What was this Trespasser up to?

[DJP]

So today I go to check a tract of land. When I get there I see a truck on the property that should not be there. It is a big hay field with some hardwood around it. You can see a long way.
This happens a lot in my job and it usually kids, or adultery, or poachers. No big deal, but I did not like the look of the truck. When a guy walked out of the woods I did not like the look of the guy. I called the sheriff and asked for a car asap. I stay about 200 yards away and wait. The guy is sort of deciding whether to talk to me or drive off. He is in a flatbed dually. He decided to drive off and let him roll after getting his license plate. I’m on the phone with dispatch and they are telling me to stay away too. Sheriff #2 is heading to his home.

Sheriff #1 arrives. He and I go up to where the guy walks out of the woods to see if anyone else is up there.
Where the guy was parked, someone had taken a skid steer or small tractor and cleared a path. The path went from the field, around an old homesite, around a well now flagged off with police tape, and ended in a grove of black walnut trees. Total length of work was about 100 yards into the woods.

I am dumbfounded. I assumed he was taking wood or metal out of the very old fallen home…..but none was gone and it is not good scrap. It looked like he was prepping a road to run in a different piece of equipment. The sheriff asked if anything valuable was taken. I looked around and I bet him a coke that the guy is in the timber business.

Meanwhile Sherriff #2 has met the father and gotten the cell number of the guy. Guy agrees to come back to the site to explain why he is there. He shows up and says he decided to take a walk in the woods and his grandfather lived nearby. Thing is he had a messed up ankle. One leg was in a walking boot brace.

So a guy with a grandfather nearby decides to stop in at 4pm on a Tuesday to take a hike on a bum ankle. He took the stroll in a walking boot along a newly made path that goes around a dilapidated house and around an old well that has just been flagged with police tape.

Guy tells me and the police that he is a landscaper that specializes in tree removal. We give him a Notice of Trespass and everyone goes home.

I spoke to the neighbor on the way out and they said a landscaper truck/trailer hauled a skid steer into that spot a couple weeks ago.

What the hell?

I have two theories on what he was doing. What say you?

[Steelin' Ducks]

Killem' all

[charlie horse]

"reclaimed heart pine" from the old house.

[Fireman]

Sounds like he is burying something possibly that he can find nowhere else to dump and that he was possibly there to make sure it didn't come uncovered? That's my guess

[smitch320]

My guess is the lumber from the old house.

[slowiedawg]

Black Walnut

[Duckkiller]

I assume there isn't anything in the well now? Since the trespasser left?

[willk]

Sounds like he is burying something possibly that he can find nowhere else to dump and that he was possibly there to make sure it didn't come uncovered? That's my guess

This. Check down that there well. Decided to take a walk? Horse shit.

[willk]

Or what Slowie said.

[Jozie & Me]

copper pipe/wiring from under old house. reclaimed lumber, flooring from house.

common denominator: he is after something that does not belong to him.

or.

He is about to set up a mobile meth lab.

[marsh chicken]

Looking for passion

[Duck cutter]

what didn't you like about the look of the guy and the truck?

[Bownut]

"New" trees from around old home site for replanting for a customer after the hurricane blew down all their trees.. Gonna bring a spade in and pull them, then sell them to folks. Really low overhead involved.

[Highstrung]

Dumping organic matter, yard shit? Escaping landfill prices.

[DJP]

what didn't you like about the look of the guy and the truck?

neck tats.

JK
I dunno. I deal with stuff like this a few times a year. I'm allowed to make a judgement call on weather I want to roll up on someone or just wait for help.

[Sportin' Woodies]

Sounds like he was trying to dig a tunnel. Years ago Harriet Tubman dug an Underground Railroad tunnel that stretched from the racist south all the way to racist Canada. This guy may be trying to smuggle Mexicans on a train below the earths surface. Or even Muslims. It's trumps fault either way.

[OneLeggedMan]

Sounds sketchy as hell, I feel pretty confident you handled it the right way. Dude is lucky he didnt get shot.

[Duck cutter]

Sounds like he was trying to dig a tunnel. Years ago Harriet Tubman dug an Underground Railroad tunnel that stretched from the racist south all the way to racist Canada. This guy may be trying to smuggle Mexicans on a train below the earths surface. Or even Muslims. It's trumps fault either way.

some of the stuff you come up with is quite impressive....

[swampshooter]

some of the stuff you come up with is quite impressive....

Impressive or just outright stupid

[Moonlight Hunter]

It was his grandfather's old homesite. He was trying to let his grandpa(who had been talking about the site) have one more look at it. Dumb move, but if they weren't planting a meth lad, everyone's good to go. He hadn't been there in a couple of weeks due to the injury.