Poachers

[animalpest]

Went to my (mostly) bush block today. Cameras set in the middle of 350 acres bush stolen. Again. Trespassing hunters on foot.

Some cut the locks but this time they are walking. Work boot tracks seen

[Coxy383]

Went to my (mostly) bush block today. Cameras set in the middle of 350 acres bush stolen. Again. Trespassing hunters on foot.

Some cut the locks but this time they are walking. Work boot tracks seen

What can actually be done ya reckon. Getting out of hand

[deye243]

Nobody wants to hear what can be done .
It's the reason they have more rights than law abiding citizens.

[animalpest]

Thinking of a couple of options but need to consider the options first.

[Flyonline]

Can you open up the internals of the camera and insert an AirTag or the like?

[Coxy383]

Can you open up the internals of the camera and insert an AirTag or the like?

Would want to be a very expensive camera tho. If you went to the cops and said someone stole my 120$ camera but I have tracked them here they would probably laugh you out of the station. I worked that out at BWS when someone just picked up a box of beer and walked out. I was told " what you want us to do". So there's our answer

[Flyonline]

More to find out the who and where.

Was talking with a farmer about break ins to his shed the other day and the cops weren’t interested in doing anything to catch them.

[Jorlcrin]

Went to my (mostly) bush block today. Cameras set in the middle of 350 acres bush stolen. Again. Trespassing hunters on foot.

Some cut the locks but this time they are walking. Work boot tracks seen

What can actually be done ya reckon. Getting out of hand

I've had the same dilemma about some of the cameras we deploy along the main road; what if they see and destroy/take the cameras?
I keep thinking that if they are using a spotlight, there's a good chance they might see a flash from the camera itself reflecting the spotlight.
Havent had anyone actually take/harrass any of the cameras (yet), but I am half-expecting

Most of our country isnt in mobile coverage, so I cant get the camera to send me pics as it gets removed.
One thought is an obvious camera, and a hidden camera to get pics of the person who hassles the first camera.
But how far do you go with that? [Camera watching a camera watching a camera watching a camera??]

There are some cameras on the market that create a 'mesh' network through their own wireless network; they can send imagery back along the chain of cameras to base.
I think those cameras can 'talk' to each other up to ~5kms apart line-of-sight.
[I've been interested in them for monitoring a few water troughs that are a few kms apart.]
Appealing as far as the images of the culprits are already sent before they reach the camera, but expensive to do.
And you sacrifice a fairly expensive camera in the off-chance you get an image that can convict someone..
It also bugs me that you have to spend so much money on pulling Phukwits into line...

Shame a good old Dingo Cannon isnt legal these days....Sigh.

[Fester]

I asked a bloke how he deals with them as it's getting so bad now.

He was a very accomplished bow hunter and said he used to stalk in with a 12gauge.
They would leave at a very fast speed every time.

He reckons he is now surrounded by hippy types so they would have to get through their blocks before they get to his.

It seems the only way because if the law can't or won't protect your home, it's up to you to do it your selves.
If the block is big, you may need those exy cameras to send alerts as you would know where they come in and being low scum, they prob leave a trail of trash.

As long as you don't shoot them it's just, "But officer, I regularly control pests with the shotty. How was I to know trespassing poachers were on my land"

[noneyabussiness]

https://a.aliexpress.com/_msHzzXe

Not sure of distance your needing, but my driveway alone is a k long, so I have one of these rigged up via a solar panel and a ethernet connected camera... even if the f#$ers damage the camera I get a alert instantly and can fly up there...

you can also set them up over very long distances by " relaying " them, increases your ping times etc but for a security camera it's virtually instant ..

hope this helps someone

[deye243]

I asked a bloke how he deals with them as it's getting so bad now.

He was a very accomplished bow hunter and said he used to stalk in with a 12gauge.
They would leave at a very fast speed every time.

He reckons he is now surrounded by hippy types so they would have to get through their blocks before they get to his.

It seems the only way because if the law can't or won't protect your home, it's up to you to do it your selves.
If the block is big, you may need those exy cameras to send alerts as you would know where they come in and being low scum, they prob leave a trail of trash.

As long as you don't shoot them it's just, "But officer, I regularly control pests with the shotty. How was I to know trespassing poachers were on my land"

If you think that statement will save your licence and firearms you are sadly mistaken.

[Die Judicii]

I asked a bloke how he deals with them as it's getting so bad now.

He was a very accomplished bow hunter and said he used to stalk in with a 12gauge.
They would leave at a very fast speed every time.

He reckons he is now surrounded by hippy types so they would have to get through their blocks before they get to his.

It seems the only way because if the law can't or won't protect your home, it's up to you to do it your selves.
If the block is big, you may need those exy cameras to send alerts as you would know where they come in and being low scum, they prob leave a trail of trash.

