Crime Doesn't Pay

[svk]

We do have electric, and indoor plumbing added over the years. But no landline phone, no cell coverage, no cable delivery to this area, and we do not have a satellite receiver. We could have hung one of my game cams up on a porch post, or even better, on the chimney. But we didn't. Might be an idea for the future.

Even non working ones will help deter.

I have an old 35mm game camera. Was thinking about hanging that in my driveway and then putting a newer one further back to see if anyone tried to steal the old one.

 

[101mph]

It's a shame that in a place like that you have to even consider the security system being talked about. I'm in a similar situation as you (cottage several hours away) and I have all of my wood split and stacked close to the road coming into our place (you can see it all plain as day when driving by).

Fortunately all of my neighbors are really nice people and any other folks who would go down the road haven't given me any problems (knocking on wood big time right now). I hope I never have an issue like you've just had.

Glad it all worked out for you though.

 

[olyman]

Even non working ones will help deter.

I have an old 35mm game camera. Was thinking about hanging that in my driveway and then putting a newer one further back to see if anyone tried to steal the old one.

did yah se one of the latest swamp people episodes?? the one where troy and his bro, put up the game camera, for a thief...thief found it,, pulled the card,, then shot the camera up.. you can bet,, if that is for real, mr landry will get em... louisana style.......

 

[svk]

did yah se one of the latest swamp people episodes?? the one where troy and his bro, put up the game camera, for a thief...thief found it,, pulled the card,, then shot the camera up.. you can bet,, if that is for real, mr landry will get em... louisana style.......

One of my former coworkers found someone else's game camera on his property. Snuck up behind it and took the chip. Loaded it full of pictures of elephants, giraffes, etc. LOL

I would have just taken the camera and left a no trespassing sign in it's place.

 

[svk]

I'm lucky as my nearest neighbor's at the cabin are up a hill behind me with full view of my driveway and yard up to the garage. I only talk to the husband a couple times a year and despite them living there for almost 10 years, wouldn't know the wife if she walked in the door (she apparently lives a very private life). But the perception is they have an eagle eye view of our yard.

My hunting cabin is much more rural. But one of our "neighbors" is retired and is always puttering up there. And one local guy who lives a couple miles away thinks he owns the entire forest so if someone makes it back that far and they aren't a guest at one of the cabins he will literally tell them to get the H out of there.

 

[Dirtboy]

Nice cabin and set up you have there. I don't hunt but it looks like a great place to spend some time and relax-unconnected from the rest of the world.

 

[chucker]

Even non working ones will help deter.

I have an old 35mm game camera. Was thinking about hanging that in my driveway and then putting a newer one further back to see if anyone tried to steal the old one.

can we say, "redundancy"....

 

[benp]

When using a grapple, especially with large logs and a tiny machine, keep the quick tach plate verticle. The way you guys tried was a good way to tip it on its nose.

I actually agree with ValleyFirewood on this.

Let the grapple do what it supposed to do.

Come in underneath with the grapple then let the tongs bear down for holding force then pick up.

Sadly, a few locals to the Northern Tier of PA (and it wouldn't surprise me if many other places too) have taken advantage of the fact there are so many camps and cabins where owners aren't present for many weeks at a time. That's why we don't split far ahead, we've had firewood stolen several times in the past. That's also why there are solid shutters for all the doors and windows on our cabin.

They know the chance of being caught is very slim, and, even worse, without conscience, they know they will have a chance to extract property revenge if they do.

FWIW, last winter at the Jersey shore resort towns gangs were breaking into summer homes and rentals and stealing flat screen tv's, knowing the thefts likely wouldn't be discovered for weeks and the TV could be pawned or CL sold before then. It's kind of a different world than when we built the cabin (well, in our case, our fathers built the cabin) in 1949.

But, and this is the most important part of the lesson: There are plenty of great neighbors there too, and without the organization of a neighborhood watch, we look out for each other and often get the "mountain justice" everyone deserves.

Its not just your neighborhood.

There's people up here ballsy enough to cut out of the loggers load out piles. I was like WTF is this sh!T!!!!!

I call the company whose it is and of course now I am the local bad guy. F!ck those free loading f!ckers.

Dude been in a tops pile off to the side......pffft fine....but not the DANG processed wood to go down the road.

I disagree. Rolling the grapple down like he did shifts the center of gravity closer to the center of the machine and made it more stable. He nearly tried what you suggested and realized the load caused the rear of the machine to lift so he did the proper thing and brought the load closer to the machine. Your argument is flawed. Besides, the whole thing is only 6-10 inches of the ground, does it really matter? The machines isn't going over very far.

