Have you ever had something hunting-related stolen?
01-15-2007, 05:10 PM
#11
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: southeast PA
Posts: 11
RE: Have you ever had something hunting-related stolen?
hi everyone, im new here. this is a subject i take very seriously. i live in southeastern pa, where people feel that they can roam where ever they want. we have had numerous stands stolen, from hangons to climbers, to the worst, homemade wooden ladder stands. i haven had any cams messed with but am very picky where i put them. the worst thing ever stolen was deer. not once but twice. the first one i found with the head cut off the morning after i shot it. the other the whole deer was taken. both died in open fields along roads.
01-15-2007, 05:38 PM
#13
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Jackson, Michigan
Posts: 381
RE: Have you ever had something hunting-related stolen?
Yup..I too had a tree cam stolen. I knew it was some kids that I had seen back in my woods so I confronted them. Told them I just wanted it back...no questions asked. Well, I finally got it back, and it was broken beyond repair. Irks me royally! I have also lost tree stands and ladders as well as tree steps. But of alllll of the things I have had stolen, the one thing that makes me the maddest is when several A-holes stole my recreation opportunities by trespassing and hunting on my land......again!!! One even shot at a buck with his Glock and then had the nerve to ask me if he could track it. You feel really violated when someone steals something, but when they steal your hunting too, it makes you wonder what the world is coming to!!!!
01-15-2007, 07:10 PM
#16
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5,716
RE: Have you ever had something hunting-related stolen?
I had a guy steal a mountain bike (Trek hardtail), my varmint rifle, my PS2 and 2 bookbags full of hunting equipment/random electronics/liquor/personal itemsall from my parents'driveway with the patio lights on.
Early Summer - I'd just moved home from college, and left my car in my parents' driveway still loaded with stuff(very safe neighborhood up to that point), and I went inside to hang out with the family for a while, planning on heading out to bring everything inside later. Car was unlocked, but we never locked our cars before - very safe neighborhood. I got home at8, and went back out there at11. Some scumbag must have been sneaking through the neighborhood going car-to-car emptying change trays when he hit the motherlode in my car. He stood in my driveway, put a thousand-dollar mountain bike together (front wheel was removed and it was stuffed in the hatch), went through the car, picking and choosing items to steal with the two duffel bags available. He found my varmint rifle buried under everything and wrapped in a blanket. Then, he rode off into thedarkness on my bike with my varmint rifle on his back, wearing my favorite backpack, and my hockey duffel bag on the handlebars. Note: there were lights on and people inside the house moving aroundthe whole time!
His luck ran out, b/c I went outside to get everything probably five minutes after he left. Enraged, I jumped in my car and caught up to him along the road. I saw the reflectors going, and the telltale reflective striping on my Ripcurl bag, and I stomped it to the floor, turbo screaming and I was chirping tires in every gear as I approached. I would have centered him on the hood if he'd have stayed on the road.
Lucky for him, heknew the gig was up, dumped the bike on a roadside bank, ran up the bank before I could run him over, dumped the gear, and ran down through the woods. I ran him down and cornered him on a pair of railroad tracks. It was dark, but I could tell he was a skanky black guy - probably a heroin addict. Real skinny and reeked of liquor. I told him that I was gonna kill him right there, and I picked up a good solid limb, and he started blathering about how he has kids and all this business. Promised to never step in my neighborhood again, and emptied his pockets on the railroad bed. Said he needed money for his kids' birthday. Sunken cheeks, scarred up face, just a rough looking old man probably in his late 50's. He was breathing and crying so hard, he said he thought he was having a heart attack.
By that time, traffic was stopped up on the main road, where my car was half off the road with the keys in the ignition, and I was worried that somebody was stealing my stuff again, so I had time to think about it and told him to get lostb/c I had toget back up and load everything back into the car. I made it real clear what would happen if he ever stepped into my neighborhood again. After I got back to the car, I got the police out there to filea report, but since I recovered everything, they dropped the ball on the investigation. I'm not real broke up about it anyway, b/c maybe that's what theold skeezer needed - to fear for his life. Spending a night in the slammer or paying a fine is one thing, but genuinely feeling that your life is about to end, thathas a way of changing people.
I've never been that enraged before or after. I reallymay have killed that guy if I knew I wouldn't have caught AIDS for touching him. Crazy. I hope I never get that mad again. I mean, you just walk outside and see your car hanging open with clothes and stuff strewn all through the yard, and you realize that somebody just ripped off your $1000 varmint rig, and a $1000 mountain bike that was my BABY, along with 2 packs filled with every personal item I owned... It just goes through you like a fire. He even had my hockey gloves. What's a ghetto black man gonna do with hockey gloves? Seriously.
Edit: I always tell this story, b/c it illustrates how stealing can evoke acrazy reaction out of the parties involved, even if you're a guy who doesn't have a volatile personality. No matter which end of the theft you're on, you're putting yourself at risk of getting into a really bad situation. Maybe I overreacted at the time, but I know if either of us had a handgun, one of us would probably still be laying in the railroad bed, and the other would probably be sitting in a jail cell. Just something to think about.
I was lucky to be able to look back at the whole situation and get a laugh out of it, but honestly, it was really close to ending really badly.
