Why do hunter's need to steal?

powdergun said:
WE are seeing a generation raised by the "Me first " mentality. We've been through 20 plus years of telling every kid that they can have everything they want and that life is about taking care of what you want because it may hurt your precious self esteem. When I was raised it was always about others and respecting them first. What followed was the complete opposite.

We have an entire generation where a large proportion ( not all obviously) see nothing wrong with taking a tree stand or a camera out in the woods. I want that and I'll just take it. There is zero consideration that it may be someone elses and the owner may not appreciate it being taken. In my profession I often deal with young people who deliberately tell false hoods in order to further their own agenda. I have been told that I cannot call them a liar because that will hurt their feelings and it is too harsh:mad: I my day getting caught lying or worse yet taking something got you a bit more than being called a liar.

I know that it may be generalizing a bit with regards to who might be doing this but I'll bet the odds are that the thief is not in his/her late thirties or older. I'm sure the CGNr's out their who fall into that younger demographic will probably crap all over me but that is fine. If it makes you angry it is probably because you actually have character and resent being placed into a group with other idiots and for that I do apologize.

However, I have witnessed hundreds of people in that age group grow up and I can honestly say there has been a deterioration of character in that population in general. I'm afraid that missing tree stands will be the tip of the iceberg.
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I grew up in the transitional years. litraly my class was the last year to get the old school criteria and mentality, and the first to get the everyones a winner BS. Bit of a nightmare, almost every class had two text books, new and old, double standards (you can hard fail as a normal student, but they help the born losers pass).
What i knowticed is that most kids below me were #### disturbing Aholes that had no respect for the the teachers, school or each other. This generation stuck it out because it was almost imposible to fail; all you had to do was claim either a learning disabilty, issues at home, or another reason off the 10 mile long BS list of excuses and they passed you for showing up. However, with the kids in the grades above me... the dead beats and people with issues with the system just dropped out and got jobs... or welfare checks.
Out in the work force I see the same issues. Younger Guys showing up for the paycheck and bearly putting in the work required. Just coasting through life. Where as the people from my class and up tend to be more motivated, work orientated, get it done kind of people. Civvy side i have had to tell young guys on the crew to go home and not come back, completly confused they would ask "why" and telling them that "part of working is actualy working not texting, especialy the first week on the job" makes them get mad and they through a hissy fit, and attempt in one case, damage other peoples personal equipment on the way out the door (and when it got doced off his check he tried to sue)
this mentality seems to carry over into the treatment of peoples property, personal and work related. I see so many guys just 2 or 3 years younger then me that just abuse neglect or steal property... because "its not my money" or "insurance will cover it" or the best one I have heard "he doesn't deserve to have it". As long as nobody is looking its ok and they're arn't consequence to their actions. i relize their are people like that from every generation... but not in the numbers you see today.
Manners? I see 8-12 year old telling their parents to "#### off" and "shut up" at the grociery store.... and the mother doesn't even quip back, she actualy shuts up and gives in. When did this become ok? If it had only happened once or twice i might let it slide, but almost everytime i pass a young family in the store and catch a minute of there conversation its the same sad story... kid being a #### disturber, parent giving the "quite, stern, try not to bring attention to the situation" voice, and the kid either wining till he gets his way or just lipping off the parent and the parent actualy taking it.
When I was a kid I would have gotten a slap on the back of the head for that kind of behavior and a week in my room... and if i disobeyed with the punshment givien I got the wooden spoon.

Basicly it boils down to never trusting anything left out of sight, especialy in the woods , and having to be ready to 'rick roll' somebody to actualy get money out of a person for damaging your property through carless action.
 
There is no nice way to say it, there is something about hunting that attracts marginal people that just don't get it.

Ask any land owner, they will tell you all kinds of stories of the problems they have had. I live in an area with good deer action, but not a lot of willing lanowners because there are a lot of homes about. They all complain about poachers and how they have to police their land during hunting season and especially Novemeber. To clarify, the big problem is spotlighting.

I can't count how many times I have seen people spotlighting fields in the early morning before legal light on my way to work.

The truth is, there are more douchbags out there than anyone wants to admit.
 
Is it the parents that are becoming leniant with their children or is it working more hours to pay more taxes and higher living costs while making a smaller paycheck that leads to not having enough time to teach their children basic beliefs and values. Me and my wife (who is the hardest working generation "Y" stay at home mom you will ever meet, we are both born mid 80's) have personally raised single parent children in our own home while the mom or dad or both are working 14+ hours/day and coming home on weekends while trying to find love again. Its very sad to watch these children resort to violence at school and general bad behaviour for the SOLE reason that they know if they get in enough trouble their parents will come to see them. We have to realize that there are MANY variables that leads to generations becoming the way they are. On a side note stealing other peoples property is horrible and it happens. We have had people break into hunting camps and leave notes saying they were lost and left a number to replace the window and other times when there was no note.
 
riden said:
There is no nice way to say it, there is something about hunting that attracts marginal people that just don't get it.

