Looks like the DNR is going to make a lot of people get on here and complain about tickets next year (since there is no snow this year anymore) if they dont stay on the trails.

Minnesota DNR officials want to remind snowmobilers that they must have permission of the landowner to operate on private land.

?Trespass is the most frequent complaint landowners have against snowmobilers,? said Mike Hamm, DNR Chief conservation officer. ?Always ask permission before entering private land.? Hamm noted one of the most common trespass complaints is when snowmobilers leave ditches and damage farmland or tear up lawns.

If you violate the Minnesota trespass law, you are guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by fines of up to $700, a jail sentence of up to 90 days, and loss of your machine?s registration for one year.

You are guilty of a gross misdemeanor if you:

? Knowingly disregard signs prohibiting trespass.

? Trespass after the landowner tells you not to.

? Violate the trespass law twice in three years.

If you are convicted of a gross misdemeanor, you are subject to fines up to $3,000 and up to one year in jail. You will also lose your machine?s registration for one year and all hunting privileges for two years.

You must have permission to:

? Enter legally posted land.

? Enter agricultural land. ?Agricultural land? is land that is plowed or tilled; has standing crops or crop residue; is within a maintained fence for enclosing domestic livestock.

Landowners: Though your CRP, CREP, or RIM Reserve lands may be agricultural land for tax or other purposes, these lands do not meet the definition of agricultural land for the purposes of the outdoor recreation trespass law. Posting is required to prohibit recreational use.

You may NOT:

? Wound or kill another person?s domestic animal or destroy private property.

? Pass through a closed gate without returning it to the original position.

? Stray off the groomed portions of marked trails.

Most grant-in-aid trails cross private lands because the landowner was gracious enough to allow snowmobilers to travel across their property.

?When trails get rough, some snowmobilers stray off the groomed trail and onto private lands,? Hamm said. ?This is illegal and can result in fines for trespassing or the private landowner closing the trail to snowmobilers.?

Thanks for sharing! :)

I feel really bad for you guys. THat must really suck to have to stay on the trail all the time.

Sorry, but it's the law and always has been the law. On the surface, if the DNR feels they need to enforce it I guess I don't have a problem with that. As long as their intentions are to site the law breakers and not be used as another excuse to harass law-abiding riders. I must say that it's very disturbing to see tracks all over a land-owner's field even when there are signs posted saying "Stay On Trail".

atc250rfoxusa - I just noticed your location and I might see where you're coming from. You poor people in that area are getting screwed. It looks like the local ordinances in your area can and are being used as a tool for harassment. What led St. Francis to ban snowmobiles anyway?

I don't think its a bad law to have. I don't mind people going on our private land at all and just leaving tracks. Its the people with no respect that really get me going! I can't stand it when people are always digging down to the dirt just so they can see if they can lift their skis off the ground! In my area all of the people getting sleds for their first time are buying 800's so they gotta show off their power and dig down to the dirt everywhere! If we had a good winter it wouldn't be as big of problem! But they are the idiots that are giving the rest of us a bad name!

NewfieBullet,

We don't have to stay "on the trails" all the time, but just like most other places there are places you're allowed to ride, other places you're not.

I'd rather have the DNR crack down on these yahoos than let it go until the rest of us end up paying the price eventually. I try to consider myself a responsible rider so honestly it ticks me off when people cut across lawns or other private property.

My biggest pet peeves are when people are legally riding in the ditch but rather than slow down and go where they're supposed to, they cut way up into the persons lawn. Or when there is low snow and they punch it over the driveway tearing up the lawn.

Geez, then they wonder why some people hate snowmobilers.

Originally posted by xc007@Feb 27 2004, 06:17 PM
NewfieBullet,

We don't have to stay "on the trails" all the time, but just like most other places there are places you're allowed to ride, other places you're not.





That's what I mean. Here we can go pretty much wherever we want to.

That is only in 7-county metro area.
Outside the Cities, you can go where you want. You can even go thru a closed gate, as long as you return it to a closed position after passing thru.
The 2003-4 dnr manual is at
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/rlp/regulatio...obileregs04.pdf (http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/rlp/regulations/snowmobile/snowmobileregs04.pdf)

The way I read it, outside the metro area you still can't ride on agricultural land unless you've gotten permission. Okay, so more than 1/2 the state is out. Then, it also says that it may be restricted by local orinances, which takes out a lot more.

Even if it's completely legal, people need to use common sense. 100 acres of woods or prairie land, or something else is one thing. Nobody is going to complain. The people that complain and call their lawmakers, and end up getting us stricter laws are the owners of corner lots or farms with heavily traveled ditches in front of them that have sleds tearing up their lawns or jumping their diveways, etc.

I like to hammer it, or break trail someplace nobody has been just as much or more than the next guy but I try to be curtious when I'm around houses or other places I think I'm going to tick somebody off.