Posted by Dee Ashley I actually know someone who got caught stealing beef.., out of a fucking grocery store. He still fell under this rather unique Texas law and did time for it! I don't know if most US states have similar laws or not, but I'm a Texan and know what 2X is talking about (as well as know better than to go rural exploring without some extreme caution). Hell, I live in the city, and keep my 9mm Beretta within reach at night. The funniest part about the guy I mentioned above, is that he also made it onto "World's Dumbest Criminals," for taking the cops on a chase.., in their own car! They used the dash cam footage from the other deputy's car to film the chase. Haha, he's an idiot (I have some other tragically ironic stories about him and the law for another day), but it makes for great story telling. 2X, I knew you were in Texas, but I did not take you for a country boy! How enlightening!

Honestly, if he managed to get into a cop car and lead them on a chase, he's a little more talented than a typical criminal. Not very good with common sense, but I imagine getting a squad car away from a Texan cop isn't a joking matter.

More to the point; I agree that rural exploration is dangerous. It's literally all I do, and I can say that the biggest risk I run is running into a confused/angry rancher. If you're on property that has cattle, you're very close to someone's livelihood, and they'll protect it as such. That's not even taking into account bulls, spooked cattle etc. doing harm to you.

Posted by azuro1125 More to the point; I agree that rural exploration is dangerous. It's literally all I do, and I can say that the biggest risk I run is running into a confused/angry rancher. If you're on property that has cattle, you're very close to someone's livelihood, and they'll protect it as such. That's not even taking into account bulls, spooked cattle etc. doing harm to you.

Yeah, long horn cattle can be a hazard and bulls are wild cards of hate.
One time I saw these -big- steel bar cages, 10 feet high. WTF? Tiger cages?
No, but almost as bad. When I was leaving the property I realized they had ostriches. Fuck me to tears.
Farm animals come in all shapes and sizes... and temperaments in Texas.

Posted by Dee Ashley I actually know someone who got caught stealing beef.., out of a fucking grocery store. He still fell under this rather unique Texas law and did time for it! I don't know if most US states have similar laws or not, but I'm a Texan and know what 2X is talking about (as well as know better than to go rural exploring without some extreme caution). Hell, I live in the city, and keep my 9mm Beretta within reach at night. The funniest part about the guy I mentioned above, is that he also made it onto "World's Dumbest Criminals," for taking the cops on a chase.., in their own car! They used the dash cam footage from the other deputy's car to film the chase. Haha, he's an idiot (I have some other tragically ironic stories about him and the law for another day), but it makes for great story telling. 2X, I knew you were in Texas, but I did not take you for a country boy! How enlightening!

Yeah I grew up in the country as a sunburned barefooted kid, then lived in Dallas until 4yrs ago but now Im home with the armadillos again. Even when I lived in town I spent... well ask me some other time too much to type here.

The story about your friend is way funny, stole a cop car? That's takes some nerve! Photo below taken in my back yard
1.

Re.From blackhawk, Farm animals come in all shapes and sizes... and temperaments in Texas.

This is totally true! Before i had back surgery... i thought that looks like a peaceful fellow.... He jumped up and chased me across a field. Glad i had a head start Who want to be horned in the Arse. Be Aware out there!

Posted by blackhawk Yeah, long horn cattle can be a hazard and bulls are wild cards of hate. One time I saw these -big- steel bar cages, 10 feet high. WTF? Tiger cages? No, but almost as bad. When I was leaving the property I realized they had ostriches. Fuck me to tears. Farm animals come in all shapes and sizes... and temperaments in Texas.

I thought ostriches were fairly benign animals, until I saw Sideways.

I asked permission to go across one farmer's land, and he denied me solely due to the fact that they had bulls on their property. We also have a lot of land in my area that belongs to the Hearst Corporation. It's all cattle grazing, so I have to be careful where I'm going near it.

Posted by NotBatman About a month or so back, someone (probably from UER!) broke into and explored my garage and stole a bunch of shit. Terrible ethics. Just fucking terrible. You should all be ashamed.

One of you fuckers explored my garage too!
You stole my Honda XR50 and GoPro. This must be a huge problem here in MSP!
When they say "Only leave footsteps, take only pictures", that doesn't mean steal a guys camera!
SHAME! Your ethics suck!!!

Don't ruin their stuff.

Don't do or promote things that will cause them problems:

-Leaving gaping open entrances to dangerous property.

