Should I inform farmers before I take big rocks out of the ditch by their field?

Technically yes, but…if you are only taking one or two rocks I wouldn’t be too concerned but if you loading up a truck full then yes. The rocks may be used for drainage or landfill to keep the ditches from caving in. Here in my area of CA. people use a lot of river rock to landscape from our bountiful rivers but it is illegal to take river rock from parks and other public access places. If everyone took rocks there would be erosion issues.

I live on a mountain. The cliff from the road to where my house is is pretty steep.
The other day I saw people climbing up just feet away from my property line. They wouldn’t be able to get much higher without crossing the line.
We have a lot of jasper here so rock hounds like to come looking for it.
I don’t know why they don’t realize it’s stealing!

Man, the kids and I used to go rock hunting, looking for flat paver-types of rock. I was building a waterfall. We have some of the best memories of hunting rocks. My daughter was moving into that horrible teenage attitude shit, but this one day we went rock hunting. We were all out in the country. At one point a cool song came on and we jumped out and were dancing in the ditch! I got a hug out of it. It still stands as one of her best memories too.
It never occurred to me to ask permission from someone.

Some farmers would pay to have rocks removed. Put in a craigslist ad, I bet you’ll get some takers. I would not take any without asking.

@ARE_you_kidding_me Good idea!

Obviously going onto private property is not a good idea but, in a way, it really is funny, the human ego and sense of “ownership” of things of the the earth. I always laugh to myself because really, it is so arrogant for humans to think they actually OWN a part of the earth, but this is the game of ages and, of course, the stuff of wars. lol

We don’t “own” anything. We just negotiate use of it for a while.

@ARE_you_kidding_me Exactly!

Welcome to Fluther.

Some rocks found in ditches – especially the larger ones – are intended to be there and required for proper function of the drainage. Large rocks serve as drainage obstacles and flow controllers (mediators or “slowers”) to prevent erosion of the banks or bed of the ditch in heavy flow conditions. (Sometimes the banks of the ditch will be completely lined with large rocks as rip-rap, but that will be pretty obvious.)

That’s true. We always found our rocks beside cliffs, from where they had obviously fallen.

If you try that in my area (North Carolina) you may find your rear-end filled with bird shot. I’ve turned into a driveway of a “Single wide” mobile home. we were lost and my GPS was acting up !
The screen door flew open and a double barrel shotgun was pointed at me. Backed up real fast.

Yes, where farms are concerned, some are tight about security. You are only looking for rocks, but they don’t know that until you speak with them. I lived on a farm when I was little. Often there was only my mom and us kids at home, and anybody poking around nearby would have made us nervous. Also, sometimes you have farmers with bad neighbors. We had one who dumped his empty corn cobs, by the truckload, over the fence onto our property. There is also lots of problems with people wanting to have a bbq, and stealing a couple of hogs, or a cow, instead of buying their meat.
Farmers are their own security, so anything you want to do on, or near their property should be discussed with them first.
I’m glad you asked this question. During my childhood I wanted a way to make these points known.

In some areas, and some states, it is illegal to remove rock without certain permits. Check with your local authorities.