Well just after the first one it takes twice as long to steal shit, after the second one....well....good luck with that.  Like you said it doesn't rewire the brain but damn sure cuts down on crime from that person.  Just ask yourself after all the thieves loose both hands how much they will be taking Vs if they still had both.

Putting severed hands on the front gate should be a thing, like they used to hang criminals' heads.

They are great, and might help, but you have to understand their limitations. They cannot send a signal on their own. They do not have GPS in them. They rely on other people's iPhones to report where they are. You need to have an iPhone or iPad and an AppleID to activate them and they will be associated with your account. You can now share them, so other people can track them as well, which could be handy. You cannot see the history of where an AirTag has been, only where it is (or was last detected and reported).

They can work great if the fuckin' thieves or someone close to them happens to have an iPhone. If they don't, and they drive the shit out into the middle of bumfuck, you will not be able to see where they are.

For $29 a pop, they ARE worth having, but you have to understand the limitations.

Were I the OP, if he uses an iPhone or has an iPad, I would pick up a few of them and tape them somewhere on the things I don't want to be stolen.

This is my favorite video on YouTube.

Yeah ,it is not just the theft and loss of the value of stuff that went missing but the fact that the turds are almost surely going to return.  Good luck tracking them down and hope LE can bring a whooping down on them for what they have done.

Nah, that just means everyone gets fucked in the end because it'll take tax payer money to take care of the guy with no hands...

Bring back hanging judges... or star chambers.

Not nearly as many per capita.

Sorry op.

My buddy farms 3000+ acres and runs chicken houses, they constantly have items stolen, batteries stolen out of equipment, etc. they frequently leave equipment in remote locations, last year it was a skid steer parked in a field, no way could I do that, I live in bfe 200 yards off the paved road and I lock up / park even lawnmowers behind my house, best way to avoid theft is to not offer tempting targets, which isn’t always possible with large operations, heavy equipment, and public access via state owned roads.

Sucks, especially since society in many places stopped punishing thieves strictly enough, which has resulted in a ton of theft / crime increases.

Trail cameras are ok but regular trail cameras need to be checked to see what activity there is.  The card can also fill up from false alerts or not record at all.  I would suggest at minimum a trail camera that uses cellular to send you alerts or the better choice would be solar charged battery powered security camera that connects to cellular like this one.  https://reolink.com/product/reolink-go-ultra/  You can monitor it live using a phone app, check recordings on it, and it set it to push notifications to your phone if it detects people or vehicles.  

I have new in box Moultrie Delta Base cellular trail camera that I never put up as I switched from trail cameras to security cameras.  Data plans are through Moultrie and start at $8.99 a month.  If you want it I'll give it you.  I'm near Lexington and hate thieves as well.  

Gates may only keep honest people out but they do keep A-holes from going up your driveway and seeing what you own before they come back and steal what they want.  Limit who is allowed on your property and have packages delivered to a P.O. box if you live in the country.  Construction crews are a big problem because they are driving in the neighborhood and have trucks and hitches to hook up and drive off.  

Nah, cause we'd be paying somebody to care for them. Execute them, then we're not wasting food.

I put apple AirTags in all my smaller equipment

Uncle had a square bale stolen off of the top of a 3
Tower stack on his farm. Said he noticed one missing  and was like”  wtf I swear I stacked 3 high nice and square edges one better not have fallen…” drive over to field and there is sure enough a bale missing, some tire tracks up to stack so they had pulled in along side and rolled it off  the top into pickup bed. He also
Found 2 spots of leaking hydraulic fluid where the bale falling into the bed had blown their shocks. Hay was like 80 bucks a ton  at the time (96 or so), and so
They had blown out 2 Shocks in their pickup to steal 80 bucks, plus gas to go get said bale.

a good friend of mine is a Ag Detective. he said everyone should have equipment and trailers that have a unique paint mark somewhere that can be spotted by a drone.

I had both locked/chained, they just cut the locks and chains. The coupler lock they cut off the trailer was left on the ground, but the bastards even took the log chains they had to cut thru as well. They did forget and leave the floor pan out of the skid steer though. I had laid it to the side last time I used it because I had to jump the battery (located under the floor pan) and just left it off. Could’ve been they just didn’t see it i guess, but it was laying right beside it.

The thing that pisses me off about guys that steal heavy equipment, is that they often have the means and knowledge to work a real job. Loading a skidsteer isn't genius level work, but it isn't trivial. A random hoodrat wouldn't even know where to start.

Instead of working an honest gig, they do this shit instead.

Yeah, I’ve been running cellular cams for years, just in the woods, lol. I’ve told my wife for a long time I should put some up around the barn, just never did. Thanks for the offer though, sir. Quite kind of you.

Trailers and equipment like the OP lost are a huge crime trend the last couple of years.

AirTags help, but they aren’t really sufficient PC to write a search warrant without some other factor of information.

Rural areas are chock full of drug related property crime.

Your stolen property is probably on some acreage where mom and pop died, and now the 55-year-old druggy kid inherited the property and the whole place is covered with old rusty non-running cars, busted old farm equipment, and disabled RVs that are housing random tweakers who come and go randomly.