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Old June 5, 2006, 04:43 PM   #1
coolridelude
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people entering private property

My grandfather has a couple of acres. well that is where i go clay shooting.

there are only 2 ways to get in the property. it is from either left side or the right side. if you come from the left side you have to pass 3acres to get there and if you are coming from the right side you must pass 8 acres. i am just tired of people dumping on my grandfathers acres.

i have already told my grandfather that i would help him put up a fence.

let me tell you what happened. me and my friend go every saturday to go shoot clays. well there is this car there, when he hears us, he and his girl are picking up there pants and getting dressed. i parked about 90yrds away from them, so that i will give them time to leave. they don't leave. i go walking towards them, with 9mm in my pocket and my friend has them scoped out. i get about 10yrds and asked them to leave.

this is what i said, excuse me, this is private property, and if you guys would be so kind as to leave. ( not yelling but enough for them to here me).

he says this is his land. i tell him it is not and if you could kindly leave i would be greatful. he stated arguing, so i walked away. my friend still had him scoped, he could not see my friend. he finally left about 20 minutes later. i had called my uncle to let him know what the situation was.

i should of called the cops, but i gave him a change. next time i will call 911. i went to the police station and told them and he said next time dial 911.

later that day my uncle went about 8:00 pm. he caught another car there. they said it was there grandfather's land.

my uncle told them it is his father's land. they said what is going to happen next. he called 911 and they picked the people up.

Could i have done something else? or what i did was good?

next time i am going to call 911 but i just want to give the guy the oppertuinty (spelling) to leave.
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Old June 5, 2006, 05:04 PM   #2
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I'm glad this was Texas, only because I'm familiar with Texas law. Basically, the only charge on them would be Criminal Trespass. Here's the applicable law in Texas:

Texas Penal Code 30.05

(a) A person commits an offense if he enters or remains on or in property, including an aircraft or other vehicle, of another without effective consent or he enters or remains in a building of another without effective consent and he:

(1) had notice that the entry was forbidden; or

(2) received notice to depart but failed to do so.

(b) For purposes of this section:

(1) "Entry" means the intrusion of the entire body.

(2) "Notice" means:

(A) oral or written communication by the owner or someone with apparent authority to act for the owner;

(B) fencing or other enclosure obviously designed to exclude intruders or to contain livestock;

(C) a sign or signs posted on the property or at the entrance to the building, reasonably likely to come to the attention of intruders, indicating that entry is forbidden;

(D) the placement of identifying purple paint marks on trees or posts on the property, provided that the marks are:

(i) vertical lines of not less than eight inches in length and not less than one inch in width;

(ii) placed so that the bottom of the mark is not less than three feet from the ground or more than five feet from the ground; and

(iii) placed at locations that are readily visible to any person approaching the property and no more than:

(a) 100 feet apart on forest land; or

(b) 1,000 feet apart on land other than forest land; or

(E) the visible presence on the property of a crop grown for human consumption that is under cultivation, in the process of being harvested, or marketable if harvested at the time of entry.


So you telling them to leave is their notice, and they did not. Call the cops. They may or may not arrest; they might issue a criminal trespass warning, meaning if they're ever back on your land, they will arrest on sight.
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Old June 5, 2006, 05:08 PM   #3
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When you say your friend had them scoped, do you mean he had a firearm pointed at them when they were just tresspassing?
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Old June 5, 2006, 05:16 PM   #4
coolridelude
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Quote:
HangFire83 When you say your friend had them scoped, do you mean he had a firearm pointed at them when they were just tresspassing?
sorry with bionculars(don't know how to spell it) so i said scoped. but he could easly do it.

in that area there was a recent killing about half a mile way. someone put a guy in a pipe and killed him.

furthere away there are orange trees and there have been a couple of drugs deal that have been reported. when the property is about 15 acres down there is a police that lives there. so drugs deals have stopped from what i know but i have reported a good amount. about 2- 3 miles down. because friends also live out there.
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Old June 5, 2006, 05:19 PM   #5
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Ok. That makes sense.

Another question. Is the property line posted with signs and such?
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Old June 5, 2006, 05:23 PM   #6
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it did have a sign until about 3days ago. i think someone rip them off.
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Old June 5, 2006, 05:24 PM   #7
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Go with the purple paint, as specified in the law I listed above.
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Old June 5, 2006, 05:28 PM   #8
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Glockamolie, thanks i will do that.
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Old June 5, 2006, 05:29 PM   #9
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Thats unfortunate. Tresspassers are a big pet peeve of mine. We lease some land in a nearby town that we have exclusive, year round rights to and we have a problem with tresspassers. It never fails that at least once a week when I head out to my tree stand some chipped-tooth gomer is in my stand. They try to give me a hard time but the posted signs are numerous and they are hard to argue with. One time I spotted a hole ripped in one tresspasser's pant leg and when I asked him how it happend he replied by mentioning the barbed wire fence he climbed over. I aked him if he had thought about the fence maybe being the property line and he got really angry at that point. I guess he got embarassed.
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Old June 5, 2006, 05:37 PM   #10
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what i hate the most is i try to keep it clean and people dump there S*** there. this weekend i found 2 lawnmovers 2 batteries and 8 bags of cloths that i will be picking up tomorrow.
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Old June 5, 2006, 05:40 PM   #11
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You might be able to get some money for the batteries if that makes you feel any better.
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Old June 5, 2006, 05:46 PM   #12
coolridelude
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HangFire83 said,
Quote:
You might be able to get some money for the batteries if that makes you feel any better.
How? sorry for dumb question.

i do make money becuase when i am not there people drink and throw there cans there. i have got permission from the other property owns if i can pick up the cans, and they say yes.

i make about $35 buck a month on cans
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Old June 5, 2006, 10:38 PM   #13
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batteries can be recylced for thier lead if you can find a recycling center that takes them. Also if you can film or document someone dumping batteries they are guilty of deliberate pollution (from the lead) and can be fined and or jailed for it.

