Stolen Pack at Campsite

[Adventure Wolf]

Has anyone had their pack stolen at a campsite?

I had my pack stolen when I was about 15. My father and I were on a two week camping and fishing trip in Appalachia. We were on a well travelled path near a camp ground. I put my pack down outside of my tent, and when I went back for it ten minutes later, it was gone. After a lot of hooping and hurrahing, we came to the conclusion that it had been stolen. Since none of my vital equipment or clothing was in the pack, we decided that it was okay.
We asked around, put out the word that my pack was stolen, and it turned up two days later. Someone had looted most of the contents, and then tossed the pack down a hill.

Both of my canteens were stolen. My Buck folder was gone. My compass was missing, and all of my electronic equipment was stolen. Only three items were still in there, a cheap compass, a sewing kit and half eaten energy bar.

I was pissed.

[crashdive123]

I'll state the obvious (that you learned the hard way) - in well traveled areas, don't leave your gear laying around. Secure it or hide it. Better yet - avoid well traveled areas if possible - you'll have more fun.

[hunter63]

What he sail....plus one....crappy people are everywhere.
All the more reason to have your PSK on you at all times.

[backpacker3]

Not had it happen to me but I've heard of it before on some backpacking sites they had a list of things you should do to keep your bag from being stolen I don't remember all of them but basically you should remember that you're in a public place if you wouldn't leave your pack alone in a mall or some other busy place it's no different at popular campsite or trail with heavy traffic. But the further you go on the trail the less likely it is that you'll have a problem most criminals are opportunistic they aren't going to hike for 2 or 3 days to steal anything when they can have their pick of pretty much any gear they want at a campground where people leave tons of stuff out in the open and go off to a lake or something out of sight of the camp. Still stinks when it happens though.

[Rick]

My youngest son and a friend had some guys try to steal their gear in the wee hours of the morning. Had they not been armed the jerks might have been successful. They retreated, however, when they realized they were outgunned.

[Sarge47]

Try this next time; get an old pack that you don't really want or use any more and make it a field latrine. Or lure a skunk into it and seal it shut. When some idiot tries to steal it their screams will give them away!...

[Hellraiser]

Several years ago... and 'bout a half-mile from my home... this gentleman kept gettin' his firewood stolen. He would take a couple of days of cutting, splittin' and stackin' the wood about a hundred yards from his house (to prevent the inevitable wood-inhabiting bugs from gettin' near his home) ... and sometime durin' the night, his hard-earned wood would disappear.

After this happened to him on at least two occasions... us and all our country neighbors were abruptly awaken one, cold winter night at what sounded like a "bomb" going off nearby.

Come to find out... seems like some heavily government-subsidized, early-morn-beer-drinkin', porch-sittin' folks down the road accidentally loaded up some dynamite-laced wood into their wood-stove... and it blew up their house into kindling. To this day... nobody has figured out where the dynamite came from.

When asked... the neighbor whose wood was constantly being stolen... said that those poor folks would have a lot of extra-wood now... from the remnants of their house. That's all he has ever said.

[Ranger_Spencer]

Several years ago... and 'bout a half-mile from my home... this gentleman kept gettin' his firewood stolen. He would take a couple of days of cutting, splittin' and stackin' the wood about a hundred yards from his house (to prevent the inevitable wood-inhabiting bugs from gettin' near his home) ... and sometime durin' the night, his hard-earned wood would disappear.

After this happened to him on at least two occasions... us and all our country neighbors were abruptly awaken one, cold winter night at what sounded like a "bomb" going off nearby.

Come to find out... seems like some heavily government-subsidized, early-morn-beer-drinkin', porch-sittin' folks down the road accidentally loaded up some dynamite-laced wood into their wood-stove... and it blew up their house into kindling. To this day... nobody has figured out where the dynamite came from.

When asked... the neighbor whose wood was constantly being stolen... said that those poor folks would have a lot of extra-wood now... from the remnants of their house. That's all he has ever said.

