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Rattlesnakes, copperheads, fire ants, feral hogs, wasps, black widows, scorpions, skunks, coyotes. I haven't seen the last one, coyotes, but I have seen silver and red foxes. I don't consider deer that hostile.....but running into a Doe with Fawns would not be a good thing.Well, there is the very big catch. Cell phone comms are, quite frankly, lousy on the ranch. I doubt very much I could get a distress call out.
My best bet would be..........to carry a .22 rifle with lots of loaded magazines and fire off 3 rounds, a minute apart. That and use my whistle to send off an SOS......lots of them in both cases.
A friend on expedition seems like a good notion....but not that easy to accomplish.
Yes, bring a rifle. Wear some proper clothing to resist bugs & critters.
Carry some poisonous snake venom antidote.
Get a couple large dog pals.
You can put some infra-red cameras close to your rancho, so you can see if anyone is coming around to check out your place.
Best of Luck...
Perhaps you'd be better off in a condominium in the city if your so afraid of your own property. And honestly you should make sure a neighbor doesn't have tree stands and is hunting out there.
Nothing you mentioned precludes regular folks from venturing forth into the woods. All of the risks combined don't even approach the risk you take driving to the grocery store.
Wasps are the most dangerous thing and there just as common around the house as they are the woods. They kill 10 times as many people in a year as snakes, and your chance of dying from one is 1 in 5 million.
Skunks? I've known a LOT of dogs that have gotten sprayed, but never a person, unless they were trapping them. Fire Ants? Irritating, but washed off in a shower and a benadryl will alleviate any symptoms.
Coyotes and Foxes? Dangerous to small animals, not people.
My neighbors are pretty nice. One came to my door, saying his son had shot a deer that escaped and asked permission to search my land for him.
All other comments....noted.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hawk J
Yes, bring a rifle. Wear some proper clothing to resist bugs & critters.
Carry some poisonous snake venom antidote.
Get a couple large dog pals.
You can put some infra-red cameras close to your rancho, so you can see if anyone is coming around to check out your place.
Best of Luck...
Are you serious about "Carry some poisonous snake venom antidote"?
It MAY Save your life.
Many Campers, hikers, fisherfolk carry it where ever there are poisonous snakes. In Bear Country, some folks carry Bear Spray.
Be Safe. Watch where you walk.
I am a little apprehensive about trail cams because even I don't go down in the preserve acreage. Apprehensive about placing them, apprehensive about replacing them if damages, stolen, or maintenance.
What about using drones?
Now I'm really confused. Why did you buy property you are afraid to access? If you insist on privacy, don't want people to trespass or sneak up on you, but you don't post or maintain your boundaries unsavory people will soon figure this out and you'll have problems. It is much easier to teach people not to trespass than to stop it after the fact.
If you don't feel capable of posting it yourself, hire someone to do the initial installations and have them map/document it well for you. Put together a field kit with supplies you're most likely to need and always take it with you. Learn to use an ATV if you don't feel safe walking, go out, and get to know your own land. Start off close to home. As you get familiar with one surrounding area expand your known circle outward. Better the devil you know than the one you don't.
There may be a few logical access points or existing trails a trail cam might be useful to monitor but if the terrain is as rough as you claim, not many. People tend to stick to known easier routes. They don't want to become victims or be forced into rescue by an irate landowner.
As for drones, sure they have their uses but they can be shot down very easily by anyone who doesn't want their activity monitored. A drone can't mark your perimeter, you need to establish that. They can't do maintenance so they won't solve the problem.
Good luck enforcing your property rights or pursuing trespass cases if your boundaries aren't maintained. If you let your fear prevent you from being familiar with your own land, get comfortable with the fact that others could choose to use it without your consent.
Last edited by Parnassia; 01-18-2022 at 05:17 PM..
Rattlesnakes, copperheads, fire ants, feral hogs, wasps, black widows, scorpions, skunks, coyotes. I haven't seen the last one, coyotes, but I have seen silver and red foxes. I don't consider deer that hostile.....but running into a Doe with Fawns would not be a good thing.Well, there is the very big catch. Cell phone comms are, quite frankly, lousy on the ranch. I doubt very much I could get a distress call out.
My best bet would be..........to carry a .22 rifle with lots of loaded magazines and fire off 3 rounds, a minute apart. That and use my whistle to send off an SOS......lots of them in both cases.
A friend on expedition seems like a good notion....but not that easy to accomplish.
Some of these critters are worth some degree of worry but there are ways to avoid risks they pose. The only critter I'd be really afraid of are feral hogs. An understanding of natural history, tough clothing, good boots & gloves, and snake gaters will neutralize most of the other threats. Skunks? Coyotes? Foxes? Deer? Seriously? I would never be worried about meeting any of them especially a doe with fawns! You are expecting aggression from creatures that know better than to attack without provocation. That increases their risk for injury and that leaves them vulnerable. Their first inclination will be to get as far away from a threat as possible. Unless they're cornered or sick (ie rabies). A sick animal will be pretty obvious but you need to educate yourself about the signs.
Your fear of all these things is based on ignorance. Knowledge is power. If you don't go out and learn your land or expose yourself to where and how your non-human neighbors really live you'll never feel safe on your own property. That's no way to live no matter where you are.
Last edited by Parnassia; 01-18-2022 at 05:16 PM..
You can also mark your lot lines with purple paint in Texas (Maryland is blue paint).
As mentioned, don't get cute. Just do the regular "No Trespassing" signs and paint, if you like.
A .22 really isn't loud enough to alert anyone. If you have hogs a .243 would be the minimum I'd carry and I'd tend to upsize to something .30 caliber.
It MAY Save your life.
Many Campers, hikers, fisherfolk carry it where ever there are poisonous snakes.
American campers and fisherman carry thousands of dollars in antivenin along with a cooler (it starts to degrade at 98°F), injectable saline, and syringes?
Seems like the right boots and leggings would weigh less and provide more protection.
Coyotes and Foxes? Dangerous to small animals, not people.
For a few years, I lived in a house on the Olympia Peninsula in WA that backed up to 300 acres of second-growth forest. I had one of two houses in that neighborhood at the time. The nearest other house was a couple blocks away.
I called the local newspaper because my paper was missing from the end of the driveway, and I knew my neighbor, who built my house, wasn't stealing it. The customer service person at the paper called me back and said, "She KNOWS she delivered it the last two days and can't figure out why you didn't get it."
On the third day, my neighbor called and said he knew "who" was stealing my paper. It was a coyote, who apparently took it to line a den with. My neighbor just happened to be looking out the window and saw the thief in action.
After that, they starting putting my paper up on the shelf holding my mailbox.
I am a little apprehensive about trail cams because even I don't go down in the preserve acreage. Apprehensive about placing them, apprehensive about replacing them if damages, stolen, or maintenance.
How much wild acreage do you have?
Quote:
Originally Posted by TamaraSavannah
What about using drones?
Manufacturers have started developing reasonably affordable drone dock stations for quick deployment of a drone for surveillance.
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Citation needed
