Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

I was out of town for a few days. I got back yesterday and noticed someone had pulled a truck up to my wood pile and helped themselves. They left tire tracks in the snow. This is the second time this has happened. Someone took close to a rick of wood a few years back. It wasn't stacked this time so I don't know how much they took off the pile. I feel violated. It isn't loosing the wood that hurts...hell, I'll cut more or get some from the sawmill, but just the fact that someone would do this to me makes me hopping mad and I am now determined that it shall never happen again.

Now, what to do..

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Maybe call the sheriff? Maybe the wood bandit is striking other victims, too.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Put the wood inside an electric fence?

Make the property more inaccesible? Gates or barriers.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

hollow out a few of the logs and put some mild explosives in the middle of them. Of course it may hurt other family members of the thief.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

sorry to hear about that...

i grew up at a time and in a location we didn't lock our house whether we were home or not...

when i grew up and left the homestead and moved into an apartment in the nearest town someone walked into my unlocked place when i was gone and cleaned me out...

that was "the end of an innocence"

....
the homestead

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

That or a substance which makes a godawful lingering stink when burned. It might not be for their personal use, they may be reselling the wood.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

It's a collapse of society. Things just will be getting worse.

That and gas stealing and catalystic converter theft.

Next: Food.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Mill out the center of a log and fill it with something bad. If you dont want it to be deadly, you could fill it with sulfur. You could maybe even fill it with colored smoke bombs and look for the chimney that is pouring purple smoke. Also, where the tire tracks are at, you could put spiked boards in the ground so that their tires will rapidly deflate when they park next to your pile. If money is no object, put a GPS tracker in the log, and you will know everywhere the log goes and when.


http://www.pimall.com/nais/tracking.html

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

I don't know where you live, but I'm picturing a long, rural driveway. Maybe next time you leave the house, a nice spike strip strung across the driveway might make for an expensive wood haul. The ultimate would be a property fence to keep any vehicles from getting near it. And of course the obligatory threatening sign, i.e. "You take my wood, I take your life" or "I don't dial 911, I dial 357" or something like that. Make sure it's hand painted, much more effective.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Make a note of where the tire tracks are and place spikes of some sort near the pile. If you get the hollow ones the cops use he should be sitting on flats before he is loaded. Heck, he may even come to your door asking for help!!

--You gotta catch him in the act or he'll just say he's coming for a cup of sugar for his Wheaties.

That or a tiger trap (pit). :O

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Mtnman has the best suggestion IMO. You get the fellow's DL number and face on the camera and then they can throw him in the clink. Sure, he may get out later, but I bet he'll move on to a less supervised wood pile next time.

If you go putting anything into the wood then that wood is useless to you and him both wasting your time and effort to even put it up. Plus, if it's ever stolen and sold then the sulphur (or whatever) might cause a house fire and you may kill innocent folks or kids that wern't even guilty of taking the wood.

Just go for the thief, pictures don't lie in court.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Get a couple of game cams and position them so that they'll give you the vehicle and license plate. Make sure the cams aren't too obviously visible or your thieves might just take the cams, too. If you can catch them on film, you have proof for the police.

If it were me, I'd probably also spike the drive in front of the woodpile (I'd probably dig pits and fill them with punji sticks, too, but my husband has more sense than me and would make me fill them in...).

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Invest in good fencing. Catching somebody is secondary, preventing them is primary.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Game camera is good. Except it won't stop a thief, only help catch one. I'm reminded of how the railroads spray paint lines down the sides of piles of railroad ties. This won't stop a thief either, but somehow seems to deter them, because it makes it obvious when something has been removed. Cheap and simple and worth a try if you do nothing else.

I keep my firewood hidden from public view and far enough from the driveway that it will be a lot of work to steal. Drawback is that it's harder for me to access as well.

Another idea is a locking gate across your driveway. Keep everyone out.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

A friend of mine who lives near Bristol, England awoke one night and found some b*****s were trying to steal his gates. Mind you they were posh wrought-iron jobs.