As long as you don't shoot them it's just, "But officer, I regularly control pests with the shotty. How was I to know trespassing poachers were on my land"

If you think that statement will save your licence and firearms you are sadly mistaken.

[Oldbloke]

What are you blokes imagining he is going to do with the 12g ?

[deye243]

Doesn't matter what he does if he alarms or intimidateds a member of the public scum bucket or not he's done .

[bigrich]

The lack of effort by police regarding a lot of the posts I’ve read will probably result in vigilante justice, with the frustrated vigilante being charged. This has probably happened many times already. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I’m not advocating taking the law into your own hands, but sympathy with property owners is at the forefront of my views. Property owners getting together as a group and approaching their local elected politician publicly demanding action from police is the only way I can see this problem being addressed legally.

[Oldbloke]

The lack of effort by police regarding a lot of the posts I’ve read will probably result in vigilante justice, with the frustrated vigilante being charged. This has probably happened many times already. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I’m not advocating taking the law into your own hands, but sympathy with property owners is at the forefront of my views. Property owners getting together as a group and approaching their local elected politician publicly demanding action from police is the only way I can see this problem being addressed legally.

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[Jorlcrin]

I remember when I was a young fella; we had a local Roo-Sooter who was partial to wandering 'wherever the roos took him', and later claiming he'd got lost, if called out about it.

After a repeated bout of him wandering across our Western paddocks, this gent found my dad and I one afternoon; looking over the tracks turning off the main road into our country at the boundary grid.
Gent pulled up, and (nervously) asked Dad what we were doing?
Dad said that because of the rampant poaching, he was figuring out where he was going to bury (flat)grader cutting edges with sharpened spikes welded to them; at random spots on our tracks.
Poachers eyes went wide, and he mumbled something about 'that would be rather a nasty thing to do'...
While staring at the gent, Dad said he couldnt see it being a problem for anyone who knew where they were located...
Gent mumbled something about needing to be elsewhere, and I note the poaching (from this gent at least) withered away.

Another time was a few years later.
We had sod-all aircon in the house at that stage, and so Dad had taken to sleeping on a stretcher he'd set up in the paddock; some 3kms from the house, and about 200m off the main road.
Hed drive up there after dinner in the van, fold out his mattress and bedding onto his stretcher, and get the best nights sleep he'd had for years; under the stars.

One village idiot roo-shooter decided to poach on his way through one night, only crapped himself to find an irate elderly gent in jim-jams at his window.
Dad tells this young bloke 'Phuk Off, Mate; THEY'RE ALL PETS!'.
Young blood was so astonished, that he departed at speed, and the stories of weird evening encounters along this road floated around the district for the next few years..

[mickb]

we will almost need to be riding shotgun on stock and patrolling properties to keep it safe if this contiinues.
too many louts disgruntled they cant own their own land, or cant own firearms, no sense of responsibiltiy or just plain old meat thieves. None of them excusable but all symptoms of a society that has taken a hit to its culture/finances.

[Wapiti]

The lack of effort by police regarding a lot of the posts I’ve read will probably result in vigilante justice, with the frustrated vigilante being charged. This has probably happened many times already. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I’m not advocating taking the law into your own hands, but sympathy with property owners is at the forefront of my views. Property owners getting together as a group and approaching their local elected politician publicly demanding action from police is the only way I can see this problem being addressed legally.

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In a perfect world that's great, unfortunately in reality a dreamworld is reality. We've all tried that, to no avail.
It just goes around in a circle, from local member looking to seem like he cares, onto inner-city based ministers who are tied into state agenda and all it does is reinforce why firearms need to be restricted more to everyone, starting with people who only have recreational need, the casual shooters.
Finally it fizzes out at the local cop-shop, where the politics of face-saving and self-appraisal suck it up. But that doesn't stop who are the people complaining being leaked to the perpetrators who then threaten and harass the victims by, it seems, local "trusted law enforcement" whistleblowers...
Local members have very little influence, and most often, pretend to care so look like they actually do something.

[mickb]

when you have a good culture you dont actually need a lot of laws, just balanced laws and common sense, though governments would try and convince people otherwise. In times of prosperity the general expectation to do the right thing or be seen to be doing the right thing amonsgt your peers is actually the biggest driver of good behaviour. Its why our fathers and grandfathers generations could be trusted to pick up the farms order of explosives from the local store at 12 years of age. When that drive or values go, the laws come harder and faster.

[straightshooter]

I am old enough to remember a time when one could do as one liked provided it wasn't illegal.
These days one may only do what is permitted.
I wonder what the future has in store.

