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The intent of that law is to prosecute people who "SWAT" someone

The problem with laws like this is the ACLU gets ahold of it and uses it to protect vagrants. Who can claim they are being discriminated against because they are homeless. Those discrimination and harassing clauses in the Ore. law open doors. As a property owner, you don't want to be paying lawyers to fight this. Better you plant areas with stinging nettles.
 
OK, a little clarification:

We are in a ~100 acre pocket of private property surrounded on three sides by public property, a 2000 acre city "park" (unmanaged forest). Each lot is at least 3 acres, up to about 15 acres. There are 13 homes on this heavily forested 100 acres, which is half way up a mountain. There are hiking trails through the park, but the park is closed to the public sunset to sunrise. My closest neighbor is about 200 yards and is not visible from the house.

The access road leaves a major city thoroughfare and is a 15' wide gravel road without shoulders or parking. The road is dedicated to the public, but the city has never accepted it as such and doesn't maintain it. The residents do. The road is about 3/4 mile long and ends in a loop. The city has placed a sign at the entrance to the road stating, "No trailhead access. No public parking. Residents only." Our deeds show that we own our property to the centerline of the road. "Fred" was parked in the middle of the road directly in front of my 600' long driveway.

We have a neighborhood watch organization and a social media presence for our little area where we communicate "interesting events", such as finding someone camped on our properties, starting fires on our properties, burglarizing our properties, and the comings and goings of cougar, bear, and stray dogs.

Like most people on this forum, I don't go anywhere without my CC, which was what I had with me that night. I did not ever expose my weapon to "Fred". He didn't know I was armed. I did not turn on my light until I had hailed "Fred" and was pretty well convinced that he was alone, and I was prepared to disappear into my forest and return to my house for my night sight equipped AR if things got spooky. "Fred" never knew I was there until I tipped him off.

Police response to our little area has never been less than 20 minutes, and up to a couple hours. Their usual response to any call is, "Are you sure you're in the city?" We're pretty much on our own up here. Any car parked on our road (necessarily blocking it) is suspicious.

My wife who's in her 40's has lived on this property since she was born. Over the years there have been several incidents such as the time a woman came walking up the driveway with a gunshot wound to her chest, carrying a .22 rifle (attempted suicide).

Lastly, I used to train in forest/jungle combat and home invasion scenarios a lot. I instinctively don't like being a sitting duck while I wait 20 minutes for the police, especially if there are multiple bad guys.
 
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I'd rather be uncool than a victim. Stupidly territorial? Really? Nobody except residents and their guests has legitimate business up this road, especially in the wee hours of the morning. Every square inch of this area is private property, and it's all posted.
 
always be ready to defend yourself. no one else will. IMO you did the right thing. especially living in a rural area. if it wasnt a threat to your life, well good. what if it was someone who was lost and was having a medical condition? you coulda saved a life
Up until about 65 I used to respond to every house alarm of my neighbors within earshot. I never went into a residence but if I could not determine the reason for the alarm by looking from a fair distance or neighbor did not respond to calls for "anyone home?", next move was 911. I myself was robbed when about 68 while we were in Hawaii visiting my oldest son. $8,000+ robbery and Sherrif's office never did find a suspect. My homeowners insurance put me through such a dastardly background check, wanted to know my finances, everything! Treated me like a criminal! I wouldn't cooperate with them! Felt like I was getting robbed twice! That wasn't the end of it. The robber came back late at night while we were sleeping some months later trying to get in again. I wasn't fleet of foot enough to catch him but almost!
 
I struggle with this on a smaller scale frequently. We live in the 'burbs, and my neighbors house across the street is pretty overgrown. People like to park in front of the house, since it feels secluded, across from mine, and do whatever. Sometimes they go into the park at 2 AM?

My theory is that if I call the police for a suspicous vehicle, especially after them seeing me looking out the windows at them, they might retaliate later. My biggest fear is someone poisoning my dog.

I don't want to go harass them, because they are on a public road, and again, retaliation, as well as legal issues.

Usually I just observe, and make notes. If they come back around again I will call the police, but it is usually a 1-off event.

Once it was a car full of young women who went into the park for some reason. Should have offered them a beer! Haha.

