To stop thief from getting your guns in truck

[Rob5589]

From the sound of it, may be safer to find a place to camp out and avoid hotels altogether

 

[Brooks]

I was parked at a hotel right in front of my door in ABQ near the airport at 3 in the afternoon and if it hadn’t been for my alarm going off, lights and horn my new F350 diesel truck would have been long gone. Cops didn’t even come out, just told me I better not leave the truck unattended tonight because they will come back and get it. I got a refund from the hotel and found a hotel out of town.

 

[Huntnnw]

I don't get the guys that leave expensive gear in their truck at a hotel, or anywhere you can take it in with you. That locker will definitely hamper a thief. Make sure you cannot unbolt the box from the top or it'll be an easy(ish) target. I'd still bring my guns inside, however.

yup! its mind boggling to me.If I have to get a room everything of value is going into room. Last year I was packing a 6x6 elk rack thru the halls. Every year these guys leave racks in trucks and I just cant wrap my head around leaving it and some of these guys you would think would know better. Im also not packing an arsenal of guns on my hunt, If I am hunting my rifle is with me, theres no extras in the truck. If I leave anything that I thinks of value and they can see in window I am hiding it around camp somewhere versus in truck.

 

[Laelkhunter]

Two years ago my buddy and I were wheeling 4 custom rifles in 4 separate Pelican cases into our room (Holiday Inn in Iowa) and the desk woman wanted us to put our guys in a separate locked holding room. We said no and kept going, on the second trip she was insisting that we put the guns in the locked room or we were going to get the boot. The only thing that kept us in the room was my Federal badge so be aware of this.

....Badges? We don't need no stinking badges !!!!!! (Sorry, couldn't resist).

 

[Sako76]

Good one! Never liked doing it (pulling out the badge) 14 hour ride, tired, hungry and didn’t want to find another hotel room. I also asked to see Holiday Inn’s policy on the prohibition of firearms in rooms. The manager started stuttering and stammering, I then said 5 million NRA members want to know if Holiday Inn discriminates against gun owners and I neeed a copy for my lawyer. I then stated who I worked for and showed my credentials and walked to my room.

 

[6.5x284]

I have a kill switch for my battery, but in a place like that I'd actually disconnect my battery and take it inside along with all valuables. Takes about 2 minutes to pull a battery. Honestly though, I'd sleep at my truck on state or federal land somewhere else or time it so I wasn't needing to stay there.

 

[Short Track]

How about the opposite problem. All your gear & rifles are in your hotel room, and you decide to go out to eat. That is a potential risk.

I know people who lost their rifles while eating at a dinner just north of the Canadian border. Smashed the glass of the Suburban...

 

[Laelkhunter]

How about the opposite problem. All your gear & rifles are in your hotel room, and you decide to go out to eat. That is a potential risk.

I know people who lost their rifles while eating at a dinner just north of the Canadian border. Smashed the glass of the Suburban...

If you leave the room to go eat, and have your goodies still in the room, leave the TV on, the lights on, and the "DO NOT DISTURB" sign on the door. If the thief is watching and sees you leave, then he knows you're not there, but he might think that someone is possibly still in the room. As you exit the room and are closing the door, make a statement like "I'll be right back" as if speaking to someone still in the room.

 

[WCB]

Like some of you here. I draw as little attention to my vehicle as possible. Never understood decoy trailers or trucks plastered with sticker of high end brands. If I am on a backpacking hunt 99% of my stuff is in my back anyways so that comes in with the gun case. I normally either have a small duffel bag with extra optics, pair of boots etc or for optic a smallish pelican case. Get out of the truck...backpack on...gun case on wheels in one hand and extra duffel or pelican case in the other. Coolers etc stay in the truck. but out of site under bed cover.

If I leave an extra firearm at trail head etc. I rigged my back seat in my truck to lean forward and a standard rifle in a soft case fits behind it. 99.9% of guys will never know it is there.

While guiding in MT I did have someone take probably $400 of flies, my wading boots, and a rod out of my truck. My guess was I left it unlocked but everything was out of site. Pretty ballsy out the trailhead we were parked at as most guys that camped around there kept a good eye out on the rigs for us and anytime we rode into trail head would mention if they saw someone poking around or asking questions.

 

[MallardSX2]

Side Note: I know a guy and his family that had their truck completely emptied one night on their way to Colorado to hunt mule deer. The crooks even took their sleeping bags.

Never can be too careful.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Add Payson, AZ to the list of places to avoid leaving your truck out of eyesight. I got lazy after coming out from elk hunting, left my pack in the back seat of my truck. No stickers or other indicators of my intent, but window smashed and about $1500 of gear including the pack vanished 4 minutes before I went out to the truck in the morning. How do I know it was 4 minutes? Whole thing was in a lighted parking lot with security cameras. Truck was about 20 yards from my hotel room. Cops said "this happens a lot" and that was about it. Alarm didn't go off because door wasn't opened. Insurance didn't cover the glass as it was below my deductible. Insurance didn't cover the value of the gear because it was about the same as my homeowner's deductible. In total it cost me about $2000 and a 16 hour drive home through the snow with no window, wrapped in my sleeping bag to stay warm.