SW
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Old June 6, 2006, 06:07 AM   #14
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Like SW said. Some shops will give you like $5 / battery for the core on them. We send back like 20 at a time and put that money in a envelope to use for food and stuff here in out parts department.
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Old June 6, 2006, 10:34 AM   #15
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Asking nicely is the way to do it.
I've had to, when I was in the business of restoring log cabins, ask people to leave the land I was working on at the time. I had a lot of handtools and rope and what not that I didn't care to donate to some baitpile hunter wannabe's stash of stuff. Plus, I was so far away from the main road that calling 911 would have been a waste of my time.
They gave me some static, but there's a lot to be said for looking someone in the eye and meaning what you say. 911 or not.
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Old June 6, 2006, 12:21 PM   #16
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Consider a barbed wire fence. They are cheap and easy to put up, and quite effective. They are not perfect, but they get the point across.

If vehicle trespassing is the main problem, look for the main route they use on your property. Go to HOME DEPOT, spend a couple bucks on a box of nails, and go to work. Just make sure no one you like doesn't know about your "spike strip". This won't stop first time trespassers, but will really irk repeat offenders and keep them from coming back. It's no fun to have four flat tires.
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Old June 6, 2006, 01:55 PM   #17
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it is a lot of dumping in the property. they go in dump a lot of stuff.
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Old June 6, 2006, 05:46 PM   #18
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Video camera, including license plate numbers and close-ups of those involved. Call cops. Present evidence. Repeat as necessary.
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Old June 6, 2006, 06:01 PM   #19
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I am not admitted to practice in your state (or indeed your country) but the roots of US law are essentially the same as those in Australia. This does not however constitute advice and should be checked with a local lawyer.

Most jurisdictions have rules regarding entering enclosed lands,so I would fence the block- even with a basic barbed wire fence ASAP.
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Old June 6, 2006, 06:06 PM   #20
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The law I posted in bold towards the top of this thread is the applicable law to this situation.
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Old June 6, 2006, 07:40 PM   #21
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Glockamolie,

today at 6 in the morning we did mark the property. we also cleaned up.

before


after





there was more trash but i did not take pics until later.
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Old June 6, 2006, 09:31 PM   #22
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If you can't sit out there waiting for this to happen again, there are digital cameras you could use with a motion detector that you could mount in a tree. If you do it, position it where it can get the license plate of a vehicle driving up. I'd be determined to catch anyone doing that on my land.

Good move marking the property. At least one "No Trespassing" sign prominently displayed would bolster your case, too. You could also add "You are on camera and all license plates are being recorded and turned over to law enforcement".
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Old June 7, 2006, 10:30 AM   #23
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Dump on THEM

Unfortunately many slobs just ignore signs.

Most jurisdictions have a no-dumping ordinance which involve fines. Find out, and if yours does, make sure Grandfather will press charges.

Next, I'd add a No Dumping sign to the No Trespassing sign, preferably located where you can get a picture from cover of a vehicle entering which includes the signs.

Next I'd take a lot of pics of the cleaned up property, preferably with a camera that dates the pics. (The digital files contain the date & time created too; right-click/Properties).

Then I'd try to "ambush" & photograph a dumper passing the signs. Write down, date and time, the vehicle tag & description, and description of the passangers. Or ambush them as they leave, to avoid a confrontation. (Otherwise just have a shot of the signs, and try to photograph anyone you catch there).

Call 911 if they enter and park, and hope LEO arrive in time; if not, you will have all the evidence (the dated pics and their corresponding data files should nail them).

You might be able to get pics of them in the act (if you can do this safely/covertly), and their vehicle tag. (This is not something to get into an escalating physical confrontation over). Be careful, and do not display a weapon!

Anyway, you are going to have the before and after evidence, so this is not critical.

Take pics of the trash left, immediately after they leave, even if they get cited. (Extra evidence if it goes to court).

You may get them for dumping _and_ trespassing. Dumping is usually more serious. Trespass alone may not bring much of a punishment, if any: if you can show property damage (dumping, hacked trees), trespass will be taken more seriously.

Make sure the story gets into the local paper, but don't let them use your pic.

Good hunting!

C
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Old June 7, 2006, 12:09 PM   #24
coolridelude
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i did what Glockamolie said. there are no dumping signs on the side of the road. yesterday we put no dumping and traspassing signs up. me and my friends go there to check it out. my friend caught someone trying to dump in our property. he called the police and now they will fine the guy for illegal dumping. i think dumping is $200+. so we got one already. thats for the info all.

the funny thing is that there is a dump sight 2 miles down the road. that is where i go for stuff i can't burn.

i think i will have a fun summer catching people

the only gun being used so far is the camera.
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Old June 7, 2006, 12:59 PM   #25
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Sorry guys; this one slipped by me. Glad you got some good suggestions, Coolridedude, and I hope your grandfather finds a solution, but this one's off topic for Tactics and Training.

Closed.
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