Disgusting Criminals

[tomstopper]

I am fed up. Tonight I went to my wife's grandmothers to check my trail camera and it was gone. Her grandmother told me that 3 weeks ago, she seen a man walking out of her woods with a backpack on and he walked right down her driveway where a white car drove up and picked him up. She did not confront him and thank god for that but said she didn't recognize him. I am so pi**ed and am going to try and teach him a lesson. A friend of mine told me to put out a junk camera and remove all the foilage from the bottom of the tree. Take ply wood and drive a crap load of nails through it and place it all around the bottom of the tree then rake the foilage back over it and let it take its course. He said that he and his father did this a couple of years ago at the bottom of one of their tree stands and they were never stolen again. Any thoughts on if this will work or not or any advice is welcomed.

[Skeeterbait]

Setting a trap to injure or kill another human is illegal even if the person is committing a crime like trespass or theft when they encounter your trap.  You could be arrested as well as sued by the person you injure.  I believe the laws of Texas do allow some cases where traps are allowed to protect property.  But that is the only state I know of that allows it.

A quick internet search turned up information like this...

When Marvin Katko, 30, broke into an abandoned farmhouse near Oskaloosa, Iowa, a shotgun cut loose with a load of buckshot, hitting him in the right ankle. The gun had been tied to a bed, and the trigger was wired to go off when the bedroom door was opened. Katko was arrested, for petty larceny, fined $50 and put on six months' probation. Justice had apparently been done, or so everyone thought—except Marvin Katko. The injured prowler sued the farm owners, Edward Briney and his wife, for $60,000 and won.

A booby trap may be defined as any concealed or camouflaged device designed to cause bodily injury when triggered by any action of a person making contact with the device. This term includes guns, ammunition, or explosive devices attached to trip wires or other triggering mechanisms, sharpened stakes, nails, spikes, electrical devices, lines or wires with hooks attached, and devices for the production of toxic fumes or gases. If a person sets up such a trap to protect his/her property, he/she will be liable for any injury or death even to an unwanted intruder such as a burglar. It is illegal to set a booby trap on one's own property to prevent intruders

I know it is aggravating to loose a camera or have trespassers on your property, But I would not recommend doing anything that would make yourself a criminal too.  I belong to a game camera forum where a story was told about a guy catching a camera thief and having him arrested.  He put an old non-working camera in plain sight and put another camera well hidden pointed at the non-working camera.  He obtained pictures of the thief taking the camera and had a warrant issued for his arrest.

[ctwny1]

I along with many others have had the same thing happen to me. Game camera's should have some type of a GPS built right in them to locate them when stolen. I had mine in security box that would stop them and advertised that fact. Well guess what?? It didn't and that company has stopped advertising that it does. Their so called security box is a joke.

[FANMAN]

When I bought my first camera I was concerned about theft.....So I bought another one that I mount much higher ..to do nothing but take pic's of anything near my camera..... so far no issues...but I have peace of mind.

[SinGin]

Try a bear trap, no law against trapping is there? It's not your fault he got caught up in it.

[coyotetrpr]

Setting a trap to injure or kill another human is illegal even if the person is committing a crime like trespass or theft when they encounter your trap.  You could be arrested as well as sued by the person you injure.  I believe the laws of Texas do allow some cases where traps are allowed to protect property.  But that is the only state I know of that allows it.

A quick internet search turned up information like this...

When Marvin Katko, 30, broke into an abandoned farmhouse near Oskaloosa, Iowa, a shotgun cut loose with a load of buckshot, hitting him in the right ankle. The gun had been tied to a bed, and the trigger was wired to go off when the bedroom door was opened. Katko was arrested, for petty larceny, fined $50 and put on six months' probation. Justice had apparently been done, or so everyone thought—except Marvin Katko. The injured prowler sued the farm owners, Edward Briney and his wife, for $60,000 and won.

A booby trap may be defined as any concealed or camouflaged device designed to cause bodily injury when triggered by any action of a person making contact with the device. This term includes guns, ammunition, or explosive devices attached to trip wires or other triggering mechanisms, sharpened stakes, nails, spikes, electrical devices, lines or wires with hooks attached, and devices for the production of toxic fumes or gases. If a person sets up such a trap to protect his/her property, he/she will be liable for any injury or death even to an unwanted intruder such as a burglar. It is illegal to set a booby trap on one's own property to prevent intruders

I know it is aggravating to loose a camera or have trespassers on your property, But I would not recommend doing anything that would make yourself a criminal too.  I belong to a game camera forum where a story was told about a guy catching a camera thief and having him arrested.  He put an old non-working camera in plain sight and put another camera well hidden pointed at the non-working camera.  He obtained pictures of the thief taking the camera and had a warrant issued for his arrest.

Sounds to me like you should not teel anyone if you do it.

[HARDCORE]

If a person sets up such a trap to protect his/her property, he/she will be liable for any injury or death even to an unwanted intruder such as a burglar. It is illegal to set a booby trap on one's own property to prevent intruders

Everyone involved in the making of that piece of crap law is a moron.

Moron = A person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment.

HC

[Fatbeard]

That is an awesome idea!!! I had some treestands and cameras stolen a few years ago and I placed a trail cam 10 to 12 feet above my stands and put a fake out a fake cam out a few feet beside my stand and caught a hunting buddy taking my stuff!! Got it all back when I showed him the pics and he lost his rights too hunt!

[tomstopper]

UPDATE:
Had a neighbor call me last night and gave me some names and info of people he has seen walking on the land at all hours and they all have on backpacks. Sounded kinda fishy so I went out and looked around last night and found 18 large empty black potting plants hidden under a pine tree. After checking the names given to me by the neighbor i found out that they all have rap sheets from drug possession, burglary, and 2 have convictions for meth production/distribution. I called the NY state police and was told that they don't have enough manpower to check every piece of land that people report who suspect someone is growing weed on their property. He said unless I catch them in the process, all I can do is post the land and then try to prosecut them. What the hell. I want to confront the guys right now over the phone or in person but my wife and I worried about the safety of my family first. I will just have to catch them. We just never know what these people are thinking. I do know that I wont be headed to the woods without my .40 cal any more. At least I still have the right to protect myself (at least I think I do).

[surehuntsalot]

Try a bear trap, no law against trapping is there? It's not your fault he got caught up in it.

large traps work very well,have used them several times over the years with trespassers and they do work well

[ghillie]

I know your pissed and want some pay back but I have a better idea...catch them in the act.  Set up one camera in a visible area for them to take, however, have ANOTHER camera well hidden with a view of the first camera.  Hopefully you will be able to get everything in pictures to show to your local po-po.  Then they won't have to give you some lame excuse about man power when you present pics of a crime or crimes in process.  Worked well for a friend of mine, the buggers got charged with mfg of a controlled substance, theft, felony tresspass (weapons were on them), interference with official acts, etc, etc...

Good luck and get after em!

[aristico]

Yea not a good idea to set up a booby trap...not worth the trouble it could cause