I Hate Thieves

Bucky T

GONetwork Member
Yesterday morning, my neighbor and good friend Will went hunting on his lease in Morgan County. We arrived around 6:00 am to discover his bunkhouse had been broken into sometime the night before. His dad and my dad had been down on Saturday, but left after the morning hunt. The thief showed up on Saturday night.

This so called hunter used a crow bar to pry open two dead bolted doors. The thief targeted only hunting supplies. All of Will's camo, boots, Thermacell, three pop up blinds, and his ditty bag with his flashlight, grunt tube, Primo's can, an array of deer scents, gloves, facenet, and knife gone.

His uncles bunk house had been broken into to and all his camo, boots and two Buck knives gone.

He left Willl's dads Muck Boots, and that was it.

The thief didn't try to brake into the main cabin which contained a Honda 5500watt generator, TV, and sattelite reciever. The door to it is heavy duty steel. Guess he didn't want to try to get in.

We went hunting and the only good out of the trip was I shot two nice does. After we got the deer back, we started investigating.

We found his footprints. He only made one trip. Two sets of prints, one going down to the camp and one going back. He parked his car outside the gate and hopped the gate. The mud on the gate proved that. He also was wearing K-Swiss sneakers, probably around a 10 1/2 to 11. Both pairs of boots he stole were that size. I took a picture of the print with my camera. He came down the camp road obviously without a flashlight. He walked right into a huge mud pit on his way down. He must have been sneaking in without a light to make sure nobody was there. He left with a flashlight because we found his prints on the side of the road away from the mud. He did slip however, into the mud pit and we saw his skid marks going into the mud.

He only made one trip and was by himself. We're guessing he's probably in his late teens to mid 20's, white, and a local. This robbery happened off of Lower Apalachee Rd, right by where Briar Creek Rd dead ends into it. There is a bridge that is out and the camp gate is only 35yds from the bridge.

If any of ya'll are familiar with this area or live near by and hear of somebody maybe selling some hunting equipment or better yet bragging about this robbery please let the authorities know about it and give me a call. Just PM me or email me and I'll give you my phone number.

We took pictures of all the evidence we found, the footprints are the best we have unfortunatly. I can also get a full, even more detailed description of all the items took from the owner of the stolen goods.

Thanks,

Tommy
 
Last edited:
E

early riser

Guest
On Guard!

Trust me, if you left anything, he will be back! If you can get some game cameras put up in a hidden location chances are you may could catch your thief on camera. Trust me he will be back for anything he thinks he could still carry off. Just because he didn't get into the one bunk house doesn't mean he doesn't still want to, and I'll wager he will come back for what he left behind!

e.r.
 

CAL

Senior Member
Tommy,
Have someone check the local flea markets on Sat.You might just catch your thief their.
 

Bucky T

GONetwork Member
We didn't leave anything there. We emptied both bunk houses and the main camp house. He took basically everything worth of value any ways. We took the generator with us. Game cam's are iffy. The flash at night would surely let him know where it was located. A thief would just break it if he couldn't get it off the tree. Daytime would be great, but I seriously doubt anybody comes out there during the day.

Flea markets. I'll let Will know about that.

Tommy
 

Throwback

Chief Big Taw
This so called hunter

I think in our anger you misspoke. The guy's a dopehead, bet money on it. Because of that he's an idiot--or maybe he's a dopehead becaue he's an idiot ::huh: . This shows because he took essentially worthless stuff and left the generator, tv, etc. and didn't bring adequate tools for the job.

