Anybody ever had gear stolen from camp?

dcopas78

dcopas78

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I'm just curious if anyone has ever had tents or anything stolen while on a backpack hunt. I am thinking about getting a tipi and stove for next rifle season, which I would use as a backcountry base camp. I'm just wondering if I should be concerned about leaving it for the day while I'm out hunting. I plan on getting back a few miles and I definitely won't be setting it up in view of trails or anything.
 
If you're back a couple of miles, who would want to carry your stuff along with theirs? Just kidding. My Brother in Law hunts 6 miles deep and camps right on the trail. To my knowledge he has never lost anything to camp robbers.

We hunt Northern Idaho and camp a couple hundred yards off the main road in a well used clearing. Haven't lost anything yet. I guess it comes down to where you are and the people around you. Most hunters and campers I have met wouldn't do it to someone else because they don't want it to happen to them.
 
we had a whole camp with wall tents and everything stolen and it was ten miles back in the Bob Marshall. That was left for a week or so however. I wouldn't worry too much about it disappearing while you were out for the day.
 
In the Bob, We had a horse get loose and some how it ended up in an outfitters corral at their home. We tracked the horse to a fence and gate, so there was no way it opened the gate by itself. We had several run ins with outfitters.
 
I had gas cans, chain saw, splitting maul and tire chains stolen out of the back of my pick parked at a trail head in north Idaho. Wasn't too happy when I got back off the mountain.
 
This is so disappointing to hear because you know it's other sportsmen that are doing it. People who are supposed to be promoting our sport. :(
 
gwhunter said:
This is so disappointing to hear because you know it's other sportsmen that are doing it. People who are supposed to be promoting our sport. :(
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You don't know that for a fact to make such a statement. There are plenty of punks that need money for drugs and they are out all over the place looking for easy marks. What is easier than not even having to break in somewhere to steal stuff that be quickly pawned for a few bucks than areas like we're talking about like his truck where it sounds like maybe stuff wasn't locked up?! I lock anything of value that's outside my camp trailer with a chain that won't be cut unless someone has a lot of time and a good hacksaw (gas cans until empty, generator, expensive coolers, etc.) and everything else is inside and not visible to tempt anybody that's out looking for a quick grab and go! That's just the way it is nowadays and it's really a shame. That wall tent and camp theft is really unreal though!
 
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Topgun 30-06 said:
You don't know that for a fact to make such a statement. There are plenty of punks that need money for drugs and they are out all over the place looking for easy marks. What is easier than not even having to break in somewhere to steal stuff that be quickly pawned for a few bucks than areas like we're talking about like his truck where it sounds like maybe stuff wasn't locked up?! I lock anything of value that's outside my camp trailer with a chain that won't be cut unless someone has a lot of time and a good hacksaw (gas cans until empty, generator, expensive coolers, etc.) and everything else is inside and not visible to tempt anybody that's out looking for a quick grab and go! That's just the way it is nowadays and it's really a shame. That wall tent and camp theft is really unreal though!
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You are right. I don't know anything for a fact:eek:. I would just assume that the majority of people miles in the woods/mountains during hunting season are other hunters. I would think that the punks looking for stuff to pawn for drug money wouldn't be willing to trek deep into the mountains. I definitely could be/probably am wrong, :W: It just makes sense in my mind that some druggy wouldn't say "hey, lets go climb that mountain looking for gear left out" when a crime with a lower effort could be available. Now that's not to say they wouldn't drive along the roads and snatch things from camps that are right next to a road. But to snag a wall tent 10 miles away from a road sounds to me like something a druggy wouldn't be up for.
 
I've hunted out of my wall tent several times a few miles in, but right off a logging road in Colorado with no problems and same in Wyoming. Never had stuff go missing. Sad to hear some have not been so lucky.
 
Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately, the reason I ask this, is because here in Ohio I know of several people that have been parked on our limited public land and had things stolen. Here it is drugheads just looking for some quick cash. I saw a group of about 6 trucks parked at a creek public access lot a few years ago that had ALL windows smashed, and pretty much everything of value stolen. To beat it all, it was less than fifty feet off of a heavily traveled state highway. Of course, from what I have saw when I've hunted out west, I haven't saw any of this happen and we have left things in camp and vehicles while we were out. I guess the reason why I am worried about the tipi/stove is there is about $600-700 difference in what I have in my tent compared to this combo. The wife is already not too happy about the purchase :D She definitely isn't keen on me leaving it during the day to hunt, even though I plan on being a ways back off the beaten path. Thanks again, and good luck to everybody this season.
Derek
 
I'd bet/guess that you'll have more problems at places like trailhead and fishing access parking lots. These are accessible by vehicle and most folks leave them there for an appreciable amount of time. I can't imagine if you are packing in much at all that one would have a problem.
 
