Guerrilla Grow Chopped!

[jojo677]

Hey all, this definitely isn't a FAQ, but I didn't know where else to ask!

I need your opinions on my guerrilla grow that I just checked on (been over a month) and found chopped down. I had 5 very small plants, and the remains don't look much bigger than the last time I checked on them.

This was in the back of a property that I don't visit often, and I didn't really care about the plants as I have an indoor grow, but it would have still been a nice fall harvest.

It appears as though they were cleanly cut off at the base at a 45° angle, and the branches were cut up as well. They had flowered, and I was attempting to re-veg them, but the remains didn't look like they had started re-vegging.

It appears that a large truck/off road vehicle entered the area and drove around kind of trying to find the plants. It is possible that either a farmer smelled them (a berm separates the farmed land by ~20 ft, they were not visible), that a relative/stranger stumbled across them, or that they were viewed aerially (I would guess very unlikely).

Questions:

1) Do you think this was done by Law Enforcement? I would have assumed if so, they would have taken the entire plants and possibly put up surveillance, though not likely.

2) How long ago do you estimate these were cut? The grass has started to grow over them and some started decomposing. There were still some slightly green areas of bud though.

Here's what I sadly stumbled upon:

And here's what they looked like about a month ago:

 

[AKgramma]

My opinion is that it wasn't a theft. They cut them down rather than digging them up, and they left the branches to rot. Since you said what was left wasn't that much more than the way you left them, someone probably saw you go in and come out, and went vigilante on you very soon after you left. No way of knowing if your farmer neighbor did it, unless the tire tracks match his equipment. And if you were turned in to the law, you would have been contacted by now, don't you think?

 

[jojo677]

Thanks for the input AK! Haha, I like the vigilante concept, as it definitely beats the alternative...

The only thing that made me question it being law enforcement, is that there were tracks going back there, when it is probably easier to walk to. You would have had to know exactly where you're going to drive in. Unfortunately I couldn't identify any tire tracks, so someone probably did see me walk in.

I guess I just needed to ease my mind. Now I just have to figure out who caught me...

 

[Weaselcracker]

I had a similar experience once. I was away on the day that neighbors saw a law enforcement airplane flying around my area and told me about it. This was followed up the next day by cops on ATVs - who spent hours getting themselves stuck and pulling each other out, before managing to go as far as they could with the ATVs (literally a two minute walk) and walking the next few hundred meters. They showed up at my place in the evening and asked me about some plants they'd found in the area. I wasn't able to give them any helpful info unfortunately. According to the local news report, which came out a few days later, they found a ten plant 'grow show'. Actually 4 of those plants were dead and they were all abandoned because of a severe pest infestation, so these guys were really grasping at straws. I don't know who the original concerned citizen was that first spotted them. The plane came out to take digital photos and get GPS coordinates for the follow up retards. They cut the plants off at the base and cut up the pots they were in, and destroyed everything else possible- watering cans, etc. In this case they didn't stoop so low as to recite the inflated 'street value' of these 'ten' plants. Maybe because - they had to be just a little embarrassed at the amount of money they'd spent to rid the world of their presence.
Unless they can have any chance of attaching you to the plants, which is very unlikely, they'd just have to be happy with killing them.
None of this story really has anything much to do with your questions. I tend to agree with AK. They look like they've been dead for a month. So chances are that it was your last visit that gave you away somehow- whether the law was involved or not it's hard to know. My experience taught me to be extra careful. I thought I lived in too remote a place for anyone to see the plants. And I admit, I was careless because the plants had no value to me. If they'd been healthy producers I would have been more focused on the situation. Reality is though- sick little plants are just as illegal as big healthy ones.

 

[Stealthboat]

I agree with the others, something probably happened during the last visit. Whoever is was, they weren't MJ friendly or they would have snatched it and tried to do something with it. I also feel like law enforcement would have taken it just for the sake of taking it. My guess is someone saw you, found the plants, disliked it and just cut them, leaving them to die while also leaving behind the evidence so when you returned you would know what happened to add insult to injury. Could have been someone older possibly.

 

[AKgramma]

Thanks for the input AK! Haha, I like the vigilante concept, as it definitely beats the alternative...

<snip> I guess I just needed to ease my mind. Now I just have to figure out who caught me...

Maybe you need to grow indoors and not share knowledge of your hobby to ANYONE. Trying to find who was responsible isn't going to make the situation any better, esp if you're in a state where it's still illegal.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Yeah you probably don't want to get mixed up with whoever it is, but I'd be very curious - just in the interests of knowing what I am up against so I could assess the situation and help control my natural paranoia. At least worth checking out if it was a problem I thought I might have to deal with again. Otherwise best to leave well enough alone and cut the ties, so to speak. They make good game spy cameras these days though if you're going that route.

 

[jojo677]

I think I may know who it was, and I believe they tipped off a relative, as there was a odd encounter when I saw them near the area several weeks ago (they had good reason) and got an odd look... So I would think it is only those two people that know, and I'm not worried about them suspecting my indoor grow. They probably think I was just curious, as I don't exactly seem like the type that would do this.

My main curiosity was if any of you thought it looks like it was possibly done by Law Enforcement, but it seems like the consensus is a fat "nope". It could have been much worse/entertaining, such as with you, Weasel. That was quite the story!

 

[Weaselcracker]

Ha ha. It was stressful at the time. Like you I did all the snooping I could trying to sort it out in my head, so I knew where I stood. It made me totally determined to clean up any loose ends. Once I have as tight a ship as I'm likely to get, the rest is up to fate and I don't feel paranoia.
Even if it was the law, I don't think it would change anything much. They wouldn't bother following up on it. No charges for a petty crime, some vague suspicions maybe. Not much to write up in the files. Where I live there's a high turnover and the cops get shuffled every couple years. I doubt if records are kept. I think it's water under the bridge now.

 

[AKgramma]

I think I may know who it was, and I believe they tipped off a relative, as there was a odd encounter when I saw them near the area several weeks ago (they had good reason) and got an odd look... So I would think it is only those two people that know, and I'm not worried about them suspecting my indoor grow. They probably think I was just curious, as I don't exactly seem like the type that would do this.

My main curiosity was if any of you thought it looks like it was possibly done by Law Enforcement, but it seems like the consensus is a fat "nope". It could have been much worse/entertaining, such as with you, Weasel. That was quite the story!

Well THAT is awkward....... :-( It's gonna be difficult not to bring the incident up without telling them who the grow belonged to.... Next meeting with them is going to test your will power to keep your mouth shut. ;-)