Plow your own road?

[blongtin]

I was wondering if any one of you plow your own road out to your fish houses. This is the first year I'll be living at our place on the lake in the winter and I would love to be able to just take off from our property to our fish house. We can drive down the road to the public access then over to the house, but it would be a shorter distance plowing our own road. I'll be using an ATV with a plow that I'll be using for the driveway as well. Any problems with keeping up the road all winter long? Drifts? etc...?? We don't have a snowmobile.

This is just a smaller sized lake (683 acres), nothing too big.

[crappiebuster]

If your lake is sheltered and hidden from wide open winds plow away. If its a wide open windswept area sometimes plowing a road can cause more drifting. You definetly want a V-plow and some speed if your gonna be doing it. Takes forever with a regular plow. Snow almost drifts in as hard as concrete.

[Phred52]

blongtin, Keep in mind, anybody that comes across 'your' road will follow it back to your property. Regardless if they think it leads to another access or a fishing hotspot. Do you want your land to become a new 'short-cut'? Phred52

[coombia21]

i would say go ahead and do it how much ice traffic is on your lake

[JSK76]

If the wheeler is a 4x4, just get a set of chains for both the front and back tires on the wheeler with the bars on top of the chains and don't plow. If you are coming and going on an almost daily basses you shouldn't have a problem.

[blongtin]

I was just worried about those hard snow drifts. There will be a decent amount of traffic I would think. It'll mostly be dependant if we get a ton of snow or not. The main ice fishing spot on the lake is out a couple hundred yards from our property. What i don't want are people driving up to our place. I would definetly put up a no trespassing sign out on our shoreline. But my road would be going a different direction than going to the public access.

Last year snowmobiler's used our yard a few times to get on/off the lake. I wasn't too happy because they rode over and killed a tree that was just planted and was sentimental to my wife. I know the road might attract some of them, but hope they won't come up onto the yard if they see we're living there now and have a no tresspassing sign up.

[deadeye]

Make sure you got signs up and it shouldn't be a problem. I have seen before where a lakefront owner put up a gate at the entrance to the yard. It may be worth it if you start to have problems with people going through your yard.

[furnace man]

I have plowed my own road on mill lacs and make sure you plow your road as wide as you can by the end of the season it will be passable with one vehicle. I plow with a full size truck and a v plow and at times it gets very hard to do.

[coombia21]

if you really wanted to protect your land you could put up the orange snow fence in your yard to deter snowmobilers but make a path that you can ride your wheeler through

[pulleye16]

If you're going to plow, I agree with furnace man and plow it wide cause once you start plowing and building drifts you're gonna have to KEEP plowing and your trail will get smaller as the drifts get higher. I also agree with JSK76 that to forget the trail and just use your ATV. Trails are nice if you plan to walk out their but do require alot of up-keep. One thing I'd like to bring up just cause...NOT TO START ANYTHING...ESPICIALLY NOT IN THIS THREAD (so please don't yell at me)...but my dad has a cabin on a main road before the public access (public access far end of lake where fishing is right out from his cabin). People see his trail and instead of driving all the way down to the public access then all the way back to out in front of his property, they ASK to use it, and before he'd always say NO. I told him once, "how many times do we ask farmers to hunt their land and get turned away making us upset"??? Since then anyone who's asked can use it!! Different scenerio but its just nice to help other people out when they ASK!!!

[Bottle Fish]

if you really wanted to protect your land you could put up the orange snow fence in your yard to deter snowmobilers but make a path that you can ride your wheeler through

Definitely put up the orange snow fence. You will not regret it, it does deter people from driving across your property.

[bigtimeelectric]

that`s a real good point. I am in the same scenerio and when there is not to much snow I allow access to those who ask.I'm guessing I will be putting the big house out christmas day!!!!!!!!!maybe wishfull thinking

[stifler51]

just remember, letting ppl thru ur yard is all fine when there is some snow on the ground, when spring lets in, ppl will still want to use the trail and more then likely will rip up some ground.

[skee0025]

You might as well hang a sign inviting them into your yard. Whether you like it or not they will come. Particularly after those drifts harden and narrow. They will only have 2 options back their vehicles out they way they came or out thru your yard. Depending on the distance out to the end of the road its anyones guess which they will choose.

[Brad B]

one option would be to just charge a $10.00 daily trespass fee each time they would use your access/trail. It would have to be on a honor system. yes you would have a few that don't pay but most would be honest (I would hope). Back when I duck hunted there was a farmer that lived on the lake I hunted, he put up a sign that said $5.00 per day and had a old mail box that had a hole cut in it for people to drop the money in. he seemed to make out good each year because to my knowledge he still does this.

[blongtin]

Well I picked up some chains this weekend just for plowing purposes. I like the idea of just taking the four wheeler out there and not plow. Just consistantly keep a path to get out there. Once we get enough ice I'll probably just take the truck down to the public access and use that so no one follows me back home.

[peerchking]

I use my garden tractor and blow the snow, with the shute straight up and a five mile an hour wind it goes to the other end of the lake and no high banks for late night snowmobilers to hit

[Mainehazmt]

what about liability when a snowmobile racing across the lake hits your road and gets hurt??

[deadeye]

It would be no different than if they hit the road that goes from the landing to the ice houses. Or a hole that didn't have the slush cleared away from it. It's kind of a inherent risk if you race a sled across a lake that people fish on.