Stolen Truck, near Mountain Aire Lodge

[simplify]

I had my Truck stolen this morning while out hunting just north east of Mountain Aire Lodge, on Forestry Trunk Road.
With key-less entry, I had locked my keys in the truck as to not risk loosing them, but came back to glass on the ground where my vehicle used to be

Walked an extra 1 km or so to the forestry trunk road / Township road 312B (aka Coalcamp road I think) intersection

There I meet a very nice family that were on their way to Sundre and gave me a ride. At least I was able to call RCMP and call for a ride back to Calgary.

If you happen to come across an abandon truck, please call RCMP (once you get into cell range)

2012 Black Ford F150 FX4 (looks just like all the black ford trucks you see out there)
Alberta License plate BCF6682

Front license plate holder has a Yellow/Orange Moose XIng plate (from Canadian Tire) and a undercover tonneau cover (looks like a bakflip)

pretty sure base on the glass location, it was the front passenger side window that was broken


Stay safe out there and maybe hide your keys better then I did

[RandyBoBandy]

[bezzola]

Left keys in it
No comment

[GeoTrekr]

Hope everything works out for you in the end. It's terrible the low-lifes have now worked their way out to the trailheads and hunting grounds.

[Outbound]

Man that sucks. Hope you get it back and the low lifes get testicular cancer. I'm so paranoid about leaving my truck alone in the bush that I don't go as far into the woods as I want. I'm missing out on some great hunting I'm sure, but I can't afford to have my truck get wrecked or driven off...

[Red Bullets]

Maddening to read this. Don't blame yourself about the keys either. Who's to say the perp even found the keys. Some thieves can start a truck without a key. Hope you get your truck back in good shape.

Trucks should come with satellite tracking for such events.

[JohninAB]

Man I hate thieves. Came home from work 2 weeks ago to discover some lowlife tried to steal my 2006 F250 out of my driveway at 650 am as neighbour across the street seen the bum. Punched out my door lock out, destroyed ignition but fortunately I have a starter disable switch and scumbag could not get it running. Scum even went under the truck on starter side looking for switch I assume.

$38 for a new ignition from Amazon and two minutes installation time and truck is running again.

Good news is, about a week after attempted theft, my neighbour saw the cops take the scum down in town. Too bad he did not put up more of a fight and run and accidentally catch a couple in the back.

So easy to steal an older Ford, leaving the keys in the ignition or taking them with you makes no difference to a thief as they can start it without keys easy enough.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by bezzola

Left keys in it
No comment

Question being, visible or not ? Sometimes safer than taking a chance on losing them in the bush.

Grizz

[Bushrat]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

Question being, visible or not ? Sometimes safer than taking a chance on losing them in the bush.

Grizz

Hang them in a tree, under a stump or rock somewhere handy to your vehicle.

[7magtime]

Originally Posted by bezzola

Left keys in it
No comment

Lowlife leaving a person stranded in the bush for their own benefit......No comment.

[kujoseto]

Originally Posted by 7magtime

Lowlife leaving a person stranded in the bush for their own benefit......No comment.

Originally Posted by bezzola

Left keys in it

No comment

This story is a good reminder to us all. OP didn’t have to share with us, but they swallowed their pride and did so anyway.
Totally sucks, but one of these is within our control. Keys are in our possession but POS individuals will always exist.

Good luck getting it all sorted out

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Bushrat

Hang them in a tree, under a stump or rock somewhere handy to your vehicle.

I always worry about pack rats and ravens.

Grizz

[Hunter4ever12]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

I always worry about pack rats and ravens.

Grizz

That would be my luck too,have a stupid bird or squirrel take off with my keys lol.

To the OP I do the same thing with my keys,always thought about the day someone broke into my truck and stole it. Hope you get it back with minimal damage done to it. To the rest who would have done it better,give yourself a pat on the back

[Skoaltender]

Sorry to hear some lowlifes took your truck.

Out of curiosity And maybe a stupid question, if you leave keys in your truck and it’s stolen will insurance try to screw you around and claim negligence?

[TAK Precision]

Originally Posted by bezzola

Left keys in it
No comment

That's the only perk of the Ford. Keys in it or not vehicle was locked. Wish it was my truck lol.

[Savage Bacon]

My vehicles are all GMs with onstar and I've always wondered if they could be tracked with that system. If the thieves aren't smart enough to disable the antenna. I'm not sure if other makes have a similar system. I don't subscribe to onstar after the trial membership expires and I wonder if you ever called them if they would help or not, not being subscribed?

To the OP, if I had a ford with the number pad entry, I'd probably hide my keys somewhere in the vehicle too. I always stress about losing them while out hiking.

Didn't mad max have a switch in the wheel well that prevented his car from blowing up if someone tried to start it? Sometimes I wish we heard stories like that on the news.

[Springer]

This is not the first time i have heard of sketchy truck thieves out by Mountain aire Lodge.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Springer

This is not the first time i have heard of sketchy truck thieves out by Mountain aire Lodge.

It just happens to be on the main route between a couple of sanctuary nations and relatively remote to boot.

Grizz

[501s]

That is about the best thing about the fords, you can leave your keys in them and lock them and use the number pad. Ensures they are still there after hunting..... usually.

