Well we went out today to do some fine tuning and make sure everything was cool for the uncoming season and apparently someone thought my API climber would be better off with them... That's the second one I lost in 2 seasons but 2 different areas... I guess I should know better then to leavethem in the woods, but why to do people have F$#$#% with things that aren't thiers... Really gets me going...

Anyway just wanted to vent... At least it was now, instead when I take off work on the only day(so far)with the perfect wind and you creap through the new snow for 45 minutes to slip in on a big buck, and it's GONE... That'll get ya going...

That's a real bummer dude.

Gotta ask though, have you learned your lesson yet?
Thats gotta be a little expensive replacing stands every season.

thats a bummer... sorry to hear about that

If you feel like chancing it again, and you are far in enough to not have to worry about someone bringing a set of 6' boltcutters, I wuld suggest that you lock them off witha steel cable and "cut-resistant" lock.

Here's what a cousin of mine does:
Get either a premade rubber-coated steel cable with loop ends at least 1/4" thick, or if you know anyone who has a cable crimper make one and sheath it with an old bicycle inner tube. Loop that around the tree and thru the stand and lock it up with a boltcutter-resistant padlock. They are a bit more money and not perfect but you can find them at Home Depot, etc. Just use a flap of rubber to protect it from weather and hid it so it doesn't glare in sunlight. It isn't perfect, and someone who really wants it can come back with a hacksaw and get it off with some work, but it'll keep them from being disappeared by anyone who just happens by.

I went out last year early one morning looking for the tree my stand was in and when i got to the spot i thought my stand was i found they cut my hole tree down!I took a lot of good deer out of that tree.

Now that was somebody who really wanted your stand, or for you to stop hunting there........

If anybody NEEDS my stand bad enough to cut down the whole d@mn tree to get one, I'll give them the d@amn stand.

And to think, this is fellow hunters taking stands. That alone boils my blood. I've been fortunate enough not to have a stand stolen. Each time I go to my stands and see them still there I still feel relieved. I hunt private ground and have exclusiveness to the area however, it wouldn't be the first time I had to "ask" someone to leave the property. I think it's a matter of time and I'll wear out some tires looking for the theif.

I can't tell you how many stands I've stumbled across while hunting other mutual properties and it's never crossed my mind to steal the stand. What a low life.

Not sure I've learned my lesson or not, I still have 7 stands on that piece of property alone... But it may not be a bad idea to get some Cables for them... At least keep an honest man honest...

Yeah it really does suck that a "Fellow Hunter" is the one stealing them... But as we all know there are "Low-Lifes" in every profession and sport...

I to Rob, have come across a many of stands even ones not supposed to be on the property but I would NEVER Steal it just for that fact that I wouldn't want someone to take mine... Guess that Karma doesn't work that way...

i've been fortunate enough to never have a stand stolen from me, but i have seen a few people hunting out of my own stands. When that happens, i bring out my deep voice and say HEY I Want To Talk With You. That seems to work because both times the guys in my treestandjumped down that ladder and ran off as if the devil was on there tail.

I had one stand stollen last year.It was within 100 yards of the landowners house.He will no longer give permission for anyone else to hunt on that property.As far as he is concerned they took it from him.