We have a problem, the neighbors got a new dog. Update: now kids

[The Yakima Kid]

Some people will climb fences, walk past no trespassing signs, and walk several hundred feet to feed things to horses or other animals they think are "cute." We have friends who had a family with a little girl ignore the NO TRESPASSING signs, open the gate, drive up, wander into the pasture with a stud horse and feed it carrots, and then show up at the house threatening suit because a rattlesnake buzzed at them. They had no idea that studs do not behave like Fury, The Black Stallion, or any number of fictional equines and were just darn likely that this stallion was very old and not as prone to aggression as most.

I do think that if you haven't posted NO TRESPASSING signs and built a pen to confine your birds you haven't carried out your responsibility. If the roosters are wandering the road, expect the dogs to follow them back to the property and discover the fun they can have with the other birds.

 

[greeneggsandham]

Quote:
Yes, and if you did you'd go to jail. Connecticut law is very firm on that one. You can't shoot anywhere in a trespasser's direction, cannot try to hurt a trespasser, cannot lay a trap for a trespasser. Must show due care for a trespasser once he or she is known to be on the property (e.g., can't send him away in a direction you know is dangerous, can't force him to leave in a blizzard, etc.).

I know it's in vogue on this board to be very flip about the idea of shooting trespassers, but it's illegal in every state and it's not funny. Joking about deliberately injuring any human is not very good for the soul, either, quite apart from whether or not the deed takes place.

This particular thread is really getting beyond common sense. Why on EARTH would somebody think that unfenced roosters, who are going all over the place without being contained and need $40 worth of wood and wire, are worth shooting a dog in broad daylight in a residential area with kids around? It's one thing if you've got a persistent predator dog who is digging through fencing and is clearly there to kill your livestock. This is a dog who's running around WITH KIDS and who is running after chickens every once in a while. Put a dang fence around the roosters if you don't want to send them to freezer camp. Stop blaming the kids for coming onto a property that looks like an amusement park for country kids; it's obvious that the court doesn't blame them.

First off I never said shooting a trespasser was funny, second I have had two State Police tell me that if I have to use force against someone who is on my property to defend myself or my animals then I can. I have game cameras up and can see who tries to sneak in from the cornfield, thru the pine grove and come right in from the front yard. I have numerous police reports against a neighbor who has shot his firearm directly at our property and my horses, who has come on to our property and dumped three boxes of carpenter nails in my horses paddock, tried to give my dogs something, but got bite by my guard dog (no charges against me because the camera caught him) and numerous other things. The neighbor has money so it seems he is never held very long and only gets probation and a slap on the wrist. Found out later that he knows some judges at the courts. His day will come patience is a virtue.

 

[herfrds]

If you or your FIL catch the kids on the place tell them, nicely, that you would like it if they stayed off because it is not their parents property and you don't want them hurt. Because next time you see them on the property you will be calling law enforcement to talk to them about being on other peoples property without permission.


Growing up I asked my neighbors if we could cross their property or to snowmobile over it.
Had trouble with a different neighbor when I was in high school. Her kids were given the go ahead by the parents to walk through everybodies yards. I chased them off because they didn't ask first.
Later on I caught them throwing rocks at our dog , which was still on our property, making him bark I told them to knock it off. One of the kid's mom came out screaming at me.
We got into it pretty good. Glad my folks weren't around, the air got pretty blue. I can still make a salior blush.
Never had anything to do with them ever again.
I did tell my folks what happened.
The neighbors moved a couple years later.

 

[midget_farms]

Quote:
Not making a joke of this - but its not illegal in Texas. I saw a cops episode a couple years ago where a guy shot a repo man dead in the drive way & the cops appologised for bothering him. He came right out & told them he shot the guy & they did nothging. Apparently in Texas if its after dark & someone is on your land you have reasonable fear for your life or property to blast them.

That said - I agree with you - its not funny & will (at least in Illinois) get you in deep doo doo.

Just ask them to leave & file a police report. If it is still an issue get a restraining order. Let the law deal with it.

Maybe get cameras - funny thing about video - it makes the jury an eye witness to the crime.

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Yes, Texas has the Castle Doctrine. No responsibility to retreat. Just be careful that the gun does not appear too aggressive (eg. military style), especially if you are female. Juries can be misled.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

TX has something called castle doctrine - a bunch of states have it but TX has the broadest interpretation. However, TX's castle doctrine gets legally challenged on a regular basis, because people do dumb stuff like shoot a guy running across the corner of their yard. So far it's been upheld, but "upheld" means you get to spend YEARS in court and your life pretty much gets ruined. I don't know the specifics of the repo guy, though I would guess that there were extenuating circumstances like the repo guy looking in a window or something. Castle doctrine becomes very clear if there's any attempt to actually get in your house. Somebody in a driveway looking around CANNOT be shot; you have to have reasonable belief (which TX defines as "the belief that would be held by a reasonable person" - not just your own belief) that the person is there to kill or harm you or your family.

I did work at one point for the TX Rifle Association; I got to know ALL ABOUT castle doctrine.

 

[Tala]

I don't recall ever saying I was gonna shoot any kids, just call the cops on them. You guys seem to take the worst take on things. Discussing castle doctrine doesn't really belong on my thread. And I DO know exactly where my roosters go, because of the camera and because both me and my in-laws spend time out there working around the property. The roos stay close to the hens' pen, that's for sure. The one that went directly across the road came back within 5 minutes. The dog owners live a LONG ways down the road. The roosters never go anywhere near them.
I really have no desire to discuss this any further with you guys. You don't know the layout of the property, or my in-laws use of it, so how you think you can tell me how to fence it is just ridiculous.

 

[silkiechicken]

Closed by OP request.