water rustling

[wolfsong]

Well, it was bound to happen. Last year, it was alfalfa rustling. Now, it's rustling water.

As I pulled out on to the road in front of the ranch, I noticed a tanker truck parked next to the pump and well that irrigates a couple hundred acres of alfalfa. I figured it was a truck delivering diesel fuel for the pump motor. As I looked a little closer I realized it wasn't a fuel tanker. So, I turned around and drove back into the main yard and parked my truck so that it would block him from leaving. Then I moved one of the JD tractors in front of my truck to add an additional road block. All of this was screened from his view by various equipment barns and outbuildings.The heavy gates on the access lane between our ranch and the neighboring ranch were closed so I knew he had to come through our property to leave. I then set my 12 gauge in a handy spot and called 911.

Two units from the highway patrol showed up in minutes, followed by a sheriff's deputy shortly thereafter. I gave them the directions to the back way in/out so that another deputy sheriff could block that. The CHP instructed me to move my truck and the tractor and then they all moved in.

The guy didn't put up any resistance, and he wasn't armed. They arrested him and towed the truck away to impound, along with the water! Can't put it back in the ground...

I don't know exactly what they charged the guy with. Agricultural theft, or some such thing. He must have driven through while I was in the shower, as I didn't hear him come in. Or he might have come in the long way from the back...

I am amazed at the brazenness of this daylight theft. Maybe he is familiar with the comings and goings around the ranch, but I don't know. We're pretty well off the beaten path and anyone casing the ranch would stand out. Who knows. Probably just a case of calculated risk and opportunity. Whatever it is, it was an interesting way to start my work day. Of course, things didn't improve much once I got to work, but that's another story.

I guess we'll have to build a cage over the pump motor on all the wells to combat this kind of theft. If they mess with the well that supplies the feedlots it could be really bad.

Country living - never a dull moment.

 

[eveled]

I wonder how many times he got away with it. Glad you caught him and nobody got hurt. I hate thieves.

 

[contender]

First, I'm glad to see you caught the thief, and hopefully that will deter any others from trying it in your area. And, you did it in a professional manner & all turned out good.

But, it clearly points to a problem much deeper than simple theft. California is facing severe water shortages. Water is a basic necessity for life as we know it. When there are shortages, people get desperate, and do things that they might not normally do. Plus, there is a "profit" to be made off anything that is in short supply, and there are always people willing to steal & re-sell such stuff.

Being prepared to survive shortages is only good common sense.

 

[Don Lovel]

many of our wells in the SLV are now on telemetry and the battles for this part of Colorado's artesian well production continues to make lawyers fat rich Mercedes drivin greasballs. Supposedly there was folks killed or come up missing back in the 60's over a Denver coup to take Sangre water. These last few days we caught up on desperately needed rain and heavy high peak snow accumulation all up and down the Sangre De Cristo.
for your entertainment "shoot the man who is stealing your water"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LQJ7IzkfoE

 

[Number9]

Water rustling.. that's very hard for me to even imagine!
I thank the good Lord for what He has given us and I assure you.. I do not take it lightly!
I pray that the water shortage for you and others on the West Coast is short lived!

 

[graygun]

Rustlers need to be shot.

 

[mexicanjoe]

Water is more precious than oil around here, Feller offered me mucho$$$$$ for my acreage because I have a great water well. I have a stock tank, a house, and can run 6 sprinklers and not pull the well down....you can't drink crude oil at this price... They guy wanted to put in a water station to sell water to drilling rigs. Fortunately oil thieves outnumber water thieves here.... Texas has some pretty good laws regarding theft at night, especially livestock...

 

[Jeepnik]

Was a time you could just shoot someone for that sort of thing. Today we are civilized. Which means he'll get 1 day of community service if swears he'll never do it again. :twisted:

 

[SAJohn]

Los Angeles has been rustling water for a hundred years.

 

[GunnyGene]

And then there's the Hollywood Elite. :roll:

“Let them drink dust!”

As these aerial photos from The Post prove, Hollywood celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Barbra Streisand and Jennifer Lopez continue to suck up water to keep their gardens fresh and lawns green, while Southern California withers from a devastating drought.

