40's and the area became a retirement community.

Anyways people all wanted their own little personal utopia and **** would freeze over before they would share it which they have every right. Most of these trails were there since the 60's and ran along abandoned railbeds and such. Sometimes people have a particular parcel that can shut down a whole trail system. Instead of completely restricting access is there a way to have them navigate so it is not so much of a particular inconvenience.

As much as people always despise snowmobilers they typically bring significant incomes to small rural communities at a time of year when most of them are at their slowest time of the year. In my area a couple individuals completely posted their property which essentially shut down what you could say an unwritten established trail system that snowmobilers could not circumnavigate. The end result was that 1 diner completely closed and 2 went only to being open in the summer costing probably about 20 people winter employment and income typically when it is most needed.

If you have lived in the area for any amount of time you probably know somebody locally that snowmobiles. It would not hurt to do a little research to see if you can work with them to jointly come to a solution. Most people don't even realize that their actions might directly effect your local gas station or restaurant 10 miles down the road.

This x1000!

Usually its the come from aways that screw everything up. They retire, usually from the city, where they had a tiny 100'x100' lot, and begin their own fiefdom. Building fences. Restricting access. Weve lost several good trails because one newcomer wants to show who's boss.

Im not saying they dont have the right, but most of these trails have been in use one way or another for many years. That should count for something, but sadly doesnt.

 

[MossRoad]

This x1000!

Usually its the come from aways that screw everything up. They retire, usually from the city, where they had a tiny 100'x100' lot, and begin their own fiefdom. Building fences. Restricting access. Weve lost several good trails because one newcomer wants to show who's boss.

Im not saying they dont have the right, but most of these trails have been in use one way or another for many years. That should count for something, but sadly doesnt.

Being someone that lives in the city and purchased rural property along an abandoned railway line that had an established snowmobile trail on it that a club maintained, I can speak from personal experience... we gladly let the snowmobile club use the railway bed because they would trim it and keep it open, which benefitted us in the summer. However, it never failed that people would ride their machines off the railway and decide they could use our fields and hills for their own enjoyment, running down row after row of newly planted trees. And in the summer, dirt bikers would take advantage of the cleared trail and do the same thing. So, after a few years of having our investment being torn up by trespassing snowmobilers and dirt bikers, we closed the trail to all. The end.

 

[super55]

The funny thing is scooby you ask them why they moved/retired in the area they always say "Everybody is so nice and friendly in the area" and my personal favorite "We've been vacationing here for 20 years so we kind of have roots here".

Obviously they paid their hard earned money for the land and pay taxes so they can do what they want. Just think if reparian rights went to the middle of the lake and lakeshore owners could do what they wished with their slice of the lake. None of us would have anywhere to go boating,fishing, jetskiing etc.

I built my house just off an established trail. I have snowmobiles going within a 100 yards of my house all winter. They don't particular bother me. They are on and off the land in literally a couple of minutes and if I would have shut down the trail it would have caused them to ride the shoulder of the road for 3 miles to get back on the trailhead due to topography and other land that is posted. My two young boys always wave at them and most wave back.

I even flagged down a group of 6 snowmobilers once and I could tell they thought I was going to give them a butt chewing and asked them if they could make a sledding path for my kids on the hill. They were more than happy to help. Plus the trails help keep the deer from having walk through 3 feet of snow this year.

My neighbors to the north posted their land. A group of out of towner 8 couples with children bought an 110 acre parcel and turned it into a community farm. They actually addressed my family about their issues with the snowmobiles and wanted us to post the land to essentially block them off so they wouldn't have to be the bad people and since all the snowmobiles from the south came from our land it would be an easy solution. They had no idea that it had a snowmobile trail their since the 60's. Funny thing is I do a lot of food plotting and deer hunting and these are the same people that see no issue walking all over my land during hunting season with their dogs and have the trail cam pics to prove it.

 

[dave1949]

The fragmentation and subdividing of properties is certainly something that changes rural life in many ways, not just land access.

Who wants to open themselves up to this sort of thing? Note that the person who died was a local resident.
Maine snowmobile club needs help to maintain trails | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

The suit claims negligence that contributed to the wrongful death of a 29-year-old Madison man, Richard Pepin II, who died on the ITS 87 in February 2011.

The night of Pepin’s death, Moore was operating a groomer on one of the trails when it broke down and he had to leave it overnight. Pepin collided with the disabled groomer, although a path had been created around the groomer and it was marked with signs and other caution material. A toxicology report showed that Pepin’s blood alcohol content level was 0.119 percent, almost 11/2 times the legal limit, according to court documents.

Last week, Somerset County Superior Court Justice John Nivison granted a motion by the Pepin family’s attorney for additional time to gather evidence about the accident, which has been in court since February.

Rhonda Pottle, Abnaki’s club treasurer, said the lawsuit could be scaring people away.

“Nobody wants to step up and take responsibility and be a trail master if you could get sued. If people hear that if you’re a trail master and a machine breaks down and someone gets hurt and killed hitting this machine, there’s going to be a lot of people that are scared and just won’t do it,” said Pottle, 58, who lives in nearby Bingham but joined the Madison club three years ago.

Maine has very good landowner liability laws, but that doesn't mean you cannot be sued and you will have to spend money defending yourself.

 

[cqaigy2]

99.9% of ill-prepared sledders do not carry a chainsaw, or a saw of any kind. :laughing:

I believe their motto is: "Never clean up anything on a trail that can be ridden over or around. Just leave it for someone else to do."

I find it hard to believe that .1% of ill-prepared sledders have a saw, id like to see a link to a study supporting your information. :laughing: