i hunt on public land, and when its lunch time i climb down withmy tree stand and leave it there because i dont feel like detaching it and carring it back on me for 2 miles and than bringing it back again, im just scared someone might see it and take it... what do you guys do?

I leave my hang onsin the woods, unlocked. The land is open to hunt to all, but it doesn't get a heck of a lot of hunters. I hang 8 stands every year and never had one stolen until this year.[:@] I'll continue to do the same...one rotten SOB isn't gonna change my way of hunting.

I put a lock on it ,but if someone wants it that bad they will get it .

couldnt pay me to leave my summit viper in the woods!! i hunt too many spots too. now if i was just leaving for a little while i MIGHT leave it in the woods...but this year all my spots are close enough to the roads that packing it out isnt that big of a deal..might as well be safe then sorry

NOOOOOO...for 3 reasons---scent, theives, and tipping someone to my hunting location!

I don't use climbers anymore, and the portables that I leave up are all locked, even on my property.

Yes, but I hunt on private land...which these days doesn't really mean a thing!! I've not had one single problem thus far!

I've done that before. I climb down for a walkabout but leave the stand on the tree at the bottom. When I get back it is easy to jump in and shoot back up. I think most hunters are honest people so I never worry about it. If my stand ever got stolen I would be forced to buy a nice new one.
Use a lock cable and then don't worry about it.

I leave my climber out in the woods sometimes, but the public land I hunt on is 13,000 acres, so there arent too many run ins with people. I have only seen people there while sitting in my stand twice in 4 years. And nock on wood...none of our 4 hang ons have been touched either, even tho we use locks.

Just leave a little note on the seat......"Back in a minute, if you don'twishto see how well a human skull can bend aluminum then don't even think about it"



Seriously as long as you are off the beaten path a bit it would be a pretty bad stroke of luck for someone to find AND take your stand between an AM and Evening hunt.
Snip a leafy branch and lay it over or like was mentioned keep a cable lock handy and lock er' up.
Or disconnect it and you can basically bury it in leaves or bushes hidden out of sight and you'll just need to reconnect and climb up.