He's actually right. Its all about the dynamics of the machine. Breakout force is calculated with the bucket parallel which equates to the plate being perpendicular to the the ground.

I've have seen quite a few Oh...this..aint...gonna....be...good....loads moved with a skidsteer and non of them were with the bucket perpendicular the ground.

Does it matter in that situation...not really. Could of it been done better...absolutely.

I was wondering the same thing while watching the video. Get under it then lift it up and not pick it.

Just my worthless .02.

ETA - Since I am most likely talking out of my but I am going to show the neighbor the video to see what he says.

ETA#2 - He did nothing wrong. Neighbor said he would of did it the same way if it was to be cut on.

 

[zogger]

Persistent bugger, glad he got caught. Unfortunately, career skunks like that don't give up.
They will work harder at being thieves than what it would take to just work honest.

 

[cantoo]

Not the way I would have done it either. I would have taken the grapple off and chained it to my quick plate and moved it. In this case he just had too much weight for the conditions. I have a big grapple and very seldom use it. Stump on back hoe in 1st pic and tree on forks in 2nd pic. My forks with home made grapple arms are several 1oo lbs lighter.

 

[unclemoustache]

Glad the jerk was caught. What gets my dander up is that you have to actually post a 'no trespassing' sign to have legal standing against trespassers. How stupid is that?!?

 

[Jere39]

Thanks for all the comments. FWIW, it's not my Bobcat, it's not me operating it, and, I have no practice, skills, nor opportunity to operate one. So, I really do appreciate all the comments, but the debate over grapple use technique is beyond my experience.

 

[Marshy]

Thanks for all the comments. FWIW, it's not my Bobcat, it's not me operating it, and, I have no practice, skills, nor opportunity to operate one. So, I really do appreciate all the comments, but the debate over grapple use technique is beyond my experience.

For the sake of not destroying your thread I'll agree to disagree with any additional comments regarding it.

 

[GVS]

I'm wondering if the guy might have some mental disorder or other. That is not normal behavior.

Criminal behavior isn't considered normal, mental disorder or not.This guy should have been required to return the wood he had already stolen.
If a person is on property he doesn't own without the owners permission ,he is trespassing,signs or no signs.

 

[chucker]

"timber lore justice" lf he get's hit along side the head with a wild piece of split wood during, well??, justice severed!

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

I'm glad it was resolved in such a way that you were at least made 'whole' in the eyes of the law.

Your camp looks really familar. What part of PA is it in?

 

[Jere39]

I'm glad it was resolved in such a way that you were at least made 'whole' in the eyes of the law.

Your camp looks really familar. What part of PA is it in?

Probably hundreds like it, but this one sits on Rt 44, just over the top of Hyner Mt. It's in Lycoming county, but road out front is border with Clinton county.

 

[amberg]

Court means nothing to these kind of people, They have always done it and will continue to do it. ( until he runs into the right person ) only then will he be cured!!

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

Probably hundreds like it, but this one sits on Rt 44, just over the top of Hyner Mt. It's in Lycoming county, but road out front is border with Clinton county.

Yeah, lots of camps, especially in that area. Looks great.

 

[Jere39]

Back to the mountain cabin with a few friends to close out this chapter in a long history of adventure at our cabin.

Finally a few nice weather days, much drier turf, and a set of tracks on the Bobcat and we moved the last of our tree around back of our cabin where we stacked some of it, and I sawed up enough to refill our wood shed.



The Dolmar 6100 with the 24" Husqvarna bar had no real problem with this rather large red oak:

Then, switched to a bucket, and restored our front "lawn"

Then, we used the Bobcat to lift our "new to us" and reconditioned air tight stove from the back of the pick-up truck. We bought this stove with some of the compensation we received from our thief:

Figuring this stove would throw more heat than our old cook stove, we added an additional heat shield layer with 4" of additional air behind it:

Then set our new-to-us Old Mill stove in place, and reconfigured the stove pipe:

In spite of the fact that it was a warm couple days, we decided we really needed to test fire the stove and let the fire bricks, stove pipe, and paint season.

All in all, another very successful Spring work weekend on top of Hyner Mountain.

Best of all, we left the fire burn all night to prove it would, which meant we had to open all our windows to keep from roasting, and still it was a toasty weekend in our drafty cabin even on a 40° night.