BrookValley
Lovin' The Homestead
So, I'm a bit ticked off right now. Actually, I'm just downright angry. My husband thinks that I'm overreacting (if I ever get him to join here he's going to find this post and give me a hard time about it, I can only imagine...:lol) Today somebody damaged our large farm sign at the end of our drive. Looks like they took a rock or some other heavy object and hit it, putting a nice dent in it (it's a metal sign, with vinyl lettering), and then scratched some of the letterring. This is in addition to the numerous BB gun marks already dotting its surface, as some neighbor kids (cannot figure out which ones) have occasionally used it for target practice.
Like I said, I'm angry. I assume it's neighborhood pre-teens/teens (there are several). But I will never figure out which ones, if it was. This isn't the first time we've dealt with others (usually kids, but sometimes parents of said kids) coming onto our property without permission and/or damaging property. We have 60 acres, a large part of which is wooded. So there are plenty of ways for people to come onto our property undetected. At one point we had a group of kids chopping down trees and digging mounds of dirt up to create motocross trails for their dirt bikes! And we've caught adults wandering on our property, too. I once chased off the owner/developer of the subdivision next to us on his ATV. He was well onto our property-driving the ATV down our trails--obviously scouting deer to poach. Said he "didn't know where the property line was". Biggest bunch of BS I ever heard, dude, you subdivided and sold the chunk of land next to us, you probably know better than we do where the line is! We also caught one of the parents of some of the kids who were tearing stuff up to build dirt bike trails, walking on our driveway having come out of the woods on that side of our property. They used the same property line excuse. Well, if your in my driveway, coming out of the woods on my property, I think it's more than obvious you're not on your property anymore.
We had the entire perimeter posted with No Trespassing signs. They have all disappeared. I bought more today.
I have a hard time dealing with the lack of respect for my property. The sign isn't fancy, though a new one would probably cost a few hundred dollars to replace, simply because it is large and custom made. And it's been here for almost 20 years. And I like it. But none of those things really matter, what I'm all fired up about is it's mine and someone trashed it. Why?
I am also very worried about poachers. We have a lot of pasture and several horses...and bullets do weird things. We also like to hike down the drive (it's 1/2 mile long) and to the lake our property borders. I'm sure that we've already had poachers and just haven't known. Most importantly, it's not safe; but also important to me is the fact that, well, how dare someone think that they have the right to come onto my property and kill animals? How dare someone think that they have the right to come onto my property at all, unless they are going to come up to the house, say hi, and introduce themselves--and ask to come on my property, if they have a reason to?
I know it would help if we hiked along the property more often. Lately, we have been tied down with being parents and the never-ending list of farm chores and projects. But if we could be more of a presence along the perimeters of the property, that would certainly help. But I don't know what else to do. I can't prove who damaged our sign, so it won't help me any to call the police (though my family thinks that that would be a waste of time for the police, for just a sign; I agree, for "just a sign", but for trespassing and vandalizing, what else do you do?).
We've been here 11+ years. All of the neighbors on both sides of our property are newcomers; there are two subdivisions, one on each side, and all have been built in the last 5 years or so. Since then, we've had an increasing number of these incidents, and it's only getting worse.
I know this is long, so if anyone has stuck with me 'till now, thanks for listening. Does anyone have any advice of how I can protect my property a bit better?
Like I said, I'm angry. I assume it's neighborhood pre-teens/teens (there are several). But I will never figure out which ones, if it was. This isn't the first time we've dealt with others (usually kids, but sometimes parents of said kids) coming onto our property without permission and/or damaging property. We have 60 acres, a large part of which is wooded. So there are plenty of ways for people to come onto our property undetected. At one point we had a group of kids chopping down trees and digging mounds of dirt up to create motocross trails for their dirt bikes! And we've caught adults wandering on our property, too. I once chased off the owner/developer of the subdivision next to us on his ATV. He was well onto our property-driving the ATV down our trails--obviously scouting deer to poach. Said he "didn't know where the property line was". Biggest bunch of BS I ever heard, dude, you subdivided and sold the chunk of land next to us, you probably know better than we do where the line is! We also caught one of the parents of some of the kids who were tearing stuff up to build dirt bike trails, walking on our driveway having come out of the woods on that side of our property. They used the same property line excuse. Well, if your in my driveway, coming out of the woods on my property, I think it's more than obvious you're not on your property anymore.
We had the entire perimeter posted with No Trespassing signs. They have all disappeared. I bought more today.
I have a hard time dealing with the lack of respect for my property. The sign isn't fancy, though a new one would probably cost a few hundred dollars to replace, simply because it is large and custom made. And it's been here for almost 20 years. And I like it. But none of those things really matter, what I'm all fired up about is it's mine and someone trashed it. Why?
I am also very worried about poachers. We have a lot of pasture and several horses...and bullets do weird things. We also like to hike down the drive (it's 1/2 mile long) and to the lake our property borders. I'm sure that we've already had poachers and just haven't known. Most importantly, it's not safe; but also important to me is the fact that, well, how dare someone think that they have the right to come onto my property and kill animals? How dare someone think that they have the right to come onto my property at all, unless they are going to come up to the house, say hi, and introduce themselves--and ask to come on my property, if they have a reason to?
I know it would help if we hiked along the property more often. Lately, we have been tied down with being parents and the never-ending list of farm chores and projects. But if we could be more of a presence along the perimeters of the property, that would certainly help. But I don't know what else to do. I can't prove who damaged our sign, so it won't help me any to call the police (though my family thinks that that would be a waste of time for the police, for just a sign; I agree, for "just a sign", but for trespassing and vandalizing, what else do you do?).
We've been here 11+ years. All of the neighbors on both sides of our property are newcomers; there are two subdivisions, one on each side, and all have been built in the last 5 years or so. Since then, we've had an increasing number of these incidents, and it's only getting worse.
I know this is long, so if anyone has stuck with me 'till now, thanks for listening.
Does anyone have any advice of how I can protect my property a bit better?
