Urgent, need security help

Redbug · Dec 9, 2012

Google Earth and Bing maps do not help in preserving your privacy. Anyone can see what you have and plan a route into a place. Dogs, ditches and pipe gates are the best. Someone needs to be on the property to protect it.

KYErik · Dec 9, 2012

How about a cheap/crude hunting blind sitting way up the drive (100 yards) but in sight of the gate? It might make a thief think twice about breaking in during the day as they would not know if the blind was occupied or if they were being watched. To complete the illusion, maybe scatter a bunch of cigarette butts around inside the blind to make it look as if someone had spent LOTS of time waiting in there- just in case someone walked up to investigate/scout it out. The person scouting it (supposedly looking for a lost dog, ran out of gas etc.) would likely be trying to appear normal (no mask) so a camera would be good here.

I think that an apparent human presence would work best. Dogs, lights that go on and off in a house/camper/tent, smoke from a chimney etc.

If it is a well used highway or if there are any close neighbors- leave the cheap gate and install a hidden siren (high in a hollow tree? accessible only by a ladder) that would sound when the gate was rattled (triggered via a wireless sensor).

troutsqueezer · Dec 10, 2012

Buy a clunker car or truck. Park it at the gate, facing the gate. Hook up a motion detector that works from the car batt. When triggered, the head lights come on for a few minutes or a car alarm triggers. If it is night time, the head lights should scare the crap out of them. Daytime, the alarm might be enough. Car horns are pretty loud.

JoeBuyer · Dec 10, 2012

troutsqueezer said:
Buy a clunker car or truck. Park it at the gate, facing the gate. Hook up a motion detector that works from the car batt. When triggered, the head lights come on for a few minutes or a car alarm triggers. If it is night time, the head lights should scare the crap out of them. Daytime, the alarm might be enough. Car horns are pretty loud.

This is a great idea. However if they are observing property over time ahead of the break in, they will catch on.

I had a problem on one property where the gate was down the private lane a bit where it was secluded. I moved the gate up to the county road back just far enough room to get a cattle truck off the main road. Never had a break in since. Second property we installed a nice, fancier gate at the county road. Never a break in. I think cattle gates make property look like an easy target, like no one lives there. Don't get a real nice gate or they will assume you have something worth stealing.

Redbug · Dec 10, 2012

Just an idea for you if you park a car as a decoy...On my deer stands, (they have roofs), I have fake heads hanging in them. They are really just gallon jugs with brown t-shirts and eye spots painted on them. I do believe they work since the wind causes them to move and the deer get used to it. Then, when I am hunting a particular stand, I take the head down and my own replaces it. The critters, (and other people), don't know if it's real or memorex. Same kind of thing could go for your parked car/blind on your place.

I would also take the tractor and dig deep ditches alongside the gates and other points of entry.

EE_Bota · Dec 10, 2012

troutsqueezer said:
Buy a clunker car or truck. Park it at the gate, facing the gate. Hook up a motion detector that works from the car batt. When triggered, the head lights come on for a few minutes or a car alarm triggers. If it is night time, the head lights should scare the crap out of them. Daytime, the alarm might be enough. Car horns are pretty loud.

I'm going to remember this one...a movable roadblock with light and sound.

troutsqueezer · Dec 10, 2012

JoeBuyer said:
This is a great idea. However if they are observing property over time ahead of the break in, they will catch on.

If the car/truck is parked at a slightly different angle or position each time during a visit, the perps may never be sure if somebody is home or not. Just a theory...

gcp · Dec 10, 2012

Great minds think alike! I am preparing my farm truck for exactly that function, alarm, video cameras, siren.....it'll seat about 60 yards back from the gate and it'll raise holly hel$ when the gate sensors trip. In conjunction, I will also be fabricating and installing the forest gate I pictured before so good luck going through it in a timely manner! In addition, at my bridge there will be another 2foot steel barrier that can be emplaced easily when we are there or not.

I'll provide pics as soon as the work is completed. BTW I am also missing a boat trailer, didn't realize it was gone till yesterday so they hit my place most probably twice. The LE investigator is trying hard to retrieve what was stolen :thumbsup:

Scooby074 · Dec 10, 2012

Lloyd_E said:
The lumber/forest companies up here mount a swinging 8"+ diameter thick pipe to a vertical support with another pipe going from horizontal pipe to post at an angle for support. This gate locks into another post via a locked pin. The pad lock in up inside a steel box(bottom open) you reach inside, unlock, remove lock and pull pin. The gate opens. The lock box is made from 1/2" plate and the pin is usually 1.5"+. I am no expert but I think the only way to get in with this set-up is to use oxy/acet torch. It is massive and the pipes are buried into a large and probably very deep concrete block on both points of ground contact.

Can you get a remote sensor that will turn on lights, radio(and or recording of a loud barking dog with random pattern) - in the house and barn/workshop before the idiots get there. This might slow them down. I would post as much as possible and use as much remote sensing units as you can afford. If it is a continual problem you may find your insurance rates going up... would try to put the money up front into protection.

I would also invite friends/relatives to use the place more often when you are not there and set up a random pattern of visitation. This will keep the idiots guessing...

Feel for ya - good luck.

Another vote for the horizontal pipe "forestry" gate. Its the standard here. Have it on my own cottage.

1bush2hog · Dec 10, 2012

Scooby074 said:
Another vote for the horizontal pipe "forestry" gate. Its the standard here. Have it on my own cottage.

A determined thief can and will get in to your property. You have two real solutions - get insurance for personal property and develop a plan for your wife and your personal defense while you are there. You will never keep out a determined thief