Be thankful he wasn't a pro. :eek:



T
 

short stop

Senior Member
I DOUBT VERY SERIOSLY YOU WILL HEAR ABOUT ANY ONE BRAGGING ON YOUR MISFORTUNE ''SORRY FRIEND '' AROUND HERE . I live in Apalachee near the intersectection of 441 . The crime rate around here is almost dirt level ! there are 4or5 police officers who live here on lower apalachee rd .even our retired sheriff too. No offense to thse who speculated dope heads ''Idiot --yes'' to be the culprits but you cant even buy a lottery ticket in Apalachee . As a person w/ some experince living here --sounds like a young man maybe some other club member from down the road-- I'd be leaning in this direction . A DOPE HEAD WOULD HAVE LEFT YOUR BOOTS AND TOOK YOUR GENERATOR AND TV . Not many people live down past the old RR crossing . The items you listed taken are used only by some one with knowledge of the stuff Therma sell, deer lure ,grunt tubes ,pop up blinds these arent flea market items at least I ve never seen them at 1 --and there arent any of those'''Flea markets '' around here either I think the closest 1 is 20 miles away in Athens . Thomas I will let you know if I hear of anything seeing how I live a couple of miles down the road and know all the local people and thier kids . Did you call the MORGAN CO sherriffs office and file a report? PM me with your details if you would -- sorry -- maybe I can help as i know all the police officers as well . Short Stop
 

Bucky T

GONetwork Member
Throwback,

Not exactly worthless, all told this guy walked out of their with a over a $1000.00 worth of hunting supplies. Clothes and hunting accessories aren't cheap, as you all are aware of.

He didn't tear any thing up but the doors. He took what he wanted and he knew what he wanted. Nothing inside the bunk houses was destroyed, just taken.

This guy wasn't a dopehead. He was a so called "hunter", who wanted some new hunting supplies, or wanted to make a quick buck. He was a neat crook. Like I said above, he knew what he was after. Honestly don't think he was a dope head. He wouldn't have been so meticoulous about what he stole.

Tommy

Tommy
 
Last edited:
E

early riser

Guest
Thomas,

If you relly wanted to catch him you could ;) . You seem to be taking the road that you know all about the thief. What you don't know is that they are stupid, and he "WILL" be back. You put no faith in the game camera idea? You need to be smarter and be open to ideas to catch the thief. You need to be a bit smarter than the thief and do something which he hasn't thought of that will catch him. The camera can be set up somewhere where the flash could be taped over maybe somewhere he may drive past to get into the property. You may be surprised that you could get at least more information than you have now if you do some thinking on how a camera could be used. I know, I used one to catch the low life that broke into our place and the camera was what gave him 20 years with 10 to serve. It would have been easy for me to say the same as you...., heck, I won't never catch this guy on camera...., but I gave it some thought and low and behold I got his picture! They sure wouldn't have been any way to catch him or get his picture had I not given it a try!

P.S., I thought the same thing, that he would never come back during the day time..., but he DID! :D & I was thoughtful enough to hide the camera in such a way that he walked within less than 10' of it, and WOW what a good mug shot I got of him! :D Had I not had the camera set up, had I thought like you seem to be thinking (no Way) I wouldn't have gotten his photo. Remember he's stupid, and you got to be smarter and a few thoughts ahead of him ;) .

You just need to be open with your thoughts and be serious that you want to catch him. Come up with some intriging ways and places to use the camera. You may come up with something that could work for you, but you have to be open to the idea. You may just get lucky. All the same doubts went through my mind about catching the thief on camera, but I wanted him bad enough to use anything to catch him...., and we DID!

Oh, Thomas, don't forget what your occupation is, and don't under estimate your abilities, it may be as simple as a little imagination :D .

e.r.
 

Handgunner

Senior Member
When we had our club in Dublin, we invested in one, big, lockable tote. Sunday morning after the hunt, we'd put EVERYTHING into that tote, lock it and load it and off to Atlanta we'd go. We'd left the door unlocked on the campers, and be done with it.

We never had a problem, thank God but our thinking was "take everything, leave nothing, and if the doors are unlocked, at least we won't roll in Friday night to a door hanging off it's hinges".

It was a bit of trouble packing and unpacking, but if it saves us our stuff, we considered it worth it.

Ya wanna catch the guy Tommy? Make your presence known one weekend. Let everyone leave while you stay in the cabin... No vehicle, let the others drive to the store and wait a while...

