This brings up a good point. Guys, snap a few quick photos of your guns. Start with overall pics and then pics of the serial numbers, including the S# on your scopes. Upload them to your cloud, photobucket or something similar. That way, if something happens you can provide the numbers to LE. Easiest way to track stolen items is with the serial number.

Y'all need some watchdogs in camp.

This brings up a good point. Guys, snap a few quick photos of your guns. Start with overall pics and then pics of the serial numbers, including the S# on your scopes. Upload them to your cloud, photobucket or something similar. That way, if something happens you can provide the numbers to LE. Easiest way to track stolen items is with the serial number.

i don't have anything stored on the computer where
some kid hacker can get at it. i use those usb memory
sticks and have 2 WRITTEN record books in 2 different
places. all serial numbers and detailed descriptions
as said up there ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ with photos

Hope they catch the lowlifes. I would be armed around camp and especially at night. Lock the gate when everyone is in camp so nobody can drive in after dark.
Lock up the guns inside where you sleep. I don't think they will return this year, but I wouldn't take the chance.

Meth heads. Only someone really prone to high-risk endeavors would sneak into a camp with hunters and firearms to steal. Cartel and organized crime do not need guns that bad to take those chances. These thefts are almost certainly meth head addicts that live in the area.

Premeditated and organized. Doubt it's methheads. Sounds more like a organized theft ring specializing in these type of thefts.

the first thing you need to do is have the STATE law enforcement (would not trust local to pull it off right) call all the hardware stores and locksmiths in the area and ask about anyone having a matching key made for that particular brand of lock

it is easier to have a LOCK keyed to a KEY than it is to have a KEY made from a LOCK

it does not take a rocket scientist, but you need the right tools and the knowledge to use them (which again are not hard to acquire to learn)

there is a good chance that this group has someone with the ability to do it themselves, but they still had to buy the lock somewhere

also you should try and find out if the locks to the other properties that were hit are the same brand.....if they are the same brand that says two things:

1. that brand is probably being actively looked for on gates

2. that brand is very easy to make a key from the lock Vs other brands

also if they are the same brand then when law enforcement calls around they need to ask about someone buying multiples of the same lock recently

if the locks are not the same brand and type then law enforcement needs to ask when they call around (if they even will) about people buying several locks of different brands which would be more unusual than someone buying multiples of the same brand

it would also lead me to believe that the group has someone that is skilled and that has better tools available to make a key from a lock and that is not bothered by doing so with different types and brands of locks



you missed the part where the cut the lock (stole a few small items) and took the lock and chain and then waited until a new lock with the same key was installed......while they were having a key made for the lock and then came back and made a bigger hit




there is VERY LITTLE chance this is meth heads for a number of reasons

meth heads that are truly desperate can barely function to get @20 dollars together to get a lock and a key made from the lock

they can barely afford the gas to get anywhere past a 5 mile radius of where they live and the pile of junk they drive would not stand a chance in hell of making it 10 miles outside of town one time much less several times and further distances

if you have ever had a dealer in the area you will find that you see random cars (all junk) just abandoned on the street around their house.....that is one way to identify a drug house in an area

junkies will LITERALLY drive their car the last bit of it;s life to the dealers house and when it breaks down after they get there they will simply ABANDON IT for good.....this is actually very common as crazy as it sounds

also many meth heads are scared of the dark that is part of why they often have several flash lights with them

they also would not stand a chance in hell of moving quietly in the dark especially out in BFE in a deer lease....they can barely stand still as it is, they freak out about things "crawling on them" (one of the reasons they often get undressed for no reason among others for that)

no meth user that scored a gun and a trail cam would be anything other than totally and completely methed out immediately after selling that and there is no chance they would be able to function to return again and make the second bigger score IF they could even remember where to go back to and that is a big if

and in short there is simply no way in hell that any meth user would have been able to pull all this off.....way to complex, way too much foresight, way too much discipline to make it back the second time and not a chance they would hit multiple properties the same way after getting the first "score" of the night on the return hit and knowing that meth was just a car ride and a trade away from RIGHT THEN

it would have been hammer down after the first place was hit right back to the dealer