Thats...I'm not saying I don't believe you but that's an extreme thing to do just over some stolen firewood. If that is indeed a true story, and once again not doubting you but it's such a "WOOOW" kind of thing to hear its hard to believe at first, but if it is true...honestly the guy who laid the explosives in the firewood is more of a jerk than the firewood thieves. I mean come on, they could have been seriously injured or killed, over firewood. Yeah sure its wrong to steal it and I would be pissed too...but I would have tried to do a stakeout or something, set up some camaras overnight hidden somewhere...ANYTHING but do something that potentially murder someone.

Then again, people have killed for less. If I lived near the guy whose firewood was getting stolen and this DID happen I would never trust the guy again. And I would probably answer my door armed if he ever came by for a friendly neighborly chat.

[hunter63]

It would be my luck to forget which log was spiked.......So no, not for me.

I did have an old 12 ga DB hanging up at "The Place".....was kinda loose, so I wouldn't shoot it.

Was gonna put a little card on it with a "Warning, do not fire this gun, for display only"....thinking if some one stole it would prevent an injury.........Then I thought, "To the shumbag that just stole this....load it up with the biggest and baddest loads you can find....and touch'er off"....Heh, heh , heh....I'll just go down to the hospital and find out who broke in.

Then I settled on just taking it down...if you can't see it, maybe they wouldn't break in if the rack was empty......

[Sunset Sam]

I like the story but I don’t think that spring-guns or man traps can be used nowadays. No matter how emotionally satisfying to a victimized homeowner, I think most states would view using lethal force to protect personal property as a felony if anyone is killed or injured. In the situation described above, whoever laced the wood with high explosive might even be prosecuted for deploying a weapon of mass destruction, even if no one in the cabin was seriously injured. In addition to state prosecution, this would potentially mean that federal criminal law (and Mr. Holder) could be involved. Regardless, the tort liability would be huge and property owner's insurance probably wouldn’t cover it. I do know of a case in Colorado where a property owner was both convicted of a felony and forced to pay the criminal's family compensation for wrongful death for using a spring gun. Even if Ken could get the property owner off on the criminal rap, the expense would ruin them.

[kyratshooter]

That's about like saying you don't need a CCW permit because the cost of litigation if you shoot someone would be prohibitive, so you are better off dead!

As the Duke once said; "Sometimes a man's got to do what a man's got to do."

[crashdive123]

The key with traps like that is to make it look like an accident.

[Hellraiser]

Thats...I'm not saying I don't believe you but that's an extreme thing to do just over some stolen firewood. If that is indeed a true story, and once again not doubting you but it's such a "WOOOW" kind of thing to hear its hard to believe at first, but if it is true...honestly the guy who laid the explosives in the firewood is more of a jerk than the firewood thieves. I mean come on, they could have been seriously injured or killed, over firewood. Yeah sure its wrong to steal it and I would be pissed too...but I would have tried to do a stakeout or something, set up some camaras overnight hidden somewhere...ANYTHING but do something that potentially murder someone.

Then again, people have killed for less. If I lived near the guy whose firewood was getting stolen and this DID happen I would never trust the guy again. And I would probably answer my door armed if he ever came by for a friendly neighborly chat.

It's true... but nobody really knows who planted the dynamite... nor does anybody know that the laced-dynamite came from that particular gentleman. Far as everybody for miles around knew... the culprits probably stole firewood from multiple locations... just that some victims may not have mentioned it to others in the vicinity. BATFE investigated and talked to a lot of folks... but never could pin-point the source of the dynamite. It's still a mystery. However, NOBODY... for miles around... felt sorry for the parasites who stole their wood every time they needed some. BTW... nobody was hurt in the explosion... but some of 'em could not hear so good for a while.

[Rick]

It's my understanding that fire will not cause dynamite to explode. Around the area where I grew up coal mines blasted in the early days. I have never done it but heard many miners talk about drying out wet dynamite by placing it in a fire. It requires a blasting cap to set it off. It's considered a secondary explosive and open flame will not set it off.

[Hellraiser]

Maybe... but 'bout twenty years ago, me and some Pards were given some dynamite. (Cause it was old, and sweatin' the nitro.) At the time, we took 1/4 sticks... with fuses.... and when lit... they went boom big-time. 'Course... we ran out of dynamite long before the incident described above.