Discharging a 12-bore in their general vicinity staggered them a bit and they left sharpish.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

I have a fire road that splits my property. My neighbors that live below me (1/4 mile or so) have an easment to use that road. Only one of them does so, and it doesn't bother me. What does bother me is that riff raff like to use it as a dumping ground! There is a dishwasher still sitting there that some A-hole dumped 2 weeks ago. If I ever see anyone doing this, I'm going to drive over and block their exit, and wait for the Sheriff to arrive. People are such scumbags!

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

How much wood from woodman did the would be wood snatcher snatch if the wood snatcher did snatch wood from the stack where the snatched wood stood
To catch a would be wood snatcher is what woodman would if he could,
some prints by the wood where the wood snatcher stood will help whilst searching the hood, for the would be wood snatcher who snatched the wood from the stack where the snatched wood stood.

Dirty lazy bastard! blow his nuts of if you catch him :s10:

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Best answer of thread so far.

If you live in a rural ( or even certain suburban ) location, and don't have a gated entrance, you are simply asking to get taken, IMHO.....and the further back from the road your house, barn, shop, wood pile is, the more likely you are to get robbed. The old "drive up to the house and ask if 'Bill Smith' lives here" routine is quite common...is someone home ? Yes....leave after fake question....No...kick in front door.

By the same token, almost ANY simple gate will deter most thieves be most of them are scared to start with, and lazy to boot. They will seek other, less security aware locations.

Double you security with a few motion triggered lights. Put up a fake exterior camera (s) housing pointing at your driveway....who knows but you it isn't ACTUALLY a real system.

A GREAT system is the MURS Driveway alert by Dakota Alert....you can set up multiple sensors, it's wireless, good for several miles from transmitters to base unit, the base unit has a set of contacts for engaging a relay that will turn on a light automatically ( like someone is home and heard a car pull in the drive ), etc.

I went from no gate and lots of "tourists" when I first move here, to electric gate ( garage door remotes ), driveway sensors, automatic lights, and other unmentioned layers of security today.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

I live near the road and have an 8 foot wooden fence and gate. Even when the gate is open, the parking is hidden from view so one can never tell if anyone is home or not. If you come in, you have to turn around or back out onto a blind curve. Nobody comes in.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

You better get used to it -- why should you have firewood and others not?

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Man, I hope your post is tongue in cheek!

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Course it was! All goes back to spreading the wealth, like our Prez-Elect says!

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

The prevailing mentality and will be the norm when TSHTF. ANYTHING is justifiable when hunger/survival is a factor. Your hoard is theirs type of thing. Fair or not, right or wrong expect it.

Don't be surprised when LEO's escort people onto your land to get some wood when TSHTF. It'll happen if they know it's there.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

I guess the "Have Nots" will be expecting others to spread the wealth. However, when you resort to outright theft, the "Have's" are going to be more willing to spread a nice pattern of lead!

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Wait a minute ........ you mean to tell me the theives didnt come back latter with the Bobbies to ID your friend as the culprit and have him jailed for life??

You mean someone was allowed to actually DEFEND there property?? In ENGLAND???

I am shocked I tell you..... absolutely shocked!!!


T

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

i bet it some one you know ,

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Yes, I think so too. I only told a few people that I was leaving town. I have a good idea who it was and they will not get any sympathy from me again. If you help people, certain ones take it as a sign of weakness.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Funny as hell! Thanks for cheering me up.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

This happens often near my in-laws home. The land happens to be owned by the county park system. One day when Pa-In-Law was talking to the park rangers, they told him that they get the serial numbers off of the appliances and check the registration! Mind you, I never register my stuff, as I'm sure many GIMmers do not. There are lots of people out there who do, though, and you might get lucky. Then they can pay a nice fine for littering!

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

This may have been a new year's gift still in progress... next time you go out to your woodpile, you'll find it graced with a two-ton chainsaw sculpture of dogs playing poker.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

tell the people who knew you were gone , an tell them you have to go out of town again in a few day , hide your car an wait an see . but say nothing of the wood being gone

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Sad thing is, if someone really needed a little firewood to provide heat for their family, I doubt a person on this forum would hesitate to charitably give a few logs if they would but knock on our door and ask humbly and politely...

