Go Back  HuntingNet.com Forums > Firearms Forum > Guns
Rifles and hotel rooms >

Rifles and hotel rooms

Guns Like firearms themselves, there's a wide variety of opinions on what's the best gun.

Rifles and hotel rooms

Old 01-27-2017, 04:57 PM
  #11  
Nontypical Buck
 
super_hunt54's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Illinois
Posts: 3,695
Default

I got one of those Truck Vaults that is installed into the bed for the rare occasion I don't take the RV on a trip. It's not really that hard to install and remove when I don't need it but it's not that easy either. Combine that with my topper and my rifles are pretty secure on a trip. With the RV, I had a buddy of mine fabricate a pretty dang sturdy vault under the lower bunk sleeper. Personally Jake, I wouldn't feel good at all leaving them in a room. Are you going to be in a car or a truck? If a car, I'd feel quite a bit better leaving them in the trunk out of sight.
super_hunt54 is offline  
Old 01-27-2017, 05:16 PM
  #12  
Typical Buck
 
Jack Ryan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 866
Default

Put a cable down the barrel and out the breach and a good solid lock on it. Lock it to something solid or big in the hotel room. Even if the maid is a thief they don't carry cable cutters around the hotel or want to be seen dragging a refrigerator locked to a shot gun down the hall way.
Jack Ryan is offline  
Old 01-27-2017, 05:30 PM
  #13  
Giant Nontypical
 
Sheridan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location:
Posts: 5,130
Default

Out of state plates on your car is a dead "give a way"...............................

People walk by your car all day/night long.........................


Hotel room - Out of sight out of mind.

Only the maid sees the inside of your room during your stay.



Just bring your "gear" in & out in the dark !

Last edited by Sheridan; 01-29-2017 at 05:57 PM.
Sheridan is offline  
Old 01-28-2017, 04:26 PM
  #14  
Typical Buck
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Pa.
Posts: 502
Default

Originally Posted by Wingbone
I'd be concerned that an out-of-state license plate in the parking lot would make the vehicle a target. I feel safer with the guns in the room out of sight.
I second the out of state plates.Plus remove any stickers that could target your vehicle as a hunter.
GOOD OLE BOY is offline  
Old 01-28-2017, 04:54 PM
  #15  
Nontypical Buck
 
Nomercy448's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,898
Default

It's a hotel, whether it's a rental car or a personal vehicle, odds are if you check 100 plates in a hotel parking lot, 90% of them will be out of state. Nationwide rental car companies have the option to plate their vehicles in any state they have a license to operate, so most pick whichever state offers the cheapest tax rates.

I could argue the alternative - if you have IN state plates at a hotel, you're more apt to have personal belongings in your vehicle (which always are in the vehicle) than an out of state person on a trip in a personal vehicle, especially a rental car (which also has out of state plates). Most people don't "move in" with a rental car, and most folks clear out their personal vehicles before a long trip, making room for pertinent items for the trip itself, and people out of state are more cognizant of protecting their belongings than a night tripper headed to some meeting in a different town.

Breaking into a car window is easy, and it's outside - but there's a false sense of security in a hotel - nobody checks ID's at the door to ensure they have a reason to be there.

Here's another easy con I have been warned about while traveling - a potential thief walks into a hotel lobby and sits down like they're waiting for a friend around 3pm, opens a laptop computer and stick in an earbud, makes it look like they're busy. Might even fake a phone call loudly saying, "yeah, I'm waiting in the lobby whenever you get ready to come down." Lots of check-ins happen over the next couple of hours. The thief overhears the attendant read room numbers and thank "Mr. Last Name" for choosing their hotel. Then they leave for a while, come back during supper time, get in the elevator, go to top floor, come back to lobby and tell the attendant they forgot their key in your room. Hotel confirmation practice is to ask which room number and last name - same at every hotel chain I have ever stayed. Bingo - The thief heard your room number and last name earlier in the day... Now they have your room key, go upstairs, knock on the door, if you're not out to supper and answer the door, "oh, sorry, I'm on the wrong floor, my colleague is staying in (whatever room number one floor up or down - so 313 if you're standing in front of 213)... If no answer, they use the key, walk in, pack up your belongings, walk out like I'm checking out early, and nobody knows what happens until you get back from supper...

