Stopping a tree poacher

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They don’t tape trees here they paint the tree eye level and bottom. Where the paint ends that’s your lot to cut.
 
If they are marking trees and accessing your lot through your neighbors, there is also a possibility they have an arrangement with your neighbor and simply misjudged the property lines. I can't believe you haven't contacted the neighbor as a first step.
Yes, I'm trying, the neighbor is not very accessible, I've got a call in with the property owner but am not getting replies. There's a previously cut logging trail that I assume they're using - the only path I see for sure where there has been a vehicle is only on my property, right down my sort of "driveway" area where I have an official curb cut and a gentle enough slope to drive a 4wd, and no trees along the edge. I'm going up again but I really only get there a couple times a year.
 
Another point:

If they are marking the trees with tape they may be cutting for logs of high value.

The owner should look and see if chainsaw chips on the ground are piled in firewood spacings, or if they are piled in log length spacings.
I was thinking is there any way I could sabotage the wood without killing the tree, so they can't get a good log out of it (I don't want logs, I want trees)
 
Step one is getting off your keister and going to the property to look around, put 2-3 cameras up and no trespass signs if your after criminal prosecution. If you just want to send a weak message then go there a couple days in a row and make it a point to talk with all the surrounding neighbors about your problem or just sell the lot. Personally I'd make it a point to catch people on the property and prosecute the assisting neighbor if they are cutting healthy trees down. Around here I have been known to cut down dead trees, broken leaners, blown overs hung in other trees, trees down etc on other surrounding lots because people or property will get hurt/damaged at some point and I cut it up and remove it if it is viable wood. I do not touch healthy trees but keeping dead trees removed helps keep bears from sticking around to forage for grubs/beetles and removes the cover to hide in to sleep. I would not be surprised if the other properties around yours are not being poached as well, might e worth a peek to reach out to other land owners.
Yep, this is the first time I've been able to go up (it's 41/2 hours away and couldn't get a hotel room cuz of covid, yadda yadda, you know the story)
So goin up again in a bit, doing my planning and plotting now. I do sit on my keister quite a bit though.
Neighbors are not super helpful, sadly, but I'll get what I can out of them. They don't really talk to "others" and kind of look at you sidelong when you want to say hi. I invited a guy onto my property to talk and he refused to come off the road, because he didn't want to trespass. You get the idea.
Anyways, will try all these things, you folks are really helpful here. I'm not so concerned about catching the guy except I don't want my trees taken down so I might have to get aggressively legalistic at some point.

Thanks.
 
there's plenty of remote cameras available - I'm thinking maybe of subscribing to a drone guard service for the property...

Have you filed a police report?

If tracks lead to your neighbors property that would be some pretty damning evidence.

Theft could easily exceed $1,000 making it pretty serious.
 
I would say step one is to post no trespassing signs and clearly mark your property boundaries... if you do have a curb cut 2 t posts and a chain with a no trespassing sign will make crossing that a criminal offense.
Yes....how big is the property? Are all of the property lines marked? If not, make arrangements to mark those. Paint on trees along the line (every 50-75') is a good way to do that. I strongly recommend Nelson tree marking paint. https://nelsonpaint.com/aero-spot/

Depending on where you are, some states have a "purple paint" law where purple paint means no trespassing. https://nelsonpaint.com/no-tresspass-purple-aero-spot/
 

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