I feel like rip van winkle. I never researched this stuff untill the last few days. There have been raids on many pot farms all around me recently.
What woke me up is I and theresa have been trail rideing our quad near or through at least four large pot busts just before the various raids, last year and just now.
I have been boneing up on how to reconise the pot farms now. It`s interesting, but probley is scareing my wife some from rideing. One more big reason to pack in the boonies! Everyone caught so far in the last few years here are illegals from mexico, and it`s supposedly a drug cartel from mexico.
As I understand it, it seems most of this is because the growers have been chased this way from california by their heavier policeing resources and we have the climate and remote areas they want right here!

Raids in two large marijuana farms yield 20,000 plants | The Salt Lake Tribune

8,000 marijuana plants found near Cedar City UT. It wasn't locals | Politics in the Zeros

I've run across illegal farming activities in the Arkansas Ozarks numerous times while ATV recreational riding. They're generally not on the beaten path, but still easily accessable if you know how to get to them. I've always plotted them on my GPS and then send a message to the local sheriff's office or regional drug task force when I get back.

A couple of years ago I took my oldest son and one of his buddies on a ATV ride in one of the wildlife management areas and we stumbled across a site. I noted the site and called it in next day. I got a call back from one of the drug task force officers later telling me they investigated the site and it was booby trapped. Didn't get the details, but glad the boys and I didn't venture any further into the grow site.

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- Change it back -

Didn't you wonder why the Mormons are very passive??

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Go big or stay home

Late August and early September is a good time to spot Marijuana plants (at least in the Northern states). All the other foliage is turning a light shade of green while the pot stays greener. Stands out quite well. We use to fly around the countryside and spot the "grows" from the air. One such plot yielded a dump truck full of plants. The State DOT took the plants to their garage and we waited for the proper conditions (wind) and burned them. Unfortunately the wind shifted and blew the smoke into some state office buildings. Needless to say we had some happy workers who had to be driven home and some troopers who had some explaining to do.

...and pizza deliveries broke sales records that day.

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Dum vivo cano

When I was in the Army I was an airframe mechanic and got to fly almost any time I wanted.I was stationed in Oklahoma and you could see one plant from a great distance.They didn't blend in with the natural plants well at all.I was astonished as to how much was going on out there.It was said that it was the number one cash crop.

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Dum vivo cano

Here is a couple articles on what to do (or rather not to do) if you stumble across one, and how to reconise a pot farm.

Illegal Utah Marijuana Gardens - Report an illegal marijuana garden in Utah!

MARIJUANA: Southern Utah police want hunters to help find pot farms - KSTU

Backcountry.com: The Goat * Blog Archive * How to Recognize a Marijuana Farm in a National Park

Much "gleaning" going on around there?

Buck

Heck, that's nothing. We live in the Grow House Capitol of the Country.

Due to the high foreclosure rates and empty homes, people are renting really nice big houses and convert them to hydroponic grow houses. They tap into the electric service to steal electric and produce millions of dollars of weed. Real elaborate systems.

It's unbelievable how much top quality weed can be produced inside a empty house.

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Still Running Against the Wind

Be careful out there. The larger fields are often booby trapped to kill or injure those that enter the area.

The one thing you certainly do not want it to pay an unintentional visit while the workers are there. Their firepower is way more than what you can carry concealed and reach out a lot futher.

That's funny!

Illegal Utah Marijuana Gardens - Report an illegal marijuana garden in Utah!

Illegal pot farms as opposed to legal pot farms in Utah ?
I thought CA was the only state to sanction legal pot farming.It sounds like you can have a legal pot farm in Utah.

Thats a typo on my part. I dont think they have legal pot here. Last week about the day before that huge drug bust, theresa and I pulled our quad off my rig near a grove of trees and just as we were readying for our ride 4 or 5 more trucks and trailers pulled up as a group with 5 or 6 quads a hundred yards from us. I thought that very highly unusual as we took off. I belive the pot farm was about two miles up the trail on another offshot of the main trail, we had explored last fall. It was along a creek with a lot of brush and growth. Anyway we made about a 35 mile round trip on the trail, got back and all the trucks and quads had left. At the time I thought it highly unusual that we never met on the trail. Now I think they all were various LEO on the deal scouting it out or whatever. Next day of the raid I seen a chopper flying over our house comeing and going to that area, I thought that was unusual as it is mountainous and steep country and usualy air traffic flys the flatter terain along the foot of our mountain range. Lately I have been packing just a s&w model 34 snub to dust a snake with. I am definetly going back to a .44 special or at least a .357 again! Thinking about it, I belive I will also take my .357 puma 92 carbine too.
One time in 1964 working west virginnia, I walked up on a moonshinner that threw down on me with a 30-30, it was straight out of deliverance. I dont want that to happen again with my wife with me!

Be careful out there. As Oldman stated those growers have some major firepower and do not stop to ask questions. They will just take you out without blinking a eye.

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Still Running Against the Wind

What he said,


File Photo


Su Amigo,
Dave

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

Thankfully, I'm in Colorado where I have a state license to cultivate and sell cannabis through my dispensary ....