Another one my company trained us on (except trade business suits for camo jackets). Thief loitering near a hotel notices guys unloading camo stuff and rifles into the hotel. Waits in the lobby to hear their last name and room number. Later, he knows they went out to supper, puts on a camo jacket, goes to the front desk, says they need to get something out of Room XXX, I'm staying with YOUR NAME, he asked me to come back by and pick it up for him." Camo jacket makes sense, she only got the name of the guy renting the room, not the buddy staying with him, sees too many faces in a day, but hey, he had a camo coat... Unsuspecting attendant gives them a key and access to their stuff...

It's not rocket science, thieves figured this stuff out a long time ago...

Cars get burgled, hotel rooms get burgled. No perfect answer for either. My personal belief, and all of the training I've received as a national and international business traveler suggests the vehicle is the more secure location when you are not in your room. It's mobile, public, and with limited means of access (you hold the only key, plus breaking a window) whereas the room is static and private, and virtually public access (VERY easy to get a key to someone else's room).

Bottom line, it's a hotel - it's a target, and you're a traveler, so you're more vulnerable than usual. Whether it's your car in the parking lot or your room in the building, and whether you're in a rental car, personal car, in state plates or out of state, it's all less than ideal. It's a target.

Last edited by Nomercy448; 01-28-2017 at 05:14 PM.
Nomercy448 is offline  
Old 01-28-2017, 05:21 PM
  #16  
Giant Nontypical
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 9,227
Default

If I'm hunting the rifle will be with me. Why would you leave it in the room? If the rifle is in the room then so am I. Problem solved.
flags is offline  
Old 01-29-2017, 01:04 AM
  #17  
Dominant Buck
 
Champlain Islander's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: On an Island in Vermont
Posts: 22,437
Default

The hardest part is taking a cross country truck hunting trip. When we go to Colorado elk hunting there are normally 3 of us and we have a truck cap all loaded with guns and gear. There is no hiding what we have packed since the cap has windows. The trip takes 3 days so that includes 2 nights in motels...normally somewhere along the Ohio/ Indiana border and then the next night in Kansas. We lock the cap but it isn't feasible to remove everything and bring it into the room so we just park at a good name motel under a well lit spot and hope nobody messes with our truck. Never had an issue..knock on wood.
Champlain Islander is offline  
Old 01-29-2017, 03:29 AM
  #18  
Nontypical Buck
 
alleyyooper's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: MICHIGAN
Posts: 2,568
Talking

You don't have to break a window to get in a car or the cab of a truck. I carry in my tool box a plastic wedge sort of like loggers use and a shim with a notch cut in it.
I used to work going and opening doors for folks who locked their keys in their cars. Some cars the alarms have gotten better but up to the last GM one I did a 2004 Park Avenue by using the shim to lift the lock rod no alarms sound.


I think I would just rent a travel trailer for a week or so stop at a truck stop and buy a shower when needed. Saves water the trailer can carry. Do my own cooking and saves on meals too. Other wise your property is safer I feel doing it that way.


Al
alleyyooper is offline  
Old 01-29-2017, 04:46 AM
  #19  
Banned
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: idaho
Posts: 2,773
Default

Originally Posted by Bocajnala
So, we'll be staying in a hotel room while hunting. What do y'all typically do with your rifle? Just leave it there and trust the hotel? Have never stayed in a hotel while hunting before.
-Jake
I generally take my rifle with me when I hunt . so, it is not really an issue.
kidoggy is offline  
Old 01-29-2017, 05:02 AM
  #20  
Nontypical Buck
 
Big Uncle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,780
Default

I travel a bit and not always through the nicest of places. I have been using a gun case that looks just like a golf club shipping case. Nobody pays me a bit of attention when I wheel it across a hotel lobby or car park. It has been wheeled discretely through hotels where a recognizable gun case might not be a welcome sight. When I get to my room it is chained to some relatively unmovable object.

I use a Tuffpak as a travel case. it is fairly expensive but seemingly indestructible. The guns go into soft cases inside the travel case. There are other golf club cases that cost much less that would work well for hotel rooms. You might be able to borrow a case from a friend.
Big Uncle is offline  

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.