I have a game wardens cap that I leave on the dash. Better than a large dog as theft prevention. People look at it, look around like the truck is bait and they are being watched, and move on. I like the game camera idea.
If cave diving were Star Wars, who would be Yoda?
LOL! My father is a retired game warden - I ought to see what he has kicking around that I could use for this. Though a Vermont Fish & Wildlife hat in a truck with Vermont plates probably wouldn't be much help in Florida...Originally Posted by Wizard
Here's an idea: Drive a donated junker to Little River or the OG & have it filled with bogus valuables. Make sure you are seen locally in Mayo, Branford or High Springs & then proceed with your buddies to your dive site, where you will meet up with your 'Hit team' & then park your decoy.
Park far enough away in your 'Swat' vehicle so as not to be noticed. Leave your decoyed junker where it will most likely be broken into. I don't suggest any guns for the ambush, but you never know what the perps will be carrying. A few baseball bats & buck shot loaded shot guns would suffice. Maybe even some handcuffs or wire ties would do. Take plenty of photos too so you have proof of what may happen. There are several military trained cave divers on here who would probably enjoy a little extra curricular activity !
When the carnage is over with, post your photos or U-tube videos on here for the rest of us to enjoy.
Just a thought !
Last edited by JE; 08-01-2015 at 05:53 PM. Reason: thoughts encouraged !
Just an update. Whoever did this also broke into another car last Sunday and stole a checkbook. They wrote 6 checks this past week and cashed them against my friends account. Over $10k combined. Pretty ballsy. I agree we were definitely targeted. Indications are that it was a male and female based on the handwriting. Stay aware. I will not be bringing my stuff to any site. My license cash and credit card will be in pocket inside drysuit.
Went..
We dove there yesterday (Sunday) and there were 2 rangers, one FWC law enforcement pickup parked and watching everyone and a sheriff's deputy even did a drive through.
I know it's *something* but it's a day late and a dollar short.
Spending money on increased visibility of patrols as a deterrent won't last. They need to be stealthy and catch and kill the fox instead of standing outside the hen house yelling to keep it away.
One thing that is probably obvious here and that we should all be aware of ( especially those of you from out of state ) is that the bad guys can very easily just move on from Madison down to Little River or Peacock or any of our many dive sites and continue to do bad things. This is nothing new here in Florida, although it does sound like what is going on at Madison is more than just some "low life" looking for a quick score. The police presence will slow things down for a weekend or two but don't expect things like this to totally go away. I know I'm preaching to the congregation here, but if you can't afford to lose it, then don't take it to the dive site!
Writing checks may get them caught. Should be time stamps on places they were written and most everyone uses video now that is time stamped.
The new game cams send an email and text message to you the moment it takes a picture.
They used to get stolen ALL the time where we hunt. Now everyone know not to touch um. It's hard to make them "inconspicuous" because some have flash.
I was looking at some old copies of UnderWater Speleology (late '80s), and found an article about vehicle security at Madison Blue. Seems this isn't a new problem.
That would drive me nuts. The game cams we have set up, between turkeys, hogs, raccoons, squirrels, deer and even the occasional bear and panther they each take hundreds of pictures in a day. lol and we have a half dozen cams set up lol when we pull the cards after a week or two to download, we literally have thousands of pictures to sift through.
It's bad luck to be superstitious.
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