Posting private property

[bhh]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. NY is a state where the lack of posting is essentially an invitation and is not at all uncommon. Our particular area is about 1/2 full-timers and 1/2 weekenders and that is pretty common in this part of NY at least. Everyone seems to get along pretty well as long as the weekenders don't go all PETA / Tree Hugger on everyone and complain about the occasional discharging of firearms, etc. That is pretty rare though I think as that type tends to stick to the Hamptons or shore rather than rural upstate NY mountains.

As I mentioned, the previous owners, who were life-long residents, had it posted along the road. My questions was really about how to handle the parts of the property that adjoin other people's private (and mostly posted) land. Not pointing signs at other people's houses or outbuildings I think is a really good idea, especially the smaller properties (5-acre min). That should be fairly obvious but a great reminder nonetheless. I will most likely leave a 50-100' buffer zone in those areas as a gesture of good-faith to the neighbors. The property deed is an old Meets and Bounds description of the property anyway and has not been formally surveyed so some boundaries are a little "fuzzy" anyway.

As far as the wildlife, I think the property has always been productive for whatever reason. The previous owner told me at closing that he filled is tags off the back deck every year. I thought he was kidding but I now think not. I'll probably try and fill my archery tag that way every year to hopefully give any new landscaping we do around the house a fighting chance.

 

[two_bit_score]

Posting HIS land is not going to cause problems with his neighbors. Posting his land is not going to cause "a boundary dispute, trespassing hunters, kids riding four wheelers, etc, etc." Those problems will occur with or without the signs. Years ago you did not have to worry about being sued because someone riding a horse on your land got hurt. When we were looking for land we were at a parcel talking with the owner. The owner, who was in his 80s, was born on the land that had been in his family for over a 100 years. As we were talking, a couple of guys moved onto his land while rabbit hunting with dogs. The owner asked me if I would go with him to get these guys off his land which I did. There is plenty of land around us that is posted by landowners whose families have owned the land since it was granted by the king. The signs don't cause the problems, it is the people who have been using other peoples land without permission that cause problems.

Later,
Dan

I fail to remember that there are some pretty strange laws in NYS. Basically in Texas if you have a fence and a locked/ latched gate and someone enters it without your permission they are trespassing. Sign or no sign. Putting a sign up sometimes invites trespassers because it makes some people feel challenged whereas if there was no sign they knew they weren't supposed to be there and they stayed off, if they were generally law abiding. If they weren't then all the signs in the world wouldn't deter them.

That's a really bad law they have in NYS. But that place seems to be pretty messed up anyway.

Texas Penal Code - Section 30.05. Criminal Trespass - Texas Attorney Resources - Texas Laws

§ 30.05. CRIMINAL TRESPASS. (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:

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

I recently purchased about 40 acres in the Catskills region of New York that was posted by the previous owners only along the road (roughly 1500)'. The back of the property (roughly 1600') borders a small trout stream that generally isn't fished by the public and the sides of the property are bordered by 5 other land owners. There is a large unimproved property that borders the stream on the other side. I am ordering signs to repost the property with my information on them and I was wanted to get people's thoughts on a few things. There is a house and barn on the property but we are typically only there on the weekends for the next few years.

Is it recommended to post the entire boundary of the property, which would be roughly 1.25 miles? I'd like to post along the stream to prevent hunters from crossing the stream onto my property but I don't really care if someone wants to fish in the stream but it is sort of an all or nothing thing I'm afraid. The stream crosses the road a few hundred yards away so someone could technically access it there without crossing through private property to get there and if I am not mistaken, people can legally walk the stream w/o trespassing since each landowner borders it and doesn't own both sides of it?

I'm also wondering if it is considered rude to post my property where it buts up against the back of other landowners property. Some of them are smaller "yards" whereas some of them are larger pieces of unimproved acreage. I am new to the area and don't want to be a bad neighbor but also don't want to get shot working the back side of my property during hunting season either.

The previous owners did allow friends and neighbors to hunt on the land and I have been contacted through the previous owners be a few people about hunting on it. Seems like people have been really good about that actually. I plan on hunting the property myself and attempt to manage the deer population as best I can with that small a property so I have basically just told people I am not allowing any hunting at all until I get a management plan in place and I am not really sure what the policy will be afterwards.

I'd appreciate people's thoughts on all this.

These work for me !

 

[dmccarty]

That's a really bad law they have in NYS. But that place seems to be pretty messed up anyway.

