Recreational access rights?

[Nebraska]

Any one ever hear of purchasing a recreational access easement  or purchasing access rights. Mulling this over. Don't want to fiddle with lease arrangements. 

[Southside]

A chunk of land I was interested in buying had a paragraph in the deed where someone had "lifetime hunting rights". 

Ended up walking away from the deal. About a year later the seller came to me and asked what it was going to take to make the deal work. They addressed the issue of access themselves and I bought the piece.

The way I see it, I pay for it, I decide who has access. 

[SwampDonkey]

Ski door, 4-wheeler access, cross country ski? Most landowner agreements up here are with wood processing mills on their freehold lands. I've never seen an agreement and can't find such an article where an agreement is with a small woodlot owner. Yet I see ski doo trails cross farm land and farm woods in winter. I think there are liability issues for the landowner, like if someone dies in a collision on your land. Who compensates the family? The victims insurance carrier?   Landowners liability insurance? Government? All vehicles on trails are suppose to be insured and licensed? But that is not always the case, people skirt the system all the time. They've never stopped it on the highways.

[Magicman]

I think there are liability issues for the landowner, like if someone dies in a collision on your land. Who compensates the family?

Why does the family have to be compensated when someone wrecks and dies??  I know, I am just trying to have common sense in a senseless world.

[SwampDonkey]

What's the point of being insured for loss of life and limb, like in reg. auto insurance? ;) My auto and SXS insurance are on same policy.

[Machinebuilder]

As far as the liability issues,

Unless you are charging access fees, as in a commercial operation.

As a landowner you are liable IF you are aware of a hazard and do not do something about it.

I have a neighbor try to make a claim on my homeowners Insurance.
a tree broke off 30' up in my woods and fell over the property line and fell on one of his junk classic cars. it has been sitting there long enough it sitting on its frame.
When the adjuster came out, he took one look and asked if I knew the tree might fall, when I said no. He said there is no liability, it is an act of nature. He also asked if we were friends.

If someone is on your land and do to their actions has an accident, how do you as the landowner have liability to them?


I am not knowledgeable on this but I will put my insurance company's lawyers up against a private citizens lawyer any time.

[mike_belben]

I was the "massachusetts land access representative" for east coast 4wd association for a while.  Every state in new england has one form or another of "hold harmless" law for free recreational access, all by different names.  Chapter this section that. 

 When you charge to play it is nullified and liability resumes.  When you get caught taking "donations" or voluntary labor bennies etc it can be jeopardized as well if an amabalamps chaser sniffs that out.

[mike_belben]

One risk is greenies like sierra club gain access to 'historic' stuff and so forth then try to take them.  


One example i worked against as the association rep at the meetings was when the ecos tried to defacto nationalize a part of the metacomet-monadnock trail that crossed cowl's lumber land on brushy mountain between amherst and quabbin.

Its not enough to let them use it.  In time they want it exclusively to themselves.  And wjat they really want is to block timber activity. 

 I experience this previous as a downhill mountain biker in hawaii too with sierra club.  Had to protect the unpaved side of a residential hill from a 6 inch wide single track that i could not keep cleared to save my life . 

 Never trust sierra club. Theyre like the ACLU of the great outdoors.  Scheming on takeovers at every press release.

[Ron Scott]

Yes, there can be such easements to a property depending upon the willing seller, willing buyer relationship and interests. However, such easements can become an encumbrance to any future sales of the property unless they are rescinded.

[sprucebunny]

As Mike said, in NH if I sell you any rights, my insurance situation changes and I become more liable. If I let you do it for free ( or for the tax discount the state/town gives) , I have no new insurance problems.

[SwampDonkey]

Up here, if you are a trespasser, the landowner has no obligation. But on managed trails or granted permission to cross his land (a licensee), you're liable. If the driver has a trail pass, he's a licensee.

[Nebraska]

 

 

 

 

That was everyday this last week.  Just got tired of having an audience  watching my  little 12 acre tree patch.
Having three trucks with guns shooting down hill into your place was really irritating, just because I had a decent young deer using the place.   The family works for the business next door to the clinic.  So instead  of fooling with© leasing the hunting rights I was pondering trying to buy them.  Just to control the access.  The truck in the top picture looking through the screen is about 320 yards away from my couch.  It's 276 yards to the terrace from the back of the barn. I measured it using as a back stop sighting a rifle years ago.  The rest  of the story is too long, no bad blood with the neighboring land owners. Just don't think he was thinking much when he gave permission to the Delta Bravo crew to hunt the  ground, it's a cornfield with no cover... I haven't said anything to them its been a tough week.
Just got real tired of seeing pickup trucks on every horizon while I went about my stuff.

[Nebraska]

Yes I need to paint my sheds again.

[Southside]

I absolutely despite heater hunters. It's really bad around here. 

[SwampDonkey]

Not even suppose to discharge a firearm within 450 yds of a dwelling while hunting in these parts and pointed away. It's certainly illegal off a public access road bed. And on crown land where we thin or someone is harvesting, DNR puts up signs for no hunting within 5 miles of a woods crew. Seems a little excessive for distance, but that is the rules out there. I had one crack head firing down a road with his target set up on the road bed. Me on the road bed snow shoeing. : An obvious recreational trail with a snow shoe path down it. Me parked to where you could drive. I gave him a lesson in firearm safety and never laid eyes on him again. Of course you get the usual made up story that DNR gave them permission. No crown land there. : We live on a dead end road that goes dirt and you never know who your going to come across. Some just don't think. And others love shooting stuff up.

[tmarch]

Put a couple blinds up, stick a orange hat or vest in each.  Seems to keep the "hunters" out of our patch of dirt.

[Southside]

Buy an old pickup, put Fish and Game on the doors and park it where they can see it. 

[Nebraska]

We will see how it goes, I take care of the recently retired game wardens dog, a couple three sheriff's deputies pets.  I have some pretty good connections into game and parks so enforcement is not an issue. I wouldn't have to buy an old truck.... If I was ten years younger I probably would just try to buy  the land. Just don't know how hard  and how long I want to "hoe this row".  In a few more years coasting would be very attractive. 

[KEC]

Did you guys know that The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has a program whereby they pay landowners to put a deed restriction on their property that permanently bans all hunting and trapping ?

[mike_belben]

we can hunt while seated on a stationary ATV, sxs, golfcart etc but not from a road vehicle.  is that legal in nebraska?

[SwampDonkey]

Not legal up here Mike, no loaded firearm onboard. Just a for instance.

[sawguy21]

I had to laugh. Some years ago they were approaching a game check in Alberta, buddy grabbed the shotgun to unload and it went off in the truck cab. Apparently they weren't hurt but their wallets were considerably lightened and I imagine they had trouble hearing for a while.

[Southside]

Saw that one time when a .300 mag went off and destroyed the brake caliper. Another time the guy ejected a 12 ga shell which did a loop de loop and disappeared through the shifter brushes (Jeep with the floor shifter) and locked the transmission in park, 50 miles into the woods, before the days of cell coverage.