Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

[luckyinkentucky]

I've been living here for 2 years now, and I really love the property that I bought. I have a barn, stable, a pool, and plenty of room to 'Romp' around. I'm only 5 minutes from the grocery store and gas, but out far enough where I don't have to worry about traffic. I see only 2 or 3 cars a day going down my road.

The problem is that one of my neighbor's kids is becoming a little annoying. The father is a good guy as is the mother, but the son is a little bit hard to handle. Don't get me wrong ... they are friendly people, and I don't have any problem getting along with them at all. Although, the son is causing a little bit of annoyance in the neighborhood. He likes to ride his 4 wheelers and shoot his rifle ALL DAY LONG!!! Literally .... this is all he does! He'll ride his 4 wheeler around, and if it's not his 4 wheeler making noise it's him shooting his .22 out back. He goes through AT LEAST 300 rounds a day.

I moved out here for peace and quiet, and am finding it a little hard to handle. All of the other neighbors complain about the same things I am, but nothing is being done. How do we stop it?

It's not illegal for him to be riding in his yard or shooting his rifle out back, but it's a noise nuisance. I can't have any of my buddies over without them commenting on the kids behavior.

Any ideas on how to handle this?

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Some people want to live out in the country so they can shoot their guns and ride their four wheelers.....Just saying.

 

[luckyinkentucky]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Some people want to live out in the country so they can shoot their guns and ride their four wheelers.....Just saying.

I see what you are saying, but they need to be courteous to others who don't care anything about 4 wheelers and hearing the constant crack of a rifle. I mean seriously ... there is such a thing as overdoing it. Don't you think?

 

[i386]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Welcome to country living.

Have you talked to the kid's dad about it?

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

I would get in touch with the neighbor and in a kind way/good manner have a visit with him and eventially bring it up about his son shooting off the rifle all the time. Let him know that you are not looking to start any trouble and would like to leave in good terms but something has got to give with the constant shooting.

How much land does this neighbor own? Is there enough land for the kid to take the 4 wheeler riding and rifle shooting further away from their house as well as your house? How old is this kid? He shouldn't be shooting the gun by himself if he is to young.

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Some people want to live out in the country so they can shoot their guns and ride their four wheelers.....Just saying.

I agree.....
Maybe he'll grow out of it. I do have a cunning plan---buy him a box of .22 shorts. THey're a lot quieter. Tell him he can sneak up on the tweety birds better with 'em or tell him it takes a real sharpshooter to hit stuff at a distance with shorts. Or maybe he's not after tweety.... just sayin'.
Surely you can outsmart the little varmint!
JBJ

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

I see what you are saying, but they need to be courteous to others who don't care anything about 4 wheelers and hearing the constant crack of a rifle. I mean seriously ... there is such a thing as overdoing it. Don't you think?

Maybe. I don't know the layout of the land where you are at.

I do know that my brother and I were "those kids". I got my first dirtbike in 1975 and rode them till about 1986. My brother, ten years my junior, got his first 4 wheeler in 1986 and is still riding them, now with is kid, at my parents/grandparents. We both a avid shooters/handloaders. My grandfather built us a 100 yard range behind his house 20 years ago. I'm 40 years old and live 65 miles from home now. I still go down there to shoot. My 80 year old grandparents think nothing of it to hear a cannon of some sort go off behind their house unexpectedly. They know it is one of us visiting. At any rate, in the past 30 years, we never had any neighbors complaining about gunshots or recreation vehicles. I guess they just knew it sometimes comes with the territory of living in the country.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

I assume there are not any noise laws out there. This makes it more of a problem. No harm in a friendly chat with him or his dad and just ask him if he could tone it down. If not you just have to wait till he wrecks the 4 wheeler or shoots himself. If hes starts killing animals for the "sport" of it you do have a real problem.

 

[luckyinkentucky]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

I agree.....
Maybe he'll grow out of it. I do have a cunning plan---buy him a box of .22 shorts. THey're a lot quieter. Tell him he can sneak up on the tweety birds better with 'em or tell him it takes a real sharpshooter to hit stuff at a distance with shorts. Or maybe he's not after tweety.... just sayin'.
Surely you can outsmart the little varmint!
JBJ

I've talked to his Dad, but he just laughs it off. The thing that gets me is he mooches gas off of an old lady who is 90 yrs. old that lives down the road to ride around on. She owns a farm, and has the big cisterns full of gas. That alone tells you how inconsiderate he is!!! The kid has a 'whatever' attitude, and does what he wants. He doesn't know when he has worn out his welcome. If you know what I mean.

As for what the kid shoots ... he shoots at the creek bank. That's it ... nothing more. He just shoots to be shooting. It's almost like he can't stand the silence.

I live on 3 acres, and they live on the 1/2 acre that was adjoined/part of my property before I bought it. The previous owner sold the 1/2 acre to him, and moved out a year later. I guess now I know why!!!

It has gotten to the point that I'm thinking of calling the regulatory board on this kid. He is dumping POUNDS of lead into the creek that is covered under the Safe Waters Act. Maybe that's how I'll have to go about it. Too much lead is the same as dumping paint in the water as far as they are concerned.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Try not to make an enemy out of the neighbor but if it comes down to the nitty gritty do what you half to do if you know what I mean. I know how it is living with a neighbor that made our lives a living h** and they are relatives, all we did was move from New York to Alabama it was then we became the black sheep. We do get along with them now a days, but they do still have their noisy moments, for example one has a loud radio and speakers in his SUV that he loves to turn up. Not to long ago they set off a fire (which one of them is a volenteer fire fighter), anyhow they set off a fire that made an explosion that shook the whole house. My father has been arrested 3 times from their lies.

