Public land bullies and thieves

Discuss the science of figuring out our prey through good detective work.
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Country
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby Country » Mon Aug 01, 2022 3:40 am

Andr3wxmma wrote:Any other guys from SE Wi, can you explain to me why this is such an epidemic here?

I just got here last year and my only experience with something similar before WI in my 3 years prior of running cell cams was a brush hog eating one on Fort Drum land.

Last year mid season i got an angry text from another beast(i keep my name and number on all my cams to try and work with other hunters in the area) thinking i stole his SD card. In his defense my camera was right next to his ( i never saw his 15ft up in the tree) and i think i actually ran into the culprit opening day because when i was leaving the dude saw me coming down the trail by our cameras and flat out ran out of the woods. At the time i thought the other beast was just was an angry dude without common sense, like who leaves their phone number right by the seen of the crime? but now i know he was probably feeling the way i am now.

Fast forward to yesterday and i decided to go check A camera that have been unresponsive in that area and two that had died. I found that the unresponsive one someone had broke the latch and had taken my SD card and put a new SD in but the new one they put in was larger than the 32mb limit and slower than what the company recommends and it wasn't sending the pics to the app with it. I then decide to go check two other cameras that had died back in Mar but i didn't want to refresh the lithiums until around this time so they'll last until the season; both of these the python locks had been cut and the cameras were gone.

Now i'm 99% sure i have pictures of the SD card incident because the day the new card was put in i had photos of 2 younger guys in the remote area on another elevated camera. Do i setup a camera on the access to that spot and confront the culprits or do i just accept my losses and let this kind of behavior continue? I'm also not a big fan of plastering then on social media because they may have had a good reason that i dont know of yet. I also doubt they're the same person because why would they leave 1 cam but steal the others?


I think there's several factors as to why this is so prevalent. In no particular order...
1. People get jealous and angry when they think they found the perfect spot that nobody else knows about only to find a camera nearby.
2. The people stealing the cards or cameras have had it done to them enough times where they start justifying it in their head.
3. Many people are losers and are extremely unethical and immoral when they think nobody's looking.
4. Many people are losers and are extremely unethical and immoral when they think nobody's looking.

3 and 4 are similar.

Not sure why SE Wisconsin is worse than other areas you've hunted. I think the bow hunting craze is pretty strong around here and people get stupidly protective of "their" spots sometimes. Wish that was different. In all actuality, I hardly ever run into hunters. It's the deer I have a hard time running into around here.
I rarely hang trail cameras. I just don't want to deal with thieves. Their scumbags. If you're a grown man, you don't steal people's stuff.


Findian
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby Findian » Mon Aug 01, 2022 5:49 am

I started to take a white paint pen and plastering my name my cell number and my identification number outside and inside my cameras.
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby wolverinebuckman » Mon Aug 01, 2022 6:26 am

Findian wrote:I started to take a white paint pen and plastering my name my cell number and my identification number outside and inside my cameras.

Reminds me of an old guy I used to work with in the hospital maintenance department. All his tools had "Stolen from (name)" written all over them in that paint! :lol:
Bummer of a birthmark, Hal.
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby Bowhunting Brian » Mon Aug 01, 2022 6:35 am

Country wrote:
Andr3wxmma wrote:Any other guys from SE Wi, can you explain to me why this is such an epidemic here?

I just got here last year and my only experience with something similar before WI in my 3 years prior of running cell cams was a brush hog eating one on Fort Drum land.

Last year mid season i got an angry text from another beast(i keep my name and number on all my cams to try and work with other hunters in the area) thinking i stole his SD card. In his defense my camera was right next to his ( i never saw his 15ft up in the tree) and i think i actually ran into the culprit opening day because when i was leaving the dude saw me coming down the trail by our cameras and flat out ran out of the woods. At the time i thought the other beast was just was an angry dude without common sense, like who leaves their phone number right by the seen of the crime? but now i know he was probably feeling the way i am now.

Fast forward to yesterday and i decided to go check A camera that have been unresponsive in that area and two that had died. I found that the unresponsive one someone had broke the latch and had taken my SD card and put a new SD in but the new one they put in was larger than the 32mb limit and slower than what the company recommends and it wasn't sending the pics to the app with it. I then decide to go check two other cameras that had died back in Mar but i didn't want to refresh the lithiums until around this time so they'll last until the season; both of these the python locks had been cut and the cameras were gone.

Now i'm 99% sure i have pictures of the SD card incident because the day the new card was put in i had photos of 2 younger guys in the remote area on another elevated camera. Do i setup a camera on the access to that spot and confront the culprits or do i just accept my losses and let this kind of behavior continue? I'm also not a big fan of plastering then on social media because they may have had a good reason that i dont know of yet. I also doubt they're the same person because why would they leave 1 cam but steal the others?


I think there's several factors as to why this is so prevalent. In no particular order...
1. People get jealous and angry when they think they found the perfect spot that nobody else knows about only to find a camera nearby.
2. The people stealing the cards or cameras have had it done to them enough times where they start justifying it in their head.
3. Many people are losers and are extremely unethical and immoral when they think nobody's looking.
4. Many people are losers and are extremely unethical and immoral when they think nobody's looking.