Like others have said, he'll come back. If you make your presence known, let your exit be known, he may come right back into it looking for another handout.

It would be worth trying, but I don't know if you could do that overnight like that... And if you do, you'd best be ready to rock-n-roll should he show up!
 

Bucky T

GONetwork Member
ER,

Don't worry I know what my occupation is!!!! ;)

My dad and I have been trying to think of a way to rig up a cellular back up that we use for security systems. We have all kinds of old securty systems lying around that still work. We think a car battery could keep it powered up for maybe a week. The cellular unit could be programmed to call the police and have them out there if a brake in occurs. We just need to contact the three doors that are there.

I've also been thinking of making a heavy duty enclosure to secure a game cam in. Also thinking of a way to keep it on whatever tree I would want to put it on. A steel enclosure with some measured holes cut for the lens and flash and some serious chains that would make him really work even with a good pair of bolt covers. My neighbor and I don't live far from the property so we could check up on it on a regular basis.

Delton,

We discussed your idea to. We'd just go down there hunting thieve's instead of deer. That guy had better pray we don't get a hold of him. He'd much rather have the police catch him than us.

Thanks for the ideas fellas.

Tommy
 

Killdee

Senior Member
One other thing on the game cams,thieves have been known to bring back a chain saw and cut the tree down to get a cam that had their photo on it.I have a flood light sensor wired up to a school fire alarm that Im putting in our camphouse.It will deafen you.I set it on test mode and it will stay on for about 1 min or as long as theres motion.
Killdee
 

Throwback

Chief Big Taw
Not exactly worthless, all told this guy walked out of their with a over a $1000.00 worth of hunting supplies. Clothes and hunting accessories aren't cheap, as you all are aware of.

Thomas,

I phrased it wrong and apologize for that. I meant that clothing, boots, etc. are not exactly worth as much used as new. I didn't mean to make it sound like you lost nothing--you did, it costs a lot to replace that kind of stuff, but used clothing is VERY CHEAP to buy--I know, we buy 80% of our stuff at second hand stores, yard sales, etc. for pennies on the dollar. Compared to tools, generators, etc. clothing is less valuable when used. He may have been a hunter, but if he could have easily gotten to the generator he would have taken it. If I remember correctly you said he walked to the camp, that tells me he will only take what he can carry, and a generator ain't light. Pro's would have taken all and stopped at destroying nothing to get it.

didn't mean to sound like I was lessening your loss--sorry!




T
 

Jody Hawk

Senior Member
Thomas Lackey said:
This robbery happened off of Lower Apalachee Rd, right by where Briar Creek Rd dead ends into it. There is a bridge that is out and the camp gate is only 35yds from the bridge.


Thomas,
Is this the old wooden bridge that runs over the old train tracks? The train hasn't ran on these tracks in years. If so, our property is less than a half mile from there.
 

gadeerwoman

Senior Member
Never put a game camera in an obvious place where if they look around they'll see it. Instead put it higher up in a tree and focused downward. Trying to get a pix of someone going into your camper? Put it in a wheelwell looking up toward the door or on top of the camper at the end facing toward the door. A few branches, a tarp over the camper...all will work to disguise it a little. Heck cut a hole in a 5-gal bucket, put the camera in the bucket and fill the bucket with old papers and put the top back on. Label the bucket as 'trash'.
 

Bucky T

GONetwork Member
Jody,

That's correct, ya'lls camp hasn't been hit lately has it??

This property is very close to, I believe it's the KO hunting club. I've seen some old signs on some tree's off of Briar Creek Rd. Also saw that that Weirhauser owns that land as well, to bad it's going to be sold soon.

Throwback,

It's cool, I knew that you didn't mean anything by it. It wasn't my stuff, it's a good friend of mines camp that got broke into. He's not a member here, so I thought I let ya'll know about it and maybe pick up some leads or good advice.

Tommy
 

Throwback

Chief Big Taw
Tommy,

Did he report it to the sheriff?

T
 
Top