Dirt bags

Joined
Dec 28, 2015
Location
Wisconsin
Well yesterday was the day prior to our WI deer season opening. I had a cell cam trigger at 7am with nothing on it or nothing on the video which followed....pretty weird. This particular spot has had about 40 cam triggers in a 24 hr period. After the blank pic and video nothing.

Fast forward to this evening I headed out to the stand. This particular plot of land borders township land with several walking trails. This is private. So trespassers seem to always be an issue. I walk in from the field edge and immediately notiflce my cam is now gone. Look up above and my hang on is also taken. Dirt bags have now taken 2 stands and 2 cams from this location. I should have learned my lesson after the first time but figured it was just bad luck. The real hurt is that this buck was a regular towards last light about 50%. Some people just suck!
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Next to walking trails makes me wonder if it's treehuggers.
It's a small town. Im not thinking tree huggers but never know. I had a red flag pop up a few weeks ago when I hung my stand. Found an empty coors light bottle with 2023 stamp on it that I had never seen before right behind the camera about 10 yards. Should have been a huge red flag to not hang that people were already in there

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Get a Spartan GoLive. Even if they take the batteries out it still has an internal power reserve that will give you the gps coordinates of the camera and also overlays it on a map you can zoom in on that shows you what house it’s in

 
2 years ago had 3 chain locked millenium stands , tree steps and safety ropes ripped off and another set last year . There is scum everywhere . Good luck
 
Cell cam with GPS, Apple pod or some other form of tracking and also put up a cheap stand. Nothing better than flipping the script. When they take your third camera and stand you become the predator and they the prey. I watched an episode of Louisiana law where a double took a camera and warden was with guy and pictures were being sent to wardens phone while he's standing there and douche is telling him it's his camera. Classic.
 
The Camera that I use has GPS on them but they need to be turned on for the GPS to track. I will continue to pay the subscription for a few months in hopes they turn the camera back on. The only other guy that hunts on the other end of the field had his cam in a bear box and they smashed a stick into the camera through the opening of the box. I have another Stand hung and took half of the sticks down when I left. I'll be bringing a lock out with me next sit. For now I'm not going to put out any more cams for the year. Next year I will re hang one and have another over looking it higher in a tree

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If bordering town property in a smal town, my bet is on local teenagers. Happened to my father in law a couple years back in nearly identical scenario. Stand on private behind old school on edge of town near walking trail and city park. Kids like to loiter, vandalize, and drink underage since our small town LEO gives them a pass. FIL found out who took it and got it back, but same kids are still up to no good.
 
Best advice I can give you is to start climbing using bolts. Once the holes are drilled in the tree, you can remove some or all bolts as you climb down. Then they can't get to your stand without considerably more effort. I use this method almost exclusively now because it packs so well and is inexpensive to have a lot of trees ready to hunt. I use a woodpecker hand drill that folds up but obviously a cordless is preferred when doing pre-sets.

I use the same method for hanging cameras either use bolts or a climbing stick on public, to hang them up out of the line of sight and out of reach.
 
A couple of Duke #650 footholds around the cam and stand might give them a nice pinch and solve the problem...I'm kidding of course! Sucks you have to deal with garbage like that.
 
I put up a camera years back to catch photos of a trespasser. I put the camera about 12 ft high and wrapped / stapled barbed wire to the tree in a spiral. It wasn't super obvious. I later found they'd hit the camera with a stick but couldn't do much damage that high. A nice social visit from the law with some good pics goes a long way. I shouldn't have to do that. But knowing they're being hunted leads criminals go somewhere else. Spike strips work wonders too if theres unauthorized tracks. Not something that would hurt a kid just walking through though. Cable them to a tree, or you may end up finding them "replanted" elsewhere. I have several obsolete trail cams that don't work. They make great decoys for the real one. And stealing one is against the law and enforceable if you can get proof. If you hide it good, most people won't look for a second one.
 
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