What are the laws about granting access to a neighbor. The situation is, he is wanting to use my gate and road to get to the backside of his property. He has road frontage and has a small creek that crosses his property. He could cross creek, build bridge or low water crossing, but it would require work and money. So he wants to come through me. I have said if he is logging sure no problem. He wanting access for hunting and I have drawn the line saying no.

Just wondering what the law gurus have to say.

Sounds like you're in the drivers seat and don't have to grant him access if you don't want to.

He doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

Be as good of a neighbor as you want to be, but he doesn’t have a legal right to it.

It has always been my understanding that if the property in question is contiguous with his other property and he already has road frontage, then you have no obligation to provide access across yours. Only exceptions would be deeded easement or historical access over a number of years.

I agree, sounds like he has access

The answer depends on how many acres he has and how good the turkey population is.

Legally- he has no legs to stand on.

Buy the backside of his property.

I've seen this not stand up in court

Legally - you don’t have to grant access for hunting or timber harvesting.

Does he have an obstacle - sure. But his entire tract technically has road frontage.

I want to be a good neighbor but I'm not letting him come and go during season as he wants. He should have thought of that before he bought it.

He has no legal right to it. He just wants an easier means to access part of his and it doesn't work like that

Tell him to pound sand, then go put a ladder stand on his property line.
Facing your side of the line, of course. 😁

If he offered to make it worth it for you possibly.

Doesn’t sound like he’s trying to sweeten the deal like a good neighbor, sounds like more of a one way deal to me.


Really sounds like he needs to build a crossing or bridge


Tell him BOFF has some bridges for sale in the classified section.

See if he will write you a permit to hunt on the side of the creek he wants access to. He will likely find a way across the creek eventually.

I have this exact situation on one of my leases except I’m the one needing the access. The road is on timber land but the neighbors have it leased. Through the years I’ve always maintained the road so he doesn’t have to, to include putting rock down, skid steer work and trimming it back. Never had any issues, in fact he often texts me and asks how we’re doing and all. Great neighbor and he kills some good ones on his place

I would not open up the can of worms you could get in the future by letting him have access. You could sell him a legal easement for coming and going but you are not obligated to do anything.

It sad that you have to think this way every time you try to do something nice. But these days you do!

It will only work if you trust your neighbor, know your neighbor very well, and have a “family like” relationship… few cases are like FSHunters and last long enough for the work to pay off. Hopefully you’ll get it figured out.

My grandfather lost land in walker co because he let his buddy neighbor use the back road for years.
Ole buddy died and kids went to sale the land and advertised this back road as access road. Long story short it went to court and they won since had been used for so many yrs. Even though the old buddy neighbor would have never done him wrong and was just happy to get to use it. The kids did the screwing.

No way I’d let them haul timber out unless they posted a cash bond to cover road repair after the harvest. Even then it might still be a NO.