A warning to hunters

[skeeter1]

Meth labs abundant this hunting season
Updated 12/11/2006 12:35 AM ET
By Judy Keen, USA TODAY
Hunters stalking deer and pheasant also are finding methamphetamine labs or their remnants in remote areas this fall.
Three Michigan hunters have discovered separate dumps of equipment and chemicals used to make the illegal drug, says State Police Lt. Chet Wilson. Hunters in Arkansas, Indiana and Tennessee have made similar finds.

The encounters can be risky, especially if someone is using the lab when a hunter discovers it. Approaching meth users while wearing "camouflage clothing and carrying a firearm can be a recipe for disaster," warns a hunting handbook published by South Dakota's Department of Game, Fish and Parks.

It advises hunters to keep their distance and avoid contact with the solvents and acids used to "cook" the drug.

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant that can be injected, snorted, smoked or swallowed. It is made in home labs using cold pills and other easily purchased ingredients. The process creates a distinctive odor that's often compared to cat urine.

Federal and state laws restricting sales of cold tablets containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, key components of meth, have reduced the number of labs, law enforcement officials say.

"Due to a new law that bans sales of pseudoephedrine off the shelf, we have seen an extreme reduction in meth labs," says Rod Slings of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources' law enforcement bureau.

Those who still make meth are moving to isolated areas to escape detection.

"Wildlife areas are a place cookers can go and not risk having the neighbors next door turn them in," Slings says. Hunters there find labs or meth dumps several times each season, he says.

Hunters occasionally spot "tweakers" making meth in rural areas, but it's more common to find leftover equipment. Officials tell hunters to look for ordinary plastic coolers with hoses, gas cylinders and stained coffee filters. South Dakota's hunting handbook recommends hunters look for lye, iodine, brake cleaner and stained cookware.

"Hunters come across a cooler or some other type of containers, and they're curious, and they want to open them," says Wes Baxter, a sheriff's deputy in Craighead County, Ark. A hunter there recently found a cylinder with copper tubing, batteries and rubber gloves.

"We strongly encourage people not to touch these items," Baxter says. Hazardous-waste removal teams often are called in to dispose of the toxic equipment.

Natural resources and law enforcement officials use public-relations campaigns to warn about the dangers of meth gear.

The Minnesota Deer Hunters Association sponsors public-service announcements on radio stations each fall to warn hunters to be on the lookout for meth labs. "How can people abuse our natural resources like this?" asks Mark Johnson, the group's executive director.

Lt. Carl Lamb of the Seymour, Ind., police department has conducted seminars for hundreds of area hunters and farmers. After the training sessions, he says, "They recognize what to look for and know not to mess with it."

Larry Dale, a hunter and hunting safety instructor in Petersburg, Ill., says hunters can be "useful eyes and ears" for law enforcement when they know how to identify meth-related equipment. The drug and its makers, he says, are "a general menace to society."








Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...eth-labs_x.htm

[timothy75]

Another reason to carry a back up gun.

[FrontSight]

it's a sick, sad world

[bclark1]

Meth heads and PCP fiends, the urban cape buffalo... we just need someone to start issuing tags...

[Art Eatman]

From my standpoint, my experience, I fail to see how a hunter would not see the meth lab or its people long before they could see him. After all, a hunter moving around oughta pretty much be sneaky-snake, seems to me.

Art

[BillCA]

Meth heads and PCP fiends, the urban cape buffalo... we just need someone to start issuing tags...

Hmmm... time to take the .375 H&H out of storage?

Another reason to carry a back up gun.

Met a professional hunter from South Africa some years ago. He told me that
a .375 H&H is his backup gun!

[rem33]

Meth labs are becoming less and less in the states. Recent laws to purchase the products used to make the stuff has the majority coming from large labs south of the border, or so I have read.
Not that it won't happen just a lot less chance lately. Another reason to stop illegal traffic across our borders.
I would think it is a lot more likely to run into a pot farm. I read of some every year a hunter has came across.

[RevolverLover]

I would think it is a lot more likely to run into a pot farm. I read of some every year a hunter has came across.

Yeah, I ran into one of those pot farms. It was pretty concealed or else I would of avoided it but luckly no one was there.

