I don't know what to do and worse yet I fear I know exactly what I'm going to do. Someone stole a trail cam from my land AT MY HOME. This was bad enough and it's hard for me to explain how mad I am about it. Today I went down to replace it and set a second cam to catch the soon to be very sorry thief. I walk into a bunch of beer bottles and garbage and cigarettes near the camera site. I am friggin nuclear right now. Not joking, I am sitting here working overnight and I can't even think straight. This is a betrayal on many levels the least of which is it's my HOME land, not some strip of hunting land near state forest or something where this can be expected. This is walking distance to my home and about a minute from my pond where my wife and dogs frequently spend the evening watching the sun to down. God help the poor soul if they ever scare my wife because they will get no mercy from me. Fortunately our home is an armory stocked with everything under the sun and she has a permit to carry and is well trained to protect herself should the need arise. Honestly, they would be better off running into me. I doubt I need to worry about stuff that dreadful but these people are drinking (possibly intoxicated) and now known thieves so I'm not going to consider them harmless either. The spot they have disgraced is probably my best area on my 28 acres of hunting woods. Couple years back on Halloween I took my biggest buck with a bow there. I always get good trail cam shots there and I have 3+ months of time and effort into a patch of oats and some mock scrapes. All ruined by inconsiderate morons. What SHOULD I do when I get this idiot on camera stealing from me? Will the cops even care or am I wasting my time? I hope it's just kids trying to sneak a couple beers in the woods as lord knows I did the same more then once. I will just smile and say " I couldn't care less if you drink just do it elsewhere". If it's an adult guilty of either I just don't think I will be able to stay calm and handle it "properly". I REALLY wish this had never happened as I don't see it ending well. Just a side note.........I'm not nuts (most likely ) so don't panic and think I'm about to go Rambo on some poor kids sneaking beers on a Saturday night. I'm just VERY angry right now and can't seem to shrug it off. Rambo?......no. Punching someone a few times?? VERY likely..........and you don't have to tell me that's the wrong thing to do because I already know it is. I'm just being honest. Certainly not my proudest moment but I can't help it, this has struck me to the core and I can't shake the anger. I hope this isn't the start of a feud with my neighbors as I have lived in blissful solitude for over 3 years now and pray this isn't the beginning of the end of that. Is there an easy way out of this??
I would give you the answer of prayer take it for what it is worth. I too would be angered down to my very core. I would be very weary about ho is on your property though you never know who you are dealing with today.
I suspect it is a bunch of kids just goofing around. No excuse for stealing but I know when I was young I did a lot of stupid stuff. I would consider adults that would do this kind of thing to be dangerous and unpreditable. Therefore, I would proceed cautiously and report it to the authorities and make sure it's well documented. See what advice and support you get from your local law enforcement. Above all, realize that being in the right doesn't justify doing something that you will regret. Take a day or two to relax and calm down and you'll figure it out. Good luck and God bless.
I appreciate the offer and would love some heavenly intervention right about now. I'm not weary of who I'm going to find out it is.........I'm weary of trusting myself to stay under control when I do. I KNOW it's just going to make things worse and possibly shift the problem into my lap but I just can't shake the anger. When I think about my wife, dogs and possessions plus all my hard work being treated with such a lack of respect I just can't control my emotions. I can't remember the last time I felt this way for so long. I go home in an hour and will be lucky if I sleep a wink. In fact, the more I think about it the worse it seems to be getting.
VERY well.........not that it matters. A lack of posted signs does not give you the right to trespass, steal, and litter. But yes there are PLENTY of signs. One of the first things I did when I bought the place.
I hope you are right about the first part and I KNOW you are right about the rest. The way I feel right now though all that means nothing to me unfortunately. I have thought about going home and taking my "trap" cams down so I don't get lucky enough to catch them in the next few days because I am just to angry..........but then I feel like they win if I do that and they would then be controlling what I do on my own private land and time. No chance I let that happen for even one second. I am never gonna sleep today. I haven't eaten since I found this yesterday. This sucks.
Check your cams you might find some thing or nothing. If some thing you know who is doing it that might eas your sleep. If nothing you at least know your property and every thing on it was safe while you were gone.
