Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Security at your weekend cabin / house

I have several customers who keep weekend/country retreats here, but live elsewhere. They are constantly battling theft and vandalism, many of them having suffered multiple intrusions. In my desk drawer out in the shop, I keep keys and garage door openers for probably a half dozen of these folks, and have for years. When their equipment needs attention, they call me and I go pick it up at my convenience....no need for them to come down and let me in that way.

last year I got a call from one of these customers at the end of the season, asking me to please pick up his tractor and service it for the winter. I've got keys to the gate, as well as the barn, so no problem. This fellow's property lies off of a well worn county road...you have to drive across a hayfield, then down a hill just to reach the gate...after which you travel another quarter mile or so to the house. Remote, is an understatement.

When I reached the gate, it was standing open. I drove on up to the house, where I found two pickups and four guys, none of which was familiar to me. The door to the barn where the tractor is kept was open, as was the front door on the house.

I wasn't sure what to do, so I jumped out with my clipboard, whistling, and a big grin on my face. I acted like I had never been there before, and had never met the owner. Told them I was there to pick up the mower. Since my truck has signage on the doors, they believed me, and I drove it out of the barn and on the trailer. Laughed and cut up the whole time, acted like I hadn't a care or concern in the world. I did however, get a look at both license plates.

As soon as I got out of sight I flew back to the shop and called the owner, a partner in a prominent law firm, and gave him the license numbers and a description of the vehicles. He had given no one permission to be there. It was looking dicey, and he called the police.

Long story short...his father, also a partner in the law firm, had allowed some of his friends to use the place as a hunting camp, and hadn't mentioned it to anyone... no harm, no foul. Other than my frayed nerves.

In my opinion, all the sophisticated electronics in the world won't do nearly as well, or be half the deterrent, of a good neighbor. Someone you can trust, and who lives close enough to keep an eye on things, and, lets it be known that he's keeping an eye on things.

Al you are describing Charlie to a "T". I can't tell you how upset my brother and I were when his wife called and said Charlie had died suddenly actually on his way out to our property a week ago Sunday.

He was more than a ranch hand/jack of all trades...he had a become a family friend. We only bought the property in Feb/March 2012 so we havent known him long, but it felt like we had known him for 25 years. Like your guy, he knew somebody that could help us no matter what we needed...electrical, plumbing, fencing, cattle guards, running water pipes....hell he knew everybody. He was a hard working guy and he loved work.

It was pretty emotional last Wed at the funeral meeting his wife and daughter for the first time. One thing I am happy about is I always let Charlie know how important he was to us and how much we loved what he did for us. I just wished I would have been able to say goodbye...but sometimes we don't get to.

I used to like just listening to him with that southern drawl...check it out I recorded only 3 weeks ago:

Charlie Video: RIP

ps: Al sorry you lost Paul Ray.

Whenever I'm away on business or pleasure, my neighbors know and keep an eye on my place for me. I came home early one trip and pulled around behind the building to unload meat into the freezer. One neighbor met me with his hand on his sidearm. His wife saw lights go behind the building, then turn off......

Meth is a problem in our county, but it is my understanding that in our area the number one drugs are the opiate-based prescription drugs, like oxycontin and. oxycodone. Apparently heroin falls just behind them, finally followed by meth and crack.

We had another fairly serious grand theft from our place two nights ago. This is at least the third of its kind in about the last six months. They are replacing the 50+ year-old, half-million volt power line and 300-350 ft., towers on our property. Fences, gates, and cameras have so far proven to be minimal deterrants to loss of large quantities of various kinds of metals and heavy equipment.

I am not privy to what the power company investigators, the state police, and the sheriffs department knows. All I know is that none of it is showing up in the news. An interesting comment this morning from one of the foreman was 'they'll get most of their money back.'

I know that when I take a load of scrap to the local recyclers now-a-days, I've got to provide a lot of identification, traceability, and signatures for whatever I bring in - like dead refrigerators, old machinery, etc.

