You’ve spent a lot of money on a piece of property you and your family and maybe a few close friends to hunt on. You’ve erected a storage shed or barn to keep your 4-wheeler, tree stands, saws, mowing equipment, etc. in so you’ll have it there when you need it so how do you make sure your stuff will be there when you get back? Although nothing is 100% theft proof, here are some tips to help secure your property and hopefully deter thieves from ruining your hunting paradise.

  * Make sure to take as many of your valuables with you to eliminate the risk of them being stolen.

  * Make sure all your valuables are locked away. Spending a few more dollars on quality locks and dead bolts will deter thieves and vandals that much more. Though costly, installing a security system is another way to have peace of mind that your possessions are safe. It only takes a little more to go first class.

 * Record all serial numbers from all farm equipment, atv’s, generators, log splitters, appliances, electronics, etc.. Buy a small electric engraver and engrave distinguishing marks on all items in inconspicuous places or apply labels made from a label maker and stick them in hidden places. Keeping a record of serial numbers will help police recover stolen items. And don’t forget to mark your tree stands, ground blinds and trail cameras.

  * Take photographs of all items and keep them at home. Also take pictures of the engraved markings or labels you’ve attached to your property to help you remember what is marked and where it’s marked. Photographs can help police identify stolen items.

  * Make sure you have insurance. Keep your policy up to date and make sure it covers the stuff you own and includes atv’s, tractors and equipment, boats or any item that may not be covered under a standard homeowner’s or renter’s policy.

  * Make friends with a people who live in the area or a neighbor and ask them to keep a watch over your property. Offer them a trade like a place to ride their horses or allow them to cut hay in one of your fields, in exchange for keeping an eye on your place.

  * Post no trespassing signs at all entrances and along property lines of your land. Some states have purple paint laws but you still need to mark all of the entrances of your property.

 * Install gates at all entrances to your property and keep them locked. Criminals are less likely to steal large or heavy items, such as appliances, if they have to carry them long distances.

  * If possible, store your atv’s, tractors and equipment, mowers, and boats inside locked sheds or barns. Then lock and secure these items inside the barn as well. Put tongue locks on trailers. Run a cable through the wheels of your 4-wheeler, mower, etc. and lock it. Kind of like locking up a bicycle. If thieves break in, having everything locked up separately may frustrate them and deter them from stealing everything.

 * Hide keys (or keep them with you) to outbuildings, gates, atv’s, tractors, etc. If someone breaks into your house or cabin, you don’t want to provide them with easy access to everything else on your property.

  * If a break-in does occur, contact local law enforcement immediately and stay clear of the crime scene until they arrive. Moving around the crime scene and touching things may destroy critical evidence that might be valuable in the case.

  Hopefully some of these tips will help you avoid a break-in or at least slow down the bad guys and help reduce the damage.

  It was almost day light and we had been hunting my property in Haskell county for spring turkey season. We had heard a gobbler gobbling along the hill below my father-in-law’s hog barns. The edge of the hill runs mostly east to west and we had been in and out of the bottom several mornings, but never this early. We had been on the mountain on my side of the property, but the gobblers had moved. We were attempting to get closer.

  There was a big mud puddle right at the open gate into my father-in-law’s second pasture and Grandpa never owned a 4 wheel drive. He said if he needed 4 wheel drive to get there, he probably had no business going. So yes, we had been stuck more than once. The big puddle was passable as long as you hit it kind of fast and I said this to grandpa on the approach. He gunned it and when we got to the end of the puddle we discovered my father-in-law had shut the wire gate sometime after we left the previous day. It did not hold up to the Ford pick-up as the middle post bust in two pieces and the entire gate went under the wheels of the truck.

 There were two explosions: the gate from the impact and the language inside of the truck as Grandpa seen we were going to hit the fence. Both were something to experience!!

  Grandpa and I got out of the truck and were still a ways from where we needed to be in the valley, but we started fixing the gate. I knew where a post was that we could use for the center post and retrieved it. We weaved it into the 5 strands and grandpa had staples and hammer in his farm truck.

