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Obviously, it would be best to have someone physically stay on the property while you're away, but what if that's not possible? Any tricks to keep two legged predators from taking off with everything you worked so hard for? Just curious on what other people do or if you guys just never leave ?
I don't have a lot of crime in my area and have never had anyone I don't know drive down my road, but I still feel vulnerable to theft when I'm away for more than a few days. Last winter when I left for a while, I placed some of my more expensive items in a heavy duty vinyl bag and buried it in snow behind the wood pile. My reasoning being that the average criminal will only look inside buildings for valuables and won't be digging through snow piles. I hate to be paranoid, but would hate more to come back to a looted place. Would a visible game camera and sign be a deterrent? In the winter it's pretty obvious when someone is or isn't there with the snow on the ground. Any tips appreciated.
Last winter when I left for a while, I placed some of my more expensive items in a heavy duty vinyl bag and buried it in snow behind the wood pile.....Would a visible game camera and sign be a deterrent? In the winter it's pretty obvious when someone is or isn't there with the snow on the ground. Any tips appreciated.
In Maine we sometimes have problems with local youth breaking into abandoned camps, but no home invasions out in the boonies. In our case we have extended family living in their own dwellings on the acreage, so we do look after the place ourselves. But never had any 2-legged predators around.
If your more expensive stuff fits into a vinyl bag, why not haul it into the trunk or truck bed, and take it with you? The cost of a small 5' x 5' storage unit is pretty low - about $25-30 a month - and it might be worth keeping one rented year-round for just such use (though I think you'd find other handy uses for it, as well).
Putting up a too-visible game camera might be a good way to lose a game camera.
Lights and sound will usually discourage the curious. Do you have good outdoor lighting? Can you hook up a radio (talk, more than music) to a timer? Can you keep a few geese or guineas, who can fend for themselves, outside at your place? Are you familiar with a product called 'tanglefoot'? Can you get into the habit of shooting at your place on a regular basis? That will certainly discourage most of the curious!
In the end, making vehicle access to your place may be the #1 best measure, as thieves are unable to carry a lot of stuff too far on foot. I don't know your layout, but if it's mostly trees and just a driveway, find a method of blocking access to the driveway by parking an old clunker cross-ways in it.
At my cabin, aside from the fact it's at the end of a 1 1/2 mile long 2 track goat trail that is usually pretty hard to drive through the snow and/or mud, and is completely sealed off for 8 months out of the year unless you go in by snowshoes, it's hard to find being 9.5 miles from any real road.
The only time there are people around that area is during hunting season, and I spend most of that time living up there.
My father and I are up there a lot during the summer once the road opens up around Father's day.
The neighbor who's land the road passes through lives up there about 2 miles cross country from the cabin, and they are pretty jealous of anybody going through their property and watch it constantly and there are several locked gates on the access.
Plus the fact the road is kind of hidden, so hard to find the starting point once you get to our property, and it passes through some pretty thick lodgepole pine forest that we lost a lot of trees from thanks to the pine beetles.
With a lot of dead standing trees, and in an area that gets high winds, we usually end up cutting our way through the deadfall most trips in.
We don't keep anything really valuable up there, but because it is in the mountains where there are hikers, hunters and ranchers that could get lost or caught in blizzards, we keep some food, cooking utensils, extra clothes, sleeping bags and firewood available so someone lost in a blizzard could get in there and survive if necessary.
That's a tradition that's always been around on the frontier, and we continue it.
Only once in the 60 years since dad bought the place has someone stolen anything, and it was a couple kids that belonged to the foreman of the neighbor ranch. We spoke to him, and our stuff reappeared. Haven't had too much trouble since.
A warning sign along with game cameras, maybe outta reach or outta sight, may not stop the meth heads but this method certainly has helped in ID'ing and nabbing the trespassing trash.
I've got one at my gate too, for vehicle ID coming and going.
A steel cable across the entrance road along with menacing No Trespassing and Security Systems signs will keep a lot of predators at bay.
Common criminals are too lazy to work for a living. They gravitate to the exceptionally easy prey. People with:
No fence
No gate
No signs
No lights
No security system
No dogs
The worst criminal is the one next door. They know what you have and when you are there.
I've lived in my present location for nine years, but I have a neighbor whom I've never met because he hasn't visited his place during that time. The place he has sits about a mile from the public road. From there there's an access road that crosses BLM land and then becomes a private road. The house isn't visible from the public road or from any other house.
There has never been a problem. No one else in my area has ever had a problem either. The only crimes that ever occur here are traffic offenses and an occasional case of poaching. There are areas in this country where there is no crime. Having property in an area of this sort is the best security. It is, in fact, the only real security. Location is the key.
A steel cable across the entrance road along with menacing No Trespassing and Security Systems signs will keep a lot of predators at bay.
Common criminals are too lazy to work for a living. They gravitate to the exceptionally easy prey. People with:
No fence
No gate
No signs
No lights
No security system
No dogs
The worst criminal is the one next door. They know what you have and when you are there.
This bears repeating.
Also, renting a small storage unit, as mentioned by another poster, for your most valuable valuables. I also think sturdy window shutters are the biggest oversight in American architecture.
I also think sturdy window shutters are the biggest oversight in American architecture.
It is against public policy for the little people to have fortified homes, lest they tell the gubmint to take a hike.... or so it seems.
. . .
I've had some spirited discussions with "code enforcers" who insist that a house must be easily accessible to first responders - and burglars, etc.
No matter how fire resistant, fire proof, or if fire suppressing sprinklers are in place, thou shalt not make thy house into a fortress.
We have a small place on NYC watershed. We've just been locking our doors for the last 15 years. The only break-ins so far have been by the mice.
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