Landowner rigs a clever boobytrap on his property after a trespasser continually uses his land as a shortcut: 'Just the right angle to puncture your radiator'

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jun 14, 2024 7:00 AM EDT

My land, my rules.

The best part about being a property owner is that you can usually do whatever the heck you want to do on your land. Less an HOA, you have near unlimited freedoms to do as you please within your own fences and if a trespasser violates your rule of law, they're going to face some serious consequences.

The property owner in our next story tried to play nice with a neighbor who was violating his land by driving through and leaving deep tire tracks in the mud. While the landowner had some specific dreams in mind for how they wanted to use their land, having it become a habit trail or a shortcut was low on their list of ideals. After several attempts to dissuade the trespasser, the property owner decided to take matters into their own hands, setting up clever (and immiscible) boobytraps hidden in the deep grass. Scroll for the entire story of petty revenge on a backwoods property that'll make this trespasser think twice about taking the long way home next time. 

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  • 01
    "Yep, they drove through the fence"
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  • 02
    Posted by u/House-Plant_ You want to keep driving through my property, I'll make it so you can't drive Д
    via House-Plant_
  • 03
    A few years ago my partner and I purchased a block of land that we were planning on levelling and building our forever home on but due to rising building costs we have,
    via House-Plant_
  • 04
    unfortunately, had to hold off building at this point and have been utilising the space as a dog run / "chill" point as we have both ocean and mountain views.
    via House-Plant_
  • 05
    About 6 months ago, we started to notice tyre tracks running through our property, from one side all the way to the other. Always the same path taken so, we now have
    via House-Plant_
  • 06
    two beautiful, deep tyre tracks on our property. Awesome. No worries - we popped up a fence to deter the people from driving through. Yep, they drove through the fence.
    via House-Plant_
  • 07
    We would put it back up, and the very next time we would go out there the fence was driven through again. At this point, this has been going on for about six months
    via House-Plant_
  • 08
    and during that time we decided to stop mowing the lawn ya know, hopefully make it a bit more challenging for them to drive through. Nope,
    via House-Plant_
  • 09
    continues to drive through. No worries, we'll just keep it growing, love the look plus bonus points for not having to worry about maintenance.
    via House-Plant_
  • 10
    The other great thing about long grass is you can hide all kinds of things there, and since it's our property that we're just leaving bare we can obviously start storing some
    via House-Plant_
  • 11
    goods on there. Like, metal star pickets. They also sit in the ground on just the right angle to puncture your radiator if you try to drive through it without knowing it's there.
    via House-Plant_
  • 12
    The last time I visited our property, there was some nicely bent star pickets strewn about, some that had been snapped clean and a few that had very clearly been thrown in anger. Turns out, tow trucks make big grooves in grass.
    via House-Plant_
  • 13
    whittlingcanbefatal. There is someone's 4x4 buried in a corner of my family ranch. Over the years a number of natural obstacles were put up to discourage off-roaders. In
    via whittlingcanbefatal
  • 14
    addition, the US Park Service had put up signs warning the ground is unstable due to old mines. The signs also warn of a substantial fine and possible jail time for trespassing.
    via whittlingcanbefatal
  • 15
    One time someone contacted the ranch manager asking if they could bring a crane onto our land to recover the jeep that had fallen into a mine. The ranch manager asked words to the effect, "Are you admitting to trespassing?"
    via whittlingcanbefatal
  • 16
    That pretty much ended the conversation. The jeep has stayed where it is and natural erosion has left it as a mystery for future archeologists to puzzle over.
    via whittlingcanbefatal
  • 17
    Tikki_Taavi Get a couple of Trail cameras and mount them so they are out of the path but can capture the action if it starts up again.
    via Tikki_Taavi
  • 18
    House-Plant OP That's our next course of action if it continues. We've got a very large tree at the perfect angle.
    via House-Plant_
  • 19
    Idotu . I have a neighbor who kept backing out of their driveway onto my property to turn around. It was messing up a section of yard and I got fed up with it so I put up some metal posts. Those got bent in about
    via Idotu
  • 20
    a week, so I put them back, again they got bent. Finally I got some railroad ties and put them down and for good measure put some cheap T- posts up with ribbon on them so it couldn't be missed.
    via Idotu
  • 21
    The problem quickly resolved itself after that. It might have had something to do with the pieces of broken bumper I saw scattered around.
    via Idotu
  • 22
    House-Plant OP . Sometimes, you just need to make sure you have some nice, solid fencing, hey. Love this
    via House-Plant_
  • 23
    Illuminatus-Prime Tall grass also hides big rocks and cinder blocks. Just sayin'.
    via Illuminatus-Prime
  • 24
    U_Wont_Remember_Me . Sometimes it's better to ask for permission rather than wait for the star pickets.
    via U_Wont_Remember_Me

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Tags

epic landowner land owner revenge fence awesome boobytrap petty tresspasser tresspassing story property Reddit funny property line
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