Meth Labs

pict

pict

Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
2,373
Many people in several threads have mentioned the possibility of running into clandestine meth labs in rural areas. I thought I’d post some info on the topic of meth labs and what to look for. I have no personal experience with meth labs but I have been involved in several searches for illegal pot growing.

You can grow weed in a secluded clearing and can easily run into such a thing in a place you would suspect is just off trail wilderness. Aside from grow ops in cornfields the ones we found were in difficult to access places and well of the beaten track. One in particular I remember could only be reached by hiking down a creek to avoid heavy thickets. Others were planted on islands in swamps. Pot growers are more concerned with someone stealing their crop than the crop getting spotted by the police. Small grows are usually not attended but large ones sometimes have lowlifes hired to guard them when they are getting big. Often we would find gardens by looking for small “deer trails” with human footprints, going to places where humans don’t normally go. It really helps to have detailed knowledge of the bush you are searching.

From what I’ve seen about meth labs it looks like you are most likely to find them on private land in a cabin or remote dwelling of some sort like a trailer, most likely with some form of road access due to the need to transport chemicals. I doubt anyone will pack all that in to a remote wilderness area. Use caution if you come upon remote cabins, might even be advisable to circle downwind and have a smell.

DEA METH LAB MAP

Recognizing a Meth Lab
http://www.portlandonline.com/police/index.cfm?c=difje

http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/meth/

http://www.stopdrugs.org/recognizinglabs.html

Stay alert,

Mac
 
People have them in their houses here. You can tell when they go BOOM!

I could feel the pressure against my face when the one went off on my hollow and it was nearly a mile down the road.:eek:

The roof of the trailer was laying down on the floor. Blew all 4 sides out and the roof dropped neatly down onto the floor.
 
there used to be a lot of them around here...:thumbdn: not so much these days... i do think most folks are just doing it in there garages or houses now... my brother used to manufacture that crap in our garage, until he finally got popped...:D stupid idiot...:mad: he's all clean now.... :rolleyes:

my dad, who is a CA. state parole agent and retired army SGT. first class, was pretty darn mad when i told him i was moving to the santa cruz mtns... that was about 11 years ago i think... it's not that bad at all anymore...
 
I liked in these sites about how to recognize trash dumps from meth lab trash dumps. I know most of these labs are in town I was surprised from the maps to see so much of it in the midwest. We don't have a meth problem so much as crack down here. Mac
 
The midwest is popular because it is mostly sparsly populated.
 
Pot growers are more concerned with someone stealing their crop than the crop getting spotted by the police.
Click to expand...
Have you ever been to Mendocino County in October when it is a full moon???
It sounds like a Vietnam battle!!!!
The develpoment of the GIANT water tank bladders has made growing even more clandestine
No NEED to have the crop near a water source
bladder.jpg


I have been involved in several searches for illegal pot growing
Click to expand...
Glad to see our tax resources are being used to destroy maybe .001% of the weed supply :jerkit:
http://www.drugscience.org/Petition/C5H.html
A cat and mouse game at it's finest :cool:
But that's a discussion for the Political Arena I guess ;)
*****************************************
I think the best indicator of a crank factory is a funky, chemical smell???
If you are hiking in the middle of no where and you start smelling chemicals??
The cooks sometimes try and mask the smell by running a drying machine hose/tube into a 55 gallon drum of kitty litter for the "exhaust gases"
Not sure how well it works though....

We don't see too many meth labs here in Santa Barbara but in the Central valley /Fresno it is a huge problem
Especially the so called "SUPER labs"
My buddy was applying to be a California State Park Ranger==>
They are having a hard time getting the positions filled because of the "danger" of the meth labs and the tweaker/cooks

Interesting/informative post :thumbup:
Has anyone here ever ran across a clandestine meth lab while hiking??
 
Trent, I know your overall post was supportive of pict and all, but the use of the jerkit, and the sentence before it, was bordering on a little rude. I don't think you meant it, but it could come across that way. Just FYI.
 