-Dump trash or damage surfaces that will cause the property owner to receive complaints or code violation tickets. They have to clean it up. If they don't and municipality cleans up after them, they have to pay the bill or a lien gets put on the property.

Posted by The Viscount Andrew Dalton In rural Canada people are very welcoming to explorers (usually takes some explaining though) - so I'm glad you gave this answer in case I ever visit rural USA.

I went to grad school in Canada....should have never left, for the health insurance and the rural exploration, apparently! People can be pretty aggressive where I'm from just like it sounds is the case for other rural areas in the US. My friend was just changing a flat tire at night on the side of the road once and was approached by a nearby homeowner yielding a tire iron asking him what he was up to.

But I do understand...I do NOT own property, but if I did, I am pretty sure I would not take very kindly to people wandering around in/on it. But theft and drugs are huuuuge problems at home. Daytime break-ins and meth lab busts are daily news. I used to feel anxious just seeing a car I didn't recognize go past my old house (gravel road that doesn't go anywhere).

I'm not a property owner, however I do have two stories to add.

The first happened in either in range roughly 1999/2000 time frame (not sure of the exact date.) At the time my parents were renting a farm house (since torn down and a plaque put up on the site). We had been out getting some things (groceries?) and when we pulled up we saw someone taking photos of our laundry (out on the clothes line for all to see.) We joked that our clothes were going to be used on a calendar. Would not be shocked if this had been someone searching for explorations (wouldn't have mind, I wish now that I had taken more pictures inside and out.

The other story happened in the last two years to my neighbor. My neighbor had been out and like the story above had just returned home. It was evening and the sun had long set, as she climbed up onto the back porch came across a young man. The young man claimed that he had just been using their backyard as a short cut to a nearby apartment building. Needless to say, they now always have the back light on in the backyard now. Also if you saw their backyard you'd think the house was abandoned too.

Posted by Kirito I'm not a property owner, however I do have two stories to add. The first happened in either in range roughly 1999/2000 time frame (not sure of the exact date.) At the time my parents were renting a farm house (since torn down and a plaque put up on the site). We had been out getting some things (groceries?) and when we pulled up we saw someone taking photos of our laundry (out on the clothes line for all to see.) We joked that our clothes were going to be used on a calendar. Would not be shocked if this had been someone searching for explorations (wouldn't have mind, I wish now that I had taken more pictures inside and out. The other story happened in the last two years to my neighbor. My neighbor had been out and like the story above had just returned home. It was evening and the sun had long set, as she climbed up onto the back porch came across a young man. The young man claimed that he had just been using their backyard as a short cut to a nearby apartment building. Needless to say, they now always have the back light on in the backyard now. Also if you saw their backyard you'd think the house was abandoned too.

Oh geez. I haven't done much exploring yet so haven't accidentally come upon a place actually NOT abandoned, but I wonder how often that must happen, especially with houses in rural areas....there is more than one place out on the desolate little back road I used to live that look abandoned at first glance. (I used to call it "Appalachia Avenue" because it was so stereotypical of images of impoverished Appalachia). But the guy in that second story sounds a little fishy to me.

Posted by Long-Tailed Cat Oh geez. I haven't done much exploring yet so haven't accidentally come upon a place actually NOT abandoned, but I wonder how often that must happen, especially with houses in rural areas....

I live out in the country , and out here in Southern Ontario what you see a lot are two houses around one barn. One house is usually a lot smaller and can be pretty old (>100 years) and the new house the family lives in is often right across the street. The abandoned home frequently has old belongings in it, or is used by the farmer as a workshop/toolshed, so you have to be really careful about what you choose to explore.

(Sorry about the above post. Failing at using computers today. Not sure how to get rid of it.)

I think I may have actually come upon this situation today. There was an old shed right off the road with overgrowth, but inside there was a newish looking camper. I decided it was probably not abandoned, but used for storage, and high tailed it out of there. No nearby houses but close enough to the road that someone driving by might think a theft was in progress if they spotted me, and I did not want to encounter an angry property owner!

Posted by Long-Tailed Cat I think I may have actually come upon this situation today. There was an old shed right off the road with overgrowth, but inside there was a newish looking camper. I decided it was probably not abandoned, but used for storage, and high tailed it out of there. No nearby houses but close enough to the road that someone driving by might think a theft was in progress if they spotted me, and I did not want to encounter an angry property owner!

When you're in occupied residential areas you are asking for trouble.
What you wanted to explore my shed? Think how that sounds.
Realize an arrest can run past the $1G mark easy for misdemeanor charges.

