# What would you do?



## 343Bull (Aug 2, 2010)

Opening weekend was great, shot a cow from 10 yards out of my stand, packed her out by 3 o'clock. The scouting paid off, I was planning to spend the rest of the weekend relaxing and spending time with my wife and kids camping, that all changed early Sunday night. I was camped near a main road, my camp was next to a creek, a large fence was behind my trailer, we weren't blocking any trail access at all, their was only one way in and one way out. I felt like it was a great place to camp. About 12:30 in the morning I heard a vehicle slide to a halt on the gravel road just up from my camp, the vehicle continued to idle, it was stopped in a parking lot next to two other vehicles, the owners of these cars back-packed in the previous day, it woke me up so I got out of bed and was looking through my blinds at the idleing vehicle. I then saw a guy walk right past the front of my trailer, by pass my front door and walk to the rear of my trailer where I had my four wheelers, generator (locked up of course) gas cans and a compressor. I jumped out of the trailer to confront the intruder, he didn't come around from behind my trailer so I grabbed a shovel and went to confront him. He claimed to be lost and said he was going to ask for directions, I knew his real intent was to steal my stuff. I escorted the guy out and got his plate number and went and called the sheriff. The guy left with his girlfriend, the thing that ticked me off was the sheriff never showed up, I explained how to get to my camp which was near the fifth water, my family was freaked out, I stayed awake the restof the night thinking the sheriff would come back or the intruder would. So if anyone who was camping near the fifth water over the opening weeked and found things stolen from their camp, I have information as to who was responsible. What would you do if you caught someone coming into your camp? My thinking has changed now that I know the sheriff isn't going to respond and help.


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## wapiti67 (Oct 2, 2007)

I would be in fear of my life and the lives of my family and shoot the SOB!!!


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## stablebuck (Nov 22, 2007)

zip ties! you probably did the right thing...not a whole lot else you can do unless you actually caught him taking something and then I would definitely be utilizing some zip ties and a telephone pole size aspen


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## tuffluckdriller (May 27, 2009)

I would refer to the joke in the humor section. Call the sheriff back after no response, tell them "nevermind. I already shot him".  they'd show up soon.


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## USMARINEhuntinfool (Sep 15, 2007)

Quit wasting time with the SO and call your buddy with HP, then take him up to shoot a big bull


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Did you ask him what he was doing there? Why he went to the back of your trailer instead of knocking on the door or anything like that? Seems kinda "jump to conclusion-ish" to post that you know he was there to steal something. Did he say anything or try to explain what he was up to? There had to be some sort of conversation there.... his girlfriend or whoever didn't get out of the vehicle either? Lots of loose ends with your story.... sucks if he was really out to rip somebody off and hopefully that wasn't really the case.


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## martymcfly73 (Sep 17, 2007)

Riverrat77 said:


> Did you ask him what he was doing there? Why he went to the back of your trailer instead of knocking on the door or anything like that? Seems kinda "jump to conclusion-ish" to post that you know he was there to steal something. Did he say anything or try to explain what he was up to? There had to be some sort of conversation there.... his girlfriend or whoever didn't get out of the vehicle either? Lots of loose ends with your story.... sucks if he was really out to rip somebody off and hopefully that wasn't really the case.


Seems like your jumping to conclusions there RR. It's midnight so why not have a casual conversation w/the guy. :roll: After all I'm sure his intentions were genuine. If he was lost why didn't he just knock on the door or yell to announce his presence? Common sense would say his motives were shady. But we all know RR and common sense don't go hand in hand. :roll: 343 did what he should have under the circumstances.


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## Kdub (Sep 6, 2010)

Agreed. Nobody goes into somebodys camp that late without announcing they are there. Even if I was lost I dont think I would have the balls to wake someone up. I would at least wait until light to knock on their door. How do I know who is inside that trailer. I say he had criminal intentions on the brain. It used to be you would go into the woods to get away from people like that. Anymore I feel safer at my house in the city.