So, to finally get to my point, even being a fairly vigilant full-time resident, these kinds of thefts are occurring. Many evenings after dark I take a ride out to the main road, or down the powerlines right-of-way, or over trails around the perimeter of our property. It may help, but ...

Meth has not come on strong here in the east. It is scattered in pockets. Usually someone who is a meth head moves into the area from the west and brings the habit with them and then spreads it to associates. Oxycodone also known as Hill Billy Heroin in WV is very big as are most other strong prescription pain killers. You still see a good bit of heroin and crack cocain. The rich kids love their MDMA/Exstacy and don't forget PCP/acid. Oh this world is full of all kinds of wonderful illicit drugs and the users who commit all kinds of criminal acts to purchase them...

As I read this, I was thinking you've got to have one of the worst patrol areas in your county -- until I got to the part about the rich kids. Then I remembered reading an article a while back that really stuck with me. I forget the numbers, but the percentage is extremely high of drug overdose, whenever you see the obit of someone under 40 who 'died unexpectedly.'

So far this year in Tennessee there have been `925 roadway fatalities-and 1085 deaths from accidental OD with narcotics.

Local TV station had an expose on docs who set up pain clinics, one of the worst offenders was charging $330/visit, cash only, and taking in $8-10k/PER DAY.

Cat:

Was your stuff stolen or the power companies stuff stolen a few days ago?

Thankfully, the metal belonged to the power company. I wouldn't have even known about it, except I heard noise out near the county road where they are building one of the new towers on my property. It is nearly a half-mile from where I was out back cutting firewood.

I was using my UTV where I was cutting, so I took it out to a hill on the right-of-way and saw headlights. I left the UTV headlights shining toward that area. The other headlights came through the fenced and locked gate and stayed there for a while. Then they slowly drove up toward me. I wasn't too worried, because they had to make it through a second locked gate on my property.

They said they were just finishing up at another nearby tower when they heard metal clanging, and drove to this site. It wasn't until the next morning that they found how much was actually stolen.

I certainly have my suspicions, as there aren't many ways to get a truck, trailer, or UTV to this area without going through a property adjacent to mine, or through one of my locked gates. I've found number of "boned-out" deer carcasses on that part of my property, and I can only guess where they are coming from. Anyway, I'll let the power company investigators and state police figure it out.

But, it just goes to show that people are really bold in trying to steal this stuff. This happened within 25 feet of the edge of a county road.

Buzzworth, what brand of cameras and recorder did you go with? There seem to so many different kinds and various levels of quality. It gets a mite confusing for some of us.

A few weeks ago I read about a home North of Mabank, Tx that was literally cleaned out by the bad guys. They took everything, furniture, appliances, the kitchen sink, electrical wiring from the walls, a/c. If they have time, they can steal everything.

whoaaa now that is scary!

in Dallas a couple of years ago thieves were going in McMansions that were having an "open house" with no realtor on-site and stealing the big ovens and fridges. They would just tell visitors they worked for the builder and were changing out some appliances.

Bushwacker.....I found a complete set that suited my needs from these folks:
http://www.zmodo.com/complete-security-kits.html
and then looked around online to find an outlet with the best deal. I have 2 different setups in different areas of my property so the needs vary. I put the dvr in a secure location (safe) so that even if the power is cut the cameras would catch the culprits before that happens.
They have a pretty good resolution even in the dark. The first setup was purchased on a Groupon deal and was half price.
If someone sees that you have security cameras, it seems word gets around which is also a great side effect.

Bussworth, Thank you for the info. Does your setup allow viewing of the cameras over the internet?

yes, it does. I have not set up that feature yet. I will have cable service there soon and will initiate so I can keep an "eye" on things when away.

when i was walking on the backside of my property this weekend i found a pepsi bottle...not only do they trespass, they even leave behind their garbage

Bussworth, how far away can you run cable to the cameras?

Zep, leaving their trash that would really tick me off. It is amazing how some people seem to believe that your property is there for their use.

