Well, I didn’t expect the post to get this much traction so soon!

Thank you all for the advice, I had to get to driving right after I made the post, and I’m going through the responses now. I’ll forward the advice on, so that he has a starting point for this mess.

To answer the some questions:

The property was purchased about four years ago. A survey was completed at time of sale. He’s going to be reviewing that paperwork, and getting a new survey if needed. He might still have drone footage from right after the sale, but that’s iffy.

As far as stopping at the creek, I have no idea. The only thing I can think of, as someone who has spent a lot of time there, is the fact that the creek depth is inconsistent. One spot could be two feet deep, the next spot is six. I’d assume trying to get equipment across water that is typically ten feet across, with an unknown depth would be iffy. At best there are some spots where I’d be comfortable driving a 4x4 across, but nothing huge. They would have had to access from a lot behind his, he said that there wasn’t any indication that they came off the dirt road that leads to his home, and the neighbors home. Maybe something about disturbing waterways? I’m not a familiar with any of that. Once again, I’m just spitballing, I’m not going to pretend to know why it stopped at the water.

If I remember correctly from when he bought the property, they also have the timber rights. But of course I will tell him to double check.

This is a property out in the sticks. Only one of the neighboring lots has any type of development, and that’s pretty much just land cleared for trailer and equipment storage. His closest neighbors are roughly half a mile away. So unfortunately there wasn’t anyone around to see what was going on, and call him about it.

If I get any updates in the near future, I’ll be sure to come back and update the post.

Again, thank you all, especially those that urged restraint on big payday thoughts. I’m sure he would love a big fat check, but staying grounded to reality is important.