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## Renegade (Sep 11, 2007)

A person doing that to me in my camp with my family present would be making a terrible, tragic mistake - a mistake that would not likely turn out good for either of us.


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## yak4fish (Nov 16, 2007)

The sherriff not showing up bothers me the most, he is paid to follow up even if it is the next day or week. Next time someone might take the law into there own hands because of this sheriffs lazyness.


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## bullsnot (Aug 10, 2010)

I probably would've done exactly what you did. Probably no need for the Sherriff to show up but I'd be sure to pass along the info of the vehicle. I did learn though in Utah you are a sissy if you pack heat on the archery hunt (with a ccp of course) so there is no way anyone can protect themselves unless you are a great insticts shooter in the dark.


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

Riverrat77 said:


> Did you ask him what he was doing there? Why he went to the back of your trailer instead of knocking on the door or anything like that? Seems kinda "jump to conclusion-ish" to post that you know he was there to steal something. Did he say anything or try to explain what he was up to? There had to be some sort of conversation there.... his girlfriend or whoever didn't get out of the vehicle either? Lots of loose ends with your story.... sucks if he was really out to rip somebody off and hopefully that wasn't really the case.


....ok, maybe he was looking for his lost dog that answers to grinding gravel. -Ov-


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## hoghunter011583 (Jul 21, 2008)

bullsnot said:


> I probably would've done exactly what you did. Probably no need for the Sherriff to show up but I'd be sure to pass along the info of the vehicle. I did learn though in Utah you are a sissy if you pack heat on the archery hunt (with a ccp of course) so there is no way anyone can protect themselves unless you are a great insticts shooter in the dark.


 -_O- -_O-


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## hoghunter011583 (Jul 21, 2008)

Ok the bear argument is old so lets now start arguing about what the guy was up to!!!!! Someone comes up on my camp and I'm going to grab the gun and yell out the window what is the problem. No I'm not going to tremble in fear and start shooting! If someone knocks on my door late at night at my house I grab the gun and have my wife answere the door, if she gets pushed inside I'm all ready for a battle. Call me parenoid but it would be hard to catch me off guard and that is usually how criminal target people. 

I think the first mistake was grabbing a shovel and running outside!! I'd say grab the gun and yell out the window, you don't want to leave your family and you don't know who is in the car with the idiot. Also staying in your camper gives you protection. Also, call the sheriff back and ask where he is and explain that if this guy comes back the sherif will be investigating a killing!!


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## Renegade (Sep 11, 2007)

yak4fish said:


> The sherriff not showing up bothers me the most, he is paid to follow up even if it is the next day or week. Next time someone might take the law into there own hands because of this sheriffs lazyness.


If the Sheriff would have gotten a report of kids drinking beer, he'd a been up there in 5 minutes.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

martymcfly73 said:


> Seems like your jumping to conclusions there RR. It's midnight so why not have a casual conversation w/the guy. :roll: After all I'm sure his intentions were genuine. If he was lost why didn't he just knock on the door or yell to announce his presence? Common sense would say his motives were shady. But we all know RR and common sense don't go hand in hand. :roll: 343 did what he should have under the circumstances.


Jesus, get a life Marty.... :roll: I'm sure you've never gotten lost before or shown up late to what you thought was a buddy's campsite before. I'm with the guys who said if they were lost they probably wouldnt' go knocking on the door in the middle of the night either just because of clowns that'd just shoot first and ask questions later. Glad your stuff didn't disappear on you man... but the wife and I have been in that same situation, on the "lost guy" end. Showed up late trying to find a buddies camp when we were supposed to meet and stay with them, went into the wrong camp at about 11:00 at night... I certainly wasn't there to rip anyone off, but I did park our truck, walk around the camp (which oddly enough had several Dodge trucks in it, just like Dkhntrdstn and his stepdad drive) without waking anyone that I saw and when I didn't see his spring bar tent or the decals he normally has on his truck, got back in mine and we went off on our own. It does happen and not everyone is out to steal stuff from a fellow hunter. If he was really up to no good, why not just take something from the vehicles that were obviously abandoned, at least for the night?

