Before we downsized, we had a huge avocado tree in our fenced in back yard, though some branches hung over the fence. Even though it wasn't fenced, our property extended down a sloped grassy area to about 10 feet into the water edge of the lake behind our house. No one was supposed to be on the waterfront property other than lake homeowners and one section where the clubhouse and pool were on the lake. Every year though, people would come and pick avocados off the tree even though it was obviously private property.
What really ticked me off was that about once a week we would gather fallen avocados and those about to fall and put them out in a box by the road with a FREE sign. They couldn't wait and had to trespass on and steal from private property?
The other thing was we had the best fishing area around the lake because there was a long, wide shallow ledge on part of our property. A big male strawberry bass had staked his territory there and if he realized somebody was down close to the water, he would swim up onto that ledge and follow you as you walked. Craig and our neighbor a couple doors down would catch and release, but I was always afraid somebody would catch and eat him. But, regardless, we didn't want anybody back there fishing or whatever due to liability issues.
I had to run people off numerous times, kids and adults. Had to threaten to call police a couple of times, even did once. Got tired of the confrontations so started turning the sprinklers on every time I saw somebody back there. That worked very well.