[springmom]

The game warden at Sam Houston National Forest told Archerandshooter that around here, meth labs are less likely than pot. He caught some idiot planting pot recently, near where we hunt because the guy had opened a forest road gate that was meant to be closed and left it open...and the warden drove by, thought "that isn't supposed to be like that" and went and found Johnny Happyseed putting out his plants. Some people are just too dumb to be let off leash....

He also said that in general, the meth folks know the difference between the hunters and the cops and tend to actually avoid conflict with the hunters. The last thing they really want is attention, and taking potshots at some deer hunter will certainly bring that to their door.

YMMV, and I would certainly give wide berth to anything that looks suspicious.

Springmom

[FirstFreedom]

Thankfully the laws here and now in many states which put the cold pills behind the pharmacy counter have devastated the crank- makers' business. I'd imagine it's still a big worry in states without this law. I want to say that my state of OK was the very first in the nation to adopt the law, and other states have quickly followed since it worked so well. I honestly think that if OK didn't have this law, I would have gotten my deer this year with my AR10 .308 rather than my Howa in .25-06, for the extra firepower *just in case*.

Yes, and springmom, you are right, discovering someone's pot grove is a bigger concern now, and has been for decades, since it's our state's #1 cash crop I am told, just in terms of total value. I've not found one yet, but my brother did out in a rural county when we were teens, and got the heck outta dodge pretty quick.

[BIGR]

Years ago it was moonshine stills that a hunter could walk up on in the woods. Then along came the pot fields. Now its some physco path high on drugs trying to cook some chemicals to make more drugs. And to think that those people want to put those drugs in their bodies. Yea they are at rock bottom, using that ol meth junk. It rots their teeth out of their head and the chemicals blister through their skin leaving sores. A person must always be ready in the woods to face anything.

[jhgreasemonkey]

This is a good point you brought up here. Its a good reason to hunt with a buddy, pack a cell phone, radio, etc. Tweakers are out of their minds so like menioned above its a good idea to be prepared for anything. Even booby traps.

[publius]

I would like to find a bunch of heads mixing up a batch in the woods. A .30-06 thruogh their anhydrous ammonia tank would be interesting.

[skeeter1]

I'm guessing that this isn't much different from hunters stumbling across a moonshine still. Just get the hell out of there, and fast.

[trooper3385]

Putting the ephedrine pills behind the counter will help alittle for the mean time, but it won't be long before another way is figured out. Meth is the is the number one growing drug in the US. Just this week, the Mexican military busted some guys with over 2000 lbs of ephedrine pills on its way to the US. Another incident this week in my neck of the woods was a local game warden in Rockport, TX, just north of Corpus Christi got a call that a man had poached a trophy buck and had it at his house out in the country. When he showed up to check it out, he located the deer that had been poached along with a 10 ft alligator that had also been poached. After finding this, he started looking around a little more and found an active meth lab on the guys ranch. There's not much of a chance walking up on one of these while hunting, but the danger is there and you need to be aware of your surroundings. You will probably smell it before you see it because the smell of these places is horrible. These guys are usually armed pretty well because there always paranoid about being ripped off. Just last year I was called out to make a stop on a guy that was suppose to be transporting 5 lbs of meth from a lab in a old unmarked police car. When I located the guy and got him stopped, it turned out he wasn't coming from the lab but was on his way to a meth lab out on a ranch. The guy didn't have any Meth on him at the time, but did have 2 AK-47, and an SKS in the trunk and a 45 pistol in the front seat. Turns out he was taking these guns to this place. Anyway, be careful out there and keep your eyes open.

[lil_bro]

IMO I think you are more likely to run into someone growing pot then a meth lab.

In fact they found someone growing pot where my friend lives.And the thing that scared the heck outa me is that me,my bro,and our friends used to go hiking on the same mountain.And the only weapons we had were hunting knifes.As of now we don't go anywhere near that mountain anymore.



Michael.

[chemist308]

Meth heads and PCP fiends, the urban cape buffalo... we just need someone to start issuing tags...

+1 on that! Meat wouldn't be that great though, and probably unsafe. Wonder if the hides would tan...

[swampdog]

I agree, a season on them would be nice. It's not going to happen, though.

