Tree Stand Ethics
 

So.. next question, I am hunting this property the last four days. Every place I want to put my stand up, already has someone else's stand in the tree. Granted I scouted a couple of weeks ago, but I am not sure if I should put my stand up next to it, use the one that is there or what. I mean I have been out 4 times this week and have not seen anyone on any of these stands. What is the "right" thing to do here. I am new to this stand stuff and don't want to piss everyone else off. Thanks

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

Ma, I guess everyone feels differently about using other peoples stands, personally, I don't do it. If I got in somebodys' stand, they would show up 10 minutes after I got in it and while I was explaining the situation, I'd be scaring all the deer off. Speaking of scaring the deer off, if there's been that many people in that area in a few weeks period, all the good deer have probably moved on or become nocturnal due to all the scent and disturbances in the area. My humble advice, if it's at all possible find somewhere a little more isolated. Good luck hunting for a place to hang your hat.

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

Sounds like you have the traditional guys who "reserve my spot". Is the land public--private? If it's private land you could talk to the owner and get more details about who is hunting their and when. Maybe he will know. Also ask what his policy is in reserving spots. If it's public land then that's another matter. Public land is for all to use and noone should be reserving their spot. It should be "first come-first served". But you'll more than likely catch a bunch of flack from these "land hogs" if you're set up too close. I think I'd just as soon find another place to hunt. Sounds like there's too much scent floating in the wind anyway.

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

if there is a stand there already,move on. do not put your stand next to someone else's.don't use the one there,it belongs to someone,(NOT YOU!!!)

find another place.you come in second on this spot.

just my 2 cents,there are 98 more!!!

I am not a hunter I am a whitetail population reduction specialest

remember keep your back to the sun, your knife sharp, and your powder dry.

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

I agree with Tree Climber if you are hunting on public land then find another spot. I hunt public land and the rule I've always practiced is first come first serve, If somebody else scouts out a spot and puts a stand up before you get out there then find another spot. Under no circumstances would I sit in another hunters stand.

If you are hunting on private land then you need to talk to the landowner and see who else has permission to hunt there. If they haven't given anyone else permission then put your stand wherever you want but if they have then I'd treat it like public land, if they were there first then find another spot.

There will probably be some people who disagree and think that anything goes on public land but courtesy and common sense have to prevail. How would you like it if you invested hours and hours scouting the area, learning the deer patterns, selecting the spot to place you stand, hanging your stand and trimming your shooting lanes, etc, etc... Then you get up and head out to hunt excited as hell to see if all your hard work pays off and when you get to your stand here's somebody else sitting in it. I would ask them not so politely to get out of my stand and if they refused I would tell them "Fine stay in my stand but it's coming down, with or without you in it".

<img src=icon_smile_angry.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_evil.gif border=0 align=middle>

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

The only thing I would recommend if it is public land, is to check your local laws regarding leaving stands on public property. Some areas it is illegal to leave it without name, address etc, and some area don't allow them to be left at all. On the other hand, if there are already that many stands up in that area, then I would want to get the heck away from it anyhow. But if it is a good spot, and no one seems to be hunting that area, then pack your stand in,hunt, and pack it out (assuming you have a stand that you can easily do that with).

--Man who fish in other man's well often catch crabs--

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

I always refer back to ( Do Unto Others AS You Would Have Them Do Unto You ). How would you feel if you went to the trouble of scouting the area and setting up a stand and leaving the area scent free only to come to it on your hunting day only to find someone else sitting in it, and you have no idea weather they used scent control and stunk up your area etc.I feel the same curtosy should apply wether it is private land or public land.There is also the issue of safety. I had a young man attempting to go up a tree with his climber last year within 30 yards from me and it was a straight clear shot from my seat to where he would of put his seat. God forbid one of us would of had a arrow go astry and one of us could of really gotten hurt or died.I prefer to find a secluded spot that is just nature and me.

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

If we go out and scout early and beat you to the spot with a tree stand then stay out of it. It's just common courtesy. If you decide to use the stand then need to politely crawl down and go away if I come to it a few minutes late. If a person decides to be a jerk and start a fight then I have and will get busy and call their bluff. Also have several front crowns due to this but oh well. Good hunting.

