A sucky record, but a record none-the-less.
Yesterday evening, I bought a Moultrie Gamespy D40 from the new Academy Sports nearby. This is around 8pm. After a nice meal with my wife, I get a little anxious to try out my newfangled contraption. I load it up with 6 d-cells, make sure the settings are correct, and test it. Looks good.
My initial plan was to take it over to my uncle's land and see if I can catch a pic of the big buck that's been roaming around there (he won't let me hunt, so the pics will have to do).
My anticipation takes over and I decide to set it out on the other side of our field, about 200 yards from the house. Who knows, I might catch a pic of something, and, it would be a good trial run. So, around 11:30 pm, I stroll across the field, pick out a good spot and strap that booger to the tree.
Laser-aimed. Check. IR sensor. Check. Switch to Auto. Check. Ready to go.
Around 5:00am I walk the dogs out for their early morning pee. It's pretty foggy. I gaze over at the woods and wonder what magnificent creatures I've captured on film. I notice the neighbor's dog barking, like he does when there are deer moving through the woods on the adjoining property. I'm thinking I should definitely have some pics.
I resist the urge to run over and check the cam until around 11am. The wife and I round up the hounds and take a stroll over to check on my new toy.
"Where did you put it?", she askes.
"Right on that big pine.", says I.
"Man, it's really hidden.", says she.
"Huh?", says I, knowing it's not hidden at all.
"I don't see it.", says she.
"#$%&**!", says I.
"CHENEY!", says she.
I apologize for the cursing, which came spewing forth when I realized that some bedevilry had taken place. My brand new, less than 15 hours old, magnificent specimen of high technology was gone.
I stand there dumbfounded for a moment. Maybe it fell off the tree. I look around in vain. Nowhere to be found. No sign of anything.
I go get my neighbor. Maybe he moved it. Nope.
We look around and try to figure out what happened. We've come up with three possible scenarios.
1. The crackheads that live across the field saw my flashlight last night and went poking around to see what was going on. Being trespassers, and probably having their picture taken, they take the evidence. Or, being crackheads, they take it to hock. High probability.
2. Someone was taking a shortcut across our property before dawn, had their picture taken, and took the evidence. Not quite as high probability.
3. Some jackass is hunting on the adjoining property, is trespassing for access, has his picture taken, takes the evidence. In my mind this is the highest probability.
So, I decided on a few courses of action.
1. I'm going to talk to an old acquaintance in the neighboring community to keep his eyes open for me. He has "dealings" with all sorts of nefarious characters in the local community and we used to be friends many years ago. If someone is trying to hock a game camera, he'll hear about it.
2. I'm going to go over to the property and see if I can find a stand or signs of a hunter. The owners of the property have said that no one has permission to be on the land. Except for me.
3. I'm going to call all of the local pawn shops.
4. I'm going to call down a plague of butt boils on the thief.
%#^&$# thieves.
UPDATE BELOW