Trespassing

[Bumpkin]

I have so much trouble with kids on quads trespassing on my property. It drives me nuts! The property is posted, but they don't care. I've started firing off a few shots in the air when they come around and that scares them away for a couple weeks, but they eventually come back. Anybody else with this problem?

[catspa]

Um, please don't do that any more. Fire into the ground if you must.

Is fencing or blocking their access an option?

Parker

[Pathfinder1]

Hi...


Is your property "legally" posted? Yes, there is such a thing. If so, can't any of your local constabulary do anything about it? Can you get any close-up photos of the tresspassers to identify them?

If not, perhaps you can "block" the trails the're using...with trees, boulders, primecord, fencing, etc.?

Do others in your area have that problem? What do they do?

Definitely ask your lawyer regarding the feasability of using gunshots again.

[CozInCowtown]

Put us several "Posted-No Tresspassing" signs then just call the cops when they show up.
Press charges!!
JMO,
DC

[ChadTower]

Originally Posted by catspa

Um, please don't do that any more. Fire into the ground if you must.

Just curious. Why?

[catspa]

Because what goes up must come down, and can do some real damage if it comes down in the wrong place.

Ohio sheriff: Accident led to Amish girl's death - US news - Life - msnbc.com

FREDERICKSBURG, Ohio — A man cleaning his muzzle-loading rifle shot the gun into the air, accidentally killing a 15-year-old Amish girl driving a horse-drawn buggy more than a mile away, a sheriff said Tuesday.

Rachel Yoder was shot in the head Thursday night while traveling to her home in Wayne County, between Columbus and Akron. She had attended a Christmas party for employees, most of them under 18 years old, at an Amish produce farm and was riding home alone when she was shot, Wayne County sheriff's Capt. Douglas Hunter said.

Hunter said his department had traced a trail of blood along the road for about three-eighths of a mile into Holmes County in an area of farms and rolling hills.

I should have qualified my statement by adding that a shotgun load is less likely to kill someone than a rifle or pistol bullet, but did I ever tell you about the fellow who (well lubricated on a frozen New Years Eve) stepped out on his back porch and fired his shotgun in the air to celebrate? Unfortunately he severed the electrical conductors servicing his house. So he and his wife ended up staying with their neighbors until Jan 2, when utility workers came and repaired the damage and he could thaw his frozen water pipes.

Moral of the story: shooting into the air can cause quite a bit of trouble even if it doesn't involve loss of life.

Parker

[limaker]

Check the laws in your area for it, most will tell you that even firing into the ground can cause a "drama" police scene at your front door step, esp. if those parents find out you have been shooting up. A guy in our area was just fined for it.

[ChadTower]

Well, you have to figure what he's likely to be firing straight up. And it's probably something harmless on the way down. Even a .306 round has a terminal velocity of maybe 30ft/s. Given the mass of the round it can fall from any height and be like getting hit with a hammer at the most. Yeah, that'll injure you, but it would take some special circumstances to kill a person.

The only likely way a round shot into the air would kill a person is if it were shot on a ballistic trajectory. It would not come to a full stop before coming back down and thus would not have lost all of its muzzle velocity before it hit someone. So, yeah, I guess I agree, shot off at an angle is bad. Straight up is stupid but shouldn't kill anyone.

[Grandpa]

If you can trust Adam and Jaimie, it's a bruise with and 150 gr bullet. Terminal velocity is 32 ft/sec. Foolish to waste ammo, foolish to think they can hear the shot over the motor noise and even in liberal firearm states this would go beyond brandishing without just cause.

Check requirements for legal posting, then call leo's with full description of the perpetrators. The kids may not be caught right away but they will hear about it and go pester someone else.

[DMan]

Is it possible to put barriers or fencing in the areas where they tend to come onto your property? Or could you lie in wait for them with a couple of your buddies, stop them, and have their parents come and pick up them and their ATVs?