Well H_E_Double toothpicks, I sure am glad to get the URL for this info.
11. Entry upon farm or ranch lands for recreational purposes--Duty of owner
Except as specifically recognized by or provided in Section 5 of this act, an owner of land which is used primarily for farming or ranching activities owes no duty of care to keep the premises safe for entry or use by others for recreational purposes, or to give any warning of a dangerous condition, use, structure, or activity on such premises to persons entering for such purposes.
How about that! Sounds pretty much like "Tresspasser Beware." For that matter, folks with permission but who are not charged a fee (paid use is covered by a different numbered paragraph) are strictly "at their own risk", as it should be.
Brief asside: Lets hear it for the sanity of the dog mauling case!!! Potential jail time is a bit light but should send a message to all the Bozos with attack trained killer dogs who allow their dogs to interface with the public.
After a year and a half I still haven't caught a litter bug on the N-S gravel road which is my western boundary. Lots of beer bottles (glass beverage containers should be outlawed or have a $1.00 or more deposit to ensure they don't end up as part of the landscape.) I really would like to catch the ones that pull off the road onto my land at my entry points where the fence is "indented" for a gate. What is intended to let ME get off the road to negotiate the gate serves as a place for the litterbugs to get off the road, park to drink beer, and toss the bottles, cans, and cartons out the window on my property. If I am bush hogging the right of way or near the fence or gates and hear the sound of a bottle breaking under a tractor tire it REALLY ticks me off.
One day while I was away, my wife noticed folks a hundred yards from my mom's back door and went to find out what they were doing. They had parked in that driveway at the locked gate, crawled through the pipe fence, and were fishing, picknicking (with a fire for wieners and marshmallows, and letting there children run loose around the two ponds and their dams. They said they were unaware that ownership had changed hands (almost 4 years) and that they had permision from the previous owner. Lucky for them I was not there! Prior to moving on to this parcel (160 + AC) I had a property manager who looked after my interests (Grazing leases, building rental, etc.) in exchange for fishing rights to the 8 ponds for him, his son, and one friend. He ran off several folks who were tresspassing and I used to get a laugh out of the stories and excuses he relayed to me especially the ones about being "grandfathered" regarding fishing permision because the previous owner let them.
Strangest case was a neighbor who treated my property like his own in my absence. He went roaring down to one pond on his 4 wheeler, armed with a rifle in a scabbard and a pistol on his belt to harrass a fisherman, shouting, "who is fishing on MY pond?" The fisherman was the chief of police from the town a mile away who was fishing with my permission, in fact,then he was the only non-family person with permission to fish on my place unaccompanied. Of course the chief, in or out of uniform is armed and the would be intimidation fizzeled like a wet match. I have subsequently had my lawyer send that neighbor a letter with a long list of demands of things he is to immediately cease, desist, and refrain from doing with any form of tresspass leading the list.
And in closing, my dear friends and neighbors... Is it just me or doesn't is seem really truly DUMB that tresspassing isn't tresspassing unless you post your land with shotgun targets (oops I mean no tresspassing signs) I.A.W. THE LAW. Seems to me that it is EXTREMELY unlikely that folks would forget that it wasn't their property or not notice the 5 wire barbed wire fence they had to negotiate to get there. Why should I have to continuosly put up signs to warn people that it isn't there land?
Patrick
