Discouraging prowlers: Big gun? Big dog? Big man?

So there I was the other evening (aprox 9:30) attempting to slay Diablo when the phone rang and it was a neighbor. "Jenna, don't look out and dont talk loud because there is someone standing at your window watching you."

Naturally my skin started to crawl and my heart was pounding.... the window in question was at my back about 5 feet away. After being scared witless for about 3 minutes, I wanted to run out with a shotgun and start blasting.

The neighbor had called the police but by the time they arrived, the peeper/prowler had moved off. We have HUGE backyards here and all of them are dark, there are no fences to slow anyone down. For some reason my neighbors two annoying dogs (Target and Little Target) were not tied out or they would have carried on and there are no other dogs around.

The police suggested security lighting and I've got someone coming to look the place over. However, in the mean time I've seen evidence the prowler has been back: Cigarette butts, broken flowers and so on.

Now, while I WOULD shoot someone who broke in my house, I dont really WANT to shoot anyone. I just want peeper/prowler to get lost or arrested, or dog chewed.

And I dont really want a dog. I dont hate dogs, but I'm not all that fond of them and they will shed and drool all over the house, crap all over the yard and always be riding my leg.

I dont really want a man for more or less the same reasons I dont want a dog.

Can anyone suggest some sort of easy to make traps that wont get me in trouble with the law?


mm

Just get the lights and also consider prickly hedges by the windows.

I had a problem with burglars about 20 years ago in my first house. I took 1 1/4" felt nails (roofing nails with a washer around them) and put hundreds of them point up on the ground around each window.

I heard a lot of cursing and then a thump and then sheer whining one night and was never bothered again.

If you are a confrontational person, I have two words: Wrist Rocket.

Have a lot of hunting shot and keep popping them. The shot will probably kill them if you shoot them in the belly as it will blow through a steel trash can with ease. Go for the face and mangle them.

Air charged paintball gun with glass marbles is pretty mean.

People still say "prowlers"? :flow2:

Have some of these baby's out in plain sight.

He's not a burglar till he steals something.

Right, legally he's a prowler.

Those go behind the knockout roses and the hydrangeas.

Philistine.

Legally, what's the sentence for a prowling conviction? It's basically trespass, no?

They traced the call....and it's coming from inside the house!

Anywho, I like the way Koreans put broken bottles/shards of glass in wet cement along the top of the privacy walls around their apartment buildings when they build them.

I see that all the time up here.

I'm not normally a confrontational person, but this makes me mad, as in losing my temper seeking revenge mad. This is my home, someone is invading my privacy as well as my property.

The nails are a good idea, I know I have a box of them somewhere. Motion activated sound effects might be fun.

And how did you know about the knockout roses and hydrangeas? Were were you last Thursday evening about 9:30 EST?

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?


mm

I don't think he has to steal something, but he does have to enter her house.

Where's the "submit to quotes" feature when you need it?

Well if he didn't steal anything its a really weak case, doncha think?!

Put out some antique lawn jockeys!

Your best bet is to have a shotgun with a really, really loud action.

Remington 870.

Did I ever tell ya about how when I was younger, any of those things I saw in NYC were done.

If they had a black face I would spraypaint it white. If I had no paint, I'd break off an arm.

That's creepy.

What you need is a pressure switch in the area the lurker stands that will cause an audio clip of a shotgun pump being racked to be played very loudly.

Of course, you'll still have the crap in the yard problem, but it should be a one-time-only thing.

Was he doing "anything" as he was standing there?

I wonder if those dye packs banks use can be bought retail, and if you could rig one to your window ledge with a trip wire beneath it.

ohgodgawd I hope not.


mm

Years ago on my first banking job as a teller, I would see those thingies often.

They looked so cheap. Not high tech or anything. I bet half the time it doesn't work. And I never learned how it worked. Each teller had one or two in his cash drawer.

Claymore mines are illegal in the US and tracking powder doesn't do much good.

Trust me, felt nails work. When a prowler falls onto them after getting his feet pierced, he's not gonna come back, especially when he has to have friend pry them out of his ass with a claw hammer and then get a tetanus shot.

Sued? You didn't know those rusty things were there. Must have been from a roofing job in the 70's or something. What was the idiot doing around that window on private property anyway?

make the hedges poison ivy or poinson oak.

Motion sensor lights are best. Then, you know when to get up and look out the window.

That depends on if there are lots of animals around.

If there were lots of animals around, wouldn't they have made some noise when the guy showed up?

No. I mean if there are like raccoons or rabbits and whatnot. If its a motion sensor, you won't want it going on all the time.

I know that sensitivity can be adjusted. Hey, maybe theyr got smart and can distinguish between people and animals.