[Wapiti]

As a coincidence, this morning I had a call from a neighbour about 10km away asking me about some goings on here lately regarding illegal shooters, well really legally licensed weekenders shooting farmers stock and trespassing at their leisure, the same old story.
To those that reckon its getting worse with a more self-entitled society, no it's not. The demographic has changed, that's all.
His comments were that until no-one that doesn't need a firearm to conduct a business can own a gun, it will keep happening. I said, no it won't stop it but it might stop the majority of it, but we shouldn't blame everyone because of the minority. His answer to that was, we can deal with the minority.
The thought was, they don't NEED them, and you'll find more people affected thinking this way now. Unfortunately.

[animalpest]

Went out to my block which is on a dead end road yesterday. A bloke (a hunter who I had previously spoken to at my gate) waved me down and wanted a chat. Asked if he could hunt my property and my answer was no (again). Said he doesn't shoot roos, just "pigs and others".

Funny thing is that I have recently had cameras stolen from deep in the bush. Wondering if I have found a possible culprit.

[Wapiti]

A friend showed me a device that she bought off Amazon I think, it picks up motion cameras, spy cameras etc. She reckons it would find game cameras. It has a series of lights that more light as you get closer, and change colour as well. And it beeps loudly.
So in theory you could sneak around with this in your pocket, and it would alert you if you were in range of the detection beam of someone's camera... so you could deal with it.

[Jorlcrin]

A friend showed me a device that she bought off Amazon I think, it picks up motion cameras, spy cameras etc. She reckons it would find game cameras. It has a series of lights that more light as you get closer, and change colour as well. And it beeps loudly.
So in theory you could sneak around with this in your pocket, and it would alert you if you were in range of the detection beam of someone's camera... so you could deal with it.

Had a look at those devices on Amazon; looks like they need the camera to be emitting a WiFi signal, or some other sort of RF signal.
Most stand-alone game cameras are simply using a Passive Infrared Detector (PIR).

A stand-alone camera using PIR to detect game might be a LOT harder to detect.

It's a rather brazen thing to decide to take a camera, when you wouldnt know beforehand if the camera has any sort of wireless capability.

I think the biggest challenge in preventing cameras being nicked, is that for it to operate best, a game camera needs to have an unobstructed view of the trail.
If you think about what a game camera needs in the way of view(and avoiding being blinded by sunrises/sunsets), it starts to get easier and easier to locate them.
I keep coming back to two cameras; one sacrificial one to (hopefully) catch images of game, and one watching the first camera, to record who nicks Number 1..
Next option(if I was in an area with phone or wireless coverage) would be having the camera sending the images off-camera as soon as they are taken.
Though a detector as mentioned would likely detect it.
Neither solution is perfect.

That said, I'm tempted to get one of those devices and try it out on various cameras I have here.

[Wapiti]

I'm told, and I haven't seen this myself so won't believe it until I do, that some of these devices can pick up when a simple game cameras PIR is triggering. So in theory would alert you if you've been detected and subsequently photographed. If I get the chance i'll have a go, I wouldn't suggest anybody spend money on one of these things if it's not a fact.

[mickb]

This thread has been an education for me fellas. We have had some poaching incidents in my area but didnt realize the level of it around the country, also the frustration of landowners in some places.

[Col]

I was informed by a local Stock Detective that some poachers are now using NV goggles to detect the game cameras. They pick up the IR emissions from the camera and then can be detected.
We have had problems with poachers and stock thefts for years now. Lock all our gates and use cameras, problem is the "smart ones" are getting smarter, but he general scumbags are not. The ability to purchase NV and thermal gear is getting easier as the prices go down, making life for us more difficult.
If you can have a good relationship with your local ""stockie" in the police it helps, or have a few coppers shoot on your place helps. They usually jump at the chance for a nights camping or a shot or 2 at whatever. Then when they hear of someone poaching "their patch" they can be most helpful.

[Wapiti]

I just had a Country Energy bloke out here checking the power poles on our place for cracked insulators, transformers, white ants etc and he said he was going to use this fancy 4K drone to check all the connections up on the poles.
He asked if he could have permission to use the drone on here and I said, of course, why do you ask? He reckons some farmers look at anyone other than themselves using drones with almost violent opposition.
He reckoned he's been told that potential thieves are using small drones to scope out farms for stuff to steal. some have reported that drones have flown into their sheds recording what's in there even as they were in there working on machinery. The scumbag dogs operating them were parked outside of the properties.

Apparently, it's quite illegal to blow any drones out of the shy with a shotgun, even ones operated by scum that would steal what people have sweated blood to get the cash to buy. Only woke or criminal officials would make such a set of laws, that effectively take away the rights of those experiencing rural crime. We are in the too hard basket, coppers in our local towns have no dramas sitting in speed camera cars racking up revenue for their masters whilst we can't get adequate support.