So I come across this ad last night, I message the guy. He responds back this morning, saying he will meet me there. He wants to show me around the property, says it's big, and alot of wood. I am thinking awesome honey hole 2 miles from my home. He also proceeds to ask me about my Father, he used to work with him. I said I will call him around 2:30. He sounded really excited and relieved when I called. He then tells me the story behind the wood. His son cut up the trees, and this guy, James, doesn't want to see it go to waste. It is not his property. I was sort of hesitant on going, sounded fishy. But I went anyway, made sure to bring the little concealed sidekick. He told me to meet him at a pull off by a local lake, and he would take me there. I see the vehicle he described that he is driving, and he drives by, and I follow. I know the area like the back of my hand, and have friends on that road. He pulls over right behind the property of a friend of mine. There is the wood on the side of the road. I talk to him for a minute, then go look at the wood. I ask him if he knows the property owner. He says yes, and rattles off a name. Wrong name. I call him out. He gives me bullchit that somebody by the the name of Weaver manages it. I don't argue anymore, and get ready to call my friend. This guy then tells me he wants 150 bucks for it, and only posted it as free to get attention on it. As I walk closer to the wood and extend my distance from him, I notice that it is all pine. I let him know that. He had no idea. I let him know who property owner is, and also that I don't want the wood. He gets a little irate, and says I owe him 150 bucks for showing up, and that I said I wanted the wood. I said sternly that I know the owner, and I don't have any money on me anyway. He got in his vehicle and just left. Crazy what kind of stuff us wood hoarders run into.
A guy selling misidentified wood that he saw on the side of the road on property that wasn't his. Makes me wonder if he'll end up finding someone naive enough to be a buyer eventually.
Believe it or not one local guy here got caught selling firewood from someone else's pile. He knew when the guy was away at work so he got people off Craigslist to meet him there during that time. He didn't take into account that the guy got a trailcam after the first couple of times though.
I hope you ended up calling the property owner and letting him know. In fact I'd suggest calling the police since you have the guys phone number to make sure he doesn't try to sell someone else's property! And be careful!
My ex-wife lives kind of close to there in Duryea... If this individual is mixed up in some wood stealing scam, I'll bet she's somehow involved
Why i like finding mine on the side of the road or asking if there is wood in a yard. If you know the owner give him a call which is a moot point now that you know its pine.
Hardwood in general is preferable but I'd take nice looking pine in a heartbeat. I had zero problems burning 12% MC of both pine and spruce this winter. When my new chimney guy came to clean he thought I was full of horse manure on the phone when I said I had almost 50 cord stacked and that I had burned about 112-13 cord at the time. When he cleaned the chimney over the open fireplace he literally was stunned at my minute the amount of creosote there was. There was a lot of spot, as expected, but to burn more than 10 cords, he was shocked at the little crumbs o' creosote. I love the smell of fresh split pine and spruce. Hell, I love the smell of any fresh split wood except maybe cottonwood and pin oak. Cottonwood smells like cat pizz and pin oak like a swamp.
I agree w/ reporting it. I'd have gotten some pics of the schiester and his license plate for Johnny law. This is the very reason we have a sidekick.
Glad it ended well. Very unsettling to consider what his intentions were. Sounds like you planned and handled it well. Get his license?
Reporting any scams to facebook is a joke. They are more concerned with "fact checking". I spoke with my neighbor, who is a LEO in the adjacent town, and he said there really was no crime committed, or about to be. For example, if I picked up wood from the roadside, and then sold it, as long as it wasn't stolen property, there isn't a crime.
Trespassing is a criminal offense in Pa. A friend of mine is a psp. We had him make contact with a weird neighbor after he came on to our property to harass my nephew. My buddy told the neighbor, do you know where your property line is?...cause the minute you step over it...you're trespassing.
Yeah, I think I'd make a phone call with a description on that one. Don't suppose you grabbed a license plate number?