now I will say this there is a chance that some or all that did this have smoked meth in the past and will in the future......but they are not close to what one would think of as a "desperate meth head" out to risk it all to get anything of value......these people were almost certainly stealing as a means of living and as a means to buy truck rims, pay rent, party at the bar, buy TVs, buy Christmas presents for "loved ones" and the like

these were not people at rock bottom desperate to take anything in sight



I agree

way too sophisticated, WAY too much risk for a desperate meth head, way too difficult for a meth head to even plan much less execute

more than likely it is out of work oilfield trash (no offense to those in the oil field that are NOT trash because the VAST majority are not, but it does attract some real losers as well when the times are good)

they were certainly aware of the fact that ranchers have all their locks keyed the same, they were most likely aware of the types of locks to target that are easy to make a key from a lock, they have probably hooked up with someone that does that regularly (knows about lock smithing) and they are probably familiar with the properties in question or at least properties in the general area and how to move around those properties and what to look for.....power and phone lines to follow because that leads to "camp".....looking for tire tracks to see that "targets" are in camp (they clearly INTENDED to come when people were THERE) and how to know a deer camp from the ranchers place (much more likely the rancher has dogs or motion lights or other security Vs a camp and the rancher is to be avoided at all cost

Premeditated and organized. Doubt it's methheads. Sounds more like a organized theft ring specializing in these type of thefts.

I was unable to hunt opening weekend because I had to work. The guys at the lease woke up Sat and noticed that the lock and chain were gone from the gate. They looked all over thinking maybe someone forgot to lock it and it fell or some how it ended up in a pick up. It was never found so it was assumed that someone cut the chain and took it. We could not figure out who or why someone would do that. The landowner replaced the lock but kept it the same key.

I made it out that next Tues and hunted until the next Mon. I had an issue with my trail cam so took it down and put it in the glove box of the Polaris and forgot about it. My brother came out Friday night. On Saturday we were going to help my cousin at his stand and I showed him what the cows did to my camera and then put it back in the glove box. Sunday my brother left. That afternoon I was going to mess with my camera and it wasn't there. I thought my dad had taken it out but he hadn't seen it. When my brother got home he realized that the pistol that he had in his truck was gone. He thought it happened in Junction when he stopped to get gas but I realized someone had stole his gun and my camera Saturday night.

Again I couldn't hunt opening weekend of Mule Deer season (Im heading out tomorrow). My dad told his cousin who is the lease manager about the theft and told him to be sure and let everybody know not to leave anything in pickups and lock doors. Of course nobody listened and Friday night 12 guns were stolen. The sheriff and Texas Rangers are getting involved because that same night 2 other leases were hit in the area and another 18 guns were stolen. Counting my brother's gun thats 31 total stolen.

Our lease is on Hwy 137 NW of Ozona. Obviously now we know why the lock was cut. So they could make keys and come and go easily.

Other than reminding everybody to be vigilant about locking your vehicles and campers/cabins, do yall think they'll try to hit us again? My thinking is with this big of a haul they know LE will be crawling this area and theres not too much left to take. Im going to try and set up a trail cam to catch em. I don't really want to confront them knowing now they are highly armed.

My heeler sleeps underneath our camper directly below our bed. When he hears a strange noise or vehicle I have to peel my wife off the ceiling. No way is anyone going to sneak into our camp.

i don't have anything stored on the computer where
some kid hacker can get at it. i use those usb memory
sticks and have 2 WRITTEN record books in 2 different
places. all serial numbers and detailed descriptions
as said up there ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ with photos

I've normally had 2 Ambien and a Big Boy Drink


We hunt on the Border and sat night, Lovie wakes me up and said ...Hey...I think a Illegal is trying to break in and wiggling the handle on our Butt Hutt ...I went take the Sig and go check..wait leave the Sig in case they get thru you

Pretty crazy stuff. My new Quail lease in straight up 163 from there, I will keep everything locked up like I'm at a motel now. I also have a driveway alarm with two motion detectors, I set one in floorboard of Mule or truck bumper facing trailer and one in the truck, anyone opens the truck door or walk near the Mule, I get a doorbell ding inside. Best $25 I've ever spent.

How would they know the LO would go back with the same key on the new lock?