  Turkeys had been gobbling and they gobbled every time grandpa drove a staple. We both were trying to hurry so we could get on in to the valley. It was good daylight when we got finished. As we started getting our guns, the valley started filling up with turkeys. They sailed in from the roost on the hill, meeting in the middle – hens and gobblers, all of them vocal birds as Grandpa and I stood there to watch.

  We couldn’t move. Not without scaring off the turkeys. We stood there for over an hour as the turkey social event of the morning took place. Turkeys paired off and some came in as pairs. Grandpa said, “Son we need to back out of here when they leave and go home.” His eyes scanned the valley, noting where the turkeys were headed. “We will be back here earlier tomorrow.”

 “We going to avoid the gate tomorrow?” I asked with a grin.

  “I intend to,” grandpa responded. “I’m old, my eyes are going bad.” He glanced over at me. “How come you didn’t see it?”

 “I did right before you hit it,” I answered and we both kind of laughed about it. The gate was a good as new when we left.

  Grandpa called Joe Wells that night and told him we had seen at least 9 different gobblers come in and we were going to be in the valley while it was still dark. The plan came together and we were at the gate the next morning, but this time we walked through. Joe and I moved to a ravine that fed the creek in the center of the valley after we put up our decoys. Grandpa moved behind us to call.

 We watched the day come to life as the gobblers began to gobble and the whippoorwills sang their song up and down the hills. A Great Horned owl gave a deep throated whooo whooo in the distance and somewhere behind us another answered as the turkeys sounded off at their old enemy. Way off to the west a dark sea of clouds were moving toward us, lightning flashing like a faraway battle and the long distance sound of thunder could have been cannons. The turkeys were gobbling to the thunder and it was a beautiful sound.

  As soon as we could see good the turkeys started flying down! We watched in awe as gobblers and hens flew in together and separately, pairing up almost immediately, some of them walking away from our decoys, others strutting on the spot. In the far distance we could see a hen coming with a big gobbler strutting behind her. She was answering grandpa’s call every time he hit that old box call. I really wanted that big turkey.

  Plans do not always go as intended. Five birds came flying in and they headed straight for our decoys. It was 5 jakes, all of them landing right in front of me. They walked around our decoys and I didn’t shoot. They were a little far for Joe but I was hoping if they got a little closer he would kill one. Joe didn’t fire.

  The turkeys got suspicious of the decoys after 10 minutes since they did not move and they started walking off from the decoys, but right toward me. I kept watching that big gobbler behind that hen and they were almost within range.

 PUTT!!

  I didn’t know what spooked the jakes. I didn’t move. Grandpa and Joe didn’t move, but they started to putt. Every turkey hunter hates that noise and all the birds started walking away. The big gobbler and hen were running back across the valley. Well, the jakes had to walk past two big cedars that blocked their sight from me and I spun around, running quietly to the creek, slipped in. I then raised my head just peering over the edge. Just as I did the lead jake stepped out on the other side of the cedars and I let him have it. He went down in a thrash of wings as the other birds hit the air.

  Grandpa got up all grins as I climbed the creek bank and retrieved my turkey.

 “I thought everything went to hell when they started putting,” he said, “then when you got up, I seen what you had in mind.”

 “Why did they spook?” I asked.

 Joe said, “Coyote. He was slipping up on those to our right and the jakes seen him. When they putted all the others took off. They busted the coyote.”

  The bird in my hand weighed 16 lbs. and had a 5 inch beard. It was a good turkey hunting memory to make with my grandpa and our buddy Joe. To the west there was a crackle of lightning and then after a bit, some thunder. It was about to rain.

 Turkey hunting doesn’t always turn out like you think it’s going to and that gate stopping us the day before put us in a perfect place to observe the habits of those turkeys in the valley. The bird I had in my hand was a jake, but when it comes to turkey hunting, every bird is a trophy.