Firewood thieves...gonna be a bad year

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
The last time I called the law they acted like the thief was doing me a favor.
Nonchalauntly " It was just some wood. Why are we here?"
Was so mad at that point I was ready to set him on his butt.

The same reason it is just some candy from a store.
#### , you useless waste of skin and get off my property.

It wasn't the idea that I didn't have it anymore. If you want my help ask me in person don't just take it because I have more than you do. I have it because I worked for it.
 
I would be definately filling a few select pieces of wood with a nice wad of Black powder if it is that common.
Consequences bedamned. Who cares if the thief is injured or dead, they are pretty much a parasite anyway so whats the issue?
and where does it stop? today a bit of wood, tomorrow a car?
 
The last time I called the law they acted like the thief was doing me a favor.
Nonchalauntly " It was just some wood. Why are we here?"

That is not right at all! Obviously there was no appreciation for the hard work you did for your wood. :mad:

Kevin
 
this past weekend I was at the father in laws cabin and he has been missing a few trunkloads of wood as the kids like to "borrow" some for there campfires..
... so I called the police and showed them our pile of painted wood and they had to return the wood and leave the park.

they also got a $200 dollar mischif ticket .

At least the cops will know where to go when your F-I-Ls cabin gets vandalized.
 
How about a couple of bee hives next to the pile and a sign “danger bees” People see to white boxes and all of a sudden it just too much trouble for a couple of pieces of wood.
 
this past weekend I was at the father in laws cabin and he has been missing a few trunkloads of wood as the kids like to "borrow" some for there campfires..

As I was driving down his road I saw a car ahead and as they passed i saw there trunk open and some wood piled in !!
I turned around and followed them to there site and got out and asked where they got the wood and they said they brought it from home and that I should mind my own business and f off!!!!!!!
now this is where is all gets better as the wood all had yellow paint on it from me painting the ends of the stacked pile as a way to stop them from taking it.
I said they have 2 choices .
1 they can hand over $50 bucks or 2 I can call the park police and charge them with theft !!
they said all cocky that I have tp prove it so I called the police and showed them our pile of painted wood and they had to return the wood and leave the park.

they also got a $200 dollar mischif ticket .

so paint your wood with some old paint and you can at least prove it's yours.



Amazing that these clowns had the arrogance to be smart-ass with you when you and they both knew that they stole it; no remorse at all, huh? That's pretty bad....
 
The last time I called the law they acted like the thief was doing me a favor.
Nonchalauntly " It was just some wood. Why are we here?"
Was so mad at that point I was ready to set him on his butt.

The same reason it is just some candy from a store.
#### , you useless waste of skin and get off my property.

It wasn't the idea that I didn't have it anymore. If you want my help ask me in person don't just take it because I have more than you do. I have it because I worked for it.

Reminds me of a story when I was still living in Tulsa. I used to take my dog to a park for a swim every Sunday. There is a sign that says no dogs off leash, but everybody takes their dog to the park to swim. Anyway, there was a cop on a hill about 1/4 mile away and as soon as I let my dog off the leash to swim, he drove his cruiser through the park grass to tell me to get him on a leash. I say fine and proceed to sit at the side of the pond with my dog on leash and decide to wait till he leaves. Well 2.5 hours later he is still on his hill watching me, and I say screw it and leave. The minute I get up to walk away, he drives off. Pissed me off the best thing he had to do was watch me and make sure my dog was on his leash, when he could have been out catching drug dealers, firewood thieves or whatever...
 
this past weekend I was at the father in laws cabin and he has been missing a few trunkloads of wood as the kids like to "borrow" some for there campfires..

As I was driving down his road I saw a car ahead and as they passed i saw there trunk open and some wood piled in !!
I turned around and followed them to there site and got out and asked where they got the wood and they said they brought it from home and that I should mind my own business and f off!!!!!!!
now this is where is all gets better as the wood all had yellow paint on it from me painting the ends of the stacked pile as a way to stop them from taking it.
I said they have 2 choices .
1 they can hand over $50 bucks or 2 I can call the park police and charge them with theft !!
they said all cocky that I have tp prove it so I called the police and showed them our pile of painted wood and they had to return the wood and leave the park.

they also got a $200 dollar mischif ticket .

so paint your wood with some old paint and you can at least prove it's yours.

GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!
nothing makes me more happy than for someone to stick it to a bunch of thieves! Im glad you caught them, and most important made them pay the price for stealing!
 
I cut up about a cord of ash that I couldn't carry on the pickup and trailer, so I stacked it in the woods in a very rural North Dakota area. Left it there all winter and figured I would pick it up when spring or summer came when I came back to cut more wood from there.

Well, the good news was that even though you could see it from the road(100 yards), nobody took it. But.....the bad news is that my FIL decided to burn the woods so I could get to my wood better. That ash sure burned nice. There was only a few charred pieces left. I don't blame my FIL. He sure felt bad about it.

Nice to know that I could leave wood in the open up here if I needed to.
 
Well, I'll throw this story in before supper. Get this:

Last year a "friend" of mine offered to store five truckloads of big mixed hardwood rounds that I had cut up, provided he could split a truckload for himself. I agreed and said that it might be a cold winter and that would be our reserve. And, by early spring, it would be nicely seasoned and ready to burn.

Lo and behold, I was running out of dry wood last March and called him up and asked if we could tap the reserve and split a couple of loads to get through the winter.

Here's what he said: "Well, Edwin, I was running a little short on cash, so last month I split all that wood and sold it to a farmer about 30 miles north of here. It's all gone. I'm sure you can find some more somewhere." :censored:

Is that lazy POS still your friend?
 
Is that lazy POS still your friend?
Nope. Haven't seen him in a year. If I did, LOML would divorce me, and I can't afford that.

B-E, that was the worst ripoff (betrayal?) I have ever experienced in all my days of wood cutting. It's unheard of around here for someone to do that, but it happened. Somebody said, "Big Al" must have warped his mind. Poppycock! :censored:

The guy he sold it to must have made at least three trips with a truck and a trailer. Believe me, it was a bunch of wood piled up, and all was seasoned. I have a new buddy this year who's volunteering to help store. Here's a sign I made and put on a stake next to the logs:
DogWarningSign.gif
 
Last edited:
Nice !!!

this past weekend I was at the father in laws cabin and he has been missing a few trunkloads of wood as the kids like to "borrow" some for there campfires..

As I was driving down his road I saw a car ahead and as they passed i saw there trunk open and some wood piled in !!
I turned around and followed them to there site and got out and asked where they got the wood and they said they brought it from home and that I should mind my own business and f off!!!!!!!
now this is where is all gets better as the wood all had yellow paint on it from me painting the ends of the stacked pile as a way to stop them from taking it.
I said they have 2 choices .
1 they can hand over $50 bucks or 2 I can call the park police and charge them with theft !!
they said all cocky that I have tp prove it so I called the police and showed them our pile of painted wood and they had to return the wood and leave the park.

they also got a $200 dollar mischif ticket .

so paint your wood with some old paint and you can at least prove it's yours.

Good for you BUT, you should have NEVER given them the option of paying for it after the way they spoke to you....next time just call the cops. It might also help you out to get aquainted with the park police. If the police know you (bring some coffee by once in a while) they will remember you as the guy with the yellow painted wood and will be more likely to see if your wood is being stolen.
 
this past weekend I was at the father in laws cabin and he has been missing a few trunkloads of wood as the kids like to "borrow" some for there campfires..

As I was driving down his road I saw a car ahead and as they passed i saw there trunk open and some wood piled in !!
I turned around and followed them to there site and got out and asked where they got the wood and they said they brought it from home and that I should mind my own business and f off!!!!!!!
now this is where is all gets better as the wood all had yellow paint on it from me painting the ends of the stacked pile as a way to stop them from taking it.
I said they have 2 choices .
1 they can hand over $50 bucks or 2 I can call the park police and charge them with theft !!
they said all cocky that I have tp prove it so I called the police and showed them our pile of painted wood and they had to return the wood and leave the park.

they also got a $200 dollar mischif ticket .

so paint your wood with some old paint and you can at least prove it's yours.