3 and 4 are similar.

Not sure why SE Wisconsin is worse than other areas you've hunted. I think the bow hunting craze is pretty strong around here and people get stupidly protective of "their" spots sometimes. Wish that was different. In all actuality, I hardly ever run into hunters. It's the deer I have a hard time running into around here.
I rarely hang trail cameras. I just don't want to deal with thieves. Their scumbags. If you're a grown man, you don't steal people's stuff.

I'll just summarize it so there is less reading. People suck. Lol
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby Drich » Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:02 am

Public land bully; someone that acts as if their use of public land is more important than others use of the same land.

.....

I am starting to think that all public land cameras should be blaze orange with a flag attached. That way those that want to enjoy a walk in the woods without having to have their picture taken can avoid the cameras.
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purebowhunting
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby purebowhunting » Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:29 am

Findian wrote:I started to take a white paint pen and plastering my name my cell number and my identification number outside and inside my cameras.


I scratch the information in with a utility knife, not sure it helps, got 2 stolen last year.
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby Findian » Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:35 am

Maybe exodus could make a sd card that is passworded protected to view, or a cam that doesn’t have a removable sd card but internal storage and has a cord that plugs in to your phone that is password protected.
And then possibly if some one took it or tried to download the pics they would need the app to verify that they are the owner of the cam.
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby peteherbst » Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:43 am

I run trail cams through the DNR for the snapshot Wisconsin program. They send you an encrypted camera, encrypted SD card, security box, pad lock, and a python lock. The lock box and camera has stickers on it saying it’s encrypted and will only work with the DNR software.

People still cut the locks, reset the cards, steal them, etc.
“You have to pay your dues”
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Country
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby Country » Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:59 am

Drich wrote:Public land bully; someone that acts as if their use of public land is more important than others use of the same land.

.....

I am starting to think that all public land cameras should be blaze orange with a flag attached. That way those that want to enjoy a walk in the woods without having to have their picture taken can avoid the cameras.


I see where you're going there. Only problem is you don't have the right to privacy in public. You can take all of the pictures you want while in public. Our pictures are being taken every time we leave the house really. I've never really heard the argument that hikers have a huge issue with trail cameras. Maybe they do.
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby Dewey » Mon Aug 01, 2022 10:05 am

peteherbst wrote:I run trail cams through the DNR for the snapshot Wisconsin program. They send you an encrypted camera, encrypted SD card, security box, pad lock, and a python lock. The lock box and camera has stickers on it saying it’s encrypted and will only work with the DNR software.

People still cut the locks, reset the cards, steal them, etc.

I found one of those this spring.

Image

Image
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Mon Aug 01, 2022 10:07 am

I need to get some of those stickers ;)
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby Country » Mon Aug 01, 2022 10:23 am

They should just make booby trap trail cams totally legal and encouraged.
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby peteherbst » Mon Aug 01, 2022 10:29 am

Dewey wrote:
peteherbst wrote:I run trail cams through the DNR for the snapshot Wisconsin program. They send you an encrypted camera, encrypted SD card, security box, pad lock, and a python lock. The lock box and camera has stickers on it saying it’s encrypted and will only work with the DNR software.

People still cut the locks, reset the cards, steal them, etc.

I found one of those this spring.

Image

Image

Haha not one of mine, but looks like a good spot!
“You have to pay your dues”
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Mon Aug 01, 2022 1:05 pm

Not really relevant but I have had way more camera thievery on private than I have ever had on public. I rationalize that on private if some jackwagon trespassing feels he got his pic taken and sees the camera. Well he’s gonna remove the evidence. I’ve caught/tracked down afew of them. Sad part is the ones I caught didn’t even hunt. Usually just taking a short cut through the woods to go fishing. I would have cared less till they turned into thieves.

From that point I get ticked, no ticked ain’t the word…. Down right mad! I completely understand 2 wrongs don’t make a right and suggest everyone follow that mantra. But not me. If one good dead deserves another then so does one bad one. I have the ole baseball pitcher mentality. If you hit one of ours, Jack someone is about to catch a fastball in the ear hole. Is it right? No. I just sleep better.
Life is hard; It’s even harder if you are stupid.
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Re: Public land bullies and thieves

Unread postby Ryan549 » Mon Aug 01, 2022 1:45 pm

Boogieman1 wrote:Not really relevant but I have had way more camera thievery on private than I have ever had on public. I rationalize that on private if some jackwagon trespassing feels he got his pic taken and sees the camera. Well he’s gonna remove the evidence. I’ve caught/tracked down afew of them. Sad part is the ones I caught didn’t even hunt. Usually just taking a short cut through the woods to go fishing. I would have cared less till they turned into thieves.

From that point I get ticked, no ticked ain’t the word…. Down right mad! I completely understand 2 wrongs don’t make a right and suggest everyone follow that mantra. But not me. If one good dead deserves another then so does one bad one. I have the ole baseball pitcher mentality. If you hit one of ours, Jack someone is about to catch a fastball in the ear hole. Is it right? No. I just sleep better.


This comment made my evening
Ryan


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