hunter19_92

We have found a tree stand on one of the places that my dad farms. We have the right to tell people if they can go hunting there or not. My question with the tree stand is what to do with it? It does have a chain and padlock on it. It is a long ways from deer season so there's no use putting a note there telling him to get off. Plus he might not even listen and I'm not around enough to catch him. Is it legal to take? That seems like stealing to me, but I don't want himgetting away trespassing. What do I do?

Paul L Mohr

The simple thing to do would be to call the local police or District Atorneys office. They will know for sure what your rights are.

In my opinion, if it is well inside your property line and they put it there illegally the stand is yours. Especially if it is not marked with their name and other info.

Now if if there is a name and phone number and it is close to your property line or you feel it could have placed there mistakenly you could be nice and contact the person to let them know it does not belong there.

I am pretty sure in most places though if you take it, then put an add in the paper stating you have it and no one claims it in a certain amount of time it is yours.

And the chances are if someone put the stand there knowing it didn't belong there and you take it down you will never hear from them. If you do and they put screw in steps in your tree tell them they can have the stand back, but you are charging them for the price of the tree they messed up.

Or better yet, just go out and hunt it opening day.

Paul

Paul L Mohr

Oh, I just re-read your post and you do not own the land. That is a bit touchy, I would contact either the police, DNR, DA and the land owner

Hotburn76

I had a similar thing one time myself. I had just started to hunt some land and the owner told me that I would be the only one alowed to hunt and if I seen any one have them leave or call the law. Well I scouted and set my stands up and about three weeks into the season I see a stand. Its old and well used. I asked the farmer about it and he said one guy used to hunt a few years back but never comes around any more. I left that stand up for one year with the posibility it was the guys that used to hunt and maybe he would come back and get his stand and maybe I just missed it when I did my scouting, after one year I took it down and fixed it up since it was well weathered and now I use it. Well after about hunting for five years A nice climbing stand shows up in the area, And its about five hundreds from the property line, This in my mind is tresspassing, so now I have a new stand!

RDHunter

Hi HUNTER19 92

My first ? is does your dad own this land or just farm it?
2nd ? is did you check your state's DNR rules & regulations book.
My advice is that if your dad does own this land then you & your dad have every right to take it down.
But if he's does'nt you should check with the land owner.

hardcorehunter

Here in IA the farmer that is renting has authority over the place just like the owner.If the landowner did not give permission and you guys didn't thencut the padlock and you have yourself a new stand. The guy trespassed and is not going to risk punishment to come and claim it anyway.

Lanse couche couche

You need to check the laws in your specific state. For example, in Illinois, contrary to popular belief, renting land to farm does not automatically give one the authority over whohunts it (I got that directly from the DNR folks). That is a separate right that must be transmitted in writing from the landowner to therenter.

cardeer

cUT THE TREE DOWN AND LET EVERYTHING JUST LAY THERE FOR NOW , IF THE STAND IS DESTROYED WHEN THE TREE FALLS SO WHAT ,TOUGH

llbts1

Talk to the land owner first. It may be his or a friends stand. If he knows nothing about it, ask him what he would like you to do. I would sure explain that I don't want to get shot by a tresspasser. Larry

Mike Hill

Geee, if the person isen't bothering you and you didn't even know he was there leave him alone will ya. You would think he was doing somthing hurendus hes doing a little hunting thats all. You folks in the south and the mid west should take a not from the north east. The law is asumption of hunting rights. This is a great law it simply means that if the land is not posted aginst hunting you can assume that its open for hunting but the land owner assumes no responsibilty. Good luck and I hope that you folks don't kill huntingand because of acess and no hunting signs its no wonder kids would rather play video games.