So coming from experience, even if you half to get the law involved do so. The law wasn't on our side because the neighbors were buddy buddy with a couple of judges/other members from the court house. I personally couldn't handle a constant shooting or even ATV motor going all the time. Nip it in the butt!!!!

 

[JB]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Freedom is what we often seek in rural life. Freedom to do what we danged well please on our own property. . .within the law, of course.

Another freedom we often seek is freedom from the noise and bustle of civilization.

I would be severely offended if someone asked me to curtail my recreation because he doesn't want to listen to it, but I would also be annoyed if he intruded on my peace and quiet too much or too often.

Sounds like you made an unlucky choice of location to settle. It is a temporary thing. . .live with it. Being annoyed is far better than being offended.

 

[luckyinkentucky]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Try not to make an enemy out of the neighbor but if it comes down to the nitty gritty do what you half to do if you know what I mean. I know how it is living with a neighbor that made our lives a living h** and they are relatives, all we did was move from New York to Alabama it was then we became the black sheep. We do get along with them now a days, but they do still have their noisy moments, for example one has a loud radio and speakers in his SUV that he loves to turn up. Not to long ago they set off a fire (which one of them is a volenteer fire fighter), anyhow they set off a fire that made an explosion that shook the whole house. My father has been arrested 3 times from their lies.

So coming from experience, even if you half to get the law involved do so. The law wasn't on our side because the neighbors were buddy buddy with a couple of judges/other members from the court house. I personally couldn't handle a constant shooting or even ATV motor going all the time. Nip it in the butt!!!!

That's ANOTHER thing he does. As if the shooting and the 4 wheeling wasn't enough ... he has to ride around and shoot while listening to his Hip Hop BS music over the loudspeakers outside his home. He installed 4 outdoor speakers outside his home that goes to his stereo in the house. He plays that RAP crap all day long from sun up to sun down at full capacity. You can seriously hear it a mile down the road. No joke! I'm telling you .... it gets ridiculous when you have to go INSIDE with a cell phone when someone calls because the neighbors music is drowning out the call.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Do you have a 12 ga or a 7mm you could target practice with, at 5:30 am ?

 

[Big Sarge]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

just go up to the neighbors and tell them to make the rukus on the other side of the property.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Talk to his parents nicely a few times. While you are doing this, find out if there is a noise ordinance in your county and then find out what it says. If it covers the problem you are having and th parents won't act like parents, push the issue. Who cares if these people don't like it - they obviously have so little respect for you that you don't owe them a thing.

If that fails - there's always M80s at the crack of dawn until they get the idea.

 

[luckyinkentucky]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Do you have a 12 ga or a 7mm you could target practice with, at 5:30 am ?

I have a 12 ga., 10 ga., 45-70, 45 acp, and a 500 SW Mag.

The only problem with practicing at 5:30 is that I would tick off the OTHER neighbors who already complain about HIM. I don't want to stoop to his level.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Get a hold of the County Judge Executive and tell him about it.
He might have a talk with the parents.
No names will be said as to who called him/her.

 

[MikDee]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Get a hold of the County Judge Executive and tell him about it.
He might have a talk with the parents.
No names will be said as to who called him/her.

Obviously the kid is a loose cannon, and the parents don't care, either because they think it's ok, or they're afraid to confront him. This sounds like the right thing to do, or some other person of authority, first! I wouldn't be able to stand this, for more then a day or so, I'm sure I would've been in jail by now, trying to deal with them. If all else failed, I'm sure I'd be shooting off my guns, and M-80's exactly when he was, and, or, playing my fav music louder then him when he was, finally, making a point of backing my vehicles slowly into his 4wheelers path on the road, till he gets the idea to be considerate of other people, the hard way.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Shoot a couple of things on your own property with the same size gun that the kid is using. A few choice bullet holes in the window or in the siding would work. Then blame it on the kid for being careless when you call the authorities. Then tell them the story that you have fear for the safety of your family.

Several years back, hunting was permitted in the 8 acre plot in back of my house. During deer season, a slug was shot from a 12ga shotgun. The slug went thru the transom of my boat. The guy was found, paid damages, and now the plot of land is prohibited from hunting. The boat was parked right next to my house as shown in the avatar. That was too close for me to not do anything about it. His actions now prohibit me from shooting my guns on my property. If I do, the sheriff is there within minuets. Then I better have a dead carcass of a varmint that would be considered a nuisance. That is the only legal way I can fire my guns. Then again that is one reason why I have them........Good Luck.......SS

 

[BMOLCHANY]

Re: Need To Know How To Handle My Neighbor??

Well you can go in two general directions with this. First you can check to see if there are any local laws about noise or quiet times or anything of that nature. I would document everything that happens and then contact local law enforcement. If that approach does not work then I would do the same but at times when it is not good for the neighbors. You tried to talk to them so now it is time to do more and talk less. Just make sure that you do not put yourself in a place that you do not want to be with the neighbors or with the law.