The biggest problem I have hunting Fla's public land is people leaving stands in the woods. Ladder stands especially. Although one is as bad as the other if you are going to lock it to a tree in a good spot and leave it till you die then let your next of kind inherit the spot..that's how some think. Just because they lean a ladder against a tree in the woods that area becomes their's till it's gone.
What irritates me is I may have been hunting that same spot for yrs. and take my climber out every time I hunt it. Actually I don't take it out every time but I do take it off the tree and hide it till I come back in area to hunt again. There's just so many good spots on public land and people will put as many ladders as they can drag in during the summer. I've had it happen. Three guys started hunting the same area and the next yr. every spot had a steel ladder stand locked to a tree. They put in about 10 per person and they also lock their climbers to a tree and leave all season.
When I come upon a good spot and want to hunt it and there's a ladder stand or any kind on or in the tree..how am I to know they didn't get killed in a car wreck on the way home from putting it up and will never hunt the stand? I think it should be a law that the stand becomes part of the tree when you leave it. If you don't get there first you have no rights to the area.
There's some public land areas in Fl. that have ladder stands every 100yds. around clear cuts.