Prayers sent as well. I feel your pain. We wait all year long few a few months to hunt and some kids might have messed up the area for you. With that said no that these kids or adults will grow out of it and move on. As mentioned I also did some stupid crap when I was young and so sometime I feel it's just pay back. Do your do diligence. Clean up the mess as if they will not be returning, set up a camera high to catch them if they do and get back to preparing for a great season. Don't let these @ss's mess with your mind as well. Also, secure a note to the tree explaining that these are private woods and trespasser need to be cautious of mentally changed hunter. And then shoot some arrows through the note with your compound bow from different positions or angles. Preferably one from a high Treestand to show them that they have no idea which angle these powerful Arrows may come from. I think that should give them pause.
I can't imagine how pissed off you are. But tread lightly. Don't do anything that you would regret. Put the 2nd camera up really high watching the first one and notify the authorities. That way they have everything on record. That will help if things also get serious.
I'd be beyond PISSED!!!!!!!! One thing you might need to consider is that if it's not kids, you need to be pretty careful. That's just not really normal behavior for adults unless they are up to no good. Check for any signs that they might be doing more than just sitting around drinking. It's very common for Meth manufacturers to haul there stuff in to the woods and cook up a batch. If there's any sign of that, I would suggest you don't confront them. Get the police involved and let them do their jobs. Good luck.
Just be safe man. Going off the deep end and hitting someone could result in jail time, lawsuits etc. I'd be mad too if I were you, but follow the advice you are receiving from these guys. Call the police, set up a cam. Post some signs saying something like "Private Property Under Video Surveillance" or something like that.
Im in a similar situation bro, i had one camera stolen and another shot with a BB gun on my family land this year. All my neighbors are respectable people who know i hunt, have cameras up, ect. Ive put time in with bait sites, food plots, mock scrapes, ect and it seems like there are people just wondering the woods...terrible feeling. But all is not lost, your spot is not ruined either. I have no leads on who did the stuff to mien just liek you haev noleads who did it to yours. Time will tell.
Get the police and conservation involved first and get their guidance. Remember, you have a wife, kids and lifetime of bowhunting to look forward to, don't lose it over a lowlife! Have patience, collect intel, recon and come up with a couple of courses of action. Keep active around your land with a gun visible, make it noticeable, this can do alot. Most people won't mess with a dude walking around locked and loaded. Walk out in the evenings and shine a spotlight in that general direction. Hope this helps! Good luck and God Bless!
Ain't NOTHING worse than feeling violated - especially when it's on your own being, family, property or land! I'd be beyond pissed to... and would hate to be in your shoes! We had our own nephew rob us a few years back after he got out of jail for a felony sentence. I politely told him he was never welcomed in our house again and if I ever saw him there - I'd shoot his little a** (and then I displayed to him a pistol that I had concealed on my hip). After that, I put a door mat on our porch that says "WARNING - There is Nothing Here Worth Dying For". I haven't seen him in 3 years - Thank God... 'cuz I don't want to!!!! Hopefully you can respond rationally without letting your emotions override your anger. I pray it was a 1-time event, it wasn't a neighbor, and that it never happens again. Good luck man... and I mean that from the bottom of my heart!
I had the same thing happen to me the first year I bought my ground. I got a trail camera for Christmas and the first time I went to check it, gone. It was stolen less than 200 yards from my house and I hadn't told anyone I'd put it up. I hope your experience is better than mine was ie filing a police report. They more or less told me to turn it in to my homeowners insurance. For the past 2 summers I've had problems with a young kid using my timber as his personal playground. I've talked to his parents, a deputy and our local game warden. The parents didn't care and the officers told me I need to catch him in the act, or get a pic. Sucks that your camera got stolen atlas. Sometimes being a landowner isn't all its cracked up to be.
The most likely scenario is that some kids were drinking in the woods. They probably noticed after a while that there was a camera that caught them in the act. In an effort to not get caught they took the camera to destroy the evidence. Keep a cool head, you will probably never see them again.
it is sad that a person works hard, and gets/has what they do only for someone else who thinks they are entitled to it as well, or worse case steal it and then proceed to destroy someone else's property. Even worse if it is adults that did this too you. Sorry to hear this, like others have said, calm down a bit and don't do anything that might cost you later, because a minute of anger can produce a lifetime of regret because of the actions we do with that anger.
