Winter Trespass Problems

A friend told me today about an experience he'd had yesterday. He was heading back to hunt rabbits on his land, and spotted a snowmobile coming toward him down a wooded trail.

He stopped, the snowmobiler stopped, and he asked the guy what he was doing on private property. The gent, apparently not too swift on the uptake, said "snowmobiling."

"Don't you know it's illegal to trespass on private property?" he asked.

"Yep," came the reply.

No respect for posted property.

"Aren't you smart enough to learn to stay off private land, especially if you don't have permission?"

"Apparently not!"

The trespasser had turned off his engine, removed his helmet, and was a white-haired man that my friend estimated to be in his 60's. The trespasser was old enough to know better.

"I was planning to hunt that area you just road through," the hunter said.

"Oh, rabbit hunting, I'll bet."

A magnificent grasp of the obvious.

He said it was difficult to believe the guy was acting so weird. He asked if the snowmobiler had permission to be on the land, and the guy admitted he did not.

The hunter considered taking the snowmobile key and escorting the man to the landowner's house, and thought better of turning the situation into a confrontational situation.

The snowmobiler acted as it he wasn't terribly upset about spoiling the man's hunt or trespassing. The clown asked my friend if he owned the land, and he replied he did, and so the man wondered what the problem was.

"The problem," the hunter told the snowmobiler, "is that you've just illegally driven your sled across the area where I planned to hunt. Are you just being stupid or is this hunter harassment?"

"I not trying to harass anyone," he said. "I'm just out snowmobiling. I live down near Grand Rapids."

"How would you feel if some idiot drove a snowmobile across your land?"

"Wouldn't bother me a bit."

My friend sensed the man was either incredibly ignorant of the law or trying to push the situation into something nasty. The man seemed to have no remorse for breaking the law, and his actions seemed to indicate that he was prepared to defend his right to trespass on someone elses land.

My friend wanted to go hunting and didn't want to deal with the problem any further.

Get booted off the land.

"Get off my land and don't come back," he told the trespasser, who gave him a long sullen look. He nodded his head once in agreement, pulled on his helmet, and took off.

He crossed the woods trail onto more land owned by the same man that owned the land. This guy was either a man with absolutely no qualms about trespassing, was ignorant of all laws, or more likely, didn't care one way or the other.

Most snowmobilers I know are nice people. Me, I could care less for the things, but do not begrudge their use by law-abiding people. This man was a trespasser who clearly felt he could go wherever he wanted to go without asking permission.

It's such behavior that has made more and more northern people post their land against trespass. The landowner takes pride in his land, and doesn't want people running over it without first asking permission. He's tired of picking up litter left behind by snowmobilers, and weekly clears the area of beer and whiskey bottles and makes sure fires started in a remote part of his land by partying sledders is completely out. He tacks up more "No Trespassing" signs, but none of his actions does any good.

One trespass incident from 30 years ago.

Such people eventually run afoul of someone who acts and doesn't bother talking to trespassers. This friend, who isn't a violent man, recalled an incident years before when trespassers on snowmobiles kept running across his yard, ruining his newly seeded lawn and shrubs.

It went on for four nights, with him yelling at the trespassers, and on the fifth night he yanked the last snowmobiler in line off his sled by his face mask, and hung a stiff right jab on the guy's nose.

That settled the issue more than 30 years ago, and the snowmobilers stayed off his property. He admits now that it was a rash act, and one he wouldn't do again, but northern landowners have had a belly full of people trespassing to hunt or snowmobile.

No one wants a problem, and especially my friend, but he also doesn't want to see his land misused by trespassers. This problem is not getting any better; it's only getting worse in the north country.

It's time for those who would trespass to learn to respect the rights of others. If they could ever learn that trespass is a criminal misdemeanor and punishable by law, perhaps they would grow up and run their sleds in area where the trails are groomed specifically for riders.

That would solve most of the winter trespass problems. Will that day ever come? It's not likely to happen any time soon.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors