Sysop
Elite Member
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2013
- Messages
- 3,301
- Location
- Fairmont, WV
- Tractor
- Mahindra 4035HST purchased 2013 - Husqvarna TS348-D purchased 2019 - Craftsman 42" HST purchased 2003
Properly blocking their vehicle so it cannot be moved is another good way to be sure they're still around when the cops show up.
Over the winter I was working in the house on updating some electrical stuff and heard the sound of our gate on the field dragging over the rocks as it was being opened or closed off in the distance and went to look. I saw a little S10 Blazer going up the road through the field. I rushed out back to see if he was going to come across the top of the field or go on up the hill through the tree line. Once I got out back to see, he was already going up into the tree line, dragging center as he went.
Once you enter the treeline there is nowhere to turn and it is very steep. Every vehicle I have uses 4x4 to climb it and slips a bit with all four tires all the way to the top, it takes about 10 minutes to reach "the good spot" you can turn easily and not end up stuck; or over the hill the wrong way, then stuck. If you don't know the hill, it can easily take double that to traverse it.
I grabbed the phone and called 911 and told em to send the cops, that I had a trespasser cornered that they needed to come and remove. I went and fired the tractor up real quick, grabbed a bucket full of gravel and off I went to the tree line. I dropped the bucket, gravel and all off the SSQA and left it setting in the road in the opening of the treeline where he couldn't get around it.
Just as I was making it back to the house I could somewhat hear a horn blowing off in the distance, hardly audible over the rumble of the tractor's diesel. I didn't acknowledge it at all, just kept heading for the house. Got back to the house, glanced up, saw the guy on the phone standing next to my bucket. I went back in the house and assembled my defenses just in case the guy decided to come visit and was not going to be willing to admit he was in the wrong. I went and looked again, he's started making the trek across the field on foot towards the house. It's about a ten minute walk, at a really good clip ya can make 7, but it's really rough so doing much better than that is difficult.
About the time he was crossing from the field into the apple orchard, which is about 90 seconds from knocking on the back door, the police pulled in; a county from one direction and a state from the other... I go out front to meet them and said "the trespasser just arrived out back" and they said "lead the way". We go around the houses looking, don't immediately see him. Look around a moment, he's walking back up on the hill towards his vehicle (he must have seen them pull in and decided to go the other way). Cops start trying to yell for him, he just acts like he doesn't hear them and keeps walking. One officer starts following him on foot, other goes back to their patrol SUV and takes off down the road towards the gate. Guy makes it to the road that cuts from the barn up to the road at the treeline and stops, as he has seen the state trooper pulling through the gate he'd broken into and entering the field, easily cutting him off from his vehicle.
Both officers reached where he stopped at about the same time and they proceeded to talk to him and he showed them what I assume was ID out of his wallet. About three or four minutes passed, the guy puts his hands on the cruiser and they pat him down. They cuff him and load him in the back and they go back up the hill to where my bucket of gravel and his vehicle are, get him out and uncuff him. They all walk up to his vehicle and he gets some more paperwork to show them. Couple minutes pass, they cuff him and put him back in the back seat and start to try to turn in the field off of the road, on a pretty hefty incline. As soon as the first tire came off the road into the soggy wet field grass the backend started sliding and wanting to stay downhill. Rather than stop though, the officer continued to turn the wheels more and appeared to slightly bump the throttle. Combined this was enough to get all four wheels out in the grass, which is the only thing that holds about 6" deep muck in place during that time of year... With all four tires locked tight, down into a low spot they slid, about 40', with the rear passenger quarterpanel leading the way; I bet their pucker factor was quite high...
I go fire up the tractor and grab a couple tow ropes. They were only about 150' below where my bucket and the trespasser's vehicle were, so it took me a few minutes to get up to them. By the time I arrived the one officer had gotten a pair of mud boots out of the back of his vehicle and was attempting to hook a tow rope to the SUV, while the other officer and the trespasser had gotten out and waded the muck up the hill back to the road above. I hopped down and went and assisted the officer in getting his SUV hooked up good and we hooked it to my FEL arms. I lifted slightly and started backing up and pulled him back onto the road. They loaded back up and went down to the gate, I followed on my tractor. They inspected the gate and chain and determined it was a very fresh break. They took some pictures and we all went down in front of the house.
Standing beside their vehicle, which had the windows slightly opened and the trespasser still in the back; they proceeded to say that the fella told them the gate was standing open, and he was just looking for a place out of sight to poop. I told them that "not only did I highly doubt anyone is going to want to bounce a mile and a half up to the tree line, bottoming their vehicIe out another 2 miles up the hill to turn around all cause they had to poop really bad", I explained that I "was elbow deep in electrical work inside the house when I heard the gate opening and dragging across the gravel in the distance, which was what attracted my attention in the first place. So if he is going to lie about it, the only way he is leaving is with one of the two of them; because I have a friend with a tow truck on his way to get the guy's vehicle at triple-rate". Guy started grumbling and cussing in the back seat quietly. They asked who was going to tow it for the report, I told them and they said "make sure at least the stuff with a VIN number makes it there" and the guy in the back started absolutely wailing and screaming.