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

<font color=blue> ma hunter</font id=blue>, I'm going to make the assumption that this is public land --
It seems as if I disagree with the majority of the board, but being in the minority is no indication of my being wrong. If you have scouted and looked at various places to hunt, you have as much of a right to hunt an area as anyone else. They (stand hangers) do not assume &quot;squatters rights&quot; just because they leave there stand hanging in the woods all season. If that were the case, why shouldn't you just hang 15 stands all over the place and essentially take over the property?!?

I don't think that this gives you the right to use any of these stands that aren't yours, <font color=red>you don't</font id=red>. However, you do have the right to hang your stand 10-20 yards from it and hunt as you usually do.

<font color=green>Lets look at it in a different light:</font id=green> If I know that there is a great parking spot at work, do I have the right to put an orange cone in it when I'm not there so as to reserve it for myself only? Obviouly not. In a public forum, area, etc.....there is no &quot;reserving&quot; for one's self or special privleges. It is first come first serve... Not, come and reserve.

&quot;Measure twice, shoot once <img src=icon_smile_evil.gif border=0 align=middle>
http://www.hunting-pictures.com/memb...owhunter&quot;

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

NJ,

I think you are totally wrong on this. If you had a honey hole scouted out, stand located then came out to find someone sitting in a stand 10 feet away how would you feel? My guess is you would be totally ticked off! People get hurt this way.

My mentor pointed out to me the fallacy of starting an argument or fight with someone who is carrying a lethal weapon. Isn't that what we all use? Okay you might win the fistfight but there are people out there who will HURT you! Don't get me wrong. If its worth defending I will defend it. My wife, children, grandchildren, pets, house, etc. Getting hurt or having ill feelings over a treestand is not worth it.

I had this happen to me a few years back. Arrived at the location where I had placed my stand for the last three years. I had placed a stand there 2 weeks before the gun season started. About daybreak I noticed someone else placed a stand about 50 yards behind me and to the right.

Not only this but he arrived at it on an atv, got off, peed, lighted a cigarette and walked to his stand. He then proceeded to loudly and clumsily climb into it and lighted off another cigarette.

The location was in a corner of a timberland clear cut. I was pissed off but had no more &quot;right&quot; to the location than he. He did exercise poor judgment but nothing I did was going to give me a peaceful morning of undisturbed hunting.

I got down and proceeded to take the logging road out of the clearcut. As I skirted the edge and disappeared into the woods a nice 8 point had worked around downwind of the hunter left on the stand. He spotted the hunter before being spotted and apparently started away from him. I rounded the corner of the logging road and the deer and I almost collided, literally! When traveling to and from stand I always am prepared to shoot. This was no exception. I shot the deer from less than 5 feet. Nicest 8 point I have ever taken.

&quot;Size may not matter but it sho IS nice!&quot; [/quote]

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

NJ Hunter,

I'm not sure the regs in every state but here in Iowa we can leave ourstands hanging all seson but they have to be taken down two weeks after the season and can't be put back up until two weeks before the season starts in the fall. If somebody were to leave them up year round I would check your local regs and get the local DNR to take them down.

I hunt public land with two other friends, between the three of us we have about 12 stands up. Are we monopolizing the area? Not even close. The area we hunt is so large we couldn't even begin to cover all the good spots. Now I realize that not everybody has such a large public area near but if you're hunting a 5 acre peice of public ground and see ten stand then I think I would be looking for someplace a little less traveled anyway.

Let's do look at this in a different light: Instead of going in to work today you decide to catch a ballgame. You get there early, get a general admission ticket and scout out the best seat in the section. In the third inning nature calls and you've gotta do something about those two beers you washed your nachos down with. You get back to your seat ten minutes later and there's someone sitting in it. Hey, it's a public stadium, your ticket doesn't give you claim to that specific seat, just because you got there first and got the seat you wanted doesn't mean that guy who strolled in late doesn't have just as much right to it does it? Hey, you can always go somewhere else to sit 40 rows back or so. You got your binocs?

