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

[Cosmoline]

I was back out at the old compound over the past few weekends doing much needed cleaning and maintenance work. The place now has a good gravel driveway and the main clearing is about 50 yards back from the side road. It's several twists and turns from any major roads. The entrance to the drive has HALF A DOZEN keep out signs, in several languages, and all telling people there are lethal dogs on patrol, that they cannot come on without an appointment, etc. etc.. But what's so amazing to me is how people will just IGNORE THE SIGNS and drive right up, asking bone headed questions. When I see signs like that I STOP at the signs and if I need something I will yell towards the cabin or person and get permission to come onto the property before entering.

I guess you have to raise a gate at the driveway and close it 24/7. Even me standing there with a damn rifle or a pistol sticking out of the top pocket of my overalls isn't enough to ward them off. Has anyone else noticed this nonsense?

 

[Yakko]

When my grandfather died we posted signs and closed all the gates on his farm, etc. Went back a week later and all the gates were open and 4 wheeler tracks were everywhere.

 

[cassandrasdaddy]

grownups too

we have a 115 acre farm vacant behind us.the atv guys cut his fence to tear up his fields. as if thats not bad enough they cut mine to play in my lil pasture. and got loud and proud when confronted. we're talking guys in 30's. pathetic thing is we had issues with young kids doing same thing and they understood when we talked to em about it. they stick to some perimeter trails and don't tear anything up. Their parents on the other hand left in handcuffs. Sadder still was one guy was a cop. In his defense he didn't cut the fence but he tried to back up his friend who did.Not a good move.

 

[History Nut]

Lack of Respect

I can relate. I have a building right on a highway. Granted, it is a former gas station, but I have liberally posted it with "No Parking" and "No Trespassing" signs. I often hear noises out front and look out the window to see people pulled well off the highway onto my property. That is why I am awaiting estimates from contractors about fencing the front off from the highway shoulder.

When I confront these trespassers, their most common response is "oh, we didn't know anyone was here". I find this response from just about all generations of people but definitly more prevalent with the younger crowd. By 'younger', I mean the 40 or less y.o. groups. When I was raised in the Midwest in the '50s' one of the key lessons was respect for others' property. I was taught to respect (stay off of unless permitted) other peoples' places and to take care of borrowed items better than my own. What I have noticed over the years is the prevalence of the attitude of 'it is not mine so why should I care?' and 'I can do anything I want to'. It seems to originate as a common attitude with the "permissive" 1970s era.

My most common verbal come-back is to ask that since they know it isn't public property and it isn't theirs then what difference does it make if 'no one is there'? Most folks just apologize and leave. Some that are nice, I actually help out with whatever problem they were stopping for at my place. Too many have a more confrontational attitude. I try to keep it low-key. Sometimes I just stay inside and ignore them if the trespasser looks a little scary or it is a large group. I learned a long time ago not to go looking for trouble as it will find me often enough.

Signs don't seem to impress people anymore. Physical barriers work (i.e. fences) because most of the folks that don't respect private property are also inherintly lazy and don't want to be troubled to open a gate.

Good luck with your place. Someday I hope to move back to Free America and get a place that isn't near any major roads.

 

[Cosmoline]

It isn't just youngsters. What really took the cake was a few years back when an older tourist couple WALKED RIGHT INTO my place! Right past the signs, right through the front door. They stared around, slack jawed. Thankfully the dogs were crated at the time. They got all bent out of shape when I came out yelling at them.

I've also seen people walk right into the cabin, again ignoring all the signs not to . It's some sort of bizarre universe they live in. How they lived much past ten is a real question.

 

[hillbilly]

Here's an idea for a rural setting.

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

Then, when you do come outside and fire some shots over their heads, you aren't using deadly force against them in an unlawful manner....you were just using your own private rifle range.

And golly jee...you even went to the trouble to put up warning signs all over the place and everything...

Ha!

I wonder if that one would even have a snowball's chance in Hell of standing up in court? Hmmmmmmmmmmm

Honest, you Honor, I had NO IDEA they were out there riding ATV's around. I was just target shooting on my own private range that I have obviously and properly marked all over the place.

hillbilly

 

[cassandrasdaddy]

we had a us marshall

trespass onto a 40 plus acre farm to demand the owner stop plinking with his kid. Owner told him to get out or get butt kicked. he started to flash badge reach for gun. At that point the sheriff showed up and told him to get lost. We have a problem the new folks buy !/4 acre and figure the larger properties are their parkland

 

[Cosmoline]

I thought about the rifle range idea, but there are too many bad four wheelers in the jury pools. The good ones go at a reasonable speed and use their 4 wheelers for hauling and hunting. The bad ones fly around and tear up fields. Thankfully Darwin is having his way with that lot and in a few generations they'll be out of the population. The snow machiners are the same way--some are fine, others are among the nastiest people you're ever likely to meet. You put them on a machine and they turn into bandits. A fellow down on the Kenai got so sick of them buzzing his cabin he followed them home and riddled their house with a few dozen rifle rounds. They gave him 99 years even though he didn't hit anyone. He would have been better off killing them properly on his own property. The three S rule applies to nogoodnicks just like it does to rogue bears, and there are hundreds of people who have vanished into these wilds over the years never to be seen again ;-)

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

A friend of ours has a sign at the edge of his property that says "If you can read this, you are in range"
Some people have no respect for anything. Those people deserve no respect.

