I am not worried about having anyone steal it, especially if I set it up in the early evening. The spot is so far in that I can’t image that most hunters would trek that far. I saw no trees in the area that had been pruned, etc. I am just worried about the deer seeing/smelling the stand at overnight. I hope that the scent away stuff works.
The cool thing about this spot is that it is not too far off the forest trails; I only have to walk about 50-75 yards through the woods to get there, and I have a very specific route that is along a creek edge and already have reflective tacks set up to mark the way in. Of course, the first reflective tack is marked on the opposite side of the path to lead astray other hunters.
But this place is awesome. To the south of the stand site is the lake edge with sparse, open timber. Then as you go north towards the stand, there are thicker hardwoods bordered by small creeks/ditches, and the ground is filled with acorns and deer droppings. North of that is an area that must have been cleared out years ago, but is growing back and filled with pine and hardwood saplings and young trees, and lots of other brushy cover. My stand will be up a hardwood on the edge of this area. I have a feeling this is an area where the deer will feel safe to “play” during the day. I guess we’ll see about that on Nov 5th!!