A good friend of mine was nearly cleaned out- tractor implements, four wheelers, generators, etc. etc. When the caretaker showed up, the thieves had UTVs lined up and waiting to be loaded on a trailer and it looked like their big tractor may have been next. This wasn't the first time they'd been hit, but it was definitely the biggest.

Here's what they did, and your mileage may vary- their camp was located off of a stretch of road with a couple of shacks and such that folks lived in and where the suspected thieves lived. They hired the oldest man on the road, one of those dudes who was so old nobody knew how old he was, to weed eat around the camp and sweep off the porch once a month or whatever. They paid him $40 or $50 every month. Well, he was the grandfather or great uncle of nearly everybody in the community. Theft came to a screeching halt, and they haven't had a problem since. This was three or four years ago.