I painted my ladder stand black then went over it with a rusty brown. It looks like the stand is 100 years old and about to fall apart. I paint right over the dirt on it so it looks like layers of metal are rusting off. Nobody has tried to take it yet! It doesn't look worth the effort! My father had a stand about 150-200 yards away and someone tried to get it but couldn't get through the cable lock with thier knife! Little stab marks in the rubber coating and some minor cuts in the cable was all they could muster!