Anyone else have issues with theft/trespassing?

Just curious if other people have to deal with this. We live surrounded by woods on all sides, set back a pretty good distance from the road. The only way to see our house from the road is to look up our unpaved driveway. It seems like we always have people wandering through our property or just generally being creepy. We do get people coming to our stream to fish, but I don't mind them since they only stay by the water. But some of the things that have happened are stealing a wood chipper (years ago), stealing a custom sign someone gifted us, people wandering around our yard, someone SLEEPING in our empty barn for a few weeks (how creepy is that??), people dumping trash on our property, and someone once took a ladder from somewhere in our yard and put it up to one of our windows to look in. We also get a lot of random people just driving up our driveway to seemingly look around. We do get a random person here & there who used to be a customer at our dairy who is stopping by to just see how things are going, but they are never creepy. We did install a game cam near the barn which I would hope can catch anyone wandering (seems like most activity is near there). We have no trespassing signs at all the edges of our property, but I don't know what else to do to keep people away. We have a large dog, but he's inside. He'll bark like mad if anyone is in the front yard, but he cannot see the back or the whole yard. I'm a small woman and I'm home most days by myself with my husband at work and it totally freaks me out when I hear leaves crunching through the window and I look out to see someone wandering around! I'm not sure if it's the fact that there's woods all around that make people feel like it's alright to walk around or what, but I think it's so odd. Anyone else have issues with things like this?

You could get some large outside dogs. They will bark loudly I would assume when someone is around.

You haven't said if your property is fenced or not.

I know what you are saying. We have people that suddenly show up. Stuff has disappeared.
Have you talked to law enforcement about this yet?

We did used to have to very large dogs outside, although they apparently did not notice the person sleeping in the barn! Although both dogs were getting old so that could be why. The guy was harmless.. a guy down on his luck and needed a sheltered place to sleep. It was actually very sad. But still SO creepy. He left as soon as we realized he was there. I never spoke to him. Another family member discovered his belongings in the hay loft. Then remembered seeing a homeless looking man walking on the street the last few weeks. They weren't even going to tell me about it actually because they didn't want to scare me!
Our property is not fenced. I don't think we could afford to totally fence it in so people would be kept out, it's just too much space. The police were contacted with the theft of the wood chipper, although there wasn't much they could do since we had no idea who took it. I don't even know how they would have gotten it out of the yard since someone is almost always here. We're not like really far out in the country or anything either. We do have neighbors, although it's not the kind of area where we can all see each others houses. The police do a lot of patrols on our road though since there seems to be a lot of weirdos who pull over in the woodsy spots to do who knows what.

Some people believe that it is okay to wander in the woods if the property isn't fenced. We have had the same issue with hunters wandering on our property even telling my brothers that the property belonged to them and that my brothers were trespassing. A good fence with no trespassing sign is a must. Since fencing is so expensive, think about just doing the part where the woods are located. Also make your presence know around your property, walk the property, if you electricity in the barn play a radio a few times a week. There are probably other things that you can do to be visible.

And speak to the local Sheriff's Department, they need to know about the issues of trespassing, theft and squatters.

I live in the woods too. When we first built our house people used to come back here to cut firewood off my land without even asking. I would have said yes. One day a man parked in my driveway close to the house and went walking in my woods. I let my 100 lbs dog out when I saw him coming out of the woods. Dogs keep people away great.

get on craigslist and find a couple of free younger big dogs
something like a border collie or a lab is a good all around farm dog
don't get a livestock killer like a german shepard or some kind of sled dog
those IMHO are not so good on a farm.
a good big mutt if you know who the parents were can also be good for keeping your stuff where it belongs



good luck
piglett

I found a man sleeping in my minivan. We've had several instances of people wandering around at odd hours. Increased patrols didn't help. DH invested in a game camera, a pair of night vision goggles, and an air rifle. Turned out to be young adults high on God knows what, but the problem cleared up real fast. DH chased them through the woods growling, and those kids must've thought the devil himself was after em.

We have a dog. He'd get between us and trouble if we'd let him. It hasn't come to that yet, thankfully. Definitely worth the investment in my opinion, but puppies have to grow and learn, and that takes time. Getting an adult is fine but you may have a hard time finding one that doesn't want to chew on your livestock. Even then, a relationship must grow so that the dog will protect you. In my experience, building that sense of stability doesn't take too long.

My dad had a similar problem with tools and equipment disappearing. He checked with law enforcement. Posted signs warning that trespassers would be shot on sight. Nothing went missing after that. He didn't even own a gun. We see a lot of intimidating signage around here. Sometimes a dummy sign for a nonexistent security system or "beware of dog" is enough. I'd sure hate to see some poor soul just looking for shelter get hurt needlessly. But at the same time, you need to do whatever is necessary to feel safe in your own home.

Good luck. Hope things get better soon.

piglett said:

get on craigslist and find a couple of free younger big dogs
something like a border collie or a lab is a good all around farm dog
don't get a livestock killer like a german shepard or some kind of sled dog
those IMHO are not so good on a farm.
a good big mutt if you know who the parents were can also be good for keeping your stuff where it belongs



good luck
piglett 

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Not all together true. I have a female German shepherd who will go into the chicken run and lay down with the hens. The chickens were here first and she met them when she was 8 weeks old. She sees them as one of us.

mpgo4th said:

Not all together true. I have a female German shepherd who will go into the chicken run and lay down with the hens. The chickens were here first and she met them when she was 8 weeks old. She sees them as one of us.

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i thought about that type of thing as i was typing
yes there are a few good shepherds that can be good around birds
but if you tryied that with an adult sheperd there is a good chance that you would be short a few chickens
don't get me wrong i love a good German shepherd
they have many uses