It really bothers me to see people blaming the victim. He locked his keys in the vehicle, so unless he left them in plain view, these jerks were planning to steal the truck no matter what. If you think that while out in the middle of nowhere a would be car thief goes up to a car, checks the door handle and if its locked and he "cant see keys" he says "well there is nothing I can do here and would just walk away?" Get real. They came to steal the truck, plain and simple. I work in the security industry and I can assure you "locks" don't keep "thieves" out of anything. A long enough crowbar can get you through almost any door and windows take all of 1 second to smash with a rock. These are perceived as being secure but only to people who don't want to damage the property. When you don't care about the truck or building, its very easy to get in. At work, we see hundreds of video of thieves breaking into buildings and vehicles and it only takes seconds.

You guys laying into the OP should reevaluate who you are blaming. He didn't do anything wrong, and the jerks who left him stranded in the middle of nowhere after stealing his truck are the real problem. Heck, the RCMP can't even chase the suspects, even if they caught them due to endangering the public in a high speed chase, so its not that hard for these thieves to get away. Always makes me laugh when the public thinks that "defunding the Police" is an answer to anything!

[wildwoods]

Originally Posted by 501s

That is about the best thing about the fords, you can leave your keys in them and lock them and use the number pad. Ensures they are still there after hunting..... usually.

It really bothers me to see people blaming the victim. He locked his keys in the vehicle, so unless he left them in plain view, these jerks were planning to steal the truck no matter what. If you think that while out in the middle of nowhere a would be car thief goes up to a car, checks the door handle and if its locked and he "cant see keys" he says "well there is nothing I can do here and would just walk away?" Get real. They came to steal the truck, plain and simple. I work in the security industry and I can assure you "locks" don't keep "thieves" out of anything. A long enough crowbar can get you through almost any door and windows take all of 1 second to smash with a rock. These are perceived as being secure but only to people who don't want to damage the property. When you don't care about the truck or building, its very easy to get in. At work, we see hundreds of video of thieves breaking into buildings and vehicles and it only takes seconds.

You guys laying into the OP should reevaluate who you are blaming. He didn't do anything wrong, and the jerks who left him stranded in the middle of nowhere after stealing his truck are the real problem. Heck, the RCMP can't even chase the suspects, even if they caught them due to endangering the public in a high speed chase, so its not that hard for these thieves to get away. Always makes me laugh when the public thinks that "defunding the Police" is an answer to anything!

Good post. Sums up my thought too.

I lock my keys (out of sight) all the time in my Ford. That way I won’t lose them in the bush and be really stuck! It’s a great feature. Also helps the hunting buddies if I don’t make it back, they can at least get out and get help. Victim shaming the OP is ludicrous

[EZM]

The RCMP should add charges to thieves that would steal a truck, or other means of getting out of a potentially dangerous and serious issue - what if you came out of the bush, in the dark, cold and wet and there was weather blowing in? No cell service .... now you need to survive to stay alive.

All of us have done that a time or two, and getting into a warm truck and changing out of your wet clothes is critical to avoid hypothermia.

There should be serious charges - this is different than stealing a car in the grocery store parking lot in town or out of someone's driveway.

[simplify]

Truck was located last night by some dirt bike riders that called it into RCMP
don't have an exact location, but it was further north east near Innisfail in a river.

In theory the tow truck driver was able to get it out today (still waiting on information), but apparently it was not going to be an easy job.

Keys out of sight and doors locked, no issues with insurance company, but will see what happens during settlement talks.
Its possible they didn't event use the keys, initial report by RCMP (as seen in the dark) was that the steering column was mangled

At this point hoping that it is a write-off as the old saying goes...drive it like you stole it, not sure what level of damage is evident and what long term issues will end up existing if not all 100% fixed correctly and assuming it spent 3-4 days in a river (unknown depth) that can't be good.

I used to take the time to setting up a trail cam looking at the truck, at least would have some photo evidence...might have to start doing that again.

[Albertacoyotecaller]

Originally Posted by bezzola

Left keys in it
No comment

Blaming the victim. How liberal of you.

[7magtime]

Originally Posted by EZM

The RCMP should add charges to thieves that would steal a truck, or other means of getting out of a potentially dangerous and serious issue - what if you came out of the bush, in the dark, cold and wet and there was weather blowing in? No cell service .... now you need to survive to stay alive.

All of us have done that a time or two, and getting into a warm truck and changing out of your wet clothes is critical to avoid hypothermia.

There should be serious charges - this is different than stealing a car in the grocery store parking lot in town or out of someone's driveway.

100% agree. If the perps are caught, their first night in custody should be spent outside in the fall chained to a tree so they can experience what the OP could have experienced(glad he found some assistance).
On the OP being somehow blamed for this situation that he didn't ask for, give your heads a shake! If he would have had his keys in his pocket when he returned to no truck would it have mattered?? Keys don't matter to the many career thieves we have in this province.....

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by 7magtime

100% agree. If the perps are caught, their first night in custody should be spent outside in the fall chained to a tree so they can experience what the OP could have experienced(glad he found some assistance).
On the OP being somehow blamed for this situation that he didn't ask for, give your heads a shake! If he would have had his keys in his pocket when he returned to no truck would it have mattered?? Keys don't matter to the many career thieves we have in this province.....

If they're caught, chances are they're already out on bail and facing past charges of violating court conditions. Then, they'll be released again.

Grizz

[7magtime]

Unfortunately you're probably right Grizz.....

[sheep]

Sorry to hear of your luck.

should be able to leave the keys in the ignition and doors unlocked. When did everyone’s definition of stealing change. Shoot the fackers, thieves would get harder to find right quick.