Finally Bought Some Land

[ides1056]

I have never posted, period. Everyone asks first.

Except a particular group of dbag hunters who run coyotes with radio collared dogs. I was out in SF last weekend, and my wife called, apoplectic because these yahoos were out in our field, again, their dogs making the cows nuts. Everyone knows that a dog found loose on a person's land is in season. These clowns are ruining it for the rest of the hunters. There are rules, explicit and not, that almost all respect. Almost.

[ZenNMotion]

We got a very nice handwritten letter from one of our neighbors who has been using the property (with permission of the former owner) we just added to our collection as part of their morning perambulation and wondered if we would allow them continue. We gave them permission and will visit them in a week (they have sheep and a goat!) Of course, we spied on them through their social media and asked a few repositories of local knowledge (our landlords, the postal carrier) about them first.

Several neighboring properties have bright orange signs up that say NO TRESPASSING or POSTED and often NO HUNTING FISHING OR TRAPPING WITHOUT PERMISSION OF OWNER etc.

What's the experience with signs? I know from a liability standpoint you are damned if you don't but it doesn't really protect you if you do. If I don't need them to keep the peace, then I'd rather not use them. I don't see trash in either property, no obvious lumber removal, ruts from motorcycles or quads, so the land hasn't been abused even before we bought it. But I look across the boundary and see all the signs on neighboring properties and wonder if I am just being a naive city person.

Growing up in one of the poorest rural counties in NY, our and our neighbors' signs were mostly about trying to control who's hunting on your land, some can be astonishingly entitled regarding undeveloped property as commons, others can be incredibly careless or both. Times have changed though.

[monadnocky]

I don't post and always wondered if I should. Most of the neighbors do. Not very sure (at all) of the legal, but it's my understanding that unless your property is posted, it's tough to argue that hunters are trespassing. But I'm far from a lawyer.
Weird, imho.
But that's Live Free Or Die for you.

[ides1056]

There was a colonial way on the far western edge of our land that snowmobilers used, and in summer the occasional quad. I tolerated this despite the fact it was manifestly illegal: all the surrounding land is DFG, State land on which any motorized vehicle use is precluded. Then I found someone had painted blazes along the trail, and painted a circle around one that read "bikers are homos." I went out with my chain saw and cut every tree that had been blazed into the trail.

A neighbor came to complain, and I explained that I own every square millimeter of my property, and the suggestion that any other person had proscriptive rights to it would be similarly disabused.

The same holds true for every other activity, including hunting of every kind. I am only too happy to welcome those that are respectful: no trash, no hunting anything not in season, stay well away from the house, and don't act like you own the place.

[j44ke]

Since we essentially have two parcels, we'll probably put up some sort of sign along the eastern boundary of the parcel that contains our house. That eastern boundary is also about 2/3rds shared with our other parcel, but if we are going to treat that parcel as open to walking neighbors who ask, then marking our house parcel as private might be a good way of doing it.

There are also three tree stands for deer hunting along the eastern boundary of our house parcel facing towards our land. I have been thinking of putting a map showing the location of their stand and the location of our house into ziplock bag and zip-tying it to the stand so the hunters will know they have some responsibilities with aiming. The distance is pretty good as is the shielding from trees, but lucky shots exist and I don't want the excitement of incoming fire. Plus it will just communicate that we are on the property and we know where they are. Since they are obviously set up to shoot across our property, we can (as I understand the rules) require that they reorient their stand, which we may do, but I don't mind hunting and really the fewer deer the better. But people tend to be better behaved when they know they are not invisible.

One of the hunters put a game camera on a tree on our property. I've taken pictures of myself looking at it and waving. If it is still there the next time I walk through the woods, I may borrow the SD card.

[nahtnoj]

Our land is posted. In PA, if you don't post it, anyone can walk on and hunt. NY is probably similar. I don't think you want to attract the types of people who'll take advantage of that feature of state law to your property.

There are 3 families who hunt and trap on our land. Been doing so for decades. I figure if my great-grandfather was cool with you, you probably are. So far no one has given me any reason to doubt them. One guy even moved his tree stand. He was the legally required distance from the house, but moved a little deeper into the woods since we have a couple goats in the barn and he was too close to them.

Personally, given the amount of time I can sometimes spend away from home, I don't at all mind (and neither does Amie) having a couple of somewhat scary looking but extremely well intentioned men with rifles keeping an eye on things.

[ides1056]

Tree stands are bow hunters, so you should have no problem with that. NY state allows deer hunting with rifles, which have a much greater range than shotguns, the MA standard.

I have a friend with a place in the Carolinas, and they had some issues with hunters till some very large and scary locals solved it. So that approach does work.

[seanile]

Since we essentially have two parcels, we'll probably put up some sort of sign along the eastern boundary of the parcel that contains our house. That eastern boundary is also about 2/3rds shared with our other parcel, but if we are going to treat that parcel as open to walking neighbors who ask, then marking our house parcel as private might be a good way of doing it.

There are also three tree stands for deer hunting along the eastern boundary of our house parcel facing towards our land. I have been thinking of putting a map showing the location of their stand and the location of our house into ziplock bag and zip-tying it to the stand so the hunters will know they have some responsibilities with aiming. The distance is pretty good as is the shielding from trees, but lucky shots exist and I don't want the excitement of incoming fire. Plus it will just communicate that we are on the property and we know where they are. Since they are obviously set up to shoot across our property, we can (as I understand the rules) require that they reorient their stand, which we may do, but I don't mind hunting and really the fewer deer the better. But people tend to be better behaved when they know they are not invisible.

