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

Sorry man. That sucks and is my worst nightmare. Truly sorry.

I think i will change my plan of busting up my ride up to Alabama and staying overnight in a hotel to a straight through trip to camp. I was going to leave late one afternoon and drive and get into camp late morning the next day but heck with that. I will be pulling my atv on an open trailer behind my pickup so I think I will be looking like a great target.

Sorry you were treated like this in our state. KC is a sheithole. I usually try and stay in small town hotels when traveling to hunt but it can happen there as well. No good answer on how to prevent this other than taking everything in your room which is a major pain if it is just one person let alone several.

That is what my buds and I have done for many years in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.

We do not rent a motel in a large city but drive to an outlying town where we can rent rooms on the ground floor and where we can back our pickups with shell tops, almost into the front door of the room. We could not care less about "amenities," other than a clean room, a clean bed, and a clean bathroom. We have always brought our guns into the rooms. I'd not stay in a motel where I could not bring my guns into the room.

I have an aftermarket "kill" switch on my Ford F250 that prevents starting the engine, plus an accompanying lock that prevents the hood from being raised. My buddies have the same for their pickups.

Not perfect of course, but we have never had any problems at motels. With the rear of our pickups being about four feet from the room's door, someone trying to break in would bring an unpleasant response from me and my buddies.

Bwinters, mighty sorry to hear of your and your partners' losses. It is a shame your hunt was spoiled.

I hate thieves, by the way.

L.W.

Bwinters,

Tuesday is still doable.

What do you need? If you are headed to MT, and are coming from KC, I am sure we can hook you guys up. My elk hunt does not start until December, and I have a fair bit of extra gear. Nothing super fancy, just your basic Cabelas/Goretex type stuff. No worries on rifles either. They are sighted in and have more than a few elk to their credit. Really all a guy would need to do is buy some boots.

None. Tinted windows make it hard to even look inside.

Thanks Randy. We canned the hunt. Next year............

Sorry to hear about your loss, hope they catch the thieves. We stayed at a hotel coming back from Wyoming a couple weeks ago and something like this happening was very much on my mind.

That is the pits.. Sorry to hear this.. Unbelievable !!

Mackay - thank you for the offer. We decided to leave and can the hunt for the year.

You guys are fantastic. I'm humbled by all your graciousness. I hope to repay the favor some day. Give me a shout if you all ever come by this way. Beer on me,

Great advise right here! That's how we do it too.

Very sorry to hear about the loss of your gear and the ruined hunt. I know how difficult it would be to replace firearms and gear that have been accumulated over years and perhaps decades. Especially firearms that might have sentimental value.

This type of thing is becoming all too common. Unfortunately, the rotten scumbags are everywhere.

I agree with the precautions many mentioned above, especially the "kill switch" and hood locks mentioned by Leanwolf. Additionally, a steering wheel "Club" or other such device can also be a deterrent - I know they can be defeated relatively easily, but combined with the hood lock and kill switch they might be enough to persuade any would-be thief to move on.

There's a great bunch of fellas on this forum and the generosity offered by them is something we should all strive to emulate.

This is great to see all the graciousness of all you guys towards Bill. I am one of the other guys that was with Bill and also had all of my gear stolen. I can promise this is the last time it will happen to us....well at least not without a fight. I have thought a lot over the last couple days about the whole situation. I will be sleeping in the truck next year in the back seat. I am still plenty young enough to get by on not as much comfortable sleep. The Truck is plenty big enough and I can catch up on sleep while others are driving if need be. Probably will never happen to us again but if it does they will bust the window out or open the door to find themselves staring at the end of a glock. I do agree about the best scenario outside of sleeping in the truck is to stay at a hotel where you can back right up to the door and stay in smaller towns. Thanks again for all the kind words. Means so much to see how great people really are on the campfire.

I hope you guys have some better days ! Maybe some of you gear will show up somewhere . Best of luck to all of you !

wow. thats a shame.

I cant imagine. all the prep, planning, and anticipation that goes into an elk hunt.

just a shame. very sorry.

Sadly, this same similar scenario has taken place many times on Hwy 84 in Oregon.

Hunters coming out of the Portland area to hunt in NE Oregon would take a break at rest stops,
go into the restroom and come out to either find their vehicle gone or broken into and all their equipment stolen.
Multnomah Falls being one of the more popular stops for a rip off.

Predators are just waiting for hunters to show up during hunting season.
Hunters stand out with loaded trucks and wearing camo.


I never ask the hotel/motel if I can bring my guns in, I just bring them in from a back or side door.
When I go into a restaurant, I make sure to park my truck where
I can see it and ask for a seat to be able to.
Even in the smallest town you have to be careful.

bwinters

sorry to hear about this. If you choose Idaho for your spring bear hunt, let me know. I can get you headed in the right direction.

As others have stated, very sorry to hear that this happened to you. Have to wonder whether the captured thief was working alone, since they found the truck but none of the contents. A couple of thoughts: Don't forget that your NRA membership came with insurance which should supplement the portion of your loss beyond what your home insurance covered. As I recall, it's $2500 and covers gear as well as the guns themselves.

Also, a quick check of the Gun Show Calendar website shows that there is a gun show in KC this weekend. Might be worthwhile to provide a list of serial numbers of the stolen guns to the promoter in case someone tries to turn some quick cash as a walk-in seller. https://rkshows.com/event/kansas-city-mo-gun-show-102117/ I'm betting that local cops (either on- or off-duty) will have a table near the entrance where they zip-tie incoming guns. Or you may want to consider posting the descriptions and serial numbers so that your fellow campfire buddies can keep one eye skinned for the stolen guns.

Bill,

So sorry to hear about this, and that you had to cancel the hunt. I am back in CONUS, and anything I can do to help with gear, rifles, optics etc. don't hesitate to ask.

Different circumstances, but I know of two different families who were moving across the country and both had their moving vans and everything they owned stolen outside motels in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Neither recovered a thing. Fuggn tweekers!