Stolen Equipment
Wisconsin
I know this has been addressed before, but yesterday at the expo, I talked to a guy at the xpo booth. he had 10 portables stolen last year, and 9 cameras, and the cameras were locked and in boxes.........
isn't that sad,,,,, man and I complained about losing one......
that's a lot of money, invested,,,,,,,,,,,
In my opinion, a locked tree stand or camera is basically telling the thief you expect him to steal it, and the only thing stopping him is the cable, lock or chain. I swear since I stopped locking them, I have had nothing stolen.....knock on wood. I have had tree stands and climbers stolen from private property as well as public. I had a stand stolen in broad daylight on public while eating lunch. I have a set of bolt cutters with cams (here at work) that will cut through 1 inch rebar. There is nothing that wil1 stop a thief with what we call a master key in hand.
I had 3 cams stole from me 2 weeks ago. That's $700 of my hard earned money gone.
That is ridiculous! Were these all situated on private land? Sounds like this guy needs to do some all-out recon. The nice thing about idiots is they do stupid stuff repeatedly and can usually be caught.
It would make me sick just knowing people are walking on my land let alone stealing my stuff. I haven't had anything stolen - yet - from my land. I am not sure how I would handle it but suspect I'd put lots of energy into finding ways to catch them next time. Thieves make me sick.
I don't use 'em . I can figure out whats in the area without them ,plus you stink up the area going back & forth . but I do have a question .
Are the factories to blame ? Why can't they set them up so when The wrong password is entered the camera go's dead .
I used to keep an old, dead trail camera in plan sight pointed at the gate to my property. Some idiot stole it. Now I keep a working one hidden.
My cams were stolen on a private farm. Not boxed in either.
I can see what you mean Pete. But I also think a box and or cable lock will make it harder for a thief.
I always kept my cams at waist high. More for a good background picture. But I have to hang them high now. It's just not worth it.
I also have a good idea on who took it. But a thief will never give an honest answer. So I guess my intentions are to just lay low till later on.
It's a frustrating feeling to walk up and see it missing. i should say very angry. But to find 3 gone! Wow! I'm back down in the hole with cameras.
They almost never pay for themselves. They most likely malfunction down the road, or a thief steals them. Which one is worse? Idk.. Out of 8 years of using cameras. This is my 4 one stolen. But in combination of the two. I've lost count. I've asked myself many times, is it even worth buying these things?
I have lost 2 stands a trail camera and a Double Bull blind all on private land. It's a pretty disgusting feeling.
Is this guy marking his stuff? Marking it so it is very very inconvenient to remove. My (cheap Covert) cameras have my name melted in, with soldering iron, all over the cameras. Anyone stealing them would find it embarrassing to explain how this other guys name is engraved into these cameras. I would think a welder could be used to write you name "ALL OVER" a stand. My philosophy is make it too embarrassing for someone to use it and they will not steal it.
I have my name engraved on mine. But these newer cameras with tree bark like texture are making it harder to do.
Anyone that spends over $80 for a simple game camera is nuts. Now days you can even get some pretty good cameras for under $80 if you watch for sales.
Wrong password making a camera useless, what if you put the wrong password in yourself? Or forget what it is.
I had a wonderful season last year by putting them away. The fact I wasn't in the woods checking cameras, and the not knowing what was there, kept the hunt far more interesting. I saw plenty of deer, and a couple surprises in the form of two beautiful bucks. Having to decide when a deer comes into view, and you not recognizing him immediately, made the hunt much more rewarding. I have ten cameras collecting dust, and they will again this season.
I have lost more cameras on my own property than on public land. In fact I have only had 1 stolen off of public land. After that I put one up with a tracking device and it wasn't touched all season.
Sad that landowners can't leave anything on their own property anymore.
A sign of the times??
Pete- Are your cameras for sale??
Mike, I was waiting for that. Let me think about that. I was thinking about other applications, and have a few buddies who have asked as well.
I notice a lot of the new cameras are small. I have an idea for hiding one. Would anybody happen to have one of the newer small cameras that is broken beyond repair but physically intact I could have?
Its just so sad a guy just cant have fun without worrying about someone stealing hunting equipment. I only lost one camera last year.
Pete,
I might be interested in your cameras too. I also went the route on my friend's property years ago of not running the cameras and enjoying the surprises. However, when I got the land in the UP last year, I went back to them to learn the travel routes and to see what kind of population we had. I kept them out all season as the areas of usage seemed to change and I was then able to put my son in the right spots to see the most deer. But, I truly understand where you are coming from and I might end up there again some day.
Camera theft and treestand theft has always been a problem and really sucks when your the guy being victimized.
I spent many years placing cameras on marijuana grows.
Years ago we had to walk in car batteries for a power source on large cameras. Change em out every two days what a pain.
Taking the time to camouflage them is key to not suffering a theft.
One trick we used was we bought a bunch of "plastic" foliage - some summer and some fall.
I was quite the "florist" back in the day.
I personally never had a camera stolen on the job, but there was some taken in other parts of the state.
Wit the small cameras now one would think you'd never suffer a theft - but damn it does happen!
I run a double digit number of trail cams for my scent trials and while they are on private lands, I have never once had a cam stolen. I weld up heavy steal boxes and use chains and locks and in many many years of camera use, they have always been where I left them. It could be because my name is written all over my cams in paint and folks know better than to take one of mine. ;-)
I will add, I never use the strap that comes with the camera. The strap is the first thing that will catch your eye out in the woods.
I always use a simple homemade "L" bracket to hang the camera. As said, putting them higher and lightly camoing them in with a small branch helps also sometimes.
In the past 10 years I have had 1 camera stolen on public land and 8 stolen from our private property.
The one on public land was taken from a bait site in Portage county.
The others have been taken from the middle of our property where the person had to be trespassing.
I use bear boxes and cables with locks. I have had trees cut down, fence posts cut and removed. The person or persons taking the cameras has to know they are trespassing and will eventually get caught.
Part of the cost of trying to catch trespassers and protecting personal property I guess
Brush them in just like a ground blind
Problems for me with the GoLock is the no cell phone bad coverage in my area,(hunting equipment) even if there was, by the time you got there equipment and thief can be long gone. Would work well in populated areas with cell coverage.
There are plenty of other "good" companies that are just as good or better. Like MF said, cell coverage is poor at best.
Satellite tracking is better, but battery life isn't great. They are smaller and more effective. They work on motion. If the camera sits in one place they don't drain the battery, you track them via your phone or computer. A pretty good setup.
Camp, I had 2 stands stolen off private property right after the leased bean fields were harvested. They hire out the help to pick the soy beans, and I'm quite certain those contracted workers got them. I had a cable on one of them. They left the cut lock on the tree peg that was grown into the tree, but kept the cable. I could see the tire tracks where they drove right up to the stands.
My buddy and two of his buddies had 14 stands all stolen on the same night once. Two days after the farmer contracted some new guys to cut his corn. Nothing more discouraging than walking out to your stand in the darkness only to be sniped by a thieving mongrel! It makes you think of some very unpleasant thoughts of what you might do to a guy if you caught him. Before anyone says you'll go to jail, yeah, I get it....the same time he'll go to the hospital for rhinoplasty!
The DNR set the rules. And agenda. The congress is a smoke screen to make you feel good. And a chance to. Mingle n feel important. Enjoy. Look at it what it did for spearing. /. Crossbows/ Baiting / Wolves. They took your advice?? Get the Drift
I've lost two stands from private land. I've found two cameras on that same private land. I left a note in a ziplock bag taped across the eyelet of the cams letting the cam owner know they were trespassing and that if the cam was there when I returned it would become mine.
