Cabin/Property Security?

[Solar Burrito]

We've had 2 neighbors cabins and sheds get robbed recently 2 in 3 weeks. They we're totally cleaned out. Generators, solar stuff, dirt bikes, even shower curtains and soaps! The area is remote and off the grid also only property owners should have a key to a shared gate miles down at the bottom of the hill. One neighbor said he thought it would have taken 4 pickup truck loads to carry all the stuff out. I didn't talk to the other victem.

Any ideas how to secure property if you're not around to protect it? We have locks and a driveway chain but the neighbors that got hit hat gates and they obviously didn't work.

If I could make a gate that's REALLY secure I don't think the robbers would want to carry the stuff out 700'.

[MountainDon]

How secure / strong does a gate have to be if someone with a 1 ton 4x4 diesel pickup hooks a heavy duty chain onto it? Or maybe they have a 9500 winch and a pulley block? A good strong gate will help deter the less determined thief. It may also make someone more determined to get through. When the property is very remote it is very difficult to secure the property against the determined burglar. Also a chain is only good if it's harder/stronger than the thieves bolt cutter. Many locks open easily with a properly placed 45LC.

Locks and gates basically keep out the honest people and maybe the more lazy thieves. That's my opinion.

It's my belief that the gate may help. But the best I can hope for is for the game cameras to capture pictures of the thieves. A good camera or two could capture faces and vehicle plate numbers. As peternap once suggested a cheap or defunct "judas" camera placed as easy to find could also give the thieves a feeling of safety once they discover it. Photos are good evidence, but alas, "after the fact".

You could also build a concrete wall cabin with steel shutters over the windows and door.  

[Redoverfarm]

This is an older post but may have some good ideas


http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=5198.0

[JavaMan]

First, It's probably someone local.  Or, sadly, someone's kids that are into drugs or something like that.

If the gate hasn't been damaged they have to have a key - or someone is leaving it open.  Otherwise, you might try to put up a motion sensing camera (like a game camera) someplace that is hidden (otherwise, they'll steal that too).  Or put one up at the gate to record everyone coming and going.

[muldoon]

The fact that they made multiple trips, did not damage the gates indicates to me that the thief or thieves are absolutely local.  They knew they had plenty of time.  I would add the game camera, more specifically I would add 4 or 5, one or two of them obvious and 2 or 3 of them hidden and camoflagued. 

Over at chasing game they talk about using game cams for security, and if you check out the cammo jobs done in geocaching -- you'll be able to hide a camera even you wont see when you know its there. 

--
I agree that gates do very little to keep a determined theif out.  also remember that "boobytraps" are illegal. 

[MountainDon]

About the existing community gate lock.... Is it a single lock with shared keys or combination? I ask because there's a small development a few miles from us where our cabin is that uses a method I do not like. They use a chain through the gate with a part welded to a pole. Every landowner has their own lock and they are daisy chained with the chain section to complete the loop.

The problem with that is a smart thief will cut out a chain link and insert their own lock. With many different locks already there it would take a sharp eye to catch the change. Then the thief can come and go at will. I hope I don't give any of the wrong people bad ideas.


We use the single lock that has an armored shell to restrict bolt cutter access, much like the forest service uses. But you all know how much that slowed down the vandals at the forest gate this spring.

[Dallas2build]

I ask because there's a small development a few miles from us where our cabin is that uses a method I do not like. They use a chain through the gate with a part welded to a pole. Every landowner has their own lock and they are daisy chained with the chain section to complete the loop.

The problem with that is a smart thief will cut out a chain link and insert their own lock. With many different locks already there it would take a sharp eye to catch the change. Then the thief can come and go at will. I hope I don't give any of the wrong people bad ideas.

This sounds like a real nightmare of an approach.  Someone needs to organize and have multiple keys made for a lock and hand them out.

[Solar Burrito]

It's a single keyed lock similar to the forest service I bet. I'm going to ask that they change the lock.

[MountainDon]

Are the keys stamped Do Not Duplicate, numbered and a master list kept by someone in the association? Being stamped will slow down some of the duplication that can lead to keys in the wrong hands.

