Day 118

Considering this was our first interaction with neighbors, we were off to a somewhat shaky start. After the smoke cleared, we decompressed and thought about how everything went down. To make sure everything was clear, we invited our neighbors over during the daytime to see what we were doing and assure them we would not be working on their land. We had a hard time finding a time where our schedules meshed. We did hear back that they had checked out the spot where we were starting to clear some trees for the trail. While they realized we were not on their land, they did tell us they wished we didn't do any work in the woods. 

Unfortunately, that was not an opinion we shared.

We actually looked forward to making a trail in our woods that would not only allow us to more safely and easily visit the area, but get work done to improve it.

In our discussions about this situation, we came to a realization. This whole situation was probably about timing.

Hunting season was just about to break. The woods where we were working was where we had a number of tree stands placed. These woods were adjacent to the golf course, the place where we were told some big bucks like to hang out. We  also realized that we had done work in and around this area since we moved in and yet, this was the first thing that alerted the neighbors.

It was all about hunting.

Would our trail infringe on their hunting area and routines? Would a trail scare away the big boys?  Would this whole thing be avoided if the timing of our work wasn’t so close to the onset of the hunting season?

Considering we never heard back from our neighbors after repeated attempts, we figured they realized this would not impact their ability to hunt.

Still, we now knew our work was in the radar of the neighborhood. We would continue to respect property lines, but our work to improve our land would not be suppressed. 

We had a new goal to achieve. We desired to make property lines as clear and defined as possible.