Good idea, painting the ends, taking it one step further, paint the ends that face into the stack and are not immediately visible. Since most crime occurs after dark, they won't know its there, and will make a better breadcrumb for the authorities, or if put out a public notice of stolen wood marked with said color on the ends. Get the community involved in the shaming of the thieves.

If you split your wood with a powered splitter, weld a pattern on your push/foot plate, thereby "branding" your wood.

Prevention is the key if possible, if someone elses pile looks easier they will move on. A game camera really sounds like the most incriminating method, and other than a few dollars, helps keep the blood pressure down as well.
 
The worst part about people stealing wood is not the loss of the wood. It is bad to lose wood but if somebody happens to catch them in the act they could hurt or kill that person. Thieves have no honor.
 
What with the price of oil I'd say our firewood is of much more value this winter. So if you have nice seasoned timber for this burning season I'd say keep it in your yard.

Its sad fact but some people will be under a lot of financial pressure and may do things that they might not ordinarily do, so don't put temptation in their way. Desperate times call for desperate measaures. :(

Cheers

:)
 
haven't read all the forums but...

what I'd do is take a large drill bit, like one used in concrete, inch or better, take a fat piece of firewood. make sure the bit is long, at least a foot or so, drill in the piece of wood long ways, fill it to the brim with black powder, gun powder, whatever, get some wood putty, put over the hole and sand it even to look natural. have it sitting all nice and pretty easily accessible by the crooks. You'll find out who the locals are when the fire department gets dispatched to a house fire and the chimney is separated from the house. PS I'm really not that cold hearted, just thought it would teach a lesson. sure i'll catch a bad rep from that one
 
well i personally think they deserve what they get. whos to say if any random log in the pile has powder in it? as far as you know you knew nothing about it and maybe someone was trying to get you with it. so good thing that guy was stealing wood or that coulda been your house lol!
 
This hadn't ever crossed my mind yet.

I'll likely never catch them at night. But there's 5 guys living in one house. (We're in college...so between work schedules, class schedules, and social lives there are very few hours when one of us isn't up and milling around.)

I'm a bowhunter. I can see my pile from my upstairs bedroom. (Truth be told I've "harvested" a few squirrels from the window on lazy afternoons.)

I think a 435gr arrow scooting about 270 feet per second would make a pretty good thump into my woodpile. And any suspect would quickly see where it came from. (About a 40 yard shot...could likely pick which log I want to thump as long as I'm awake enough to keep my eyes straight.)



Now, I finally have an excuse to rig up one of those flaming arrows Hollywood loves so much. Problem is....how long before my whole pile goes up in flames???

In reality, we live in a pretty good neighborhood, the two neighbors who can see my pile from their property are doing just fine financially and you can't really see it from the road even though it's only a 80yard shot.

Have a dog, but she sleeps in my room, and she's a 7yo chessie. Fabulous pet, perfect companion breed...not so much the guard dog. She'll put herself between you and a threat...but that's it. Her gray old muzzle isn't going to "CHASE" anything. (She was bred heavily by previous owner...acts/looks much older than she is.)

Ah well, I suppose I'll cross this bridge when I have to. Hope you guys with larger piles have good luck this year. Like most I bet this year will be rough.
 
Maybe if I knew who was stealing it. But not knowing who is going to be putting it in the fire ? nah

I like the idea of putting some of the rottenest smelling wood in the pile so his ol'lady slaps the dog snot outa him for bringing it in the house and setting it afire. I might never find out who it was but he will sure remember to stay out'a that pile.
 
I think if I saw and caught someone stealing my birch I would unload it with my front end loader.

If I was in a good mood I may even tip the truck back over so they could drive it home!!!
 
Back
Top