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

*** NOTE ***

Get out there and photograph the tire tracks before they degrade. This will help as evidence and also will help you to identify if it is more than one thief.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

About 20 years ago the cops pulled dozens of cars out of a quarry pond. Amazingly most of the cars had the keys in the ignition. Every owner contacted told the cops they had a hide-a-key magnetic box and the car thief must have found the hide-a-key to steal their car before dumping it in the pond.

"Yes officer, I recognize that old washing machine but I give it away about 5 years ago."

Use hidden cameras to catch the fly dumpers. Where I'm at the cops announced they were doing it at a couple of secret locations.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

The thieves would rather not encourage Mr Plod to make connections between themselves and other metal thefts.

The householder would not wish to draw attention to the matter of the discharge of a shotgun in the vicinity of a public road.

If anyone had been hurt to the extent of needing medical attention the result would have been dire for my pal, never mind the chap needing the medical attention.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Ah........ Now it makes sense.

Being that these were CAREER CRIMINALS they actually had alot to lose.(Didnt think about that)

Now if these where just some run of the mill blokes looking for drug money your buddy would have been in world of hurt courtesy of Bobbies.

As Always.....

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

These were big gates, big enough for a lorry to go through when opened and very heavy.

Tbh I don't think many run-of-the-mill druggies would have the skill or the equipment to make off with a dirty great pair of wrought-iron gates, when there's plenty of tellies and dvd machines to be had! :no_ma:

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

You realize that your constant "loose lips" (your words) has likely been enough to put you away... if the man ever gets around to it. The "click click" you hear will more likely be the cell door locking before you hear the zip zip of Bubba your cellmate getting ready for a round of TA.

This isn't a free country anymore. You should be more careful on the internet.

--Just saying...

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Something that would spray paint all over the thieves truck would be cool.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

A pair of artisan made wrought-iron gates are worth mucho denaro. I know a blacksmith in my area that made a wrought-iron gate for a winery entrance that cost many thousands of dollars. This gate had grape wines across it with leaves and bunches of grapes forged out of iron...he even made a bird nest in the vine with eggs in the nest...and a baby bird breaking out of one of the eggs.

The winery became so paranoid that the gate would get stolen that they moved it into the winery for display...and had a welded steel gate put up in its place.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Maybe next time setup a decoy pile of wood and seed it with a large group of brown recluse spiders.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Or put some poison ivy logs in there.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

I agree. :tongue_ma:

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Bad idea...regardless of whether the wood was stolen or not, this will get you thrown in jail for assault, attempted murder, or whatever else the guy's lawyer can come up with.

Mtnman's suggestion is best. Get the guy's license #, then turn him over to the police for theft.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Just a thought...dig a trench across the front of the wood pile, enuf to swallow the tires up past the axle and place some tin over the hole with some dirt to make it safe enuf for folks but not for a truck.

Then the trap is set.

If they manage to knick the wood and get away with it after dragging the truck from the hole then my guess is they will NEVER come back.

If TSHTF the cops wont give a scraggly baboons butt about yer wood pile.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

LOL. I can only imagine the things that can go wrong with that plan.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Maybe they were stolen by Skunk Ape?

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Spray the wood with paint only visible with UV paint, then go visit your neighbors (bring holiday oranges or such)

Flashlight on thier woodpile or truck should locate the thief.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

A few carefully marked pieces of wood scented with fox urine should be enough, only careful witch wood you use.:bear_tongue:

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

How about spiking a log with a pound of FFFG powder .... ?

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

i know who got the wood for a few bucks i well tell you all

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

thats just a bit over the top for me.:565:

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

Hello? Get some Dogs ... mean ones.

Many thieves are scared of dogs (and some for good reason).

It works for junk yards and it will work for your yard too.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

It would be nice to have a couple of 'take no shit' dogs. I'd hate to have someone innocent get bitten which I'm sure would happen. Dogs like this are notoriously viscious to both freind and foe. I don't want any kids bitten. If I was able to effectively fence the yard off then I might entertain the thought of viscious dogs. For now I will follow the game cam advice.

Re: Somebody stole wood from my place.
 

And the next time, you'll be missing firewood AND a game camera.

Get a gate.