Was the stand on public land? I have a buddy of mine who had a stand on public land here in Wisconsin and he left if up throughout the season. One afternoon he walked in to find the stand missing. The story gets worse. A DNR warden appeared behind him and asked it that was his stand in the tree and he said yes. He was fined for leaving the stand in a tree on public land while not hunting it.

My brother had a similar situation in Ohio, his stand wasmissing when he got out to hunt but it wasn't stolen. A game warden had taken it and left a note that he couldn't leave a stand up while on public land.

Your stand being stolen is BS and others should respect your property but these days hardly anyone does.