If you plan on ever going into the military, having a federal job, or obtaining a high level $ecurity clearance, an arrest like that can shit can it.
If they convict you on B&E, felony trespass, etc. ie felony charges... you are boned. I avoid active residential areas for this reason and... they are usually a bore.

Think abandoned state hospitals, churches, industrial complexs... walking abandoned and active RR lines is a good way to find sites.

Posted by catdog23 I live out in the country , and out here in Southern Ontario what you see a lot are two houses around one barn. One house is usually a lot smaller and can be pretty old (>100 years) and the new house the family lives in is often right across the street. The abandoned home frequently has old belongings in it, or is used by the farmer as a workshop/toolshed, so you have to be really careful about what you choose to explore.

The more I explore and observe rural locations, the more this realization is starting to dawn on me- although this is not as common here in Texas as it seems to be further north. I remember driving by a cool old homestead one day in North Texas, and it suddenly hit me that there was a pattern emerging... Thankfully, I have not made this particular mistake to my knowledge and hope that I never do!

Posted by azuro1125 I thought ostriches were fairly benign animals, until I saw Sideways.

Sour Puss! by Dee Ashley, on Flickr

Posted by catdog23 I live out in the country , and out here in Southern Ontario what you see a lot are two houses around one barn. One house is usually a lot smaller and can be pretty old (>100 years) and the new house the family lives in is often right across the street. The abandoned home frequently has old belongings in it, or is used by the farmer as a workshop/toolshed, so you have to be really careful about what you choose to explore.

This is quite common in rural areas of NY as well. I have a cabin in the souther tier of western new york. Not far from the PA line. Lots of old farmhouses and barns around there. Many appear abandoned, but are actually owned/used by a nearby farmer.

Another example would be a cabin up the road a few miles from mine. It sits way down in the woods and is not visible from the road. Wee have dubbed it "Creepy Cabin" because it's location and rundown appearance makes it look like a cabin from a horror movie. We would visit the place regularly, anytime a new person came up to my cabin for the weekend we had to take them to see Creepy Cabin.
It was pretty obvious no one had been there in many many year. However last year all of a sudden the front deck was gone, many things were moved inside and some building supplies sat outside.

Now since then there has been no more activity. But it just goes to show that no mater how long a property like that has sat unused it's always possible someone somewhere still owns it.

Ok, I really had to dig for this. Some of the old timers will remember this but this thread reminded me of the time one UER member explored the active business of another UER member that has since passed.

Story is piplnr65656 explored NickSans active business. The photos that are now in the original post are NOT the photos of Nicks shop. They were changed along the way.

http://www.uer.ca/...fid=1&msgid=815238

Posted by Speed Ok, I really had to dig for this. Some of the old timers will remember this but this thread reminded me of the time one UER member explored the active business of another UER member that has since passed. Story is piplnr65656 explored NicSans active business. The photos that are now in the original post are NOT the photos of Nicks shop. They were changed along the way. http://www.uer.ca/...fid=1&msgid=815238

Thanks for dredging up this great thread Speed.
UEing sites that house people is begging for trouble.
Too bad they got changed out now; it might have made a nice memorial to Nick and that part of his life, RIP Nick.

I happen to own a mine claim. Last time we got to the mine we noticed that the barbed wire fence around the shaft collar had been moved and not put back in place. When we got to the bottom we noticed that someone had dropped bowling ball sided rocks down the shaft. Normally that wouldn't bother me too much except it wiped out one of the ladders at the bottom of the shaft. (A large quartz rock dropped from 100 feet above can do a lot of damage.)

My greatest concern is liability. Given the litigious society we live in, having someone ignore the No Trespassing and Stay Out And Stay Alive signs, climb through the barbed wire fence, then get themselves injured, could leave me in a serious state of liability.

I'm not adverse to having people explore (like we do all the time) but it would be nice if they didn't damage the mine as they went or steal the artifacts that are still in place.

Abby Normal

I'm a property owner. This is a free range state, so the laws are a bit weird, but it's workable for property owners and for our type. Like Abby, I have a mine, but its a placer mine, so the danger is minimal! I also have several pieces of just plain land. One is fenced, two are not. If I find you on my posted but unfenced property, New Mexico law is sort of on your side, and I'm as cool as can be as I explain myself and walk you out. On my fenced and posted property, your ass is getting a ride to jail. I fenced and posted it for a reason. I accept that possibility when I'm breaking the law, expect it from me.