About the sheriff.... I've been into fifth water. Sure its paved all the way, but it is a longass way up that canyon, which unless there was definitely a bad outcome to the confrontation, probably puts it pretty low on the sheriff's list of things to check out. Sucks they didn't at least call you to follow up though the next day or something though. Glad too you didn't just shoot the guy just to find out later from his woman that they really were lost, that'd be a ****ty deal to have on your head. Glad you aren't running on the same cowboy mentality some seem to have with the whole shoot first and ask questions later thing....


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## 343Bull (Aug 2, 2010)

I was curious to see what other people would do. My trailer has two canvas pop outs where my kids sleep, where I found this guy standing by my trailer he could have hit my boys on the head just by pushing on the pop out and my girls on their feet. Throughout our conversation I came to find him drunk as he smelled really bad, if he was asking for help why did he walk past my front door? Of course he isn't going to admit to trying to steal. I did get the plate to their vehicle and I gave that info to a law enforcement friend of mine. He told me the registered owner ( the girlfriend) had a history of drug use, alcohol use, multiple dui's, thefts, assaults and that she has been in and out of jail several times. So you tell me based on her history if they were truly lost and looking for directions? I don't know what his intentions were, he didn't just walk by my door, he made an effort to avoid the door all together by walking around it in an attempt to conceal himself, when I jumped out of the trailer he made no effort to come out from behind the trailer, he said he had to take a piss, no wet spot was found in the dirt when I checked.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

343Bull said:


> I was curious to see what other people would do. My trailer has two canvas pop outs where my kids sleep, where I found this guy standing by my trailer he could have hit my boys on the head just by pushing on the pop out and my girls on their feet. *Throughout our conversation I came to find him drunk as he smelled really bad,* if he was asking for help why did he walk past my front door? Of course he isn't going to admit to trying to steal.* I did get the plate to their vehicle and I gave that info to a law enforcement friend of mine. He told me the registered owner ( the girlfriend) had a history of drug use, alcohol use, multiple dui's, thefts, assaults and that she has been in and out of jail several times.* So you tell me based on her history if they were truly lost and looking for directions? I don't know what his intentions were, he didn't just walk by my door, he made an effort to avoid the door all together by walking around it in an attempt to conceal himself, when I jumped out of the trailer he made no effort to come out from behind the trailer, he said he had to take a **** no wet spot was found in the dirt when I checked.


Thanks for that info.... little more cut and dry now. 8) Way to keep your head too.... would have been easy to just lose your temper and bash him in the face with that shovel I'm sure when you got set on the idea he was up to no good. I doubt he was asking for help, or had any intention of it.... I know I wasn't about to go door knocking when I checked out the camp I got lost at. 8)


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## martymcfly73 (Sep 17, 2007)

Riverrat77 said:


> 343Bull said:
> 
> 
> > I was curious to see what other people would do. My trailer has two canvas pop outs where my kids sleep, where I found this guy standing by my trailer he could have hit my boys on the head just by pushing on the pop out and my girls on their feet. *Throughout our conversation I came to find him drunk as he smelled really bad,* if he was asking for help why did he walk past my front door? Of course he isn't going to admit to trying to steal.* I did get the plate to their vehicle and I gave that info to a law enforcement friend of mine. He told me the registered owner ( the girlfriend) had a history of drug use, alcohol use, multiple dui's, thefts, assaults and that she has been in and out of jail several times.* So you tell me based on her history if they were truly lost and looking for directions? I don't know what his intentions were, he didn't just walk by my door, he made an effort to avoid the door all together by walking around it in an attempt to conceal himself, when I jumped out of the trailer he made no effort to come out from behind the trailer, he said he had to take a **** no wet spot was found in the dirt when I checked.
> ...


