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To catch a thief...

dbltree

dbltree

Super Moderator
a shed thief that is! This guy is a pro and traveled daily from farm to farm in Van Buren county often as much as 15 miles apart. He wears a mask and targets larger farms that he knows are managed for big deer.

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All of these pictures are from farms that belong to friends of mine and not my own place but it doesn't matter, people like this steal from all of us.

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This is from last year and appears to be the same guy although we are uncertain.



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Someone somewhere may recognize this "getup" and be able to provide information on who this person is in which case please send me a p.m. or email me at dbltree2000@yahoo.com

Beyond that however is the question...how do we deal with this worsening problem?

One answer is to lobby for much higher trespassing fines in Iowa so i would ask for your support this coming fall as hopefully we can all come together and encourage our legislators to substantially increase the punishment.

This guy will be back and others will join him and no one is exempt. This guy was on every farm from the ordinary to the high profile and arrogantly steals from all.

To catch people like this I suspect we will have to rely on cams that send and instant picture which will allow us to call law enforcement within seconds. Sooner or late they have to come out somewhere...and when they do the mask won;t do them any good.

A "neighborhood watch" is a must and even more important for rural landowners, so a good relationship with neighboring landowners who have an awareness of the problems will be helpful.

Some of these thieves work as teams, dropping one person off to walk through while others work alone but...none of them belong, so strange vehicles or ATV's should be cause for concern.

We gave this a great deal of thought before posting this but after much discussion we felt that raising awareness is the best bet. The more people who are aware of the problem, the more difficult it becomes for thieves to operate.

Comments of course are welcome but constructive ideas on how best to combat this problem will be the most beneficial. I believe some states have trespassing fines of $1000-1500...what are your thoughts?
 
I think it should be treated same as theft, jail time required....

just sayin.... pretty sure thats where all my sheds are this year
 
HIGHER FINES.....OK now how do we accoomplish this.......Also wondered if you guys have lost cameras as well. Just curious...figure someone like that would take those as well.
 
Looks like the same guy except this year he upgraded to a camo coat and one piece facemask and new backpack... Just a thought the guy might be selling them on ebay or some similar place where you might be able to identify the antlers then the guy... Its unlikely but you never know.
 
I bet he is looking at his picture right now with a grin on his face...... I hope he gets caught and it gets taken care of the old fashion way by a couple of southern Iowa Whompies!!!
 
I'm for the Electric-Chair for guys like this. :)
I absolutely would support and sign on to support legislation that would up the fine to $1,000 or more. IT'S TIME FOLKS!!!
 
Could be the same guy but Im guessing if he was packing binos last year he would be this year as well, but who knows. I was wondering how long it would take people to catch on and wear facemasks to avoid being caught on camera. Definitely takes the "Im lost" or "thought I had permission to be here" excuse away but then again that only matters if theyre caught in the act.
 
Wow, that's just crazy! That guy clearly knows he is in the wrong with that getup.

I support much higher fines for someone like that who is clearly intending to steal from others, like this guy is. The potential problem I have is that some people may make an honest mistake and cross a fence and I would prefer that someone making an honest mistake not get burned at the stake.

I have posted this before I think...but just one story from my past would give illustration to this. Years ago I had permission from "farmer X" and while standing in his driveway he told me where we could go and not go and away we went, all the time thinking we had permission on all of the ground we walked that morning.

Well here comes "farmer Y" flying across the field in his pickup yelling at us, etc. It turns out that "farmer X" gave us "permission" to go on his neighbors ground because he didn't think he would care, since people came onto his "farmer X's" ground from "farmer Y's" ground, etc.

Well that would have made us trespassers I guess, even though we didn't intend to be or even know that we were. I could add several other stories that either happened to me or someone that I know that I would hate to think would end up with a meaty fine or whatever. However, guys like the one in this picture, deserves a strong dose of the law and I'll bet he is crapping his pants right now on the prospect that his picture is "out there".

I would contribute to a fund to rally up a reward fund to the person that turns him in. Post these pictures in the local convenience stores, etc, with a nice reward amount and I think you have a good chance to get him. Another idea...plant a couple antlers with a tracking chip in them!
 
HIGHER FINES.....OK now how do we accoomplish this
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We'll need to get a legislator to sponsor an amendment to the current laws covering this subject and then lobby hard for the change this fall. :way:
 
I am for shed traps all over the area. Sheds sitting on top of a Duke #15 (or something smaller if you just want to take a few fingers). My bet is one time and he wouldn't be stealing sheds anymore :)
 
C.O. told me that trespassers can't be charged with theft unless you can absolutely prove sheds were picked up on your farm. They always claim they picked them up on property they had permission to hunt on. You have to plant a marked shed, one that can be I.D.'d later. Best to have him on camera picking it up.
Maybe we start a petition, combined with as many photos and actual stories of problems and present it to a local legislative representative. Maybe get written "buy in" from Farm Bureau, IBA, PF, etc to show a broad range of support. Also, emphasize why it is a problem. Big sheds sell for high dollars. $19,000 for one matched set at Iowa auction three years ago. If a thief doesn't have a job except to shed hunt our farms for a 2-3 month period he stands to make a fair amount of $$ and could quite possibly hit the "jackpot" if he picks up some really world class sheds...Another idea. Not everyone can afford Buckeye of Smart Scouter cameras( the kind that immediately send a pic to your cell/computer. However, maybe a group of guys in a given area could pitch in a buy a camera for their area and put it on a farm where there is a high probability of catching a trespasser....catch one or two outlaws in the area and all property owners will benefit.
 
This just baffles me that somebody would actually do this I personaly don't see what the big deal with sheds is myself this is just my opinion but to put a mask on and take the risk of getting caught not to mention shot or the living crap beat out of you for a deer antler is just amazing. I could be wrong here but I have always heard that unless you have a really special rack that there is really not that much value to it. I feel sorry for the landowners because this guy is a theif, those racks have a lot more meaning to him then this guy ,granted the landowner doesn't own these deer but more then likely he has fed them and watched them all year pretty crazy hope you nail him
 
At least he's considerate enough to wear a mask so he doesn't have to take your cam's too. Hope you get some leads on who this dirtball is..
 
TDswitchback26 said:
I'm sure if the vet can chip a dog, Tom sexton or someone could chip an antler.
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But that wouldn't allow you to track the antler? They scan the dog after they find it lost and it tells them all the info about it... those chips don't track the animal and tell them where it is, correct? They're just used for ID'ing a lost animal?
 
My in-law's neighbor has a company that installs tracking devices in golf balls. I'm sure the same can be done with an antler.
 
The technology is out there. I looked at these but the issue I saw was battery life. You can get a gps chip with about a five day battery life. If you could find one that would last a couple weeks that would be the ticket.
 
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