Early Summer - I'd just moved home from college, and left my car in my parents' driveway still loaded with stuff(very safe neighborhood up to that point), and I went inside to hang out with the family for a while, planning on heading out to bring everything inside later. Car was unlocked, but we never locked our cars before - very safe neighborhood. I got home at8, and went back out there at11. Some scumbag must have been sneaking through the neighborhood going car-to-car emptying change trays when he hit the motherlode in my car. He stood in my driveway, put a thousand-dollar mountain bike together (front wheel was removed and it was stuffed in the hatch), went through the car, picking and choosing items to steal with the two duffel bags available. He found my varmint rifle buried under everything and wrapped in a blanket. Then, he rode off into thedarkness on my bike with my varmint rifle on his back, wearing my favorite backpack, and my hockey duffel bag on the handlebars. Note: there were lights on and people inside the house moving aroundthe whole time!
His luck ran out, b/c I went outside to get everything probably five minutes after he left. Enraged, I jumped in my car and caught up to him along the road. I saw the reflectors going, and the telltale reflective striping on my Ripcurl bag, and I stomped it to the floor, turbo screaming and I was chirping tires in every gear as I approached. I would have centered him on the hood if he'd have stayed on the road.
Lucky for him, heknew the gig was up, dumped the bike on a roadside bank, ran up the bank before I could run him over, dumped the gear, and ran down through the woods. I ran him down and cornered him on a pair of railroad tracks. It was dark, but I could tell he was a skanky black guy - probably a heroin addict. Real skinny and reeked of liquor. I told him that I was gonna kill him right there, and I picked up a good solid limb, and he started blathering about how he has kids and all this business. Promised to never step in my neighborhood again, and emptied his pockets on the railroad bed. Said he needed money for his kids' birthday. Sunken cheeks, scarred up face, just a rough looking old man probably in his late 50's. He was breathing and crying so hard, he said he thought he was having a heart attack.
By that time, traffic was stopped up on the main road, where my car was half off the road with the keys in the ignition, and I was worried that somebody was stealing my stuff again, so I had time to think about it and told him to get lostb/c I had toget back up and load everything back into the car. I made it real clear what would happen if he ever stepped into my neighborhood again. After I got back to the car, I got the police out there to filea report, but since I recovered everything, they dropped the ball on the investigation. I'm not real broke up about it anyway, b/c maybe that's what theold skeezer needed - to fear for his life. Spending a night in the slammer or paying a fine is one thing, but genuinely feeling that your life is about to end, thathas a way of changing people.
I've never been that enraged before or after. I reallymay have killed that guy if I knew I wouldn't have caught AIDS for touching him. Crazy. I hope I never get that mad again. I mean, you just walk outside and see your car hanging open with clothes and stuff strewn all through the yard, and you realize that somebody just ripped off your $1000 varmint rig, and a $1000 mountain bike that was my BABY, along with 2 packs filled with every personal item I owned... It just goes through you like a fire. He even had my hockey gloves. What's a ghetto black man gonna do with hockey gloves? Seriously.
Edit: I always tell this story, b/c it illustrates how stealing can evoke acrazy reaction out of the parties involved, even if you're a guy who doesn't have a volatile personality. No matter which end of the theft you're on, you're putting yourself at risk of getting into a really bad situation. Maybe I overreacted at the time, but I know if either of us had a handgun, one of us would probably still be laying in the railroad bed, and the other would probably be sitting in a jail cell. Just something to think about.
I was lucky to be able to look back at the whole situation and get a laugh out of it, but honestly, it was really close to ending really badly.
01-15-2007, 08:10 PM
#17
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fort Wayne Indiana USA
Posts: 574
RE: Have you ever had something hunting-related stolen?
Yes, after hunting an area since 1997, I puttwo hang-on stands up in a split walnut tree that had deer trails below itthat resembledthe spokes of awagon wheel for my youngest daughters first season.
Problem was that I placed the stands in this area in early fall. And latter in the year, once the leavesfell, left the stands in fullview from the county road to the south.
Some ingrate stole the stands by cutting the cables, leaving the locks intact as thoughthey thought that I could re-use them. How considerate!!!
Problem was that I placed the stands in this area in early fall. And latter in the year, once the leavesfell, left the stands in fullview from the county road to the south.
Some ingrate stole the stands by cutting the cables, leaving the locks intact as thoughthey thought that I could re-use them. How considerate!!!
01-17-2007, 09:13 AM
#19
Typical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Western New York
Posts: 639
RE: Have you ever had something hunting-related stolen?
I had a ladder stand stolen but the worst was a neighbor, a pregnant female 7 months or so along shot a beautiful 10pt we were all after. She field dressed and tagged. Then proceeded to the house approx 1/2 mile away to get the 4-wheeler. upon returning the deer was gone. She followed the drag marks to an open field where it appeared to be loaded on a wheeler. Warden gave her another tag but trophy lost forever. Makes me sick!!!!
01-17-2007, 09:48 AM
#20
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: RI
Posts: 3,073
RE: Have you ever had something hunting-related stolen?
Once I had a fish stolen out of the back of my truck. I was surf casting for stripers and caught one that probably went about 15 pounds. I had it in a cut off bottom of a 55 gallon drum in the bed of my truck covered with a wet towel. After the action slowed down, I moved to a different beach and saw a friend fishing there. He started razzing me about how I hadn't caught anything, so i showed him my catch. After shutting him up and putting it back, we both decided to check out a different location. We spent maybe a half hour casting with no luck, and decided to call it a day. We got back to the trucks and he just wanted to see the fish one more time, and *POOF* it was gone. I can only suspect someone who saw me show the fish to my friend followed us and grabbed the fish up while we were busy casting. What ticks me off is if someone was hungry or even if he realllly admired the fish, I would have given it to them. I'm sure someone just wanted to sell it illegally to a local restaraunt for some $$.