 

[Rich M]

Totally get not leaving your guns in the vehicle at the hotel, I never do either. Will be heading out to Wyoming griz land in archery this year though and will leave a 12 ga. in the truck for the 2nd meat run. Anybody had issues or have a preferred method of securing while in the backcountry? Will be a beater gun but still.

Run a cable thru your seat frame and tighltly cable the shotgun in. I use a cut resistant lock. They could get it but the effort involved would stop smash and grab thieves.

I live in an areas where homeless opportunists exist. Sucks. Example: Took wife out in boat, guy at picnic table, looked back when we were about 200 yds out and the scumbag was looking in my truck windows….

 

[Short Track]

I'm considering driving from NY to CO for my hunt. Now considering flying and renting a car after reading this shiit.

 

[TheGDog]

This is part of the reason it's dumb to do things like have stickers on your vehicle from various hunting-related brands. CLEAR message to would-be thieves about what is possible that they might find in your vehicle.

Also... you have to worry about enviro-nazi nimrods also potentially doing something retaliatory to your vehicle if they can easily ID it as belonging to a hunter.

I live in a nice neighborhood... NOW. I'm constantly dumb-founded about how lazy soo many of these folks are security-wise.

Just dumb isht like leaving easily stealable valuables in plain sight within the vehicle, etc. Leaving their front doors open when loading into the house groceries, etc. Bump that noise Jack! At the very least that door is getting closed behind me EVERY TIME, so I can at least hear that someone is opening a door! Car door gets shut and locked EVERY TIME I have to walk away from it. One of the things you learn growing up in the 'hood?... is that habitual thieves eventually learn to go to NICE neighborhoods to steal isht too. Cause nothing in their own hood is worth much to steal.

Shiiiid man... when I was a kid? WHERE I was a kid at? Psssh... anything that wasn't bolted-down or locked to something else, was gone. And the bolted-down and locked down stuff would get gone too if you left it unsupervised for too long!

After like the 2nd or 3rd time of having your bicycle stolen either when visiting the local Victoria Park community swimming pool... or coming back out from the Carson Mall and only finding a bolt-cuttered-through lock sitting there on the ground at the bike rack... and the loooong walk home (thru dangerous territory for a white kid) you learned to do certain things like spray-paint your brand-new shiny beautiful bike ugly primer gray, so the thieves will want to steal the OTHER guys bike!

Mostly it's just out of sight out of mind. If you have a separate beater truck you trust, take that instead. Things like don't be playing your music loud when you pull-in to park, letting them know there's aftermarket amps and wiring to be had, etc. Thee quickest way to get your isht broken into in the 'hood! Is to roll-up to your own place where the car will be parked at, bumping tunes at high volume.

 

[cmahoney]

When your a member of the Vortex or Kuiu Nation, a sticker is kind of mandatory


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[30338]

I leave this yeti in the back of my truck, usually tied in with blue twine. So far I guess I've just been lucky.

 

[NCtrapper]

Coming from the east, I personally haven't had an issues but I've heard of theft happing when staying at hotels in/around St. Louis. Everything goes inside with me like mentioned above if I'm staying overnight. Just use common sense, cant be to cautious

 

[pucmw11]

Anyone using "Decked" successfully for situations like this? Without someone breaking the whole tailgate off, is there anyone who has had security issues with them? Seems 3x cheaper than the gun vaults and offers a lot of hunting versatility/storage.

 

[SW hunter]

Good one! Never liked doing it (pulling out the badge) 14 hour ride, tired, hungry and didn’t want to find another hotel room. I also asked to see Holiday Inn’s policy on the prohibition of firearms in rooms. The manager started stuttering and stammering, I then said 5 million NRA members want to know if Holiday Inn discriminates against gun owners and I neeed a copy for my lawyer. I then stated who I worked for and showed my credentials and walked to my room.

Good thing you were on official govt business, carrying your 4 agency issued custom hunting rifles, so it wasn't misuse of official position.
5 million nra members may want to know if feds are misusing their badge to intimidate civilians. While on vacation. With a buddy. Carrying personally owned firearms.

 

[vectordawg]

Totally get not leaving your guns in the vehicle at the hotel, I never do either. Will be heading out to Wyoming griz land in archery this year though and will leave a 12 ga. in the truck for the 2nd meat run. Anybody had issues or have a preferred method of securing while in the backcountry? Will be a beater gun but still.

Is a 12ga really effective grizz protection?