The truth is, there are more douchbags out there than anyone wants to admit.
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well said. this year I saw guys actualy rolling around technical style "hunting" off the roof of their trucks. given the fact some of these guys rolled by after leagal light, wow just wow.

biggest douche bag move of the year though in my book goes to the property owner who put a fence over the road leading into the "natrual area" (alberta crown land areas set aside for recreational use including hunting) just north of me. guess he was sick of quaders and hunters operating around his land so he blocked it off at the end of the regularly maintained part of range road with a tempary steel gate chained in place. Even had a big sign saying "NO HUNTING OR 4X4!" strapped to it.
 
I think that most hunters would not steal, especially from another hunter, however thieves come in all denominations.
The reason it is becoming so common place is there is nothing done to them if caught. Their only risk is if they happen to get caught in the act by a very large and angry owner. And quess who would be charged if one should apply some justice on the spot.
 
Treestands and cameras have been disappearing around here at an alarming rate too. I have a double ladder stand I didn't bother to put up this year and a new hang on and climbing sticks sitting in the garage and I'm scared to take it to the woods.

I don't feel that the "young people" thing flies around here. There are no young hunters, or very few that I have seen and those that are out there are because a dedicated older hunter mentored them and these are not the people doing this.

In N.S. I would say the stealing is by people 40-60 years old, that's my gut feeling and that's also the only ones I see in the woods.


I just checked the local Kijiji tonight to see how many treestands were on there, only one. What do you guys think is a good way to mark them? Paint, weld, etc? My trail cameras I use a knife and carve my name and phone # on the inside plastic. Easy to grind off I know but anyone buying it will know something is up.

Password protection for game cameras is best but it seems to be an uncommon feature.
 
My old man raised me with the beliefs, you steal, I'll cut your phuching fingers off.
No chit. So I was raised that everyones honest.
Needless to say, I learned other's ways of business.
A handshake was just a way of passing germs.
Stealing is taking others possessions and there ain't no shame in
stealing from a crook.
More'in one way to skin a cat............n'other ole man's terms........... :)
 
straightshooter said:
Duct tape 'em naked to a tree and leave a note on their truck as to the 1/4 section were they can be found. By the time their friends find them, they should have learned their lesson.;) (if only we could)
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I say cut a couple of the screws on the steps in half and let them find out the hard way that there's a booby trap!
 
if i caught someone on privite proterty stealing or hunting,dumping he would be in handcuffs and in a jail cell faster then he knew it

when i buy my farm theres going to be signs every 10 yards round the perimeter and me on a atv twice a day (with a shotgun just in case you never know )
 
Big Game said:
So I got off work early today and figured I'd go climb into one of my treestands for a couple of hours. I hike into my spot and lo and behold my stand is gone! The thieves missed two steps up in the tree but took the others, cut my cable lock and took the stand. Third one to be swiped now. Why is it that some hunter's have no respect for others, and feel the need to pilfer their equipment? I'm so friggin pissed off I don't know what I'd actually do if I caught one of these little pricks in the act.
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Hunters do not need to steal they WANT to steal , and they are not really hunters IMO but the lowest form of life on this planet
They stole my sons' and his partners' tree stands this fall as well, cut the cables and took everything.'The must have been prepared becausee he had taken the ladder with him.
Cat
 
catnthehatt said:
Hunters do not need to steal they WANT to steal , and they are not really hunters IMO but the lowest form of life on this planet
They stole my sons' and his partners' tree stands this fall as well, cut the cables and took everything.'The must have been prepared becausee he had taken the ladder with him.
Cat
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The treestand was just the latest casualty for me. It started in October when we flew into our moose camp only to discover that someone had stolen our boat, paddles for the canoe, some miscellaneous gear and then topped it off by ramming rotten fish carcasses into our storage barrels for our camp tarps. The whole works stunk like rotten fish, we were lucky we'd brought some spare tarps or we wouldn't have had a roof over our heads. oh yeah and they left us their blood smeared boat with the big hole in the floor and no plug!
 
bearkilr said:
Perhaps use, but not taking/removal. If you park your car with keys in it on public property, is it open for use by anyone?
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First, I was responding to the idea of booby trapping your stand on public property.

I have sat in several "PERMANEANT" stands on public property that I didn't build or own. I don't think I am in the wrong at all.

I have left my stand on private property before, but if I left it on public property, I think others can use it when you aren't there.
 
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