There have been a few plots of weed found in my area with one being within just a few yards of my boundry line (and people wonder way I carry that sidearm). If I head out to the woods it isn't the lions,tigers & bears (oh my) that I worry about.
 
When I worked at Vandeberg in 2004 their chopper flight transported and helped destroy something like 70 million in pot plants. They also told stories of gunbattles raging beneth them as they tried to get out of the way.

One story I remember is how they got to transport the bodies of a father and son who had been hiking in the area and had come across the plantation by accident. They had been missing for weeks. Their shallow graves were found when the DEA busted the site.

Be careful out there.
 
We were phesant hunting in Eastern Nebraska on some CRP ( farm fields converted to wild life habitat) and came across a cooking site. We knew what it was based off of the empty 55 gallon drums of turpentine, empty boxes of sudafed and some other clear plastic gallon jugs. We are not alone in our discovery, as some others have happend onto them on some abondoned farms as well. This is not a issue so much when hunting as we are armed, however, when hiking I now bring a pistol.

I used to bring a buckmark 22 when hiking or fishing along the Missouri river, but now that my bubble of ignornace has been popped I bring a 45. The DNR released 10 Mountain Lions in eastern Nebraska a few years back, so this serves as a side benefit for assurance as well. It is common practice for boaters to beach on a sand bar or the banks, and enjoy the afternoon enjoying nature. Some of these remote areas have been found to be a perfect hiding spot for meth labs.
 
Great post. Hopefully nobody here will have to come upon anything like this. That victim picture in the link of what was (I guess) a guy in the bath tub trying to stop a chemical burn should be enough to deter anyone from messing with this stuff.
 
Dr. Mudd said:
Besides a "chemical smell," just what does a meth lab smell like? :confused:
Click to expand...

Dr. Mudd, having participated in some hunts for Meth Labs, I can tell you that the chemical smell will stand out like a sore thumb when you are in the wilderness. You will sit up or stand up in alert mode because it is so out of place. Bleachy, ammonia-like smells, combined with what smells like burned baking soda, if you can imagine that.

If you use your tracking skills, then the sign will show -- again, it will stand out like a sore thumb, even if your tracking skills are minimal.
 
Thanks, Brian. It's just my natural curiosity at work again. It's caused me trouble all my life. :D

I appreciate your details. I didn't know if it was a solvent smell (acetone, alcohol, etc.) or what.
 
Trent,

I can assure you that your tax dollars were not involved, this wasn't law enforcement, it was revenge. For the individuals involved it was a 100% loss of their weed supply for several years running. Mess with me and then try to grow on land I know in the dark? Mac
 
Dr. Mudd said:
Thanks, Brian. It's just my natural curiosity at work again. It's caused me trouble all my life. :D
Click to expand...

Me, too. LOL. That's the very reason I think we all are into wilderness survival. I always tell people, when they ask: "I either have a yen for adventure, or I'm a glutton for punishment. Usually, they are the same thing." ;)
 
pict said:
Trent,

I can assure you that your tax dollars were not involved, this wasn't law enforcement, it was revenge. For the individuals involved it was a 100% loss of their weed supply for several years running. Mess with me and then try to grow on land I know in the dark? Mac
Click to expand...

Remind me not to mess with you, Pict!
 
I've run into lots here in BC, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY off the beaten path, down old logging roads, up decommisioned roads, then up the trails. Several were guarded (later busted).

I cant smell crap but i could smell these,

lots of grow dumps too, plastic bags of soil and palnts, containers, fertilizer etc.
 
I have never run onto one in the woods, but I certainly would recognize the waste products. I have run onto a few inside houses that have been busted and overlooked by law enforcement. I clean labs sites up. I have three I'm working on currently. Fun, right?
 
Trent, I know your overall post was supportive of pict and all, but the use of the jerkit, and the sentence before it, was bordering on a little rude.
Click to expand...
My bad
I will move my discussion of The War on Drugs to the Political Arena....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top