NC now allows purple paint to mark for trespass but the state still requires posting. My county requires written permission from the landowner to hunt, but state wide, there is no such requirement. There should be. I don't think the landowner should have to post their land to prevent someone from being on the land. Unposted land when NC was not so populated was not much of a problem. Today, even in many rural areas, the state is densely populated, especially for center fire rifles. Heck little 22's are problematic. I can remember hiking the AT and Bartram Trail high on ridges in cloud cover, that was so thick I could not see very far in front of me, it looked like one of the early Vampire movies. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing: I was supposed to be in the middle of no where but I could hear people talking, radio's/TV, doors slamming, etc from people down in the valleys. To safely hunt with firearms you really have to know the lay of the land and location of houses. Someone walking into the land does not have this knowledge which is one of the reasons we post the land.

On XMAS eve, a 55 year old, retired NC state trooper shot two men. The trooper was on his FIL's posted land. The hunters were on state land that bordered the trooper's family land A witness, a guy with the two hunters, said that the retired trooper drove up, drew his weapon, and a fight started. This was supposedly just across private property line and on the state land. There was a fight and the two men were shot. I think the hunters were using dogs, which is a hot button issue down east, but the last report did not mention the type of hunting. The trooper has been charged but the DA is going to take the case to a Grand Jury.

These disputes are SERIOUS.

Later,
Dan

 

[radioman]

If I were you -I'd read up the nys DEC info. I'd get some free ask permission stickers from dec. here is the link Posting Information for Landowners, Boaters, Fishermen and Hunters - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation

 

[two_bit_score]

These disputes are SERIOUS.

Later,
Dan

I can fully appreciate how serious they can become. I am acquainted with more than one family which has lost a family member due to a fight over a boundary dispute. Usually long standing family feuds.

There are good and valid reasons to post land. Here in Texas people still post land against trespassing because some folks still need reminders, or they don't have the land fenced. It looks like in some states like NY for sure and maybe NC that you are almost forced to post it, fence or no fence. That's unfortunate.

Everything we have is fenced except for some vacant lots in the small towns but they have no buildings on them and nobody has ever bothered them. When the service company rented one they put up a very nice fence which we will get to keep when they leave, hopefully a very long time from now.

We even have a now vacant lot on the east side of Houston in a commercial area near the ship channel that is not fenced and nobody bothers.

Lots of large forest tracts are not fenced and large farm operations either for various reasons but I don't know of very many that feel the need to post signs.

I think it is more of an eastern thing and city dwellers turned country folk who feel the need to run out and start posting their land as soon as they buy it, worrying about somebody driving across a corner or that they are going to 'lose it to the neighbors by eminent domain or squatters rights'.

Those are some of the most hilarious threads on TBN. But, that doesn't mean there aren't cases where posting is necessary, proper and needed.

 

[PHIL850]

Since I have been there and done that, I just had to reply to this one.
We own approximately 100 acres in Northern Vermont. It has been in our family since 1965. For some time now I have been hunting our property and have run in to the occasional hunter passing through. At one point I met some locals (they own a farm not far from me) that were coming down off an adjacent ridge heading back to the road. They asked if I minded them hunting and I said no, you 3 can hunt here, as they seemed like level headed hunters. Well, 3 guys turned in to 10 and then 15 as word got out that I had given them permission to hunt. Over time word got around so bad that I had 15 trucks up my driveway on opening day, and there would be a dozen guys driving deer across the ridge line. So much that I would be hard pressed to even see a deer and my driveway got eaten up by pickup trucks stopping and starting in 2 wheel drive on the steep parts spinning their wheels. I tried to be Mr. nice guy but in the long run I got walked over. That is until I said enough is enough and posted my Property with "By permission only signs". (Hunting, fishing, trapping, trespassing). Now if someone asks I can say that I already have given permission to a couple of fellows and any more would be a bit crowded. Oh and since doing so, I see a lot more deer.

 

[two_bit_score]

PHIL850, one quick question. Is your property fenced?

 

[wcampbell47]

In Missouri, there is an alternative to signs: purple paint. By statute, it is the same as a "Posted" sign marking private property, and is cheaper, more durable, and easier to put up. I was unable to find out whether NY has a similar law.

Ditto on the purple paint in Texas. Many states have similar statutes. Might be worthwhile to see if your state does as well.

 

[PHIL850]

PHIL850, one quick question. Is your property fenced?

Oops, not use to this editor system. No my property is not fenced