They said the guy had other trespassing on his history, so I didn't feel bad in the least. I hope they threw the book at him. I know with extra kick on the tow bill, and being a Friday evening and the woman that processes the impounds being out till Monday making it a mandatory 3 days of impound fees, it cost him over $1000 to get his old blazer back (if he got it back at all).
Over the winter I was working in the house on updating some electrical stuff and heard the sound of our gate on the field dragging over the rocks as it was being opened or closed off in the distance and went to look. I saw a little S10 Blazer going up the road through the field. I rushed out back to see if he was going to come across the top of the field or go on up the hill through the tree line. Once I got out back to see, he was already going up into the tree line, dragging center as he went.
Once you enter the treeline there is nowhere to turn and it is very steep. Every vehicle I have uses 4x4 to climb it and slips a bit with all four tires all the way to the top, it takes about 10 minutes to reach "the good spot" you can turn easily and not end up stuck; or over the hill the wrong way, then stuck. If you don't know the hill, it can easily take double that to traverse it.
I grabbed the phone and called 911 and told em to send the cops, that I had a trespasser cornered that they needed to come and remove. I went and fired the tractor up real quick, grabbed a bucket full of gravel and off I went to the tree line. I dropped the bucket, gravel and all off the SSQA and left it setting in the road in the opening of the treeline where he couldn't get around it.
Just as I was making it back to the house I could somewhat hear a horn blowing off in the distance, hardly audible over the rumble of the tractor's diesel. I didn't acknowledge it at all, just kept heading for the house. Got back to the house, glanced up, saw the guy on the phone standing next to my bucket. I went back in the house and assembled my defenses just in case the guy decided to come visit and was not going to be willing to admit he was in the wrong. I went and looked again, he's started making the trek across the field on foot towards the house. It's about a ten minute walk, at a really good clip ya can make 7, but it's really rough so doing much better than that is difficult.
About the time he was crossing from the field into the apple orchard, which is about 90 seconds from knocking on the back door, the police pulled in; a county from one direction and a state from the other... I go out front to meet them and said "the trespasser just arrived out back" and they said "lead the way". We go around the houses looking, don't immediately see him. Look around a moment, he's walking back up on the hill towards his vehicle (he must have seen them pull in and decided to go the other way). Cops start trying to yell for him, he just acts like he doesn't hear them and keeps walking. One officer starts following him on foot, other goes back to their patrol SUV and takes off down the road towards the gate. Guy makes it to the road that cuts from the barn up to the road at the treeline and stops, as he has seen the state trooper pulling through the gate he'd broken into and entering the field, easily cutting him off from his vehicle.
Both officers reached where he stopped at about the same time and they proceeded to talk to him and he showed them what I assume was ID out of his wallet. About three or four minutes passed, the guy puts his hands on the cruiser and they pat him down. They cuff him and load him in the back and they go back up the hill to where my bucket of gravel and his vehicle are, get him out and uncuff him. They all walk up to his vehicle and he gets some more paperwork to show them. Couple minutes pass, they cuff him and put him back in the back seat and start to try to turn in the field off of the road, on a pretty hefty incline. As soon as the first tire came off the road into the soggy wet field grass the backend started sliding and wanting to stay downhill. Rather than stop though, the officer continued to turn the wheels more and appeared to slightly bump the throttle. Combined this was enough to get all four wheels out in the grass, which is the only thing that holds about 6" deep muck in place during that time of year... With all four tires locked tight, down into a low spot they slid, about 40', with the rear passenger quarterpanel leading the way; I bet their pucker factor was quite high...
I go fire up the tractor and grab a couple tow ropes. They were only about 150' below where my bucket and the trespasser's vehicle were, so it took me a few minutes to get up to them. By the time I arrived the one officer had gotten a pair of mud boots out of the back of his vehicle and was attempting to hook a tow rope to the SUV, while the other officer and the trespasser had gotten out and waded the muck up the hill back to the road above. I hopped down and went and assisted the officer in getting his SUV hooked up good and we hooked it to my FEL arms. I lifted slightly and started backing up and pulled him back onto the road. They loaded back up and went down to the gate, I followed on my tractor. They inspected the gate and chain and determined it was a very fresh break. They took some pictures and we all went down in front of the house.
Standing beside their vehicle, which had the windows slightly opened and the trespasser still in the back; they proceeded to say that the fella told them the gate was standing open, and he was just looking for a place out of sight to poop. I told them that "not only did I highly doubt anyone is going to want to bounce a mile and a half up to the tree line, bottoming their vehicIe out another 2 miles up the hill to turn around all cause they had to poop really bad", I explained that I "was elbow deep in electrical work inside the house when I heard the gate opening and dragging across the gravel in the distance, which was what attracted my attention in the first place. So if he is going to lie about it, the only way he is leaving is with one of the two of them; because I have a friend with a tow truck on his way to get the guy's vehicle at triple-rate". Guy started grumbling and cussing in the back seat quietly. They asked who was going to tow it for the report, I told them and they said "make sure at least the stuff with a VIN number makes it there" and the guy in the back started absolutely wailing and screaming.
They said the guy had other trespassing on his history, so I didn't feel bad in the least. I hope they threw the book at him. I know with extra kick on the tow bill, and being a Friday evening and the woman that processes the impounds being out till Monday making it a mandatory 3 days of impound fees, it cost him over $1000 to get his old blazer back (if he got it back at all).
