Your talking different things here...first, alarm.. something to notify you of entry on your property...then 2nd security in the sense of stopping them, 3rdly, recording capability. I will pm you some pictures later.

No dog she said?....Your very lucky, I have found most women don't want to stay out side patrolling the yard themselves.

Completely agree with you on 3 different things. Security options here are limited, especially when excluding dogs. Even tongue-in-cheek stickers like "This house is protected by Remington" can probably land you in trouble!

I agree, having a system that lets you see what is happening in the house or rings to let you know something crosses the driveway is good.. I have the dogs, so that is a big thing for me.. but my second line of defence that has worked is motion hunting camera's.

I used them when the folks were stealing from my front road garden, I used them to get the point across on who was racing up my fence lines and running my sheep flock. Had to say.. no, that's not me, when I have the photo with your number on the machine etc..

You can figure it out.. bottom line, they help you figure out what is after the chickens, or other livestock, they help you figure out if the local pack is pushing in to your fences, they help you figure out if anyone drove in.. just get camo ones and put them up high enough up that it takes a ladder to get them up and down so they do not "go for a walk"

I agree, having a system that lets you see what is happening in the house or rings to let you know something crosses the driveway is good.. I have the dogs, so that is a big thing for me.. but my second line of defence that has worked is motion hunting camera's.

I used them when the folks were stealing from my front road garden, I used them to get the point across on who was racing up my fence lines and running my sheep flock. Had to say.. no, that's not me, when I have the photo with your number on the machine etc..

You can figure it out.. bottom line, they help you figure out what is after the chickens, or other livestock, they help you figure out if the local pack is pushing in to your fences, they help you figure out if anyone drove in.. just get camo ones and put them up high enough up that it takes a ladder to get them up and down so they do not "go for a walk"

Do you/can you get good enough definition to get licence plates and recognizable facial features?

Sometimes no and sometimes yes, Normally just including a post that says, Smile you are on camera helps in the garden and such, but for the other one, yes, I got it enough that when I showed it.. the person took one look, said, I got this.. and I left it at that, and it stopped and the next time the wife say me, she said sorry and that it would not happen again.

Basic's for sure.. again, it depends on where its set up, angles and such and quality of the camera

Ok game cameras can be great,I use them, mine are from 6 years or so, so frankly they would likely be blown out of the water by the performance of new ones, though there are still draw backs, one they can be defeated in 2 ways(I have done so when I know the location of them ) Im not stating how here so don't ask...some models are just too slow on fast moving objects to capture a pic, sensitivity and picture quality can suffer in certain weather conditions and range is limited. test what you buy in the location you want to use it, test it in all lighting conditions. This is The kind I have..old now though.but in knowing there limitation I still have use for them.

I never found the case secure enough though, what good is a camera that can be taken? or opened and dicked with...So I welded up steel boxes (12 gauge steel)for mine, mounted them up high so a ladder is needed, these boxes are screwed to the tree, the top lid lifted up then the camera slid in from above and the camera is then covering the screw heads that hold the steel frame to the tree. once in the protective box a 7 16th screw with two nuts on the shaft is screwed up into the bottom of the camera (through the bottom of the steel case. using the two 7 16th nuts I jam them against each other and the case locking the camera and case tightly together with the shaft of the 7 16th bolt.

Now I found there are two other products well above game cameras quality wise, but similar in price, with none of the draw backs, and I have moved to these products. I don't feel like posting these on a public forum so I will pm them to you with further info, but not tonight I got to get to bed.

Changed my mind, I will put one here now...Its the plot watcher....this thing is the bomb as the kids say, forget motion sensing, this thing snaps pics all the time, a half second apart...no problem, one second or 5..or video .whatever you want, will run for more than 6 months on batteries all kind of user settings including having it sleep for 3-5 months then start taking pictures...Picture quality is outstanding cause you can order quality zoom lenses or wide angle, with the zoom lens you can mount it far away and it will contiuiously snap pics, it does not have to be activated by IR or motion.

Note the thickness of the lens, just unscrew it and you can put on another. what you cant tell from the pic is that the lens (outer surface) is not flat, its curved. It doesn't reflect light back giving away its location!! so if someone lazed or flashed your location trying to pick up a return flash they wouldn't get one. This thing is quality, but again maybe 5 years old so likely newer products out there though this is-was firstrate. the rest to your pm, in confidence sunday.