 

[TallPine]

guess you just need to sit out on the front porch with a shotgun across your knees ...

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

Our house sits a couple hundred yards off the road, amidst a bunch of trees. We own 35 acres of river bottom.

A couple years ago, we had a 80th birthday party for my mother in law, so my wife put a sawhorse with a "Pauline's Party" sign on it up on the road.

That evening, after the party was over, a couple carloads of twenty-something kids drove into the yard, asking, "Is this Pauline's party?"

I told them, "no, Pauline's 80th birthday party is over". No problem so far.

Then they asked if they could go drive around on my river bottom and goof around.

I asked them if I could come over and drive around their yards and goof around.

 

[grampster]

Larry, could I come and goof around in your yard?

 

[oops!]

My property in Ky. is haunted! I swear! Its the truth!

There's been 8 or 9 uninvited 4 wheelers found at the bottom of 600' deep "hollers". A couple more apparently experienced "spontaneous combustion".

 

[Fred Fuller]

So far the 'No Trespassing' signs posted close to the yellow 'Warning: Electric Fence' signs have worked well...

lpl/nc

 

[Third_Rail]

I wonder what I'd do if someone was trespassing on my land... honestly, if they weren't causing harm or hunting without permission, that's fine with me.


HOWEVER, that would apply only to the people who stay outside of the new fence - cross the gate and legally I do wonder if they're fair game.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

Maybe some of those WARNING- MINE FIELD signs would help?
Or maybe Correia can just loan you some of his mutant armored zombie bears to patrol the area

 

[Hypnogator]

Way back when, in Iowa, when snowmobiles were becoming the yuppie thing to have, there were lots of incidents of snowmobilers cutting fences so they could ride unimpeded. 'Till one day while yuppie was cutting fence, and his engine died. 180-gr .30-06 bullet is just as fatal to snowmobiles as it is to deer.

 

[jws]

The problem is that people just don't pay any attention to ANY signs any more. Like that sign on the side of the road that says "Speed Limit 25". Or the one that says "No Left Turn".

So, then, is it any wonder, "Keep Out", and "No Trespassing" get the same attention?

I get really irritated when I'm out and about and other drivers do stupid things at the last minute because they can't be bothered to pay attention to their surroundings and pay attention to road markings -- they're too busy yakking on their cell phones (guilty -- unless I'm in unfamiliar area), eating their lunch, etc. And then, they get upset because they are going to miss their turn because they WEREN'T PAYING ATTENTION.

It's like having a "No Solicitation" sign on your door. I'm willing to bet you get solicitors anyway, because they think, "Oh, that's not what I'm doing, so the sign doesn't apply to me."

 

[Browns Fan]

When I was stationed in Ft Gordon, Ga, in the mid-70's, someone who owned land outside of one of the gates had "No Trespassing" and Trespassers Will be Shot" signs posted. Even as a young and often drunk GI, I got the message!

 

[Guntalk]

When you drive onto the Thunder Ranch property (Clint Smith's place in Lakeview, Oregon), there is a sign which says (as I remember) that if you are here without an appointment, you are tresspassing, and you will be arrested.

All of this is a continuation of the 1960's "Me Generation." Those signs are for others, but they can't possible be talking about ME.

 

[ezypikns]

Get yourself some loud, large dogs.....

they don't even have to be vicious. I used to live outside of town on two well fenced acres, at the end of a long drive, with a drive thru gate, with large 'KEEP OUT' signswell posted. It was amazing how many folks with NO business there, would get out, open the gate, and drive right up to the house. UNTIL I got my dogs.

 

[Cosmoline]

There's a whole kennel of working line GSD's out on the property, though. The locals are scared of them because they've seen them doing protection work, but I've stood right there and watched nutcases walk right onto the property and get surrounded by dogs. It's like they're trying to get bit or they don't have the sense the lord gave them. Thankfully the dogs are under control and won't bite without an order, but I've given these idiots the riot act anyway. 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. I think the problem in part is people who grow up in suburban areas where everyone jumps into everyone else's back yard.

 

[carterbeauford]

I've had problems with kids riding 4wheelers in the woods behind the 450 yard rifle range I set up in my field. I lit off a case of Talon .30-06 tracers at about 300 yards and then posted the property. Haven't seen them since.

I have been considering creatively worded signs, trespassers have been a problem in the past, I don't need to kill someone I can't even see with a ricochet.

 

[another okie]

I live in the country and have the same problem.

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.

How often have you been in a store or a school or a business of some kind and followed the instructions on a sign only to have someone say "Why are you doing that?" When you say, "It's what the sign says" they say, "Oh, that doesn't apply anymore" or "Oh, the boss made us put that there" or something like that. Just a few days ago I went to fill my car up with gasoline. The sign on the pump said they only took the company's own credit cards. I went inside and they took Mastercard.

Almost none of the signs at the school where I teach actually mean what they say. Most are just anti-lawsuit protection. We have "wet floor" signs up 24/7 in several buildings just in case. Actually most of the rules we have are not enforced if you have a sad story, which is another rant, I guess.

 

[evan price]

I used to have this really nice custom made metal sign, it said "No Trespassing", "Private Property" and "Beware of the DOGS" in nice reflective letters. I attached it to a wooden 4x4 post with FOUR #8 x 2-1/2" galvanized deck screws located right on the end of my private drive on the homestead.

A few months later the sign and screws were gone. Some rat had unscrewed it and stolen it.