I wonder if my comments about the guy I saw that dug a hole that "trapped" a vehicle started all this "trap" talk? If you have a road you don't use that has water over part of it and your property is properly posted, there is nothing that puts you under a liability risk if the mud is a little deeper than yesterday. The people weren't at risk, they were only 100 feet from a paved county road and just had to pay a nice tow bill or find someone to get them out and maybe drain the dirt and water out of their engine. (unless they remembered to attach the snorkel).
Sometimes it's hard to know where the national forest stops and private property begins unless it is posted or their are obvious signs, fences etc that would tip you off. If you are on 10 acres near a county road their's no excuse for it. I had a bozo come out and start target shooting 300 feet from my house. Upon questioning, he thought he was "out in the country." Yeah, right, with visible houses across the road and 4 mailboxes 200 feet from him. I also had a man and wife (40s?) riding 4-wheelers part of my property that had uncut grass on it, in JULY, and they were both SMOKING!
They had actually moved a couple of logs I had across the particular driveway.
As an ex dirt-biker and now Jeeper I know the adventurous feeling! I also know there's lots of places to explore without infringing. Of course that's before the Forest Service, under pressure from do-gooders who want a non vehicle wilderness from the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean get done "restoring" all the roads back to what they were. Then if there is a lightning fire they can let it all burn like Yellowstone so it can be "natural".
Anyway, personally I tend to welcome strangers under most circumstances. I heard some noise one day, went over and heard language I thought I could identify but couldn't believe it. There were a few Vietnamese, a couple of families I think, walking around on the edge of my woods picking bracken ferns, which are about as worthwhile to me as rocks stuck in my bucket teeth. I tried to tell them nicely they were on private property, I don't think they knew what I was saying or not, but after watching them, including the ancient grandparents struggling to bend over, I grabbed up as many as I could carry and helped. Even if you pull them out they are back the next year anyway. (the ferns not the people!) They were all smiles. I never saw them again (15 years). Later a friend told me they make some kind of dish out of them (again, the ferns not the people!)./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
Now I'm hoping someone will come by and pick up all the rocks and tree branches I have!
Oh and back to actual subject...there was a case in this county I think about mid 80's where a kid had been injured or worse, someone had strung a wire across a road with the intention of stopping bikers. They succeeded. Kids are just that. If the guy's got no hair, grey hair, or a few wrinkles I might get ticked off, kids you just have to educate and block with BIG THING. Isn't that why loaders on tractors were invented? For moving those stumps around?
