Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Gone............

I've had a few days to settle down and think through our latest elk hunt "experience". Thought I'd post the short version and offer a few lessons learned.

Three of us headed out from Knoxville for our MT elk hunt on Tuesday at ~ 10:30. Drove till ~ 12:00 or a little after, I may have been napping when we arrived, pulled into a nice new looking Comfort Suites on the outskirts of Kansas City, MO. Promptly hit the sack in anticipation of hitting the road early and making it to Montana on Wednesday. Woke up at 5:30 or so, grabbed a shower and headed to the lobby to talk to the wife. About 10 minutes into our conversation, I see one of our crew frantically waiving his arms at the end of the hallway, urgently wanting me to follow. He was saying something I couldn't quite make out but I knew it involved the truck. He had walked out to the truck to find it ..............GONE. No broken glass, no evidence, no nothing, just gone. With all of our gear inside. We literally had our wallets/cell phones and a small bag with a change of clothes.

The next 30 minutes simply pisses me off but thats the way it goes. Seems the police were in shift change and weren't in any hurry to send someone out. A guy shows up about 30-40 minutes later. In the mean time, one of our guys is a LEO and had his ipad under the seat of the truck and had a location 9 miles away. We frantically called 911 to tell them we knew where at least the ipad was and with any luck the truck. About 45 minutes later we hired an Uber driver to take us to the ipdad location.............. All we found was the ipad but the principle still rubs me the wrong way. I was less than polite with the 911 guy after the 4th call. In discussing their lack of urgency, I not so impolitely asked him how many extra guns they wanted on the street that day. I get it that no one was 'available' and there were bigger fish to fry but 9 miles away with a known location? Seems worth a look to me.

We spent the next couple hours talking to police, hotel folks, and making a game plan. The details are for another day and beer.

Lessons:

1) I found out my homeowners policy only covers $3000 TOTAL of all my guns either in my house or elsewhere. I lost 2 Kimber Montanas with Luep VX-3 and a Ruger SS Bisley. I'll be out $500-1000 on that little piece of oversight. My insurance company and I have had that discussion in the last few days. I know for a fact, I asked that question when we signed with them - because I always do. I understood we had $10k for guns. I've owned more than $3k in guns since I was 25. Lesson: Check with your insurance company and get the additional coverage. It requires a rider.

2) Keep a record of your guns with pics and serial numbers. I failed to do this over the last year or 2. I have this info for the past 20 years but did not update in the last 2 years. Guess how old my Montanas and Ruger are......... I have the serial numbers which will be sufficient but wish I had pics.

3) Make a detailed/itemized list of everything you're taking on your trip. I have this right down to the amount of toilet paper. I made an Excel spreadsheet of all my gear so all I need to do is assemble the gear on the list and I'm ready to go. Keep it updated.

Before anyone asks - we locked the truck, parked within sight of the front door, under a lamp in a well lit parking lot, in a common parking lot between a Holiday Inn Express and Comfort Suites. We've done this for 20 years without incident. For the record, on more than 1 occasion, I've had hotel staff tell me to lock the guns inside the vehicle and not bring them inside. I don't really need any lectures - unless you live close to Knoxville and we can discuss in person.

They did recover the truck yesterday, nothing inside. They also have the guy - a crack head. My buddy is off to retrieve his truck. The other 2 guys are campfire members and may chime in on other lessons we have to pass along.

The thing that pisses me off the most is not the missing stuff, after all its only stuff (BTW: replacement value on my list is currently at $12,690.48 using lowest prices I can find), but the fact that I can't go elk hunting this year. I look forward to elk hunting every year; it is the highlight of my year. We planned this hunt for 12 months. I have 100's hours of phone calls, map/Google review, planning. Plus I literally had 90+% of all my backpacking and hunting stuff in that truck. I literally don't have a pair of boots to hunt in. I have 2 viable guns in the safe - one with no scope, the other is a 257 Robts. I'm starting from scratch - years of gear, refinements, tweaks - gone because of 1 crackhead.

Take care, be smart, inventory your stuff, and check with your insurance company on your guns.

Man that sucks. I'm a couple of hours south of you. You're welcome to come down and pick out a rifle. Put it to use until you get your stuff lined out.

Dang, seriously sorry to hear this... It sounds like you did everything right to keep your stuff secure in my mind and nothing short of parking the truck in the motel room was going to stop the theft.

I feel your pain with missing the hunt.

