I said sorry, do I owe more?

[Mac88]

Not always! Rural areas can be sketchy. Where I live it shows only one large plat where there should actually be 4 smaller ones.

Uhuh. My address is misplaced by 7 full miles.

Harry K

MapQuest is usually much more accurate in rural areas, but they aren't always correct either. I use both when searching for remote location. Depending on location, Google may or may not show lot lines.

 

[Steve NW WI]

MapQuest is usually much more accurate in rural areas, but they aren't always correct either. I use both when searching for remote location. Depending on location, Google may or may not show lot lines.

Regardless of accuracy, property lines don't do any good unless you know who owns the land. That's where my suggestion of the plat book or visit to the county GIS site comes in.

I've been misdirected more than once by Google or MapQuest, and had to rely on the ole internal GPS, along with good old fashioned map reading skills. I've submitted a few corrections to Google, they're slow, but eventually they get fixed.

 

[mitch95100]

When I 4 wheeling on new territory I always get a gut wrench when I think I might be some where I shouldn't. I know everyone any way but that's besidesthe fact. Alot of people have guns around here...

Sent from my USCCADR3305 using Tapatalk 2

 

[kodiak]

Our county land records office has the plat drawings available online including the land owner's name.

 

[Mad Professor]

Ok - I was in the wrong.

My dad lives in a place where each house has 5-10 acres of land. He is about 70, so I like to help him out with firewood when I can. So after driving by this blown down tree for about 1.5 years. I pulled over one day, cut it up and started hauling it away. I could see houses in the distance but did not really know who's land it was. This tree was maybe 20 ft from the side of the road.

So while loading my truck a neighbor drives by and tells me the name of the landowner. I decide to do the right thing and drive to his house apologize for trespassing his land and offer my sincere apologies and all the wood that i have cut. This grumpy old man decides to go into a tirade and chew me out something fierce. This is after I tried to be polite as possible, as I really did feel bad. So he did not want the wood, but told me to leave it where i got it, and continued to verbally assault me.

So I have given this quite some thought, if the man had been the least bit courteous, i would have offered him some form of cash reparations for infringing on his land. Due to him being so difficult and rude, i just dropped the wood and never looked back.

Not sure what I would have done in his shoes, what would you have done in mine?

I would call that trespass, ......and stealing if you had removed the wood.

I posted all of our land because of crap like this.

 

[Stlshrk]

I think that there was also a bass boat sitting next to the tree... Did you give that a try too?

Shakes head. I have nothing nice to say, so I'll shut up.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Our county land records office has the plat drawings available online including the land owner's name.

That's what I was referring to with the GIS part (GIS is Geographic Information Systems). There's usually a lot more information than just ownership there. Tax records, soil types, you name it are available. Here's a link for my county's GIS if you feel the need to play, or maybe just be a snoop:

» WG Xtreme

It takes some learning, but once you know how to run it, there's a wealth of info there. (As a property owner, sometimes more than I'd like)

 

[Hardwoods Inc.]

From the Original poster:

Thank you to many of the posters for the honest and tough advice. Needless to say, I learned a lesson the hard way not to take what I know is not mine. I will not assume that a empty piece of land next to the road is not someones property.

To all those China bashers out there - thanks for making all those assumptions based on my current location.

In case anyone is interested I am actually on a 2-3 year assignment working for a US company in China. I do go back to the USA a few times a year, so this situation happened while I was visiting my parents in the states.

I expected and to some extent deserved the forum tongue lashing for making an assumption. I did not expect the racism.

Everything just has to be racism nowdays.I never saw one post that said anything negative about Chinese people.You need to read the definition of racism Dave.

 

[cafo1.618]

Maybe you forgot how things work here in the states. You stole from him and trespassed. If this was the old west you might not be here any more.
I would consider yourself lucky.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

 

[TreeGuyHR]

Kind of related to issues raised here is the fact that in doing tree work, it is often foreseeable that a branch or two could land on the neighbor's property. If so, I ask the client a bit about the neighbor (as in do they get along with them, are they home?) and also knock on the door and talk to them FIRST. Just hopping over a fence or wandering into a yard unannounced could end up badly. Probably better off leaving the branch there if you know nothing about the neighbor.

Plus -- as mentioned here-- it could be a good contact. I have a few places where I have multiple neighbors I have done work for, repeatedly.

 

[leadarrows]

I am going to go against the grain here a bit, no pun intended. I believe there is a difference between trespass and malicious trespass, and a difference between theft and removing a neglected mess. People routinely enter my property without permission to pick up apples and persimmons or cross while hunting or chasing their dogs. Perfectly fine with me as long as no theft or damage incurs. It has a lot to do with geography. The small minority of folks around here that choose a hard line will commonly find themselves as a target for vandalism. For example a guy I work with raised cane with some kids who were crossing his land with ATV's. He was totally in the right and a week later his fence was cut 7 times in a 1/4 mile stretch. I wonder who did that?

It is always better to ask first but I did the same as the OP once in the last 37 years of firewooding. The guy drove up that leased the field and asked why I was stacking the limbs off the edge of the field. I told him that is the way I always do it. He went on to give me a detailed description of the location of scrap wood on his property but repeatedly told me he was not giving me permission to cut it, liability I presume. We must respect someone who declines to give permission as liability is a real threat and their property is their property. Some work for a living, some vote for a living, and some sue for a living.

So is his a neglected mess to you? Looks like a tree some one cut the top out of and left the rest right? Nope. This is part of my wifes registered 2 acres of wild live habitat. The brush pile is for critters and the tree....set their with a crane. That's right it didn't grow their it was moved to that spot with a crane. Think it would tick me off if you stopped by and cleaned up my mess?

No one has the right to assume anything about someone else's property.

 

[hardpan]

Has it ever occurred to you how many thousands of downed trees I passed up along the roads in the last 37 years? I knew the owner of the property. The tree landed in a planted corn field. The guy leasing the ground harvested his crop around the mess and when he saw what I was doing, showed his appreciation, and offered me a site to cut on his property cleaning up another mess though making it clear he wanted to stay away from liability. I understood. I read the situation spot on.

 

[leadarrows]

I don't think it is possible for me to have your life's experiences, Occur To Me.

I am not specifically addressing you so much as using your post to address the OP. The message is simply ...one mans trash could be another mans treasure.

It is assumptions in general I would caution against.

The landowner in the OP's post may have left the tree their on purpose. That's why you ask first. That and respect for property rights.