Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Have you ever had hunting stuff stolen in the field?

I left a pair of binoculars on a shooting bench my Dad and I sat up to watch a field. I called Dad and he said he would go get them. As he was walking to the bench he saw someone sitting there (private land, nobody else had permission). The guy saw Dad, stood up just as Dad said drop the binos and fired a shot into the ground. The guy dropped them and ran off. Dad got a kick out of watching him run.

Treestand stolen from public land, one from private. Someone dismantled my duck blind (private land) to steal the blind material that made up the base layer. Week later I saw them (I assume) hunting another of my blinds chased and never caught them. Thankfully I didn't leave the decoys out because it was supposed to freeze.
My best ever archery buck shot at night, couldn't find blood, knew the hit was good and heard the buck crash. Came back the next day after morning class (I was in college) horns cut off, my arrow laying nearby. (Private land)
Brother lost his first turkey same way, shot, followed blood trail to a guy tagging the bird, claimed he had just shot it DRT. (Public land)

almost lost a camo tent i set up fairly deep into private land before bow.

they cut the ties all down, but decided it was too far of a haul for their delicate nature, i guess.

-ken

I have a collection of stands cameras etc. I have taken but only because it was on my property.Guess folks should learn to read the signs and comprehend what a fence line is.

Had a popup blind disappear a couple of years ago, but it happened on a stormy night. I found it late the next morning, the soft ground had let the pegs go, and the wind blew it over the hill about a quarter mile. It ended up behind my uncle's garage......

I found a Swiss Army knife along a steelhead stream in SE Alaska some years ago. The guy had his name scratched on it. Next time in town (25 minute float plane trip) I looked him up in the phone book, called and delivered it the next day.

I know what is mine, and everything else isn't.

Hmmm ...

I took a trap one time. The SOB was not marked and I stepped in it. I had a hell of a time getting that thing off my boot. Call it a "finders fee." I put out the word that anyone who wanted to claim it could come get it ... and be reported to the game warden for illegal trapping.

One time I had a grouse stolen. I shot it, tossed it on the floor of my jeep, and went for a short walk to shoot at a squirrel. I left the windows rolled up and the doors closed but not locked. The grouse was gone when I came back. There were several guns on the front passenger seat where were not taken. I suspected someone, maybe someone I know, was up in the bushes laughing their ass off as I dug around under the seats and through my gear trying to find the missing bird.

Second-hand story, hopefully I get it right: a friend's little brother has had at least one elk taken from him at gunpoint. 5 of them, 1 of him, and they had the drop on him. That [bleep] will piss ya off but in the real world, even an elk isn't worth eating a bullet for.

One time my dad had a whole jet boat stolen. It was parked at a private boat landing with no public road access. The SOBs floated it downstream, then stripped it ... outboard motor, oars, life jackets, tackle, everything ... and pushed it off into the current. It hung in an eddy and we found it. A few months later I found the missing tackle box hidden behind a bush a short distance from our house. I figure they had a spotter making sure we didn't catch them in the act and the spotter forgot the tackle. Probably upwards of $1000 worth of lures in that box.

Tom

My wife's grandfather had the one and only nice buck he ever got stolen. They stopped for dinner a bar on the way home and came out to the car to find the buck missing. Cocky bastids didn't even cut the ropes-they untied them!

We had a whole run of trap stolen from a big pond we had exclusive permission to trap. Never did find the culprit.

TOM - What do you mean that the trap wasn't "marked"? Don't know how you could have a hard time getting a trap off your foot unless you have tiny feet and no idea how a trap works. I've had several traps stolen and a chainsaw, lantern, and all of our gas stolen out of a camp one time.

In Oregon, fur trappers must be licensed and there are requirements for marking trap sites so that people and pets don't stray into them. This was entirely unmarked thus entirely illegal.

The trap was a double-spring with 4+ inch wide jaws. It clamped around the heel of my hip wader. I was standing in a couple inches of water moving through grass. I could compress either one spring from a standing position but not both and I didn't want to sit down in standing water to release myself.

I wound up detaching it from the tree it was hooked to, then hobbling trap-still-on-foot to a log 50 yards away on higher ground where I could sit down to release myself. At that point ... I was pissed.

I have had my private stand, on private land, occupied many times. I have also seen the reminants of others. Some folks are just slobs with no stinkin respect. Nothing really stolen, ever. But I have seen it with my friends stands and such. I don't get it!

We just got a new, 650 acre lease. It's a chunk of land between a fork in two county highways backing up to the Savannah River. We have all the land in the "V" except for a couple 20-30 acre out parcels along the road. One of the out parcels is noted "bad neighbors/shooters" on the map the owner gave us. When we asked what that meant he said they trespass on the land, and have been known to shoot over the heads of folks that get too close.

Well, there is a beautiful food plot a couple hundred yards from the "bad neighbors"...2 weeks ago put up a nice new 5MP Moultrie trail cam, went back the next weekend to check it and it was gone....

I lost a trail cam last year just after season on public land. I've got it narrowed down to 2 people. I confronted one, and my brother confronted the other and they both deny it. I'm 99.9% sure I'm right, but what can you do? Just gonna keep my eyes and ears open and baybe it will turn up.

Had a real nice tripod stand destroyed a couple of years back. Stand was on my property next to a state park. About 75 yards on my side of the fence. Somebody took exception to it being there I guess.

If you lose a trail cam and think they will be back and not a one time deal buy the cheapest one they make and stick it in an obvious place like next to a food plot. Get a good one and stick it up in a tree about 8 feet aimed at the cheap one and well camo'd - then take the pics to the police.

Good idea. My luck they would find both. I thought about setting one up with pepper spray in it connected to the on button with a camera in the tree on video to see. Lol

Uh ... get one of those lock boxes for a trail cam, then instead of a trail cam, load it with a claymore mine? It may not deter anyone else but I betcha it deters that one sumbitch ... forever.

If that's too violent for you, I wonder 'bout setting one up with a substantial capacitor inside? Could you run enough insulated wire to it so that the click-click-click of an electric fence charger wouldn't be audible to the thief?

Give this man a cigar, brilliant idea.



MS

I used to do intensive population surveys on large tracts using a camera for every 10 acres or so, sometimes we had 300 cameras out at once. The number of trespassers and poachers I have caught on film would fill a whole mug shot book. My favorite are the idiots who walk up the camera with a rifle in hand and then don't even take the camera. I've never found locks to be all that effective. A well hidden quiet camera works best in my opinion. Putting them out on feeders and food plots seem to attract the most people.

You might even try putting a camera up high enough in the tree if you have spikes, climber etc...so that the average person walking by can't reach it.