vehicle safety while on the hunt?

[rayporter]

I am with Oregon =don't sweat the small stuff.

if you obsessed over breakins, bears, snow, no floor, snakes, sucking chest wound, and big foot you would never get off the couch.

 

[dukhunt]

Talk with your insurance agent and make sure you have enough coverage for expensive hunting items or coverage for breakins at all. It will still be a hassle but might give you a better piece of mind that it won’t cost anything but your time.

 

[xziang]

During a summer scouting trip I put a trail cam on our camp. Nothing ever happened and it only picked up a chipmunk. Granted this won't prevent anything but would possibly capture any weird activity. Use a climbing stick and put it up on a tree out of easy reach aiming at your truck possibly. OR just get a old broken trail cam and make it obvious for someone to see so they might think twice.

During hunting season I haven't had any issues *knock on wood* I do have a shell and keep everything out of site too. Personally I wouldn't worry about coolers being stolen but I'm sure it has happened. I would make sure they are covered up and some sort of lock ran through them.

 

[mproberts]

Not quite related, but kind of a crazy story none the less. Back in college a buddy of mine was off-roading in a national forest. He flooded his engine trying to blow through a mud pit, the truck engine cut out and he had to leave it in the mud while he hiked out for a cell signal. He got back to his truck maybe 4 hours later with a buddy to pull it out. Good news someone had pulled it out for him, bad news they stripped it for everything it was worth. I'm talking radio, seats, hood, wheels, most of the engine.. you name it. What was left was dropped in the dirt with tons of ATV tracks that led in multiple directions. It took him a few days to fix his truck up enough just to limp it out of the woods. He went back after that an tracked a few of the ATV trails left through the forest, most of them he lost once they hit hard pack roads again, but he managed to find one track that led all the way back to some guys property. Sure enough he saw some of his stuff there, but after all that the police refused to do anything because he had no way of proving the stuff was his. Needless to say it's a crazy world we live in, make sure you have insurance!

 

[RallySquirrel]

I think this is a very legitamte concern and something we think about as we leave the trailhead every year. That said, 2 years ago we left for our first spike camp which was about 5 miles in. We hunted for 3 days and then headed to our next stop which was another 7 miles in. Somewhere along the way in we bumped into another crew and stopped to chat. We asked them how many people were at the trailhead since they had come in after us. They said only a couple and then proceeded to tell us that some clowns had left their car door open. They said their was no one around and they just weren't sure if they should close it "just in case it was open for a reason". Guess which clowns had left the door open! All our gear was right where we left it. Lucky for sure and just another chapter in the comedy that is Bow Hiking

 

[jmez]

I haven't had any issues in MT or CO. I'm in the "not worry about it" crowd.