I think that it's first come first served. I hunt public land all the time. If I set up a stand before opening day, on some land you can leave them up and on some you can't, I would plan to get there early on opening day because if I'm not occupying my stand, then I know that some other hunter can set himself up in that area. If I see a stand, I keep an eye out to see if anyone is using it. I'd try to set up somewhere else if I saw one like you did. But if he doesn't show up until later in the day, sorry, but it's public land. Best thing to do if he shows up it talk to him about his plans. I think the guy with the blind recognized that he was late and didn't have a right to that land.

The thing about groundblinds is interesting. I was scouting some national forest land last year and came acrossa veryelaborate ground blind made of logs all tied together with a bench built into sit on, a roof with brush tied on it, almost like a little log cabin. Theguyhad shooting lanes cut, which is legal on nat. forest land if the brush is under one inch., and everything. Now ifthat guy showed up on opening morning and you were in his stand, that would be bad.If you said, hey, this is public land andI was here first,I think fists would be flying.By putting all that effort into it,I'm sure he would feel like he had rights to that property. I'm not sureI think that is right, but I think some folks have been hunting on that public land a long time and have clearlystaked their claim.