Being Midwestern and now Coloradan, I see a big difference in the way folks act on public land (even private to some extent). There seems to be a much more "community" based attitude out here when it comes to hunting season. I think that is for a couple of reasons. First, there is a TON of public land here and as long as you put in the effort you will find some degree of solitude and opportunity vs. places like home (IN) where there is such limited public land that everything becomes a competition for space and opportunity. Second, at least what I hope to be in thoughts of others, is that equipment out here is a matter of life and death to a much greater degree given the weather, altitude etc. Just my thoughts.
 
Never had a problem with it on western hunts. You would have to have a pretty big pair to steal stuff from someone who is going to be packing (knife/bow/firearm) and have no idea if they are 100 feet away coming around the corner on a trail or watching you through cross hairs from a ridgeline. That being said, I think there is a culture of respect on this around the west. Some adhere to it more than others unfortunately
 
gwhuter---You have again assumed way too much. I said nothing about punks being way back in the woods or mountains to steal that wall tent and camp stuff. I was talking about areas where they can drive right near a camp in a vehicle or even a quad and heist stuff that is easily removed and pawned or sold. Back in 2003 I was in my camper with a friend one night and a buddy was in his with a friend closeby when we were in NM and a few hours from where we were going to hunt. I awoke in the middle of the night to see a person walk by right next to the window in the shadow of a streetlight. We had pulled into an abandoned gas station in some little town for the night. I jumped up and into my jeans and the guy was gone around the corner and I heard a vehicle drive off. He had taken our cooler with a lot of expensive jerky in it and the two expensive stainless steel cooking pots that were on top of it and was gone in a flash. From that time on I have locked everything up but the kitchen sink! I also now have a Beretta .380 right next to my pillow that at least gives me a little piece of mind while I'm out on the road, but I hope there is never a need to use it in self defense.
 
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SFC B said:
Being Midwestern and now Coloradan, I see a big difference in the way folks act on public land (even private to some extent). There seems to be a much more "community" based attitude out here when it comes to hunting season. I think that is for a couple of reasons. First, there is a TON of public land here and as long as you put in the effort you will find some degree of solitude and opportunity vs. places like home (IN) where there is such limited public land that everything becomes a competition for space and opportunity. Second, at least what I hope to be in thoughts of others, is that equipment out here is a matter of life and death to a much greater degree given the weather, altitude etc. Just my thoughts.
Click to expand...

In COLORADO, yes out in the west we had the gas stolen out of two of our trucks while hunting the Grand Mesa. They went so far as to cut the fuel line on my brothers truck to get to it. Also out on the Grand Mesa a friend of mine had a duffel bag with his food, tent, clothes, knives, etc, stolen from his camp and he was easily 7 miles from the road. So it can happen anywhere you go, even out in the west. All you can do it hope it doesn't happen to you.
 
Well for me its been a very pleasant experience in Montana. I spent 13 years hunting out of a wall tent from 1-3 week periods, multiple times a year, parked right off the main dirt roads without hassle. I have always worried about getting robbed while hunting but to my best knowledge nothing has ever gone missing. I would be devastated to lose my gear because I know how much money I have spent (we all have spent) year after year, one piece at a time. My stove alone would set me back $400.

I know its not a failsafe, but I do run a lock thru my tent zippers as a deterrent (I know they could just slice a hole thru the canvas if they wanted to) and I always make a different pattern everyday with the buckles on my Colorado flap (kind of like an authentication for when I get back to camp lol). Never once have I ever found it other than the way I left it.

Now to say, I have never really seen many people in the part of the belt mountains I hunt during archery season helps and the others that are camping in the area have always been first rate people. Sorry to hear so many bad experiences.
 
It is and always has been against the outdoor/mountain man/hunter/campers code to mess with someone else's tent, car, pack, or whatever. In the case of the wall tent being taken in the Bob...I wonder if the Forest Service wasn't involved with removing it ....ie FS is always having to clean up crap left behind and may have mistaken it as abandon. As for the horse incident in the Bob I can't imagine an outfitter being stupid enough to "steal" a branded horse....must be more to the story like outfitter finds a roaming horse that got away from someone and lets it into the corral so the person can capture it again. What I'm getting at is that breaking the code is a hanging offense that most will never do.:)
 
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