Rural folks - School me on homesteading safety

[Eurodriver]

For simplicity - assume you just bought a house on 20 acres in an area that doesn't see much snowfall. There is a dirt trail that runs 100y to a (not busy) county road. The property is mostly wooded and overgrown. There is no fence at all.

Starting with day 1 - the moving truck just left and you are all unpacked.

What do you do to protect yourself from 2 legged and 4 legged predators?

Cameras? Where? What kind? Game cameras hooked up to cell networks with phone notifications? At the gate? Ring cameras around the house?

Gate (automatic/manual)?

Lighting? Motion activated or on all night?

Fencing? Barbed wire?

[themonk]

For simplicity - assume you just bought a house on 20 acres in an area that doesn't see much snowfall. There is a dirt trail that runs 100y to a (not busy) county road. The property is mostly wooded and overgrown. There is no fence at all.

Starting with day 1 - the moving truck just left and you are all unpacked.

What do you do to protect yourself from 2 legged and 4 legged predators?

Cameras? Where? What kind? Game cameras hooked up to cell networks with phone notifications? At the gate? Ring cameras around the house?

Gate (automatic/manual)?

Lighting? Motion activated or on all night?

Fencing? Barbed wire?

Do you have internet?

[Eurodriver]

Do you have internet?

Yes..

[themonk]

Truck just left.
1) I would stage guns though the house - shottys with buck or ARs.
2) You need perimeter notifications. There are many types of these but these have been excellent for many years of outdoor use through 4 seasons - https://amzn.to/3bKuhho
3) Cameras - this one has varying degrees of setup. Arlo (https://www.arlo.com/en-us/home) made by netgear is completely wireless and now solar solution that has night vision and notifications to your phone - it just ties into your wifi. This is a great option if you can't / dont want to add power drops and you can drop them outside in your yard. If you can run power or power over ethernet your world greatly expands but limits you to where you have drops. Costco has good affordable systems. You could also go this route with some arlo cams out in the yard.
4) Gate - So every motorized gate a I have encountered in my life fails and is a bitch to get back up and running. If you have the cash motorised with a call box is the way to go. If not and you go manual will you close it behind you? What are you going to do with deliveries? I have a buddy with a setup like this and he put a knaack box out by the gate and gave UPS/ Fedex/ Amazon the code to a comb lock. Then he poured a few bags of sakrete on the bottom so you could not walk off with it. Has held up nice after several years without issue.
5) Lighting - I am a bigger fan of motion activated as you can see the movement from inside as they move around the property. If they are always on it helps with scoping out the property and you are not notified of movement. Again anything solar is helpful. These cheap onse of amazon have also been great and lasted many seasons without issue - https://amzn.to/2O29GN2
6) Fencing is good but expensive. I will leave at that as it's such a personal item.

[Lowdown3]

New property owner in a rural area is going to deal with a lot of locals at first-

1. Curious- "Bubba used to live there, wonder who lives there now? Let's go and see.."
2. "We always have" types- you will run into them in the woods hunting, fishing or checking their crops. "Bubba always let us back here.."

Fencing first. It creates a slight physical barrier but also a legal barrier. People can't just walk on to the property "like we always have.."

[CRAMBONE]

New property owner in a rural area is going to deal with a lot of locals at first-

1. Curious- "Bubba used to live there, wonder who lives there now? Let's go and see.."
2. "We always have" types- you will run into them in the woods hunting, fishing or checking their crops. "Bubba always let us back here.."

Fencing first. It creates a slight physical barrier but also a legal barrier. People can't just walk on to the property "like we always have.."

All of this.
-Plus: I like mighty mule driveway alarms and gate systems.
-Clean up your property. Plenty of mulching/property clean up companies around my area, probably the same for you. With only 20 acres I’d probably bite the bullet and have the entire tract done. If not the whole tract at least a wide swath around the house and some shooting (I mean fire lanes).
-Don’t be a dick to neighbors and people that do stop by or you meet out and about. And don’t judge books by their cover. Our poorest “trashiest looking” neighbors would give you their last penny if you needed it. And you don’t want to burn any bridges for the rest of your life.
-Look into getting fowl. Chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese and guineas (I personally hate guineas) all make good alarms on top of providing eggs, meat and bug clean up.
-Get a dog. A big dog or two that can be outside dogs. They keep coyotes and bobcats away and also for obvious security reasons.
-Safe, house alarm and door reinforcement.
-Buy a tractor. Something newer in the 20-40hp range. With bush hog, disk, cultivator. Front end loader is a life saver. I like Deere and Massey but Case and New Holland are good. A lot of my friends love their Kubotas and they have held up and usually have great package deals.
-Start working your land now if you can. Deer plots and garden spots.
-Barb wire fence your property line and mark trees with paint.
-Build at least a pole barn for your equipment, and eventual equipment.
-Do you have any water? Pond, well, creek or river? I’d at least have a pond and a well put in. Well for people water. Pond for animal water source and fishing.

[Lowdown3]

Definitely try to get along with any in the area. You won't be able to with everyone, but at least try.

I've watched a bunch of "city folks" move to the woods to live on a 1/2 acre spot and then run ragged on everyone else property like it's all a big "park" for their amusement. Nothing can piss off your neighbors quicker than that.
And most people that live in the country don't relish the idea of your teenager riding around tearing up their fields or even just tearing up roads everyone uses.

Understand that no matter the head way you make, your always going to be "not from 'roun here"- and be OK with that.

[Hank6046]

New property owner in a rural area is going to deal with a lot of locals at first-

1. Curious- "Bubba used to live there, wonder who lives there now? Let's go and see.."
2. "We always have" types- you will run into them in the woods hunting, fishing or checking their crops. "Bubba always let us back here.."

I would also get to know your neighbors. Who car or truck is who's, where they live and what they do. I technically live in a subdivision with 30 homes or so, so my situation might differ, but knowing my neighbors is part of my home security. The guy across the street is usually home, and if we have a house fire, I've told my young kids to go there first and if a Prius so much as parks in my driveway he tends to ask me about it later.

[RugerMKII]

Well assuming you have done your home work and not moved into a crack head zone.
#1 for me that would mean at least a shotgun (your choice of gauge/action), lever action 30-30 and a good bolt action 22 ( Varmits in garden). 30-30 is my choice because i can load it either up or down.
#2 driveway alarms are a good idea. Just set them high enough off the ground so cats, dogs, rabbits, etc. don't set it off all night long
#3 Can't comment on cameras as i don't have any. I have thought about game cameras to see what critters are around at night.
#4 Gates - K.I.S.S. // manual has worked for years
#5 Lights; Solar powered / Motion activated LED; it has come a long way in the last 10 years
#6 Fencing is a good idea but expensive. back in 1998 we moved to our 4 acre patch and I fenced it with Red Brand Horse fence (4ft high). cost me $5000.00 just for fence and posts. But it kept our horses and dogs in and most important it kept neighbor hood dogs out and I didn't have to shoot them. Some neighbors get butt hurt when you shoot Fido. I would at least fence the immediate area around the house and barn. It will keep your dogs in. Dogs are still a good alarm system.

[Inkslinger]

You can start low tech with some of these. I have one in my driveway and a couple around the outside of my house.

https://www.amazon.com/Guardline-Wir...dDbGljaz10cnVl