Bushwacker I can't remember if I already related this story. I know a guy that bought some land up near Gainesville, Texas to hunt on....so one day he is out there and some guy comes walking up in camo and says he was trailing a wounded deer. The guy didn't know my friend's family was the new owner and just thought he was hunting the land too. The guy told my friend "yeah I been hunting out here for years....these city folks buy land out here and think they own the place". That's their logic...as if someone that purchases the land "doesnt really own it"....they think they have more legit claim to be on it since "they've always hunted it". It's all about "re-educating" them....hopefully they get the message in a diplomatic way. As one piece of the puzzle, I placed a few of these back in our botton-land last weekend.

The units I have come with 50 ft cable sets for the cameras. but they have some now that are wireless. Go to the website and look around. The technology has changed alot over the past few years.

Zep, that is a very good idea that I had not thought about. I knew that it is important to have trespassing signs up or you are unable to prosecute for trespassing. In Texas trespassing it actually takes 2 offenses before the law can take any action and the property must be marked.

Buzzworth, I appreciate your help. Your right about the technology changing. People use to come to me for computer help - now I run away when they come around; can't keep up with all these changes.

This has been a real sore point with me for most of my 65 years. Except for my Navy years, I've always lived in rural areas.

I've heard all the stories of why someone should be on my property. My cousin has a whole garage full of tree stands from their farm.

Where we live now, and at our previous homestead, we've had issues with trespassers on rights-of-way crossing our properties. We live close enough to Washington DC and Baltimore to have many people with weekend homes in our area.

Most are great people who are welcomed into the community. Because they are here on weekends and holidays, they become active in our community activities, rather than where they live during the week. Many decide this is such a great place to live, they move here permanently and become wonderful neighbors.

Unfortunately, there are those who cause nothing but problems. They come in with trailers filled with ATVs they feel can ridden on places like the rights-of-way that cross our properties.

One of the worst instances happened about two years ago, when a bunch of ATVers terrorized our neighbor's horses, circling and shooting the horses repeatedly with paint balls, while destroying the pasture by riding around and around.

My UTV, tractor, and truck are never without a baseball bat or mattock handle. This time of year, I usually carry a shotgun on the UTV and tractor -- and if I'm not going into town, the truck is equipped with a shotgun.

I'm seldom without my cell phone. As soon as I confront them, I dial 911, whether they may cause problems, or not. I've confronted, and backed down, as many as about 20 of these a**holes before the deputies have arrived. None have come back.

Each year I've had fewer and fewer trespassers and poachers.

One last thing -- in the last year, a lot of wireless low-powered and low-cost Internet and cell services have become available. They can be used to monitor your property using a low cost solar panel, inexpensive IP cameras, and other sensors compatible with these units.

My telephone, Internet, and TV are now completely "off the grid." Best of all, it provides better service at less than half the cost of what we had not long ago.

Ken, trespassers have recently been messing with my game cams by pulling the SD cards. They also found where I hide my 4 wheelers and uncovered one of them. Most of this is close to my house. He/she/they don't seem to mind that they are leaving notice that they have been there. If I did something like that, I would try to assure that nobody knew what I was doing.

Now, I have a hidden game cam by the entrance to try to identify them. We don't have a lot of tourists or visitors. However, there is an awful lot of natural gas drilling and pipelining going on around us.

Dave, you might want to consider setting up a camera to capture license plates numbers. I use a web site called publicdata.com that allows me to see who is the owner of the vehicle. Once I have the owner's name it is possible to search for criminal backgrounds. We are seeing about 1 in 3 vehicles that come down our road have owners that have problems with the law.

Dave....just curious.

How are they getting in?

Are they parking at the gate,
hopping the fence and walking in
or are they driving in?

I'm assuming that they are stopping at the gate, climbing it, and walking in.

Larry, thanks for that site.

The cam has been set for a couple of weeks and no pics yet. Well, lots of windy day pics.