Something I've been doing for years and is quick and simple is I hang a bell on the front and back door. If you hang it on the inside the moment someone tries to enter the bell rings and they are busted. Last Oct it did its job by warning my wife and I that there was someone trying to open our rear door at 2am. Something simple but very effective.

Well, I don't think I moved into a high crime area, but our community mailbox was broken into today (1/2 mile from our house) so there are definitely sh$@theads in the area. We'll step up our burglar prevention plan a notch.

Wait until December, as the day for peak gluttony, and peak economic consumption approaches rural mail boxes get hit, the meth heads (there are lots in rural areas) are looking for cards with cash in them, The fact your getting hit now is bad sign...you have stupid meth heads. Though maybe not stupid as it just occurred to me As of this year all of rural Alberta is supposed to have switched from PO box numbers, to RR and twnshp numbers, and as is in all county bylaws that I have seen you are required to have your number visible from the road...NOT good in a rural area....what this means is now if they break in and get your mail, they can Identify your location.....So if they read your visa statement, they know what you have bought, or maybe they see your bank statement and think your rich, makes selecting targets so much easier....or maybe if in your mail they notice only one person getting mail to that address....now they also know the location.....its rural....see where I am going with this.........they can stake out the property, when you leave they have a pretty good idea that no one else is home.......Are you a single lady living in the country...I would be worried...

Welcome to the country...where people drop off dogs,cats they don't want. Throw appliances into the ditch cause the dump charges, run grow ops, Trespass, cause they thought it was there 3 rd cousins place 20 years back but they thought he must still live here! Tresspass cause they seen the car you have parked in the field and figure you must want to sell it.

In case I hadn't mentioned it.....I like fences and gates....and dogs,.. don't forget dogs...

As one of those ladies that is alone for many hours of the day and at times days or weeks (when my beloved hubby is working) I like fences, Dogs(a pack of them) and a few extra"s just in case..

Country living is great but there are things that had better be chained up, locked away and while you want to be friendly, its never a bad thing to have everyone (other then your good friends built up in time) to know that you are a driveway talker.

I personally can always tell a country bred and born.. you talk at the driveway.. town or new homestead or country, just asuume, you will show them around, let them in outbuildings, let them look in the garden or invite them in the house! SNORT.. NOT..

And I do not care how much I like my local gents or that I am friends with your wife's or children, you do not come in the house, unless hubby is home!

Old Fashioned rules maybe but I hold to them.

I have ADT monitoring, all the windows and doors alarmed on two floors, interior motion sensors , exterior motion sensors that alarm and some exterior motion sensors that only turn on lights . In addition I have added more motion detecting lights and layers of fencing of zones and perimeter fenced with barbed wire and electric fencing for bears and have been adding cans so the bears make more noise to alert the dogs . All the neighbours out here have aggressive bear dogs . Also I have a motion sensor hidden along the beginning of the driveway that chimes and alerts us what is passing near our gate and I will be installing a metal sensing one additionally that will alert to a receiver and portable fobs so I stay aware of vehicles entering wherever I am , somewhat so I can leash the dogs that have gotten a bit aggressively protective. I actually will be adding a few more wireless sensors that were not hardwired in to the original system so I am looking to use those compatible to the one I installed on the driveway gate so it works off the same receiver and fob which I think can differentiate between zones with different audible signals .

Might have to further improve security of my property. Next acreage over (actually just across a tree line) was burglarized yesterday. Truck and electronic stolen. I suppose not locking your doors doesn't help...

Maybe the alarm sign at the end of the driveway was enough of a deterrent for the low-life to just skip our place. Or again, maybe this was a targeted house for unknown reasons. Anyway. Nothing on my game cam to help investigators. I'm thinking about acquiring a couple more to place around the place. As a bonus, I seem to have regular deer visits, so I might be able to capture them on cam.

I am busy at the moment but check your pm in a day or so and I will show you pictures of a couple types of security cameras I use and can recommend. Nothing is locked on my property, never has been, in fact the neighbours through out the years have been told the back door is open come in as needed, such as its -40 and kids have locked themselves out of the house....wander over and come in if I am not home. Rural areas are getting hit hard, no worries at my place but all around me Like a mile or two away,...breakins.
I think I mentioned to you before security begins at the perimeter...a gate and proper fencing..no one...no one... ever should be able to just drive into your yard freely unless you have let them do so, I think you have seen my gate, it says Puck off, but politely ....Just my thoughts on the subject.....Did I ever mention a dog? even if its just one that barks.
I don't think signs help, I may be wrong but I think signs are expected.