I hope this is the right part of the foram to ask about this...I'm trying to figure out what sinage and/or other reasonable precautions to take if trespassing of the mostly ignorant variety becomes a more frequent occurrence on my property, since I have both a livestock guardian dog and roosters that are potential issues for people who show up unannounced if they wander where they shouldn't at the wrong time, and what I've read of the laws in NY as far as posting warning sinage is pretty confusing.
I live in a rural area in NY where many people are actively doing some kind of agriculture. There is also a notably growing late spring through early fall AirBnb/VRBO/etc. presence in the area, with some popping up very close to my property. Google and such have no idea where a lot of things are out here, and getting navigated to completely the wrong address is common, even being told to drive across a corn field or swamp. There are a lot of out of state plates driving around and making U-turns, pulling into the wrong driveways, etc. Didn't think much of it since my dog is usually contained and my roosters don't go out of their way to hunt people down, so people who don't go past the driveway are a non-issue for me. Then I had missionaries show up out of nowhere recently. They started to head down to where my chickens were because that's where I was. Caught me by surprise since I didn't hear them drive up. If a certain Mr Cuddles Junior had still been out foraging and two strangers in novel clothing had suddenly come waltzing through the middle of his flock, there definitely would have been a biting/flogging risk. Nevermind if my LGD had been out with the flock and they didn't respect her warnings - although perhaps people would be more likely to steer clear of a barking dog than a bunch of chickens. Anyway, the complete lack of caution was pretty surprising to me, but I guess that's something I do actually have to worry about now; I have had other random lost cars pull up my driveway in recent times, so I'm sure there will be others.
My first thought was to put up some warning signs on my driveway since it seems like there's an increase in clueless people in the immediate area, but also don't want to increase my liability with the wrong sineage. I will be putting up "no solicitors" and "no trespassing" signs, but that will mean nothing to someone getting wrong directions from their phone and thinking they're arriving at an AirBnB. I've read mixed things on putting up "beware of dog" signs or anything cautioning about specific types of animals. NY seems like it has some weird stuff to do with knowledge of vicious animals that I've read can work against a property owner, since posting a sign indicates you know you have a hazard. Meanwhile I've also read things like "landowners are not protected from liability in cases of willful or malicious failure to guard or warn against dangers."
Unfortunately a gate across the driveway isn't an option, and I probably won't have the general animal area fully fenced for at least another year or more. Hence why I'm hoping there is some good way right now to communicate that random folks need to stay clear, at least past a certain point, without it somehow working against me if they ignore it. What would folks do in this situation?
I will also be putting "posted" signs around the property but that's just to cover my butt against trespassing hunters out in the forested part of my property if I have to involve the police about it for any reason.
I live in a rural area in NY where many people are actively doing some kind of agriculture. There is also a notably growing late spring through early fall AirBnb/VRBO/etc. presence in the area, with some popping up very close to my property. Google and such have no idea where a lot of things are out here, and getting navigated to completely the wrong address is common, even being told to drive across a corn field or swamp. There are a lot of out of state plates driving around and making U-turns, pulling into the wrong driveways, etc. Didn't think much of it since my dog is usually contained and my roosters don't go out of their way to hunt people down, so people who don't go past the driveway are a non-issue for me. Then I had missionaries show up out of nowhere recently. They started to head down to where my chickens were because that's where I was. Caught me by surprise since I didn't hear them drive up. If a certain Mr Cuddles Junior had still been out foraging and two strangers in novel clothing had suddenly come waltzing through the middle of his flock, there definitely would have been a biting/flogging risk. Nevermind if my LGD had been out with the flock and they didn't respect her warnings - although perhaps people would be more likely to steer clear of a barking dog than a bunch of chickens. Anyway, the complete lack of caution was pretty surprising to me, but I guess that's something I do actually have to worry about now; I have had other random lost cars pull up my driveway in recent times, so I'm sure there will be others.
My first thought was to put up some warning signs on my driveway since it seems like there's an increase in clueless people in the immediate area, but also don't want to increase my liability with the wrong sineage. I will be putting up "no solicitors" and "no trespassing" signs, but that will mean nothing to someone getting wrong directions from their phone and thinking they're arriving at an AirBnB. I've read mixed things on putting up "beware of dog" signs or anything cautioning about specific types of animals. NY seems like it has some weird stuff to do with knowledge of vicious animals that I've read can work against a property owner, since posting a sign indicates you know you have a hazard. Meanwhile I've also read things like "landowners are not protected from liability in cases of willful or malicious failure to guard or warn against dangers."
Unfortunately a gate across the driveway isn't an option, and I probably won't have the general animal area fully fenced for at least another year or more. Hence why I'm hoping there is some good way right now to communicate that random folks need to stay clear, at least past a certain point, without it somehow working against me if they ignore it. What would folks do in this situation?
I will also be putting "posted" signs around the property but that's just to cover my butt against trespassing hunters out in the forested part of my property if I have to involve the police about it for any reason.
It would solve so many problems...