Bottom line, this is both a courtesy and an ethics issue. I would hope that most hunters would recognize that somebody else had found and set-up in that spot before they did. It's too bad that you might find an area you really like but somebody already has a stand set-up over that trail. As a hunter though you should recognize the work that person put into findng that spot and respect them for having the skill to select a spot that you obviously agree is a good selection. You sound like you are a respectful person because you refuse to sit in somebody else's stand despite your anger, but setting a stand 10 - 20 yards from somebody elses would be like casting your lure over the bow of somebody else's boat.

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

I agree with both NJ and Sooner above. I do agree that if this is public land you have the right to set your stand up anywhere you want. However, Sooner makes a very good point that you could be getting into a serious confrontation with someone you do not know who may have a short and violent fuse and carrying a lethal weapon. When you weigh things up and you have your wife and kids waiting for you to come home or you 'fighting it out' to get a deer, the price you could pay for that deer is too great. I would not take the chance myself.

-Brad
Eastern Nebraska Bowhunter

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

I don't hunt any public land, but I believe that here in WI you can't leave a stand overnight.
I think that if someone had done all the scouting and hard work to find the perfect spot, the little &quot;extra&quot; effort to make sure he was the first one there would be a given. To claim a spot and then come in late expecting it to be open is foolish IMHO&gt;

[Deleted]
 

[Deleted by Admins]

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>Sooner makes a very good point that you could be getting into a serious confrontation with someone you do not know who may have a short and violent fuse and carrying a lethal weapon.<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>

It is unfortunate that people are so quick to resort to violence and exhibit &quot;sub-human behavior&quot; towards each other.<img src=icon_smile_dissapprove.gif border=0 align=middle> (I am not referring to Sooner, just what was implied)

I am not at all trying to be obstinate or argumentative but here in NJ on the public property we are not supposed to &quot;squat&quot; and I have entered some of &quot;my&quot; (scouted) locations (where I have LEGALLY left corn/ salt) and found someone hunting over it....<font color=red> it sucked</font id=red>, but <font color=green>I MOVED ON</font id=green>- It is one of the downfalls of hunting Public Land. I would never intentionally try to disrespect another hunter, but I also don't appreciate when others &quot;assume control&quot; over areas. Ultimately, what discusts me the most is how it seems that so many people will let a situation deteriorate into violence.....Did anyone see that news story today about the parents kicking the snot out of each other and a high School football game.....what is happening to us as a society?

&quot;Measure twice, shoot once <img src=icon_smile_evil.gif border=0 align=middle>
http://www.hunting-pictures.com/memb...owhunter&quot;

Edited by - NJ-Bowhunter on 10/18/2002 10:42:50

Edited by - NJ-Bowhunter on 10/18/2002 10:43:45

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

IMO...

NEVER hunt out of another person's stand without permission.

Also, public land is &quot;first-come-first-served&quot;, but that does NOT mean that people get the right to stake out their own little areas like it's private land. To do so is like telling people that, it's public land, but only YOU have the right to hunt there. Not so.

We go through this problem at our sportsman's club every year. Some guy likes to plaster the whole woods with treestands, and yell and complain when anyone hangs one even within eye-sight of his. Even if he's not in one of his stands, he doesn't want anyone else hunting the area.

If a he's not in his stand...too bad, it's public land. Hang one in another tree nearby and hunt. Take your stand out when you leave (to avoid potential problems). If he shows up while YOU'RE hunting and gives you a hard time, remind him what PUBLIC means.

JRW

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

MA,

Look up a post I made a while back called &quot;Permanent Stands on NJ WMA's&quot;

Public land is for everyone's enjoyment. If it is legal to hang a stand and leave it on public ground in your state, go right ahead. I would never sit in someone else's stand, but once its placed on public land its LEGAL for ANYONE to sit in it. This of course will cause problems if the person whom put it up comes along. You can see from some post here, that some would be pretty quick to try and cause you bodly harm. A deer isnt worth that to me.

Since you were looking to hang a stand, you probably won't agree with me, but I feel carry in, carry out, should be the only tree stand method allowed on any public land. I guess I should move to WI.

Like I said, see if you can find the thread I mentioned above,,,, you think there are fireworks going off here?!?!?!?!

Best of Luck to you!