There are also keyed padlocks that have strict key control systems. Medeco is one. These keys can not be duplicated by just anyone with a key machine. The blanks are controlled by Medeco just like all their houselocks. Of course it still leaves the thief the option of breaking down the gate.



I've seen the daisy chain of locks used in various places in the west. Don't like that at all.

[Solar Burrito]

Yes it's stamped do not duplicate.

[PFunk_Spock]

My buddies family always leaves 2 30 packs sitting on the table at their lake house after they close it up for the winter. Every year they come back on Memorial Day and the beer is gone but the place is left just as it should be otherwise. In their neck of the woods (southwestern Maine) its just local kids that are bored. 40 bucks or so is a small price to pay I guess.

However, if it were me, Id booby trap the hell out of the place. My personal favorites are trip wires and a hanging sledghammer, so when the schmuck opens the door they get full force. At least theyll have to earn it.

[MountainDon]

if it were me, Id booby trap the hell out of the place. My personal favorites are trip wires and a hanging sledghammer, so when the schmuck opens the door they get full force. At least theyll have to earn it.

Pardon me, but it is not even a good idea to joke about setting potentially dangerous or lethal booby traps.  If a person sets up such a trap to protect his/her property, he/she will be liable for any injury or death even to an unwanted intruder such as a burglar.  It is illegal to set a booby trap on one's own property to prevent intruders.  

It may bring a certain level of satisfaction to talk about what one would like to see happen to someone burglarizing their property, but even talking about it can bring problems if in the future someone falls victim to a similar fate on one's property.

I have a sense of humor; I like a good joke.  I equally like to see justice brought to those who break laws.  However, this sort of action should never be countenanced. It's a civil dispute, not a declared military action.  Let's restrain ourselves and not endorse physical violence towards trespassers and the like, even though it is very frustrating at times to see how inept the criminal justice system seems to be.

[MountainDon]

Just a further thought on that....

Some 40 years ago a friend and myself were caught in a snow storm in a very rural part of northern Manitoba. Not only was there snow and wind, the temperatures dropped to something like -25 F. The weather forcasts were not as good back then as they sometimes are today.    We broke into a cabin. Yes, we did. I jimmied a poorly secured double hung window and we managed to gain entry without damaging anything other than a few scratches. The place had power and heat and even a working telephone. We called for assistance and several hours later help arrived in the form of a slightly drunken fisherman in an ex-military 6x6 truck with a plow.  We left a note and a twenty for the owner of the building.  He called us later and invited us up for fishing off his boat.

There could have been a whole different outcome if the guy had set booby traps.

I maintain that a couple-three game cameras set carefully could be more productive than anything else.

[ScottA]

We left our old cabin unlocked for years. No one ever bothered it until a storm tore the roof off.

[PFunk_Spock]

Considering you can shoot someone in NH for tresspassing, whats a little booby trap.

Relax, it was a tongue in cheek comment.

As I mentioned before, a couple cases of beer should be all you need.

[Tom]

People who break into cabins are generally not the sharpest knives in the drawer  . For those of you in snake country, I'd suggest investing in a professional looking sign; something that looks official.

WARNING! (have the legal description of your property listed)... has been designated as a lawful rattlesnake sanctuary by the state of ___.

Follow this up with the phone number of the poison control center in your area.

Another idea is to put up a sign saying that beyond this gate is a rifle range.

Booby traps are just a lawsuit waiting to clean you out... even though I understand the poetic justice that drives that thought process.

[Bob S.]

as a 14 year old teenager my friends and I where very lucky to get a summer job helping a jipo-loger in Roseburg, Oregon.
  However the job came to a quick end when the man we where working for blew his own leg about 1/2 off with a booby trap shotgun he had riged up on his front door. It turned out he was having problems with someone that was repeatedly burglarizing the rv trailer he was living in. He came home drunk and forgot about the shotgun.

[NM_Shooter]

Put a sign at the front gate.

"Road is spiked, security cameras in use". 

There is nothing you can do against a determined thief.