Seeing what the county does next as far as 'banning' dispensarys, but they have never ever argued about cashing one of my checks.

14 states and counting!!!

This is hard to belive! Supposedly they got 20,000 plants. They claim one plant is worth $1,000s. That crop they pulled out then was worth 20 million dollars! Yet when you see the pictures of these illegal peon slaves that were arrested it looks like they wouldnt have $2 in their pockets! Is somebody BSing? However if that stuff is worth a small fraction of what they say, I have no doubt they would fight to protect it. This lead to a article that happened last year that I am posting doesnt say "Pedro" was armed when he wanted those girls cell phone, but I read elsewhere that he had a gun. Panguitch is straight across the mountain range from me, rode that area back then too.

Panguitch tears down pot farm | Deseret News

Maybe I am wrong, but I really belive whats going on here is that the mexican cartel brings illegals here as slaves to work the pot patchs, tells them they will kill their familys back in mexico if they talk when caught! From other sources I hear they wont say a word.

Since the Sheriff started doing flyovers with a small turboprop the growers have moved indoors. They now rent houses with the sole purpose of growing weed. Electric companies have been alerted to notify the police if they see any spike in electricity being consumed.

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Sure you did

Hey Feral, this would explain why your neighbours all drive nicer trucks than you can afford. With the foreclosure debacle and the huge numbers of empty houses, we have the grow house problem here, big time. We have had a shift in meth production to back South of the border and then they ship it in. Meth houses are too stinky to hide or something.

I was always one of those dorks that is behind the times. When I graduated in 1958, out of 500 kids, pot was still unheard of. There wasnt one icident of dope yet when and where I went to school! They did brag about drinking though. My wife says I was raised by ozzie & harriet nelson!

Feral, the guys doing the harvesting are small fries that do not even know the top men. Street drug dealers are not paying millions to import drugs. They are just low level, expendable people looking to make a few fast bucks. The top people are so far removed from the street level, it would take a hundred levels of information to get their names. The money that finances the growing is far more than those doing the work.

Now I ask you, when was the last time you heard of a multi millionnaire being arrested for importation. The cartels are not sending the stuff COD.

It would have been funnier (at the time) if I wasn't one of the troopers who helped pour gas on the pile before lighting it off. Good for me I wasn't the senior trooper on scene.

Did someone mention smart meters?

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Dum vivo cano

I have heard many debates acout legalizing pot mostly from pot heads. Who have a pretty compelling debate. I personally don't smoke pot nor wou I want my family smoking but as far as working in the medical field I have never seen anyone over dose on pot nor have I seen anyone beat up because they got stoned and wanted to fight. Now on the contrary I seen countless people beat down because they got drunk and wanted to fight or got caught up in the liquir life and turned green bleeding from most of the body orifaces that don't generally allow blood out of. So as far as weighing the evils of both drugs I am of the though that alcohol should be illegal and pot legalized. I am also a realist and know that as soon as pot was legalized there would be some idiots that would start mixing chemicals with it to get a higher high. The revenue that would be produced going into schools, health care, and the politicians pockets would be mind blowing. Instead of back to mexico. I say legalize it tax it out of poor peoples range and take the profit out of the drug cartels. jmo Doeboy

Around here they like to say “cartels” too. Um…….it’s Mexican tree planters. Cartel’s? I doubt it.

Emory

Legalize it, take the profit out, but why add one more tax, and why deny it to the poor?

Personally, I wouldn't go running to the authorities to tell them what I found if I stumbled across such. It isn't unknown in some areas for LE to be involved with some operations(great recession and all that, times are tough). It's also quite possible that the people you snitch on have friends, in the case of some of the larger growing operations. They might not be happy with someone. Snitches are a dying breed as the saying goes...

The basic code for this sort of thing goes back to the 1620s and was the same with illegal whiskey stills. (You stumble across all sorts of things in the backwoods.) Don't touch t, don't talk about it, and forget that you saw it.

i knew a guy that got caught watering a pot field, had a trail from his house, they had even got him on video do you think he was convicted? nope! why do you think that was? it was about a million dollars worth.someone high was in on the deal.

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WILL WORK FOR AMMO!

Steve it's never good to be the senior anything on the scene, you always want at least one level of management above you, so when things go wrong you have someone to blame things on.

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Always Stay Strong!

Edited for your enjoyment,

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Dum vivo cano

A friend told me today if I found a pot farm to tell him first before I called the sheriff. Funny how so many guys will say they "tried" it in nam.
Seriously, all leo in this area claim all of it to be mexican cartel, every last person arrested around those pot farms have been illegals. I probley seen a few and just took them to be sheep herders at the time. I havent the experiance to debate booze vs pot, but in my limited observations in the past I always figured it to be a start or stepping stone to other drugs. It seemed that it all went together with similar lifestyles and peer associations to me. If this is backed by the mexican cartels, the same ones that have slaughtered over 40,000 people in the last 4 years, beheadings etc, killed over 200 americans, I wont be winking at the situation and giveing them a free pass!
BBC News - Q&A: Mexico's drug-related violence

I live in Oklahoma, 20-1 says I can pretty much tell you what part of the state you were in. The far S.E. corner more than likely.