Any day spent huntin, is better than any day spent workin,,

Duckmastor2

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

I guess I see some of both sides on this and it's obvious that Arizona isn't NJ. I rarely hang a stand as I bowhunt from the ground but when I do it's on several thousand acre unit so I expect the guy to leave if he's sitting in my stand. If he hangs one ten feet away then the violence that our forefathers founded the country on is gonna start and I have a CWP and am carrying most of the time but would never resort to lethal force over a tree stand UNLESS someone is dumb enough to point a weapon at me. I admit that we out west except for California are not very evolved yet but we're workin' on it. Bottom line is a man needs to stand up for himself if another is an A-----e. I will afford anyone the utmost courtesy and understanding if they afford me the same. This thread is about common sense and courtesy. Whatever happened to punching it out without blowing someone's head off like a weenie banger would do?

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
I have a CWP and am carrying most of the time <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>

It is illegal in most states to carry a hangun while bowhunting, even with a CWP. Of course Arizona may allow it, but I would check the regs if you are unsure.

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>.....what is happening to us as a society?
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>

For an answer to this question, see the post that was entitled, &quot;I thought you might want to read this&quot; or something to that effect. It was a speech given by the father of one of the victims of Columbine. He summed it up quite well, IMHO.

-Brad
Eastern Nebraska Bowhunter

Edited by - by23856 on 10/18/2002 16:33:49

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

i think NJ is right .the public land i hunt around thunderbird lake in oklahoma you cant leave stands up all season long their breaking the regs for this hunting area.i would put a stand up in the area if it looks promising,get to know your new neighbor in the woods,i never say anything to the hunters who stalk by my climber early in the morning i dont like it but its public land.

[Deleted]
 

[Deleted by Admins]

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

Okay sorry for the delay getting back, I've been out hunting/working strangely enough. The situation is this, the land is open private land and the owner just gives permission to all comers. Now I understand someone spent the time to scout and put up a stand. But guess what I scouted that same spot, the only difference is I pack my stand in and out each day instead of hanging it all the time. The truth of the matter is most of these spots I planned on using 2 months ago. So I guess I feel like, just because they leave multiple stands and I hump mine in and out, doesn't mean they should have dibs on all the quality spots. Hope this clarifies some of this. I guess at this point I have found to many stands to really count on this chunk of land anyway, too bad though it is the closest to my house.

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

NJB,

Sorry if I sound that way but I am raising teenagers. Trying to get them into adulthood in one piece and teach them a few things. That father thing sometimes just comes out.

That implication is just that. And not necessarily directed at YOU!! In point of fact you don't know what the other guy IS like. He might be polite and say, &quot;I'm Sorry!&quot; Or he could say, &quot;I'm a gonna kick the **** out of you boy!.&quot;

You don't know if he has had a bad day. You don't know what he's been smoking. You don't know what he's been drinking! Or if he has been drugging. This is not implied specifically against hunters.

I have had few occasions to specifically &quot;draw the line&quot; in my life. When I did they were over matters of family, life and limb.

OH, AND THE WORLD IS NOT GETTING ANY WORSE!! Remember the holocaust? Remember the Indian wars? Remember the Romans? Remember Attila the Hun? We as people always have the aggressive streak. Best not to have it when it could get really NASTY.

I sincerely hope you have a great and SAFE hunting season. Your deer is out there!

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

Cabelas-I am sure that it is illegal to carry a firearm while bowhunting in AZ. CWP law is in conflict and courts have already ruled that we can carry in state parks with no gun rules. My point is that no matter what the law states I know a bunch who sneak a handgun along and why would you want to be a jerk over a treestand if you can walk a little further or do your homework earlier. We can legally hang stands and leave them here. This is the reason I am a ground hunter. Too much of a hassle and plenty of good land to creep. Good hunting.

RE: Tree Stand Ethics
 

I read a few of these posts and scrolled down to reply.
For PUBLIC LAND: the area is 1st come 1st serve (PUBLIC, PUBLIC, PUBLIC). Plain and simple. To the folks who go whaa that they scouted early summer, blah blah blah and they have &quot;the rights&quot; to the place, well then BS. Now if hunter B walks in and hunter A is blinking his maglite at you in the dark, then of course move on.