One of the hunters put a game camera on a tree on our property. I've taken pictures of myself looking at it and waving. If it is still there the next time I walk through the woods, I may borrow the SD card.

legally, their name and contact info must be on the camera.
i'm from NY, where my uncle hunts a lot. i hunt with a shotgun in MA and rifle in ME, and use a stand when i can for scent purposes. they're not strictly bow.
NY, like MA, i believe has trespass laws that prevent accessing private land, while ME and VT allow hunting on others' land without permission if it's not posted. post if you don't want free range. you can make post signs that have your contact info for permission requests.

[j44ke]

A few photos to update the process. Sheeting is on the roof, they've constructed the secondary roof over the living space that will also hold the planters for the green roof, the "pop-up" roof is framed, and they've finished framing the rest of the house. Now they are working on plumbing and electrical and waiting for arrival of the steel support columns that will hold up the roof across the expanse of the living room - dining room - kitchen space as well as the all-glass corner of the master bedroom and the porch roof.

They've also framed and sheeted the roof over the porch. I thought the roof over the porch would wait for the windows, but the plans changed. Plans change without changing the design of the building or the structure or the aesthetics or choice of materials. They just have to do with the order that things get done. So this was that.

Anyway, now you can see the arc of the roof edge above the porch. Sort of. It will be refined further and get a metal edge and some other things to make it nice and smooth, and the porch slab will get poured underneath to mirror the shape of the roof, making the arc more clearly viewable.

Note: Anything here that should be straight is straight. The photos were taken by an iPhone and the lens has tremendous barrel distortion. The house is incredibly straight and plumb.









And with all the wind on Tuesday(?) we lost a couple more trees on either side of the generator. One went straight down and clubbed the heck out of bunch of small trees on the other side of the rock wall, and the other one came to a rest at about 65 degrees, resting on a whip of a cherry tree. Lucky! The arborist will be out to take down the hung up tree and the electrician & the gas contractor to double check the power and gas lines.

Always get construction insurance!

[rwsaunders]

Our land is posted. In PA, if you don't post it, anyone can walk on and hunt. NY is probably similar.

NY law is different...no legal requirement to post...trespassing is illegal on both posted and unposted property.

[xjoex]

What's the experience with signs? I know from a liability standpoint you are damned if you don't but it doesn't really protect you if you do. If I don't need them to keep the peace, then I'd rather not use them. I don't see trash in either property, no obvious lumber removal, ruts from motorcycles or quads, so the land hasn't been abused even before we bought it. But I look across the boundary and see all the signs on neighboring properties and wonder if I am just being a naive city person.

I have no trespassing, no hunting and beware of dogs signs at start of my drive and at the edge of the trails I built on my place in Colorado. It's mostly because there are not a lot of year round folks living in our area, so when people walk dogs, they tend to follow anything plowed or packed in, my dogs go nuts... it's a pain in the neck.

-Joe

[ides1056]

this will do the trick

[j44ke]

The bear gave some of the rotten logs on the property a good working over while looking for goodies. He makes a good wood chipper.



Here are some interior shots.

This is the main hall, running south to north, with the main door on the south end (behind me) and the smaller northern door (in this photo) leading out to a large open space, better known as the septic field. Current plan is to plant it with a native seed mix for septic fields from a company that sells its seeds in thousand square feet to acre quantities and has a high percentage germination rate.



Here I am standing on the porch on the west side of the house looking through to the east side of the house where the outdoor rock garden space is located. There is effectively a hallway that runs from where I am standing through to the east side, allowing for nice cross ventilation when doors are open.



In this shot I am standing basically at the southwest corner of the dining room table. The kitchen is to the right and the living room to the left. The hall-space runs back along the rock garden, and the rock garden will actually be outside with glass window separating it from the interior space and the skylight open to the elements.



This was taken from the east end of the rock garden. The front and left side will have glass separating it from the interior of the house. The skylight will be open - the only skylight open to the elements in the house. The pop-up room above is on the second floor and will be my wife's office.



The combination of the rock garden skylight and the stairwell opening to the pop-up room creates a sort of bridge between the two above the main hallway.



This is from the main hall, looking up through the stairwell to the pop-up room. The stair will be a minimal steel open-tread design with glass handrail, allowing the pop-up room to function as yet another skylight.



If the weather calms down a bit today, we plan to take chairs out to do some research on best location for watching the sunset from the porch (as well as starting to figure out where we should plant some sugar maples and river birch around the house without blocking the best views.)

[j44ke]

For good luck.

[marley]

Thanks again for sharing

[Jason Musgrave]

Love the floor.

[j44ke]

Love the floor.

Hah! In the winter, it was a nice hockey rink. What you see is the sub-slab surface (and about 1-2cm of rainwater.) Radiant floor slab will go in soonish. That's why it holds water right now - there is a rim all the way around that will eventually be flush with the surface. They've been draining out the water regularly now that there's no freeze.

I was thinking we should have put a pool in the spot where the rock garden will be. One of those endless pools with the current or actual length single lane that goes out into the forest. Swim out into the pines. Maybe some day.

[j44ke]

Things are going slowly, but they are going. Measuring twice and measuring twice twice. No one wants the windows to be wrong. Everyone wants them to fit.

New steel in place. Roof edges banded.



View without cross braces.



View from master bedroom without cross braces.

[Gattonero]

Holy crap, I can't help thinking with a mind set in the part of the world where I come from: it will cost a fortune to build such thing with all that wood. But I suppose is cheap where you are.
It looks impressive, well done

[ides1056]

I have wondered how you are faring. The devil is in the details.