Does Anyone Pay Attention to "KEEP OUT" Signs Anymore?

I obey the signage

As a person raised in the 70's and 80's, I have to come to the defense of my mother for making me mind other's properties. I frequently take a pistol or my 22 rifle with me when I travel to and fro the country side. Occasionally I pull into one of those areas that "appear" to be simply a quiet country road only to find that I have to go 5 miles into this remote road to get far enough away from property owners to plink.

Of course, I'm mindful, safe and careful, but it is rather a hump sometimes to a place to stop and crack off a few rounds when motoring to Mom's house or similar.

When I was a teenager, some family friends lost a son who was inadvertently trespassing and got shot by the landowner. So no trespassing for me. Please holler at me first, scream, yell, chase me with a car, whatever. But whatever you do, please don't shoot at trespassers. Some of them are genuinely lost, turned around or otherwise polite folks in a pinch.

jeepmor

Get yourself one of these...

Does Anyone Pay Attention to "KEEP OUT" Signs Anymore?

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There are two kinds of "dumb." There is definitely more of the first kind, these days: plainly going around with one's head in a cloud.

Where I come from, there many properties up a small private road, typically a "logging road" type of affair, and most have a gate installed that is closed 24x7. Short of something like that, it seems like most folks will go where they will. Dumb, indeed, particularly if posted.

Around here the 4wheelers and snowcatters are a pretty big problem for all land owners. They cut fences, ride over signs and generally piss all over property rights. My uncle (Who I am not at all proud of, but is a creative SOB) a few years back had problems with snowcatters coming through the development he was building. They kept cutting his fences, so he eventually just started stringing up heavy guage wire just high enough for the front ski of a snowmobile to pass under.

After a couple of near fatalities, they stopped coming around.

Another okie has a point- Most signs, rules, regulations are lawyerese BS. The constant background noise deafens us to what is important. We have 50 million laws about chicken S$#t offences and nobody obeys the 10 commandments.

As a kid in the 70's we used to ride our dirt bikes all over Except where it was posted. I guess with all these stories about trespassing I can understand why so little land is legally available any more. Of course, a motorcycle has a bit more of a Darwinian Penalty than a four wheeler......!

Cosmoline said:

One fellow insisted he had a right to walk to the front door of the cabin, half an acre into the property, even if he had to jump fences to do it.

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I wonder what the law actually says about that.

Cosmoline said:

think the problem in part is people who grow up in suburban areas where everyone jumps into everyone else's back yard.

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Growing up in the suburbs, we would sometimes do this to retrieve an errant baseball or something, we knew it was wrong and we should knock on the door first; but it was easier to just hop the fence. As an adult, though, I never see this or hear about it. Though one time someone parked on a dirt driveway on my house, then asked "Are you sure?" when we asked him to leave because it was private property.

another okie said:

The only explanation I can think of is that I have noticed that most of the signs I see in the course of a day don't mean what they say.

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I agree with that.

POSTED!

I have literally spent all summer posting "No Trespassing" signs on the borders of my 100 acres here in Utah. I am 100% certain, however, that during this hunting season I will have people on my land. When I confront them they will assuredly come up with some lame excuse like, "uuugh, I've been hunting here for 20 years." I have paid $4k to have my land professionally surveyed, I know my borders, and I know the law.

I didn't pay several hundred thousand dollars for public land. It's private, it's posted, and one of these days I will shoot some bastard when he gives me crap and aims his weapon in my direction.

I sold a really nice riverfront....

13 acres in the UP of MI. I lived there for 11 years and had tresspasser problems weekly. After getting nowhere with the sheriff, I gave the game wardens a call and spoke to them about my problem. I knew the commander from former job dealings. He said write him a letter giving them authorization to access your property. That I did and if you live in MI you know how ruthless the DNR is there. Cleaned out the tresspassers and my neighbors to boot. Worked like a charm. Down here in Texas, the gate of my 9 wooded acres is always locked when I am not here and the chain over the post when I am here, which looks like it is locked. The driveway curves so to prevent someone from seeing down the driveway and what is there. I let the weeds grow up around the gate and beyond the curve so it looks like vacant land. No problems in 3 years now. If someone should come on my land, I ALWAYS have my AK with me and a pistol on my belt. My neighbors think I am one of those gun crazy survivalists. Works for me. I get along with them just fine though......chris3

Use this on the borders instead

If you use the mine signs, invest in some cheap ceramic plates and turn them upside down to finish the look.

Grizz,

How long ago did you move from California? Seriously.


Nothing else I have to say can be even remotely High Roadish.

ID_Shooting.:

What the F do you mean by that? Are you seriously insulting me for being angry and defensive about people trespassing on my property that I paid hundreds of thousands of hard earned dollars for?

I've had people try to rip out my gate with their pickup. I've chased people off my property after they've destroyed hundreds of dollars in blue spruce seedlings with their ATVs. I've had out-of-season poachers. I've had signs shot up and ripped down.

Are you someone who does such things? Do you think the law is meaningless? Do you believe trespassing and vandalism are OK? Do you have sh*t for brains?