My hunting buddy and I were out rambling in the area we hunt, he hit the brakes and backed up. He told me to look and leaned back. Idiots, it was that close to the road. It was 10 miles off the highway granted, but still. We had to get to where I could get a signal for my cellphone. I called for a deputy to meet us, I didn't say about what though...too many scanners pick up phone calls.

It turned out to be a million dollar haul.

Murphy2000

Personally, I don't any medical benefits from pot. They claim it helps with chemo but I've been in chemo (CNSV) for five years off and on and I can tell you, whatever you ate, you would barf it all out.

On my way to the range today I heard a commercial for a company supplying products for indoor hydroponic operations. Since it was a take off of the classic Cheech and Chong bit's it was rather obvious where that ad was directed. BTW, Michigan is one of the states that has legalized "medical Marijuana".

IMO it's time the Feds threw in the towel on Pot. Make it legal and make it a cash crop for farmers. Then tax it like alcohol or tobacco and use the proceeds to help with the deficit. It'll also allow some of our anti drug enforcement personel to be tasked in other areas of law enforcement.

Personally, I don't endorse the use of Pot but it does have some medicinal benefits and it's become obvious that the prohibition on Pot hasn't worked. Better to have the Potheads send their money to DC than have it going to Mexican Drug Cartels.

Around here they fly choppers with FLIR. Works good from what I understand.

At work, we change the locks on foreclosed/abandoned houses quite often. I run across houses that have been used for this purpose all the time. Sometimes they leave the "product" behind too. I really have to watch my back.

Totally agree. On all counts. Yeah, I inhaled but got away from it when I grew up, got a job and family Over the past 40 years I have seen billions of dollars being thrown down a bureaucratic rat hole...

Turn Compton into Farmville and lets see how the Mexican Drug Lords like going up against the Crypts and Bloods. I do believe they would do a better job patrolling the borders looking for illegal imported drugs.

What does this have to do with anything?

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Mafuta54

Hi:
May I suggest that while ATVing you carry something with more firepower and reach than a six shooter?

Who doesn't live in the middle of pot farms is the question? And have a bunch of users as friends or doctors?

Jimmy, I will be takeing one of these three carbines in those possible areas rideing in the future. A remington pump 30-06 or a .357 or .44 mag winchester 92 clone. Every one of my neighbors are morman, I aint, but I belive every one of them will make a good account of themselves if pushed just like anyone else.
As far as marijuana being harmless and needing to be legalised, I dont want to meet a high driver on the road anymore than I do a drunk one.
Again, as to legalitys of why they dont legalise MJ, I dont claim any experiance or special knowledge, but common sense tells me that as corrupt as our goverment is, with all the expert advice they have at their fingertips, if they thought it safe and could tax it, they would! They would not be spending fortunes to irradicate it and procescuiteing it. What other upside could there be to outlawing it if it was safe?

FeralMerril,

When I was in the pot scoutin biz,
I carried these...'cause some of them ol' boys plays for keeps




Su Amigo,
Dave

A couple of pics jest for fun...

Callin' in the flat bellys...


The ol' man gets photoshopped,

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

Correct,Ft.Sill in the early eighties.

I never saw a large quantity of them but usually a couple of plants next to a field trying to blend in with a tree line.Way too green and wrong texture for Oklahoma's natural foliage.They stood out like a sore thumb.

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Dum vivo cano

Keith, you probley are right. I just dont have any black guns. Do have a worked over remington rand. Had a AR-15 years ago and stupidly sold it. That stuff is the one genral hole in my accumalations! I run up on something I will play dumb. I am a naturaly equipped pro at that!

Isn't that Woody Harrelson's back yard?
Hey, Merrill. I guess you're a pothead now by association. Remember in that other thread how I was considered a weedhead and me and "my kind" were to blame for the state of the state of Ca. because I saw guys smoking pot in that mountain bar once and didn't call the cops on them?

My ex had ya all beat! It was a short lived marrage.

Actualy I have smoked pot at least once. I had a neighbor girl that cleaned my house back in the early 70s. This girl looked exactly like charlene tildin that played on the dallas tv show. She smoked pot and we argued about it. I smoked a pipe back then. One day I seen it was full of tobbacco, didnt remember I had packed it but must have and walked off. Well, I fired her up and got a education!

Charlene Tilton?! Oh boy! She's still cute curvacous little bundle now.

Hey, wyatt, ya gotta admit you "look" like the poster boy to legalise pot on that picture! You are part of the reason that I am beginning to no longer trust my senses and being less opinionated in my old age! But then again maybe I am getting mellowed out with the new air here in utah? Matt, you are one of the good ones here and I love your posts!

Stand by, one of these days I will see if I can find a old picture to scan. She was a looker, and that had to be the most dangerous time of my life!
She was under 18 and I was about 17 years older. I behaved myself, and none of my friends wanted to belive it! I am now married to a girl the same age she is, but now its different!

I know. That's why those pot growers felt safe telling me all about their "occupaions". And actually they were perfectly safe because I didn't care what they did in them thar hills. I'll probably get in trouble for saying that again.