More: http://pagesix.com/2015/05/09/3941513/?_ga=1.164435519.1856889798.1431205244

 

[opos]

The really tragic thing about the water wasters like the Hollywood darlings is that they have been allowed to take water as if it's "agricultural" water and not residential...so not only do they waste and abuse the water resources...they pay hardly anything for it...I'm in San Diego and we are undergoing a 16% mandatory cutback after we already did a voluntary 25% cut some months ago..near us is a place like the Hollywood area..called Rancho Bernardo..it's huge estates with acres and acres of lawn...many of them are on the agricultural water plan and are just now getting a huge shock...they are becoming "residential users" and their mandatory cut backs will be in the neighborhood of 35-40%...going to be a lot of multi million dollar homes with the "hay look" very soon...you should hear the screaming...tough!! They been stealing water for years while the "po folk" that live where I do pay the outrageous prices for water and sewer and are glad to ration...

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

It's going to get worse. Priorities are a B***h

 

[jack]

While talking to a very personable female Park Ranger in the "Sand Dunes" park in Colorado a few years ago, she offered the statement: "In these parts, there's a saying 'Whiskey is for drinking..........Water is for fighting over'". Living in the Midwest, I never gave much thought to the blessing of having "lots" of water.

 

[Cholo]

How brazen for that thief to be stealing the water, especially in the daytime! I'm glad you helped in getting him arrested. Looks like your county has a new vehicle

 

[Jeepnik]

How brazen for that thief to be stealing the water, especially in the daytime! I'm glad you helped in getting him arrested. Looks like your county has a new vehicle

Not really all that brazen. Think about it. If you drove by and saw the truck, in broad daylight, you wouldn't give it a second look.

Way back a few gas shortages ago we had a trucking company that started sending in its trucks to load gasoline. For the first day no one thought about it. Second day someone realized they were a fairly local hauler. Locals usually picked up in the evening and delivered at night for easier access. Folks going further afield would load up earlier.

Owner swore he didn't know his drivers were stealing gas. His own paperwork trail put him in jail.

 

[wolfsong]

Jeepnik, to add to that, many neighboring ranchers, field hands, service companies etc. have combinations/keys to locked gates and accesses. The list of service companies is endless: well diggers, fuel delivery, hay cutters, water district employees, crop dusters, silage providers, livestock haulers etc. etc. etc..

At any one time, there are a million dollars worth of tractors and such parked here and there along the lanes of adjoining ranches, people coming and going; one more truck really doesn't stick out, usually. I got lucky, this time.

 

[picketpin]

"It's always about WATER" More people killed during the settling of the west over water than any other cause.

My father was a Civil Engineer and hydrologist for the USBR. He wanted me to go to Law School and specialize in "Water Law". "It'll be the evolving area of law in the future"

To true.

Ross

 

[Jeepnik]

Two things are said about water. First it is the universal solvent. It will eventually dissolve anything.

Second, it is the deadliest compound known to man. Whether from too much, drowning, or too little or because of it's value it's likely been the cause of more people than any other single compound.

 

[Ruger Packer]

California could help their water shortage problem just a wee little bit by sending their illegal aliens back to Mexico.

Good catch, Wolfie!!!!

 

[Rick Courtright]

California could help their water shortage problem just a wee little bit by sending their illegal aliens back to Mexico.

Hi,

Well, actually... it would be just a wee little bit in the grand scheme of things!

The illegals don't use the water themselves anywhere near as much as the nearly equal number of "transplants" we have from other states where they had plenty of water and still can't figure out they live in a d(arn)ed desert out here! We could start solving more than one of our problems by shipping Ms. Streisand back to NY... news reports said she claims she's cut water use on her property here by 50%, but I'd bet even then, she uses more water in a month than I do in six or more. She could be followed up by 15 million or so others who moved west instead of north! More than a few well known politicians would be on the list, too, but that's a topic for a different forum.

Rick C

 

[Jeepnik]

California could help their water shortage problem just a wee little bit by sending their illegal aliens back to Mexico.

Good catch, Wolfie!!!!

Don't get me started, but you're right.