Theft and Neighbors

Impact

New Member
I've leased a piece of ground for many years and have had little problems with theft or trespassing until last summer. Late last summer I went to check trail cameras only to discover all of the sd cards had been stolen from the cameras as well as one camera which I didn't have locked. A trophy rock I had placed out was also missing. I replaced the sd cards with the intention of installing small locks on the camera doors the next trip back. About a week later I come back and once again all sd cards show up missing. That same evening I get a phone call from a guy who claims to have bought the adjoining farm to the NE. He had gotten my number from the landowner I lease from and called to introduce himself. He seemed rather curious and was asking all kinds of questions. Sensing something wasn't quite right with this guy I told him that I'd recently been having theft troubles and was going to put out hidden cameras in attempt to catch the culprit. I made it clear to him that I did not tolerate trespassing. He said he totally agreed with me and that he would keep a lookout for anyone suspicious. From then on I had zero problems the rest of the summer which seems awfully coincidental. Fast forward to now. I was just at my lease and while I do not have cameras out yet the problems are starting again. A trophy rock I just placed out two weeks ago was missing. Same location as last year. It's a long walk back there and no way to get there by atv or vehicle. I'm thinking it's the neighbor guy again screwing with my stuff. Any suggestions what I should do?
 
Get a ladder or some climbing sticks and hang them up as high as possible looking down. I know it's a lot of trouble, but they are much more likely to be overlooked that way.
 
Check out camlock boxes. They can be screwed to a tree inside the box and then locked on the outside. They make them for just about every camera there is.
 
a trophy rock can be completely consumed within 2 weeks....and I would assume that's the case if that's the only thing missing at this time. I have dealt with trespassers many times, and I've successfully prosecuted....and that is the only thing that stops it.
 
a trophy rock can be completely consumed within 2 weeks....and I would assume that's the case if that's the only thing missing at this time. I have dealt with trespassers many times, and I've successfully prosecuted....and that is the only thing that stops it.
I've had Trophy Rocks dissolve within 2 weeks if they are laying in a hole that fills with water, but I've never had one consumed in 2 weeks and I have a high population of deer, squirrels, coons,and just about everything that eats salt except for bears.
 
Forget the trophy rock. Use rock salt and some di-calcium phosphate and put it in a trench and cover it with dirt.

DRAT! I re-read your post and realized you're leasing. Let me change my response.

Work with the lessor. It's really up to him to do anything. He may or may not want to participate. Let him know you're fed up.


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For the cameras, here's where I see the problem as bigger than just theft. He's probably going to poach the heck out of your place. That's why he's on your property and that's why he's stealing your SD cards.

One trick that worked for a friend of mine was hiring a big mean biker dude to pay the poacher a visit, introduce himself and mention that he's been hired to watch your property and wanted to leave his phone number in case the other guy sees something suspicious.

Taking care of a poaching/theft problem takes patience, guile, and creativity. It becomes a sport in and of itself, and I will say hunting humans is far more exciting than deer. In one instance, I found the poacher was using a walkie talkie to converse with his buddies. He let it slip that he as monitoring my walkie-talkie traffic back to my wife at the farm house on another channel. The next weekend I faked radio traffic so that he'd get the idea I was coming out late, and then beat it back to the house and padlocked the gate. I caught him at sundown with the handlebars of his ATV hopelessly wedged trying to get through the gate. In another instance, I had two neighbor kids questioned for poaching by the state police instead of calling the Conservation Officer. I then enlisted the aide of another one of my neighbors in "cleaning up the mess." The kids had hightailed it out of their blind, leaving all their gear. I brought the guy out and gave him all the stuff, including the pop-up blind, explaining all the way exactly what I intended to do to these kids. The neighbor was a petty criminal who had no desire to deal with the state cops, and I never had trouble out of him again.

In another instance, and this fit in your situation, I found out the guy poaching had already gone down twice for poaching. Third conviction for him was going to mean serious jail time. I just let the fellow know I had talked to the game warden and he was going to start watching the place for me. The fellow took his poaching elsewhere.
 
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Take a climbing tree stand if you have one since the area is difficult to reach. If you are like most of us you have a old cam around that doesn't work. Use it as bait and hang a cam up looking down and another low but well hidden. The one from above will make getting a look at a face difficult......but will give you some info all the same. Some neighbors suck, and until they are confronted or dealt with they will continue to do what they are doing. Also try to see if you can find evidence of how he is reaching these areas and back track......

If you want to scare him tell him you have some pics and want him to see them to see if he can help ID the person in the pics before you take them to the authorities......be prepared for lots of stuttering!!!! Also put and document some sort of mark on your cams and SD cards so they can be identified later......
 
Thanks for the replies. My question really should have been what is the best way to catch him? I'll try hidden cameras that's about all I can do.

As for the Trophy Rock it was there the week before so there's no way it dissolved. I also have it sitting on a stump 2 feet off the ground.
 
Thanks for the replies. My question really should have been what is the best way to catch him? I'll try hidden cameras that's about all I can do.

As for the Trophy Rock it was there the week before so there's no way it dissolved. I also have it sitting on a stump 2 feet off the ground.
My point was they don't get eaten in a week. Maybe a bear can roll one away but critters ain't eating a full sized rock in a week. I bet it was stolen.

You said you've never had problems in your neighborhood in the past...Are there any local boys that have recently turned to their early teens? A neighborhood can change in a hurry when some boys hit puberty.

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Yeah I know it was stolen because he took another one last year as well as a $5 salt block. Wth! I haven't had problems until this new guy bought the piece adjacent. Coincidental that he happens to call me the day I get stuff stolen? Nah, he's got to be the culprit .
 
We had problems with local guys on 4 wheelers coming in on our lease. We had the main gates locked but this was the back gate off of a little easement road most people didnt know about. These 2 guys just came in and made themselves home while we were gone. So we locked the gate. They just cut the barbwire and went on in. So we drove some long polebarn nails up through some 2x12's and went up the road from our gate where the trees are thick and close to the road, we dug down and set the boards level in the ground and covered them up with dirt, grass and leaves. Next weekend we pull in there and there is a shot doe draped across the fence, drove up the road and the boards are turned over. not a track past that point, and you could tell they had a hell of a time getting out of there too with flat tires. We rebuilt the gate and locked it up and put a sign
" Enter at your own risk". Didn't have a problem after that.
 
I agree with a statement above. Need to work like hell to catch that one person. Then go above and beyond to set the example. I did that and now I have zero problems. It was a challenge but hidden cameras worked for me. I set obvious decoy cameras then thought how I would try to avoid those cameras. You can set cameras high like others said or I had success setting them low aiming up. No one looks at the ground for cameras. If you think it’s your one neighbor I’d set some decoy cameras close to the border he won’t be able to resist. Good luck
 
Some of these guys see it as a challenge. I used to work with a guy like that. If there was a 500 acre place that had 50 acres in it that was posted, he'd want to hunt that 50 acres. I asked him that very question and he verified the answer. They see it as some kind of game and get a thrill out of tresspassing and not getting caught. The cure for most of them is getting caught, AND, getting prosecuted. Not all of them will quit even then unfortunately. Tresspassing is a pretty big problem here in East Texas, aggravated considerably by guys running hogs with dogs. Impact, I hope all turns out well for you.
 
Around here, when they trespass, they take off the state mandated back tags and wear masks..... Not kidding.
 
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