I maintain good communication with the other neighbor who has cameras and lights, and my house is surrounded by very bright motion activated lights, pick proof locks, and an alarm, plus a dog, my truck has an alarm as well. I don't worry too much.
 
If they were not on my property, I would have stayed alert and armed in my house and let the cops deal with it. But kudos to you for taking it on yourself; I personally would not have taken the risk.
 
We live on a dead-end road out in the county and I've had folks park in front of my house, once at about 11:30 pm at night. I did walk out with a flashlight and made sure I was "seen". What you did was fine in my book...
 
bogs are awesome. i have the cabelas brand ones. theyre excellent for stayin dry while steelhead fishin from the bank just barely goin into the water or walkin thru "wetstern" oregon brush while deer hunting late fall.
 
ZZZ,

You did good.

Glad all went well.

At our last house, now some years ago, I was neighborhood watch captain and being retired was able to keep an eye out for suspicious guys.

I always talked to them...without being armed as at that time CHL's were only a dream.

I'm absolutely positive I chased off some bad guys.

Seeing some stranger, parked, and just sitting in the vehicle always struck me as 'wth' are you up to? Oh, and this neighborhood (Houston suburb) had experienced many home burglaries - mine included so I was very invested in putting a stop to this....stuff.

Sometimes as I walked up to the vehicle they'd start the car and promptly drive away.

Others would begrudgingly speak to me and I would simply ask them why they were parked. I would identifying myself as part of neighborhood watch. It really p.o.'d some and thought fine by me...git if you feel I 'dissed' you and away they'd drive never to be seen again.

So, you and other like minded folk (me) are willing to risk ourselves in order to not be overwhelmed by bad guys.

Lucky me, we moved way the hell and gone out into the country after Hurricane Katrina (which provided a glut of bad guy New Orleans refugees in our area) and my 'now' neighborhood is so gun-centric criminal mischief simply doesn't happen.

Gun shots (neighbors practicing) are so common here I think criminals are scared they might get some lead medication...

Homeless schitbirds and the drugged simply have no way to get here either...

Yay!!
 
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Nothing wrong with your actions.

I've been confronted by neighbors about suspicious people and I'll circle until I find them. The last one was a teenager in a "house cleaning" business. I mentioned to them how they appear and what the neighborhood thinks of these things.

White unmarked van, individual walking around not stopping at every house but randomly targeting..

You are good.
 
I live off the beaten path . Most my neighbors are new . Yes leftist transplants ,some loan or rent there their houses at random for the weekend or whenever . Now I or the dog doesn't know who belongs and Who does not. And see strangers or cars in front of my place at 2 am with no Idea who they are or why they are there.
 
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. I've had similar situations at a former house I lived in Beaverton that was adjacent to a public walkway. Many times had people loitering, stealing mail. Even had the bomb squad out to dispose of an explosive device left behind by some holligan kids.
Yes this was Beaverton suburbia.
 
A guy who just moved to the PNW.
looking out his window a sees a car driving by a few minutes later the same car drives by again.
Then a little bit later he noticed the car parked down the street.
Then a few days later he sees it again and again and again.
Every day he sees the same car driving around his neighborhood.
So he calls his friend and say I think there is someone casing our neighborhood.
The friend ask what kind of car is it.
He says green Subaru Forester.
The friend just laughed.
And said welcome to the PNW.
everyone drives a green Subaru Forester.
Later that evening he walked around his neighborhood.
And saw that all his neighbor's .
Had Subaru Forester parked in there driveway.
LOL.
 
It is your peace of mind here...
What needs to be done , needs to be done to satisfy your peace of mind...not anyone else's.
All within the boundaries of commonsense and legalities.
The sticking point here is that commonsense means many different things to different people.

For me :
A balance between being safe and secure ...with a low key approach often works best...
This coupled with doing whatever it is I do legally....
And just how it will look to a jury of my so called "peers".... is always something to consider.
Andy
 
Surprising amount of advice coming from what sound like apartment dwellers.

Remember in the city when help is only minuets away.:rolleyes:

It's not like the OP checked the fuel level in his backhoe and the supply of quick lime before investigating.
 

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