What would you do to feel safe from burglars in this environment?

As a Canadian, I would feel very safe. The first thing I would do after moving in would be to remove the electric gate.

But if you remove the electric gate who knows who will come to the door allegedly to ask directions, sell something, preach something etc etc. Only thing I don’t like about them is the UPS packages problem. Huge problem when you order online at Christmas.
Why would you remove the gate?

Get 12 pitbulls. There have been cases of just 1 pitbull seriously injuring several people or even killing people. If you get a dozen of them, and put pictures of them up on posts saying beware the dogs, I guarantee no burglar on earth would set foot on your land, even if you had the crown jewels.

I used to live on five acres in the middle of the NH woods in a cabin with a huge sliding glass door. Sometimes I didn’t even lock the front door at night or when I went to town 15 miles away. The worst that ever happened was a couple of times the Jehovah’s Witnesses left some literature on my porch.

@poisonedantidote Twelve? If I’m going to feed that many dogs I’d just as soon get twenty. Nice aroma outside in the mornings. Or, being a dog lover, they could sleep on my bed.

If a house on five acres was unoccupied, a burglar could gain entrance without alerting neighbors. A security system would be helpful. The options and features these days are only limited by your budget. For vacation, the house wouldn’t look so vacant if you had a house sitter.

In my neck of the necks, we must have a home owners insurance rider to cover certain high risk dogs. Pit bulls are on the list; I don’t think I could afford the insurance for 12 of them!

I’m on five acres with an electric gate, and wouldn’t be without one. I have no idea what @glacial was thinking about. The one security advantage I have is that no one knows I’m here until they reach the end of the driveway, or study satellite photos.

Anti personnel land mines, automatic white phosphorus mortar, massive saw blades that come out of the floor, razor sharp invisible trip wires, trap pits filled with highly concentrated boiling acid, and a dog.

^^^^^^^ Now that I’m finished laughing: you’d have to figure a way to disable each of those to protect the poor homeowner. LOL !!

Ohhh that would creep me out, big time. I like seeing and hearing people. I would probably have some sort of things hanging from both the windows and the doors that would make noise if they were fussed with like small bells that would jingle if moved, and I would keep some defense device nearby. I would make sure my doors had good locks whose mechanisms went deeply into the door and frame. As far as being away, I would just keep valuable items in a safety deposit box.

Is the electric gate meant to be for security? If so, what is the benefit of having that electric gate if the property is surrounded by wood fences? If not, it’s hindering my ability to get in and out of my property.

I know dozens of people who live in large houses with a lot of land… I don’t know any who feel the need to install security systems or keep their fences electrified. Gates opening to the road are usually for aesthetics and remain open. It seems ridiculous to me. Likewise, I don’t know any city-dwellers with security systems (and I currently live in a large, metropolitan city). In my experience, security systems are the province of the paranoid suburbanite.

@glacial I’m pretty sure she meant electric gate opener. They’re very convenient.

@bossob That explains much! I can’t imagine having a need for that. :)

A white wooden fence surrounds the property but , at the entrance to the property, (the driveway) the fence stops and a gate is installed. If someone pulls up to the gate a person inside the house pushes a button and it opens.

@glacial of course, there is no fencing in front of or behind the electric fence which the homeowner opens by way of a button on the dashboard.

I am really surprised that the concept of fencing land and using a gate is so foreign to people. It’s quite common in Texas.

They keep my dogs from roaming the neighborhood, and keeps other dogs out. It also keeps lookie-loos from entering my property. After 15 years of getting out of the car, opening the gate, getting back in the car, driving through, getting out of the car, closing the gate, and getting back in the car, it’s one of those conveniences I kick myself for not getting years ago.

@Aster It’s only common here if people have livestock. If not, there’s not really a need. Like I said earlier, some people have fences and gates, but the gates largely remain open.

@bossob that sounds equivalent to an hour of exercise. And sometimes in rain.

At times it was depressing! I would arrive home late at night, dog-tired and aching, and it would be cold, raining, and windy, and I would have to sit there a while to get up the gumption to go through the routine…again.

Peace through fire superiority. Just get a bigger gun.

Also, I think if you live alone in the pampa, you are pretty safe from burglars or missionaries, simply because they would not bother to drive for hundreds of kilometres just to rob a shack in the wilderness.

One would assume that if there’s a big fence and gate that there must be things in the house to protect. Those are the houses a burglar might target.

I grew up in a house in the middle of the woods. You couldn’t see it from the road. In the forty years the house has been there, it has been hit once, I believe. Lost a lot of silver and oriental rugs. Oh well. Things. Replaceable.

My parents got an alarm system after that. My house has an alarm system We’ve been here twenty years and never had a break-in, although there have been break-ins in other houses on our block.

I think you do your best to protect. Alarm system. Connection to police. House sitters when you’re not there. And insurance for when you do get broken into. Otherwise, that’s enough obsessing about things.

I think motoring your house from your car!