Way to backtrack RR. When he told the "rest" of the story which those of us w/common sense knew, you folded like a cheap table. It doesn't take rocket science to know this guy was up to no good. W/the full story or not. And I wouldn't have done the same thing, and I haven't been lost looking for a buddies camp. Funny how when everyone else is on 343's side you jump on the bandwagon. :roll: Glad everything worked out 343. Could have been bad. Especially w/the kids around. He deserved a good rear end kicking at the bare minimum.


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## 343Bull (Aug 2, 2010)

It's a tuff question I think, I'm not looking for people to be on my side, I never thought something like this would happen. I hope I did the right thing, I still think about what happened that night and what if anything I could have done different. Thanks for the input, everyone, I hope you learn from my experience and most of all I hope none of you go through this type of thing. I was scared because I didn't know his mindset or intentions, it made me think of how I can protect my family and make camping more enjoyable and hopefully prevent something like this in the future.


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

343Bull said:


> *It's a tuff question* I think, I'm not looking for people to be on my side, I never thought something like this would happen. I hope I did the right thing, I still think about what happened that night and what if anything I could have done different. Thanks for the input, everyone, I hope you learn from my experience and most of all I hope none of you go through this type of thing. I was scared because I didn't know his mindset or intentions, it made me think of how I can protect my family and make camping more enjoyable and hopefully prevent something like this in the future.


It is a tough question and I think we would all handle it differently, depending on the situation. 
I believe you did the right thing at the right time. The intruder left the place, nobody was hurt, nobody died and you didn't lose anything but sleep. Good job !!


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## quakeycrazy (Sep 18, 2007)

Sounds like the dude was not the most intelligent thief. I have been lost and walked up to trailers for directions before, I always announced my presence and knocked on the door to make sure they knew I was there for something other than harm. What makes me think he must have been a stupid thief was that he made so much noise and left his car idling and lights on rather than sneak up with as little noise as possible. Maybe they were just planning on getting something quick and fleeing as quickly as possible?? Either way you should have beat him down!!!


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## Teewinot (Sep 10, 2007)

I'd say you most likely deterred a theft from occurring. If you would have watched him take something, got his information, and then called the Sheriff then you would definitely have seen some action from the Sheriff's office. On the other hand, from what you've posted, all you had to report is that you had someone walk through your camp late at night and you have a suspicion that they were there to steal something. That gives the Sheriff's office nothing to follow up on. It isn't a crime to walk through someone else's camp. It's not trespassing or anything of the sort. There wasn't any sort of crime the Sheriff's office could charge these guys with since you most likely stopped them from committing one in your camp. If you gave the Sheriff's office the guy's information then they will document it in a law incident and if they get any reports of thefts from the area they would then follow up at that point. Now if the guy kept coming back to your camp or was continuing to harass you then they would definitely come to your aid. All you really did was report that you deterred a crime. Nothing to follow up on at that point.

Honestly where the guy didn't cause you any real grief other than making you nervous I'm glad the Sheriff's office didn't rush one of their guys up there to just chat with you and have a look around. I'd rather have them not tied up with petty incidents and instead ready to take care of other potential more serious crimes.

I'm not trying to say what you went through is minor since it can be a scary situation. I'm just trying to shed a little more light on the Sheriff's motives.


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## hoghunter011583 (Jul 21, 2008)

Riverrat77 said:


> martymcfly73 said:
> 
> 
> > Seems like your jumping to conclusions there RR. It's midnight so why not have a casual conversation w/the guy. :roll: After all I'm sure his intentions were genuine. If he was lost why didn't he just knock on the door or yell to announce his presence? Common sense would say his motives were shady. But we all know RR and common sense don't go hand in hand. :roll: 343 did what he should have under the circumstances.
> ...


Could you clarify who you mean when you say guys who would shoot first and ask questions later. Because so far I haven't seen one post that said to shoot the guy!!


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## REPETER (Oct 3, 2007)

Shoot the guy!!


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