timber theft

[mikeb1079]

so my old man was telling me a while back that he remembered back in the day that walnut trees were often stolen/logged off of somebody's land while they weren't around.  i think he mentioned this was late 70's early 80's?  neither of us are loggers/foresters it was just something i found interesting.  i've heard more than once about such things happening and though i don't doubt it i wonder how much of it is hearsay.  so my question to you more experienced woodsmen is this:  how common is this?  does it actually happen on a regular basis or is it only when the log prices are through the roof? 

i know that folks will steal just about anything it just seems like such a time and equipment investment to go around stealing trees..... ???

[SwampDonkey]

It is common up here when markets are wide open and competition high. We had to implement chain of custody. Most thieves of wood get away with it in the courts. It's just wood, not granny's purse. : Absantee lots are prime targets. They are easy to find online, just check the mailing address for the tax bill. A lot of times it could be a neighbor. I've seen many lots used for firewood and you could follow the path of the skidder/tractor to the neighbor's yard. Next door, they would cut at night by light on everyone but themselves. Like jacking deer. One time they were out Christmas eve cutting and later tossed it in the basement. Merry Christmas. ;)

[Jeff]

It happens all the time.

Walnut tree theft

[LeeB]

http://bit.ly/1cGTm4T

[mikeb1079]

 

looked like nice logs too...though i suppose that's why he was stealing em.   ;)

[AvianQuest]

Absantee lots are prime targets. They are easy to find online, just check the mailing address for the tax bill.

I hear about this once in awhile.  It just happened to my son's father-in-law.   

[ReggieT]

In my region...although there is an over abundance of firewood...there is quite a bit of firewood stolen!
Mostly after being felled, bucked, split & stacked...and left unattended.

[BargeMonkey]

We had a logger here who would just drop his skidder off and go cut your woodlot, and the neighbors, I mean they used thier NAMES when they changed the timber theft laws in NY thats how bad they where. Funniest thing was, people got judgements but they didnt even own the trailer they lived in, they locked him up in county jail, then released him when his medical bills where more than the county wanted to pay for. Figure this one out.

[CRThomas]

It is common up here when markets are wide open and competition high. We had to implement chain of custody. Most thieves of wood get away with it in the courts. It's just wood, not granny's purse. : Absantee lots are prime targets. They are easy to find online, just check the mailing address for the tax bill. A lot of times it could be a neighbor. I've seen many lots used for firewood and you could follow the path of the skidder/tractor to the neighbor's yard. Next door, they would cut at night by light on everyone but themselves. Like jacking deer. One time they were out Christmas eve cutting and later tossed it in the basement. Merry Christmas. ;)I work my butt off to bundle 750 went to my daughters to visit for the day got home all 750 bundles where gone two trailer loads. They got me for 60 bundles at one of my customers store. Wood stealing dose go on

[redprospector]

My daddy used to say that everybody has a price that they would be willing to be called a thief over.
I just thank God that the price I would just smile about being called a thief over is far greater than a few semi loads of logs, or firewood. Some people are simply amazing with what they can justify in their minds. But they are everywhere.

Andy

[mikeb1079]

Some people are simply amazing with what they can justify in their minds.

that's for sure.   ;D  lock up your wood people   :D

also avianquest welcome to the forum   8)

[CCC4]

Back in the late 90's I was a manual log turner at a ERC mill. I remember one morning before work seeing our boss walking a fast pace down to the mill. We were instructed to saw a load of logs up and make them disappear that had come in the evening before...and like really really fast!

[ayerwood]

A year and a half ago, March, a neighbor friend of our property had called me and asked if I was cutting down Douglas fir on the south end of our property.  Him and his boys were riding quads around our property as they always have.  He knew I was actually working on the north end thinning red alder.  I hurried to the site and saw that several trees had been cut and winched to a central spot to process as firewood.  Tools and some cables were left and a few tarps covered recently cut firewood.  I knew they would be back. I took some pics and immediately made a police report.  They said if I catch them, don't approach and call 911.  I was told the amount equaled two felonies, for theft, and trafficking stolen property, as well as several other crimes.

I checked the site many times the next few days and had just got home a few days later on a Thursday to relax and watch some March Madness.  It was dark bout 6:30 pm and my phone rang.  Another neighbor, who was one of several I asked to look out, called and said a truck with its lights off was driving down the railroad utility road.  I drove like a mad man to the site, parked my truck where they couldn't get out and walked a half mile down the railroad tracks in the dark to the site.  In the forest about 100 yards off the railroad tracks, I saw a large glow in the dead of night.  I walked back toward my truck and called 911.  The sheriff showed up with a German Shepard police dog the size of a grizzly bear.  At that point I thought to myself...I hope the thieves run.   :D  The other deputy popped his trunk and pulled out a rifle that looked like it belonged in Baghdad.

Long story short, we caught them.  I went with the two deputies and the capture was like a live episode of the tv show "Cops".  It was two homeless tweekers with rap sheets a mile long.  They had caught down both fir and alder.  The massive firs could have been worth $1-2k to me and they cut it into a few hundred dollars worth of firewood.  All said and done, I estimated a $15-19k loss.  Was hard to be totally accurate on the exact amount, but I counted 13 stumps.  They had been at it for a couple weeks.

And their punishment?  About 15 days in jail for misdemeanor theft and a trespassing ticket...wow.  And I would just be wasting more money in trying to get compensation back from these 2 degenerates.  Even the deputies were shocked at the small sentence.  But then again, I shouldn't have been surprised at a justice system that is based more on creative speaking and writing than justice.  The trial was a complete circus.  Now I have to consider more security such as fencing and cameras on a property that has been left wild and open forever.  That means time and money on my part.  I caught them red-handed and had all the documentation you could ask for.  It's sad that timber theft is not taken more seriously...

[CCC4]

It's sad that timber theft is not taken more seriously...

Being that they were tweekers I would have had some fun with'em....a red lazer pointer and a flash light would have made them crap themselves! Not to mention popping off a few shots with my .357 in their general direction! I'd of had them begging for the police to show up and help them! ! I hate tweekers and thieves...and most tweekers are thieves so that's double bad for them! !

Here's a link to some timber theft in Ar. My problem with this theft is who the heck doesn't notice $800,000 worth of timber being removed??? Kinda stupid if you ask me.

http://www.thepineywoods.com/timber.htm

[Southside]

Back around '97  had a neighbor loose around $50K of standing birds eye maple, couple of years later a local shady cat was selling dried, cut, split, firewood which had a lot, and I mean a lot, of birds eye in it, nothing ever came of it but everybody knew what happened.