A friend of mine owns a 400+ acre Farm not far from where I live. If you knew their entire life story and just how difficult times have been on this individual, you'd not only be extremely proud of this person, you'd wish the rest of America worked as hard as this person does.
That being said, one of our neighbors took it upon themselves to take their 4-wheelers onto this Farm and rise through this crop field and destroyed the majority of what's there.
It's not like someone drove 10 miles or even 5 miles down paved roads to get to this particular field, we know who more than likely did this and the Police, (Sheriff's Department) is investigating it. Sadly, however, our neighbors all know the struggle it takes today to survive on a Farm.
So to you, our neighbor, you're a piece of sh!t. You're a scumbag and I'd like to see your sorry a$$ show up anywhere on my property because the end result would NOT be the same. That's a great example you're setting for your kids too.
The damage came to around $1,500.00. Do you even have a clue what $1,500.00 means to a Farmer these days? Their electric bill alone last month on this Farm was $1,400.00! The cowards did this damage late at night.
I am not a fan of sinister booby trapping (things where INNOCENT little kids can accidently stumble upon them and get hurt), but I can't help but feel this would be a very entertaining locale to set up some 5 ft high "Rommel's Asparagus."
ReplyDeleteIts a quad illegally deer hunting on private property. This is the kind of stupid shit that is making it almost impossible for farmers to trust hunters enough to let their land be hunted on. We as hunters must be respectful of private property, we are supposed to be stuards of the land we have permission to hunt and respectful of boundary lines on property we do not have permission to hunt.
ReplyDeleteThe worst thing about something like this is:
ReplyDeleteI have found that if you bother to *ASK PERMISSION* to do something on someones land they will say yes 90% of the time.
This corn looks like its within a month at most of harvest.
If the kids asked to ride 4 wheelers on the farm, the owners would have probably said... "sure once we take in the corn have some fun..."
But if you don't ask you are a thieving pice of sh*t...
I'm not saying these people would have said yes to four wheeling but I can pretty much guarantee without knowing anyone involved, that if I randomly asked 10 people if we could ride on their land or scavenge the field (gleaning) of can I have that old whatever in the ditch... one of them would say yes.
$1,500 is a *LOT* of money to anyone, including hard working AMERICAN farmers...
Even if the kids pay up, its a total waste of time and money that could have been used constructively.
My Dad taught me to say please and thank you. Most people are decent and if you ask nicely they will give you what you want or make a way for you to get it...
While I agree that "Booby Trapping" your field might sound good on the internet, the reality of finding a screaming injured or silent dead child on your property is not appealing.
Farmers by and large are decent, hardworking family people who do not want to injure or kill someone for trespassing... If its something that happens all the time then self protection is another story...
The entire incident simply sucks and its a total drag....
I hope the person or persons that did this are apprehened and prosecuted and given jail time.
ReplyDeleteThis is senseless with no regard for pivate property. I would love to be on the jury for this.
Be on the jury for this? Are you kidding? Do you see what gets nol pros these days? Read Court Briefs this Sunday. Very, very serious charges are nol pros. Most of those remaining are stet or PBJ. As much as I would love to convict the sorry a@@holes, there will no jury trial.
ReplyDeleteThe people who didi this are the reason so many people have a very bad outlook on people who ride atv's. If people did not do this crap we would have a lot move places to ride.
ReplyDeleteIt's people like this that give us ATV riders a bad name. I own 2 ATV's and would never think of driving on someones property without their permission. Heck, I own 9 acres with 7 of it being farmed. We lease it to the farmer and once his tractor has been in our field the first time for the season our ATV's are off limits in that field whether planted or not. And that's on my own property. Hopefully, the sheriff will keep an eye out for these riders. ATV's can be confiscated for riding on a public road. It would serve them right to have their ATV's impounded for awhile.
ReplyDeleteFirst, thanks Joe for making people aware of this. Secondly, thank you to those who have responded. It is heart-warming to me to read their comments.
ReplyDeleteNo, this individual was not hunting - he was out for some destructive retalation.
Hopefully by the end of next week I will have the field cut and won't have the damages stare me in the face whenever I look at this field. The pictures only show a bit of the damage. It tears me apart to think that someone would stoop so low as to do this.
I am not one to wish anything bad to happen to someone but this is one time I have come close to forgeting my roots.
Again, Joe thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to support your neighbor.
Sign me,
The Farmer
Those idiots should be sentenced to 1 year farm work, getting up before the sun to set out for a days manual labor and not coming in until the work is done, long after the sun has set.
ReplyDeleteA little hard work might make them appreciate the farm and farmer.