Thwarting the poacher...

[chain]

..a sometimes major problem for the absentee forest owner/lessee/manager. My old forester told me once, "the best way to keep poachers limited is to activate our property lines." Activate? Keeping property line no-trespass signs freshened-up, brush trimmed, and recently we have the 'purple poly tape' tied around line trees and corners. 'Purple' is Missouri's "no-trespassing" color.

Enter the hard-core poacher, what about using game cameras to witness those who may continue to trespass, any other ideas?

[Ron Scott]

All of the above plus game cameras will help as long as they are monitored regularly. I currently have 7 game cameras out on one client's property which I monitor for him. Trespassing on his property has declined considerably.   

[John Mc]

Got to hide those cameras well... otherwise the poachers take them too!  I've heard of folks putting a cheap camera out as a decoy, so their good camera gets a shot of the poachers stealing the cheapie.

[DaveP]

I had a camera out last year and got a good shot of some part time neighbors taking a load of cut and split firewood for their camp fire.  They were quite surprised when I approached them.


DaveP

[thecfarm]

My step son had a camera set up and took a picture of some guy carrying a sack and a water bottle.He carried the sack out,but left the water bottle.  >:(

[Ron Scott]

Yes, there is always the risk of loosing a camera, but we have stopped a lot of trespassing with their use. We haven't lost any of the 9 cameras yet, so we have been lucky there so far. All camers are locked and some have protective metal covers over them since there have been a few bear attacks on some.

A presence of management on the property and posted boundary lines helps a lot.
We post signs that state "No Trespassing, Camera Watch"

[beenthere]

Our hunting cabin in central WI was continually being raided until we put up a sign that there was a camera. There wasn't, but the cabin was never broken into after that.
But maybe the thieves had graduated to higher quality stuff than what we had in the cabin.  :

[giant splinter]

Can you recommend a good game cam for general use on a ranch?

[Phorester]

A few years ago there was a short article in Outdoor Life magazine that stated that Indonesia or some other Asian country had trained elephants to charge the sound of a chainsaw. 

I expect it would be pretty discouraging to be a tree poacher cutting a tree and suddenly feel the ground shaking, trees crashing, and hear the roar of a dozen mad elephants that are pounding down on your position.

[John Mc]

Maybe I should look in to renting a couple of elephants.  Mount my video camera on them so I can see my neighbor's face when he's caught.

[chain]

I found out very quickly that cultivated food-plots and ponds were the big attraction for poachers. Nowadays we have the soft-mast-low-brush and tall-grass type plots, turkeys rabbits, quail, like it for nesting, cover for brood. Increased bobcat and fox too.

The camera surveilance no-trespass sign really sounds effective for the occasional .."thought this was gramma's place"..type trespasser. 

[Ron Scott]

Game Camera Topic in another Thread discussing types.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,59533.0.html

[WildDog]

I've heard of folks putting a cheap camera out as a decoy, so their good camera gets a shot of the poachers stealing the cheapie.

Thats a great idea, I see some cheap older 2nd hand ones for sale, I was looking at a new game camera today for our front gate but at $460 I don't want it stolen.

At work one of the guys set up a game cam where a wilddog was coming through the fence and preying on sheep, it was near a gate way and a couple of blokes were traveling through, 1 guy noticed the camera, turned and dropped his pants at it, one of us new who it was and sent him the pic as a Christmas card. :D

[thecfarm]

Merry Christmas. I like that one.  :D

[Phorester]

A few years ago we were doing an understory burn.  I was in the lead, firing out the line while the rest of the crew came up the interior.  Once while waiting for them to catch up I set the drip torch down on the line, turned and walked a few feet into the woods to relieve myself. Was almost done, and looked up square into the lens of a game camera about 30 feet away.  My Grandmother's old saying flashed through my mind; "Getting caught with his britches down".

I haven't seen that one on YouTube yet.......

[Ron Scott]

One now has to always be on watch for game cameras when going through the woods. We find them quite often when cruising or marking timber. After being in the woods so much, one can often determine where one might be set.

[Texas Ranger]

I always knew that foresters tended to be exhibitionists.  We were marking a tract of timber on one of my lease properties and one crew member was female, wife of another member, actually.

We have a grass called cheat grass, if it gets under your britches leg, it tends to "crawl" up your leg as you walk.   We had just loaded up the guns and walked to where we were to start, when the lady tally  person let loose a mild scream and shucked off her britches, finding cheat grass on the inside of her britches.  We laughed and went on about our business.

A week later one of the hunters on the lease called and said we had a trespasser on the lease, had photos.  You guessed it, there she was, in all her glory in a sequence, bent over, fighting the cheat grass.

Being the gentleman that I am, I requested the hunter to get rid of the picture.  I suppose he did, being the gentleman that he is. 

[Chuck White]

I eventually want to get 2 game-cams.

One to watch my sawmill when I close down for the day on mobile saw jobs, and the second camera to watch the first camera as well as the sawmill.

[Ron Scott]

This trespasser didn't stay long. A Spy Point camera is set up at a boat landing on a private lake.


  

 

[clww]

Was that a hidden camera or one in plain sight? I seems like he saw the camera in the first shot, then walked away upon spotting it, spotting him.

[Ron Scott]

This one is not well hidden, even though it is camo colored, it can be easily seen when looking in its direction. Sometimes the trespasser doesn't stay long when they see the camera. :D

Here is a picture of a nocturnal buck at the exact same location.


 

[clww]

He'll be a nice wall-hanger in a couple of years.

[bama20a]

I know it is not nice,But I'm not known for being a nice person ;D.I have another house that nobody lives at.They stole about ever thing in it,Even took a heater off the wall.
My son had a pick-up parked behind it,They stripped it also,
Here's the not so nice part,I took some 2x8's & drove nails through them, & hide them on both sides of the drive that way they would get a flat on both side's of the truck or car.Also when turning around I had boards fixed,So know way in or out without running over them.
I dug two holes almost knee deep & put boards with 20 penny nail in them. This I did in front of my sons truck,
I know of one fellows tire I got because someone else was laughing about it :D,
Good thing is.I have not had one thing come up missing fron there ;D

[Ron Scott]

Don't forget and run over them yourself. ;) I know a guy that did that.

[saltydog]

I used that trick to stop a neighbor that was stealing ceader post.I knew who did it because of his limp.I was 17 and was carrying those post out almost a 40 deep.AAAHHH to be that age again.