City slickers try to sue small town rancher for getting them ticketed for ‘trespassing’ after backpacking on his private property, rancher gets the last laugh: ‘I got the payment…'

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Apr 20, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

Some people prefer the big city life to small town living, and that's fine. The accessibility to public transportation, the people watching, the endless things to do, etc. It's a faster pace of life and some people thrive in that environment. However, some people are the complete opposite and thrive in places that are slower. That is when small town/country life is embraced! People who are like this go out to find a secluded plot of land for themselves where they can live in peace and solitude and only see people when they so choose to. In the city, the second you step outside of your door, you are likely to encounter another person. In the country, you're more likely to encounter a woodland creature before anyone else—and that's how they like it! Both have their negatives and positives. 

 

However, if you are a visitor in either of those places, you know to respect the rules of the area. That means, reading the signs that tell you what you can or cannot do around town. Like, perhaps, "private property" and "do not enter" signs. They have those everywhere, it's not like you don't understand what they mean… 

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  • However, for these city slickers, apparently those signs meant nothing to them once they crossed over into the country. Hikers from Denver came to a small town in Montana to go backpacking. The found a beautiful spot to hike and camp for a few days. Unfortunately for them, they let their entitled-ness get the best of them and the place they chose was private property. The not only blatantly ignored the signage tell them this, they also parked their cars blocking the property owner's driveway! Luckily, the rancher knew exactly what to do and was able to give them what they deserved! 

  • Cheezburger Image 10494760448
    via Unsplash+ (and Austin Neill)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "Block my driveway?"

    I live on a fairly large (~4800 acres) ranch in Montana - I'm not a rancher, and I don't pretend to be, but I inhereted the ranch, and lease most of the land out to people who know what they're doing.
    via Doc_Hank
  • Now, when I took possession of the property I had the boundaries reviewed and marked by a surveyor, and with my trusty ATV I verified that the fence was intact all around my property, and was marked no
    via Doc_Hank
  • tresspassing, according to the law. Met my neighbors, tried to live quietly in the beauty I had. One day, coming back from town, I found three cars blocking my driveway. My
    via Doc_Hank
  • driveway is a private, graded gravel road, about 1 1/4 miles long from my fenced, marked, gate on the public access road. Nobody around, and because of the way the road was built with drainage ditches on either
    via Doc_Hank
  • side - no way to drive around them, and no way to drive past them. But, I was about 3/4 of a mile from my house. I climbed up on my truck to see if I could see anyone around, no joy.
    via Doc_Hank
  • Now, I considered just chaining on to the vehicles. and towing them with my truck, at least until I can get by...but I figured I better get some witnesses. So, I called it into the Sheriffs office...
    via Doc_Hank
  • Fortunately the deputy on duty on my side of the county was fairly close by. so he swung by in a half- hour or so. "Hey, Doc" he said (I'm an emergency physician in the local hospital, and know most all of the emergency
    via Doc_Hank
  • responders). "Bob, how's Charli (his teenage daughter, who I had seen a few months earlier in the Emergency Department) doing? "She's back to normal, thanks" he said. "What's up?"
    via Doc_Hank
  • I pointed to the vehicles. "I came back from town and found these cars parked here. I don't know who they are, can't get past them, and can't see anyone around here. I'd like to get past them, to get to my house."
    via Doc_Hank
  • "Well, I can ticket them and order them towed, but the nearest tow truck is probably two hours away. Why not just tow them yourself?" "That's what I was thinking of doing, but I wanted a witness."
    via Doc_Hank
  • "OK, Doc. Let me give you a hand". So, we took some picture of all of it, and towed the cars out of the way - which caused some damage to the road surface (gravel, right?). The damage is what really annoyed me: I had just paid
    via Doc_Hank
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    via Unsplash+ (and Howard R Wheeler)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • the bill to have the road graded and more gravel added - something that has to be done every year or so on such roads. But, I was able to get by, which was the important thing.
    via Doc_Hank
  • The next morning, the cars were still there. And the next morning (so the cars had been there three days now), they were still there. I'd had enough. I drove out to the cars with some wooden cribbing, and a high-lift jack, and jacked
    via Doc_Hank
  • the cars up, put cribbing down, and lef the cars there, wheels up in the air. It took two more days before anyone showed up. Eight people showed up, angry because their cars had been essentially booted..
    via Doc_Hank
  • They really didn't like it when I told them they owed me for parking, and damage done to the road, because they blocked it. "You know this is a private road, right?" I asked. "We did't know!" "You had to pass a closed gate, with signs, to get onto this road.
    via Doc_Hank
  • Then, you blocked the road - beause you were too stupid to park like an adult? Blocked emergency access to my home? I should have had your cars towed, which the Sheriff told me I could do."
    via Doc_Hank
  • They started threatening me, saying they'd call the police. "Go for it". Turns out they were backpacking, and their phones had all did so they wanted ME to call the police. Fair enough. The
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  • deputy (Bob, again) showed up, and since he already knew the situation their claims didn't get far. This time, I had Bob trespass them - and them off my property. "They can wait for the tow truck on the public road" I
    via Doc_Hank
  • said. "Also, Bob, I'd like to have their names, addresses, license numbers and vehicle registration noted in your report, for my lawsuit". "No problem, Doc".
    via Doc_Hank
  • Cheezburger Image 10494767872
    via Unsplash+ (and Yunus Tuğ)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • He took them to the public road (three trips). Called a tow truck, which took four hours to arrive. $500 fee per vehicle to lower them (I got the cribbing back) and tow them off my property to the public road (they were still trespassed).
    via Doc_Hank
  • About a month later, I received notice they were suing me. Fair enough: I counter-claimed them, in the local court (they were from Denver, which is a drive away). My lawyer laughed at their claims.. So
    via Doc_Hank
  • did the judge. And they were very unhappy when he ordered them to pay for resurfacing the road. (again), plus storage and punitives. They threatened to appeal: My lawyer explained they were welcome to do so, but the
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  • appeal would still be in Montana, in the State. Supreme Court (Montana doesn't have an intermediate appelate court), in Helena. In likely. three years before it's scheduled, plus legal fees on their end. And their
    via Doc_Hank
  • odds of losing were pretty high. Plus, we'd be including more legal charges, plus charges for their 'camping' on my land, damages, etc (I found at least one campsite, where they left trash around - including an envelope with
    via Doc_Hank
  • their name on it). It took a year, but I got the payment from the third hiker last week. I decided that the money will go to help pay for my annual summer BBQ for the county's emergency responders: Two days of
    via Doc_Hank
  • smoked brisket and the trimmings, games for the kids, swimming in my pool, or my stream, and whatever. I do this every year, since its a small town. Small town living: So much better than the Big City I originally came from.
    via Doc_Hank

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