ANYNONE WHO THINKS A STAND LEFT OUT ON PUBLIC LAND JUSTIFIES THERE TWISTED WAY OF THINKING AND THINKS ITS FOR THE TAKING IS A SCUM AND LOOSER . ITS NOT YOURS DONT TOUCH IT! the way i look at it is it is much safer for a hunter to set there stand up in the daylight the day or weeks before the hunt than having a heart attack hauling all that gear out and setting up at 4 a.m. in the dark not putting a bolt on correctly. it sounds like its legal to do so in your state so i would learn to live with it. i dont know how anyone could think that setting up a stand claims an area. IT SHOULD BE FIRST COME FIRST SERVE! if its public land. if i leave a stand out all season and i get to my spot in the morning and i see someone in it or set up too close to me GUESS WHAT I LOOSE. i would just take the stand down and move on. thats why i always get to the woods extra early instead of having an extra coffee at the donut shop to avoid this. another thing to think about is putting yourself inside of the mind of the hunter who sets up knowingly next to a stand that has been left up. if it were me you gotta say for yourself i sure dont know the history of this location. was this stand that has been set up a while hunted hard all season so far. has it educated the deer. did the guy in the stand that hunted this stand stink up the place kill a bunch of deer or blow a bunch of shots? i certainly wouldnt want to set up next to a stand that has been up for a while. the other side of the mentallity is that the person sees a stand up already up and figures it must be a good spot if someone is hunting this spot already. there are plenty of out of the way areas if you look around. during the gun season with guys walking around and clubs driving deer they will always bump into those stands that are what you think in the middle of no where. i have had several stolen that way. you could never have found some of my stands any other way.