It's all fun to joke about shooting meth heads, until you actually shoot one and he becomes a victim. It wouldn't be that funny, then. You'd spend years in court and it would probably cost you everything you own.

People tolerate it. People's brothers, husbands and fathers make/sell it. Peoples wives and children are addicted to it. It's not going away. Crack is more of a problem here than meth. Most of the people in the county lockup are there for crack and most are repeat offenders. You can't really blame the judges for the "revolving door", the jails are full. Where are you going to put all these people?

You can't drive down the road in some areas without someone yelling at you trying to sell this stuff. They're standing in front of someone's house, selling this stuff. People tolerate it. You ought to see the size of the funerals when some dope dealer manages to get shot. You've got their mom and grandmom on TV, crying about what good boys they were. It's crazy.

What percentage of the welfare money your tax dollars get spent on gets spent on drugs? A huge one. There's twice as many "boys" on the street around the first of the month. Your tax dollars at work.

Here's a thought, decriminalize and let Darwin sort it out. It couldn't be any bigger of a mess than we have right now. I really don't care if some idiot wants to fry their brain. Do you?

[shootagainitsmoving]

When it comes to meth all clear tought goes out the window so be very careful! when it comes to tweakers. all you shots in the ten's and keep your powder dry

[kwkoch]

Meth heads and PCP fiends, the urban cape buffalo... we just need someone to start issuing tags

+2 on that, that would slow em down more than putting their pills behind the counter

[willsjeep]

No problem with meth yet but about 8 years ago we found a small patch (about 200 plants) in the back corner of some land that my dad owned. We reported it to the sheriff's department. They set up on it for a week hoping to catch the owner but no luck. They cut it and burned it out. A month later they did catch the person responsible when he tried to harvest another patch about a mile away.
It is everywhere seems like.
Will

[Dean C]

This is OT but the subject of this thread article is in the Monday Dec 11 issue. The cover story in that same issue is about me.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...ng-cover_x.htm
dean

[Double Naught Spy]

From my standpoint, my experience, I fail to see how a hunter would not see the meth lab or its people long before they could see him. After all, a hunter moving around oughta pretty much be sneaky-snake, seems to me.

Not all hunters are hunting when they come across such sites. Some are on their way in to hunt, some on their way out after hunting that morning/day. Some are simply out and about setting up equipment, clearing shooting areas, etc. Some are found off season while the hunter is performing other hunt-related maintenance activities. A hunter may come across such a setup when trying to chase down a wounded deer.

There are many ways to find these sites that don't involve sneaking around on behalf of the hunter.

[Art Eatman]

DNS, not trying to be smartmouth, but when I'm "out yonder", I'm always hunting. I might not have my rifle; it might not be hunting season--but I'm always hunting. Possibly, "scouting" might be a better word. I never quit looking for critters or critters' tracks/scrapes/rubs/etc.

I grant that I'm in a much different sort of outdoor world than most folks, here in the desert. But, in the last 40-some years, I can't recall a time when somebody saw me before I saw them. That includes thick-brush hilly country as well as river-bottom swampland.

I dunno. Been that way since I was a kid, hunting in my grandfather's woods and pastures.

, Art

[Double Naught Spy]

I grant that I'm in a much different sort of outdoor world than most folks, here in the desert. But, in the last 40-some years, I can't recall a time when somebody saw me before I saw them. That includes thick-brush hilly country as well as river-bottom swampland.

...that you know about. You have a biased sample and are drawing your conclusion based on only the portion of the universe you experienced. Your sampling is only by either those times you saw the other party first or with whom you chatted later. Your sampling does not include those who saw you first, only you didn't know they saw you first, or didn't know they saw you at all.

I don't doubt you are a terrific outdoorsman and know your part of the world very well, but so many hunters are not of the same cut as you. Not all hunters are always hunting. Living out in the middle of nowhere, you might not recall or know the feeling of being a non rural person going hunting. Here in north central Texas, we get hunters coming in from the DFW area during deer season. They are hunting deer as many do all around the country. They are not hunting all sorts of critters like you.

Do you get many meth labs in Terlingua? We get a bunch in the Denton, Wise, Montague counties area.