neighbor issues-Shutdown?

[tapdrinker]

Well, this is a first for me. I just walked my buckets around the neighborhood and found 4 of my buckets were down and then one bucket had pee in it. These buckets were not on their property of who I truly believe did this. I'm tempted to completely shut this operation down. I know who it is because there's only one new neighbor in town and no one likes her. I fear that my buckets will become contaminated with chemicals other than urine. Bottom line... mean people suck.

[heus]

Trail camera. Evidence for the police.

[VT_K9]

yes put up a couple trail cameras. Spypoint had a good selection and I am using one now to watch a house I am working on. I also have a Moultre video. Both of these are cellular and worth their money.

Video evidence would help the investigation. If you have specific questions shoot me an IM.

Good luck,

Mike

[DrTimPerkins]

Put a bit of vasoline with ghost pepper oil on the rim. Obviously don’t use the sap from those buckets.

[tapdrinker]

Thank you all who have perfectly valid ideas. I took the long route and spoke to each and every neighbor again on my route yesterday. No one but her had issues with me putting up buckets/collecting and free pint handouts for thanks for their trees-done this for the last 8 yrs. (most only have one tree in which to tap)
I'm not about to spend 1000s trying to monitor 3 buckets. While I was collecting today she came out and complained about the noise when I dump my buckets into my 5 gallon buckets to carry back to the house. I said "I'm sorry, but if it bothers you there are things called ear plugs. I'm not on your property and I don't plan to. I've also alerted all the neighbors about your urinating in my bucket and taking it down when it's not on your property." She went red and started screaming at me. I calmly just said, "I'm sorry it bothers you, but they should be alerted of your demeanor." and walked away. Right now everyone has their eyes out for her and her so called boyfriend. I don't think I did anything wrong and I thought this would be best. If I can get someone else to see them-it's not me which gives more validity to the bucket tampering. As of this morning, no other buckets where down. So hopefully this has been resolved.

[tcross]

you can get real cheap game cameras at wallmart that work very well. can't remember the brand, but about $30 for them? i use them in a few spots where people like to steel them from me. just another option. i have a few of them that have been in my woods for 3-4 years (for hunting/, not peeing neighbors) and they still work good! it sucks that people suck!

[VT_K9]

Nice choice of action on your part.

Thank you all who have perfectly valid ideas. I took the long route and spoke to each and every neighbor again on my route yesterday. No one but her had issues with me putting up buckets/collecting and free pint handouts for thanks for their trees-done this for the last 8 yrs. (most only have one tree in which to tap)
I'm not about to spend 1000s trying to monitor 3 buckets. While I was collecting today she came out and complained about the noise when I dump my buckets into my 5 gallon buckets to carry back to the house. I said "I'm sorry, but if it bothers you there are things called ear plugs. I'm not on your property and I don't plan to. I've also alerted all the neighbors about your urinating in my bucket and taking it down when it's not on your property." She went red and started screaming at me. I calmly just said, "I'm sorry it bothers you, but they should be alerted of your demeanor." and walked away. Right now everyone has their eyes out for her and her so called boyfriend. I don't think I did anything wrong and I thought this would be best. If I can get someone else to see them-it's not me which gives more validity to the bucket tampering. As of this morning, no other buckets where down. So hopefully this has been resolved.

[BAP]

Does your town have its own police department? If so, let them know what is going on and see if they can’t do a few extra drive bye for a few weeks. There presence might be enough to discourage the offender from doing the damage.

[TapTapTap]

I use Spypoint cellular cameras for watching game and have the one solar cam set on my driveway to record cars entering and exiting. You will pay more for the solar but it's worth it in my mind since you won't ever need to replace the 8 AA batteries. The cellular notification happens about 3 minutes after the recording. Obviously it might not be necessary for this one case but I've found multiple purposes for the cameras.
Ken

[DaveB]

I bought a $50 trail camera online and it worked great for several years. It still does but I'm not using it regularly. I like the idea of talking to neighbors and letting the police know what is happening. If she is complaining about the sound of water being poured into a bucket, she's really a miserable person and has probably complained about other neighbors doing normal neighborly things. They probably know her. I would go to the station and talk to someone at the desk rather than on the phone.