whether its legal or not, does the law give the person who has put up his stand and left it,the right to claim that area for who knows how long,i'd run it by the game warden, but the bottom line, if its public land and no one is in the stand, i'd climb up and HUNT,if the owner shows up and gets angry, ask him to show you his property deed, don't mean to be a butt, but here in south al. it would be on.