Oh, and I grew up in rural Alaska and wouldn't set foot in Cali if someone had a gun to my head.

I'm hoping to own some land one day but to be quite honest the thought of the stress I might feel dealing with trespassers is giving me second thoughts. I deal with it in a small way where I live now. I've seen people get away with it, the cops would like to be able to do something but they can't in terms of manpower and liability. Seeing these people literally run from the cops and get away scot free is disheartening for me and I can only imagine it's emboldening for the scum.

I can understand someone wandering onto your property if its out in the boonies and unfenced, but I'm amazed that people would cut other people's fences just so they can ride their toys on property they don't own.

I'm also amazed that they get mouthy when they get caught out in the country by some armed property owner (I imagine if I was to confront some trespassers out in the country I'd have my AR strapped to my back when I walked up).


My grandparents owned a farm outside Burton Kansas for many years, and I don't recall a problem with trespassers very often (occasionally a couple of the local kids would jump the fence of the pasture and fish in my grandpa's pond, but they weren't destructive and if you caught 'em they'd apologize and leave).



I also remember being admonised by my grandparents to "stay off other people's land 'cause you're likely to get a backside full of rock salt". And I guarantee you if I came home with my britches full of rock salt, my grandparents would have marched me right over to whomever's property I was tresspassing on and made me pay for any damage, and the spent shotgun shells.

Grizz,

Wow, just wow, IHO you sir are in need of anger management.

My comment was not meant as to be an insult, just an observation that you are NOT native to the western states and have no concept as to our culture. I guessed California, opps, I guessed wrong. In the end it does not matter I suppose, but folks such as your self will probably never get along with folks such as myself.

Here's an idea for a rural setting.

Put up lots and lots of big signs that say WARNING!! RIFLE RANGE AREA!!

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I've got a friend who purchased a good chunk of land. The previous owner used a section of it near the road as a shooting range, and had already posted signs saying "KEEP OUT" and "SHOOTING RANGE - DO NOT ENTER". One of the first days my friend was on his new property, a car with some faith salesmen drove right up the long driveway, past the signs and up to him - completely unphased.

you are NOT native to the western states and have no concept as to our culture.

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The western states have a culture that allows everyone free and unrestricted access to someone else's private property without so much as asking permission?

During Morel mushroom season It's gotten to the point where I want to sit in the likley spots in full camo with a shotgun.... turkey hunting.... wonder if the sound of a 12 guage pump racking would deter the mushroom hunters...

I find it a bit odd that your idea of "culture" means trespassing, destroying property, and not respecting the rights or wishes of other people. It's pretty much guaranteed that folks aren't going to "get along" with people who have that mindset. You know, the criminal mindset?

the fence cutters

out here are not kids alleged adults. i've talked to the kids they are cool and listen and respect my lines its their parents that cut fences the get mouthy

Griz,
The fact that so many people are so willing to mess with you says a lot about how your community views you. You have earned yourself a reputation, and people are deliberately messing with you because of that reputation. Good luck living it down now. When you enter a community, you really need to take at least some rudimentary steps to understand the standards and pre-existing behaviors of that community.

I'll give you an example of a failure to understand and establish yourself in the community... years ago my grandfather bought 40 acres in Arkansas. Now, he had lived in Arkansas before but he wasn't really a local... this was to be his retirement property. He was very careful in buying the land, making sure for example it had good road access, a spring, full rights with no entailments, and so on. And, having spent a lot of money the first thing he did was blocked off an old 4x4 trail that went across it... he built his house on the trail actually, using it as the driveway, and did a bunch of other stuff because it was his property which he had spent a lot of money on. Built some pens for livestock, had a bunch of stuff that had been in one of the caves hauled to the dump and put his own stuff in, and so on. He took posession...including the "keep out" signs.

And when the neighbors who owned the "back 40" that didn't have road access except that 4x4 trail started driving across his front lawn, he sued them. And promptly lost about $10,000 and had to let the neighbors keep driving across his lawn because the neighbor's lawyer convinced the judge the "4x4 trail" was an easement. There was no paperwork to back up that claim of course, but there was no requirement of paperwork either. Of course, that set up a long and, um, friendly (heh) relationship that included the neighbor taking random pot-shots at the house, dead pets, and so on. It only ended when my grandfather died.

It sounds like you are well started down that road. You've pissed a bunch of people off and are now dealing with the repercussions... and the more you squeal the harder they'll hit. I'd suggest you buy another property and try to use a little more sense as you take possession of that one. Let this issue rest for a few years and come back to it once tempers have cooled a bit. Then you can take posession without letting people know your personality.

I understand ID_shooting and Ed Ames' points, but I gotta admit that I find it kind of un-American and un-"Western" to assume that private property can be treated like its public if the new owner isn't a "local" or if the previous owner allowed it.

Certainly though, one should try to assert their property rights without being confrontational or rude right out of the gate and should respect some of the traditions of the area, but it would seem to me that "Out West" one of the biggest traditions is the "NO TRESPASSING" sign and the whole "fences make for good neighbors" thing.

I didn't realize that Mob Rules was the "Western" way.