If it was a couple 13 year Olds who thought they found an old boat ide let it go, being they were older and tried to cover up and even brag about their crime I would file a civil suit in small claims court. The cost to properly strip down and repaint the boat plus lost traps and losing the opportunity to use the boat. $1,500 or so seems appropriate and it'll cost you a couple hours of your time and teach them a good lesson.

I'm glad you got it back.

lady123 what traps did they steal along with the boat ????

They were all 110 conibears I have a 150 or so more in the shed , so im ok that i have more i can set. Bad karma i saw three otters last sunday when i went down and there was a flood tide and dident set. I also walked a path yesterday on a mans property that let me use his john boat to look for my boat and found plenty of otter sign.

Ok I was gonna offer to send you some but sounds like you have plenty hope you get your stolen one back

Thanks for the offer Its good to have people who care. My son has a lot of people who helped out with tips and leads that i want to thank also.

If I was closer I would loan you a boat. Likely be a few years before you get yours back. Once LE gets anything as evidence here they keep it. Often you never get it back.

Danny thanks for the offer. I got my boat back at 11pm lastnight . Its painted now and has two holes drilled in it where they put a motor on it . And the id plate was cut off . So im going to put a plate back on and also stamp the hull # in another place .

I am glad. Serious about LE here keeping stolen property for years sometimes.

Lady123, sorry that happened to you. Good on your son and the DNR for jumping on the problem and getting the partial return. Most of us have had a few Johnny Sneakums on our lines. Sadly, it seems there are more around now. Prosecute and publish. That is the only real reaction that won't put you on the wrong side of the laws. Old fashion country justice, though personally satisfying and often guarantees reduce thievery, gets punished now.

The police should be bale to secure a search warrant, had a guy steal a lot of tools had him on our ring camera and facebook came thru with who he was. The sheriff got a search warrant and found a lot of other peoples stolen items in his garage.