Newbie Question re: base camp

[BCJohn]

Sorry for the newbie question. When you set up a base camp in a dispersed camping situation, do you worry about security of your stuff when out hiking and off roading? I don’t worry about things in a developed campground, should I be concerned in a more remote setting? Of course I’d be locking up many valuables in my truck, but that could be broken into also. What do you do?

 

[RoarinRow]

Speaking for myself I would personally put stuff away from sight anytime I leave my vehicle whether it be camping or going to the grocery store. Our vehicles are the mercy of people with bad intentions. Best we could possibly do is lock up to slow them down.

Met a guy whose truck and truck camper broken into when he went rafting. All his stuff gone.

Maybe in a group bad guys will take less chances?

 

[SubeeBen]

Good question but a hard one to answer. As for my trips mostly hunting, so I don’t think the average thief would try to steel from a camp where everyone is carrying a firearm & a sidearm as well. & if they did it would be very unfortunate for them. Not to condone violence or any such.

 

[BCJohn]

Speaking for myself I would personally put stuff away from sight anytime I leave my vehicle whether it be camping or going to the grocery store. Our vehicles are the mercy of people with bad intentions. Best we could possibly do is lock up to slow them down.

Met a guy whose truck and truck camper broken into when he went rafting. All his stuff gone.

Maybe in a group bad guys will take less chances?

The larger question is what to do with the things left in camp when you’re out. I buy good stuff, coolers, tents, stoves... I only like to buy things once then use them for a long time. Do you worry about someone pillaging your base camp when noone’s home? Am I paranoid or is there a code?

 

[Desert Runner]

Good question but a hard one to answer. As for my trips mostly hunting, so I don’t think the average thief would try to steel from a camp where everyone is carrying a firearm & a sidearm as well. & if they did it would be very unfortunate for them. Not to condone violence or any such.

My experience has been in the back country,.....in hunting camps, everyone respects other camp sites, a unspoken code. In all the years my father and I camped, there was only 1 incident. We left camp, and drove up the mountain, then hiked further up to set up a backpacking camp to be up at sunrise to hunt. We went back down to our base camp that late afternoon to discover our stuff was either gone, or rummaged thru. Seems a couple of gypsy families were cruising around, looking for opportunities. Found out later they were poaching cattle down on the 'flats' below us as well. The Ranchers had the law....BLM, game wardens, the Hwy Patrol, and the County Sheriffs, all on the look-out. Talk about kicking a bee-hive.

 

[RoarinRow]

The larger question is what to do with the things left in camp when you’re out. I buy good stuff, coolers, tents, stoves... I only like to buy things once then use them for a long time. Do you worry about someone pillaging your base camp when noone’s home? Am I paranoid or is there a code?

Ah I see. Yeah I’d still be putting all valuables away before leaving my vehicles. A table or chair is easily replaceable. An $800+ fridge not so much.

 

[J.W.]

Thieves are opportunists. If they were willing to work hard to get something... they would have a job. The only thing you can do is to make it difficult for them to steal your stuff. Cable locks and pad locks work fairly well for discouraging opportunists.

For me, it’s a sliding scale. How much did X cost vs how much am I willing to spend on security for it? Then you have to take into account the worry factor. How much anxiety about your stuff are you willing to let go so that you can walk away and enjoy your time. It’s different for everyone, find the balance that works for you.

 

[MidOH]

You have to keep the bling factor down. The instagram pic nonsense only looks cool until somebody pries your gear off using your trucks body as a fulcrum.

Easy access is one lovely excuse for the expo look. Won't make up for stolen gear though.

We left out some worthless cooking pans. Yep, spotted them at the hillbilly campsight 8 spots down. If junk like that is worth stealing....... We also had our spare tire slashed when the thief realized it was cable locked. You have to pick and choose your campgrounds. State Park on the 4th of July???? We leave or coo' Overlanding gear behind and just use our ''Coleman quality'' regular gear.

 

[Correus]

You have to keep the bling factor down. The instagram pic nonsense only looks cool until somebody pries your gear off using your trucks body as a fulcrum.

Easy access is one lovely excuse for the expo look. Won't make up for stolen gear though.

We left out some worthless cooking pans. Yep, spotted them at the hillbilly campsight 8 spots down. If junk like that is worth stealing....... We also had our spare tire slashed when the thief realized it was cable locked. You have to pick and choose your campgrounds. State Park on the 4th of July???? We leave or coo' Overlanding gear behind and just use our ''Coleman quality'' regular gear.

Why even have two different sets? If you need "Coleman quality" to go camping, what's the use/reason to waste money on "coo' overlanding gear"?

 

[OtherOrb]

I take reasonable precautions like putting important things out of sight, etc. But I learned long ago that no lock will stop a thief. And I don't want to have had the things I care about stolen twice, once in my mind and once in reality. So I put things out of sight and then go have fun.

My dad never locked a vehicle. Often he would leave the vehicle running, driver door swinging open as he shopped. In his 82 years, almost never was something stolen. And usually he just thought he'd misplaced it. Almost entirely just lucky. One time a truck was stolen, but he got it back a few days later. Laughed about it. Continued not locking doors.

 

[NotGumby]

We put it away. Chairs, tables, stove go back in the vehicle. We might leave the awning deployed and the RTT open. RTT ladder inside the tent. Recovery boards are carried inside so only the awning and RTT are on the outside, along with spare underneath. Both awning and RTT have the nuts tack welded. I sometimes carry the wall set for the awning on top of the RTT in a dry bag cable-locked to the tent. All valuables and camera gear are always locked in the rear drawers.

 

[4wheelspulling]

The larger question is what to do with the things left in camp when you’re out. I buy good stuff, coolers, tents, stoves... I only like to buy things once then use them for a long time. Do you worry about someone pillaging your base camp when noone’s home? Am I paranoid or is there a code?

Lots of great suggestions so far. Just a thought to add. I lock and put away everything of value at my base camp, when I leave for any time. Take good pictures of all your Overlanding gear and write down the serial numbers. Most homeowners insurance policies, you can add property protection for not much money. Vance.

 

[Edy Coyote]

Good question but a hard one to answer. As for my trips mostly hunting, so I don’t think the average thief would try to steel from a camp where everyone is carrying a firearm & a sidearm as well. & if they did it would be very unfortunate for them. Not to condone violence or any such.

That's all well and good. But most hunting trips I've been on there are times where no one is at camp.

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

This is one of the reasons I am a big advocate for simple storage solutions like mounted drawer systems and bringing the concept of "5S" from Japanese management, or "Mise en place" from French kitchens into Overlanding. Most folks recognize these as things that make life around camp easier, but they are instrumental to security.

If everything has a place that is intuitive, easy to access, and handy -- and more importantly, if the user trains him or herself to put things back when it's done - your Rig is sort of always 'put away'. That's obviously not a solution for some stuff like chairs, but those are also fairly easy to replace. When done right, using lockable organization, your rig is always "secure" so leaving for a day hike requires little extra prep. Locks, as others have mentioned, keep honest people honest. They won't stop a determined thief. That is what insurance is for.

Generally speaking the closer you are to population, the higher the risk of theft. I feel more comfortable with fewer locks in the middle of nowhere than I do in high-traffic camp grounds.