If you need a Leupold scope to get ya by, I'd be glad ship one your way.

In the meantime, I'm gonna make sure I have serial numbers and updated pics of things around here and check with the insurance company.

This just sucks Bill... as you say, not because of the gear (replaceable) but because of missing this year's elk hunt (not replaceable).

I sure was looking forward to lunch with you guys... next year.

Dammit. I'm sorry. That's such a horror story. I don't know what else to say. I wish I could help. I'll take the lessons you paid dearly for, yet offer to us freely, to heart.

Sorry to hear this happened to you. I also go every year and look forward to the trip. Do you still have time to make the hunt or has that ship sailed? If there is time, I would go out and purchase what was needed and make that trip. It sounds like you're going to be reimbursed by your insurance carrier for most of those expenses. Glad your friend got his truck back.

These kinds of thefts are getting way too common in too many places. My guns and optics always come out of the rig.

Man that sucks.

We've done that a bunch of times in the past but have been told on several occasions the hotel wouldn't cover them and they had a no guns policy. I guarantee they didn't see the guns from peering inside - unless they had x-ray vision.

Guys - thanks for the offers and thoughts. I greatly appreciate it. In the big scheme of things, its only stuff. We are all home safe and insurance should cover most of it. Stuff can be replaced. Besides, this will be funny in about 38 years............. <G>

I have an extra Burris or two in the safe. Plus my Dad has 3-4 gun safes worth of guns. I'm good on the gun front. I also have some other clothes to wear. Boots not so much but for $300 I can get another pair of Meindl Perfekts on the way to the house. That will likely happen today along with my list of missing essential gear. Regardless of what the insurance company says, a guy needs boots, compass, GPS, etc.

The elk hunt ship has sailed unless a miracle happens in the next day or so. I'd jump in my truck in an hour if I knew all/most of my stuff was in KC. I considered simply driving to the KC Cabelas, re-stocking, and getting a rental vehicle. Even went as far as developing an essential list. The task was a bit daunting and it wasn't cheap. Plus if my other stuff showed up, I'd likely be out $4-5000 in extra stuff. I've always wanted to do a western spot/stalk spring bear hunt - maybe this is that opportunity!

The sobering thing is the actual amount of gear a guys accumulates, and quite frankly needs, to be able to do a self-guided backpack hunt. This really isn't any place to cut corners and buy cheap.

I'm sorry man, that sucks big time.

Sorry to hear this. F'ing crackheads.

PM incoming.

What a freaking mess! I can almost feel your frustration man. Take a deep breath and hope that they will nail that (those simbitches) to the cross. I have heard similar stories to this before including trucks with 4wheelers getting stolen on the way to an out of state hunt. I wonder if someone working in the hotel was some how involved? I wish there was someway I can help you out.

This pisses me off too Bill!!!! I'm very sorry for your loss. Hopefully those guys get whats coming to them...

Sorry to hear this ! I get so tired of crap like this ! A guy cant even go hunting without dirtbags stealing your stuff . Iv been there it sucks ! If I was a wealthy man we would drive to cabelas replace your gear and go elk hunting ! Best of luck !

Chris

I am sorry to hear about your situation. I really hate to hear that it may end your hunt. I would be glad to lend you gear if you are passing through. Unfortunately, I don't have backpacking equipment, so that may not be much help.

I gotta say - I love the guys on the Campfire. Seriously. I've had alot of offers over the past couple hours and I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of you. Thank you much!

Any of you come close to Knoxville, please let me know - I'd like to meet you and tell some lies. <G>

That really does suck. I almost exclusively use a travel trailer these days, with both pros and cons. If they steal the rig, they get everything (as they did to you). On the flip side, it's much harder to steal the rig when you are sleeping in it. I have always worried about my stuff in hotel/motel parking lots. Hopefully insurance comes through and you can rebuild your kit.

Man, bwinters, I am sorry to hear about that. That absolutely sucks.

First of all I'm sure sorry to hear about this - this is every hunters worst nightmare when doing an out of state hunt like yours. I sincerely hope there is some sort of happy ending to this story and they find some of your stuff intact. I know whenever I drive to Wyoming I always wonder & worry about this happening to me - never seem to sleep well in the motel for that reason.

Wish I lived closer and could help out- unfortunately I'm stock in Oregun so not hardly close by If you still do try to make your hunt, shoot me a PM with anything you might need, if its something I have I'd be more then happy to UPS it to you for your hunt if that would help.