Yeah, I don't agree with that. Heck, I close and lock the gate when I am there. I always leave the locks on the inside, to look like it was locked from the inside.

Plus, leaving a gate open just invites nosy neighbors to come in and snoop around. Even if they aren't up to anything wrong. a whole bunch of folks ain't got no boundaries.

I have a few hidden game cams on my place. I put a few fake cameras on the house that have a blinking red light. I don't leave anything there that doesn't have to be, ie tractor, riding mower, kids dirt bike.

Low cost: Link> Fake TV, lamps on timers, leave a radio on, video surveillance signs.

I agree with firing off a few rounds every time you're out there, if it won't disturb your hunting.

Since this is a brand new place for me, on opening morning this year, at first legal shooting light, I'm thinking about firing off the .416 Rigby.

If you use a combination lock, don't leave the lock open with the combination on it while you are there. Most people do this. Thieves will pull over and get the combination off the open lock to come back at a later date. People often will only spin the last or first number of a combination lock when they lock it back so that they only have to turn one combination dial when they return. Thieves know to spin through only the first then the last dial of a combo lock. If you only turn the last number off the combination, it will let them in within 9 tries.

Great point. Thank you.

Might wait until that buck is in the cooler first

Duly noted.

Someone can't drive by and see if my doors are locked but they can for the gate. Burglars in the country love locked gates. They see it as city folks who are scared to leave the gate open, because they aren't at their weekend house.

Simplisafe... $15 a month

Every cattle rancher I've ever known keeps his gate closed and locked.

You sure seem to know a lot about what burglars like.

Then how come folks have gates?

In my area folks keep the gates closed and locked.

Neighbor up the road was killed, things changed in our area in quite a few ways.

Years ago my Father put a sign on the barn

Attention Burglars! All items in house and barn engraved with owners drivers license number for ready identification by law enforcement agencies.

After 3 previous break in's, they stopped.

He also put signs on all the gates.

$1,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of anyone caught trespassing on the this property.

Cameras are a landowners friend.

Your area sounds vastly different than mine. Sad really.

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do. Don't leave anything you can't live without. I know of folks who posted obvious fake cameras pointed at the doors which seemed to deter thieves once they were up. Most rural cops, or any cops for that matter, can't do much for you other than file the paperwork.

My family place got hit once in 60 years. They kicked in the front door and stole the pickup truck in the garage. We got the truck back the following year during deer season when some hunters found it abandoned in some woods 5 miles from the cabin. 3 years later some punks got busted for peddling drugs and one of the them rolled on his buddies to cut a deal and spilled the beans.

I heard a funny story about a bear trap catching a burglar. This dude tries to break into a barn and gets into a bear trap. The thief had a greasy lawyer who filed a counter suit for assault and reckless endangerment. When brought before the judge, the landowner proclaimed it was a hell of a note that he being sued by the thief. He further exclaimed that not only did he have a thief breaking into his shop but also a poacher setting traps on the property as well.

I worked for a WW2 vet who had some punks break into the shop through a glass window. I asked what he was doing screwing a plugged wire to the window? He said he was doing to teach the little bastages not to touch his windows. He ran the other leg of the wire to ground just outside the window they had broken into. Something tripped the breaker that weekend but we didn't find anybody so I guess it worked because we never had another break in.

How far is the place from the gate and how long have you owned it? They love newby land owners it seems from experience of friends. Then they leave you alone once you find out who they are... and armed all the time. Figure leave some Daisy bb guns laying around which they might drop and get prints off of.

Personally our place 1.5 miles past the gate so we are lucky and not have to deal with that. Leave all kinds of stuff there off and on but very remote.

Our cabin is close to the gate. Maybe 300 yards

Sorry for your loss

If you use a combination lock, don't leave the lock open with the combination on it while you are there. Most people do this.
This is so true. Also, I always leave my lock on random prime numbers, but for the first 6 months that I owned the place, the
lock would have all kinds of 2,4,6, on the lock. So, they were trying, but have stopped now. I still have hidden camera's
in the trees at my front gate.

Yep, spin all of the dials as soon as you have the lock open.

I feel your pain

they hit me 3 years ago... and even dropped a credit card.... he lives 5 miles away... likely meth heads

Called the sheriff,,, sheriff tried to question him but family members said he s somewhere in South Texas
that was the end of that investigation

I've since installed lots of lights, lights on electrical poles, dusk to dawn lights all around,
hidden camera on road in/out of property

and I use SimpliSafe wireless alarm system with monitoring for $15/month
Arlo wireless cameras for remote viewing inside and out
Night Owl wired cameras for back up to wireless, can view remotely on phone

expect to spend $1000 but you will have peace of mind

Agree that this is good practice, but also believe that a lock (any lock) provides no real protection from a committed thief. There is NO lock that cannot be defeated in a matter of moments. Also, when we were hit several years ago, the thieves didn't even bother with the gate. They simply used wire cutters to cut open a section of the fence along the road and drove right through.

Or we keep our gates closed so the cattle don't get out. The burglars will have to look pretty hard to find many open gates in Throckmorton, Grayson or Haskell counties. I'm not going to leave any of my places wide open. I would rather make the thief work a bit.

Also, the way many gates are hung you only have to lift them off their hinges. We have two shipping containers on one of our places in which you can't get to the padlock. However, a cutting torch would make short work of those containers.

Agreed. Where I come from, every other gate is closed and locked. Cattleguards are great but sometimes even those gates are locked.