I would have told my friend "good bye" and left him to take it down and drag it out. I would never have been a part of that crap. I have had two of my climbing stands stolen over the years that were placed leagally. I wanted to break someone in half after I found them stolen.
Believe me, when he said he was going to climb up and remove it I indicated I wantedno part of it. I didn't walk away since we were together and quite a ways from camp. If he had fallen and hurt himself I would have been negligent not to be there to help him even if he was doing something that he shouldn't have been doing. Now, if the owner of the stand showed up and confronted him while he was taking it down he would have been on his own dealing with that.
Yes, he lugged it back to camp all by himself. Again, the irony is the landowner bitched him out for bringing it back.
The whole thing just bothered me. I thought I would discuss it with you guys, get your opinions.