One bad apple (or pecan, in this case).
We live on an acre with mature pecan trees. The nuts rain down like crazy and we go out to collect them and put them in bags to give away. We never had a problem until our new neighbors showed up. We have several nut rollers and leave them outside and a sign that people are welcome to drop in and ask to use them to harvest their own. We don’t have fences but we do have cameras. We caught our new neighbor (who didn’t even introduce themselves) taking the rollers to get several bags of pecans and walking off with the rollers as well.
When we went over to confront our neighbor, they denied ever going over, and when we showed them the video on our phone, they slammed the door in our faces. We decided it wasn’t worth a feud but we did stop the pecan-picking policy. We put up no trespassing signs and publicly said we weren’t allowing it anymore. Many people are upset since it was a free, fun activity they could do with their kids and are asking why. My wife doesn’t want to tell on our new neighbor. I just want to say someone stole from us and we are not rewarding it. The nut rollers aren’t very expensive but it is the principle of the thing. So what should we do?
—In a Nutshell
Re: One bad apple (or pecan, in this case).
Also, keep the cameras on and if there are other neighbors warn them about the thief.
Tell your friends and acquaintances to knock and you'll let them in.
But it seems like they're throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I don't see anything wrong with just putting more limits on the pecan picking, like some of you all have mentioned. Keep future nut rollers in a locked shed.
They are also much nicer people than me. I would have called the police to have my nut rollers returned to me. And thrown the neighbors under the bus to everyone that asked why they can't come harvest pecans anymore.