number1hunter

How many of you have had a semi-expenseve treestand locked to a tree around your favorite hunting spot and came back one day to find that someone has cut the cable? What was your reaction and how did you handle the situation? I had about a 250 dollar stand and showed up on a Saturday morning before daylight to hunt and found only my cable and locks. I found his boot track on the creek in between my stand site and where the only place to park on the property. I would guess it was only 2 days old.I have not contacted the game warden about this because I dont think they would really worry about this. I think that I might as well kiss that stand goodbye. I have a baby on the way and can't afford to spend the amount of a new stand. Thanks for your input.

hoythunter48

Had a cheap stand stolen once but we knew who it was because we had seen him trespassing here before but never said anything and we knew he had a stand hung on teh edge fo the property he had a surprise come opening day when he climbed up the tree and found he didnt have a stand, I had someone onetime setting in my stand when i got there and they did have to permission to hunt the property but knew it was my stand they did get down and let me hunt it but the next day i got there and someone took a dump right in front of the steps, oh man i was so mad, i was gonna thump him but he had tried to poach a deer and the landowner found out and well he was booted,

"She said if I hit that fishin hole today, she's be packin all her things and she'd, be gone by noon....I'm gonna miss her, when I get home."

jred

No, I'm the number one hunter<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

This has happened to me and other club members as well. GW'S wont help out too much. Some of us place a deer cams. in the area to pick up crooks of this nature and it has worked.

Other than this take the loss and learn from it,

Good luck!

KEEP HUNTING THE GREAT OUTDOORS & GOD ALIVE, PASS IT ON!

uncle matt

number1hunter:

Tip-ALWAYS permenantly put your name on your stands.

Filing a report with your local law enforcement is a good thing to do (with or w/o your name on it). With your report/description (any unique or identifying marks?) they can put heat on &quot;suspects&quot;. LE's MO is not to &quot;harass&quot; trouble makers types (they know who they are) but to keep the heat up til it's uncomfortable and either make an arrest or the trouble goes elsewhere.

Believe me cause I'm speaking from experience here.

I had 3 (!) of my custom made ladder stands stolen at once! A few years ago my cousin Danny & I had set 4 ladder stands in the woods across the street from his house about a month before the shotgun opener. Private property, we're exclusive hunters allowed by our fellow church member. Danny had scouted the area extensively and the stands had been placed quite strategically. Camoflauged very well with pine branches and everything!

So about a week before the opener, Danny was heading out to pick a stand and sit on it to scope things out for me. Well, Danny knows this section of woods like he planted it all. Mind you it's well before first light and he goes to go to one of the stands and can't find it! Thinks age is catching up on him so he just shakes his head and goes to another stand-that he also can't find! He's thinking maybe I'm getting old AND it's still dark. Basically he finds a stand and sits on it until mid-morning, then investigates his problem of &quot;getting old&quot; and not being able to find stands in the dark. RESULT: 3 out of 4 stands are gone!

He calls me and tells me this and I'm not too happy. (He's a good 4-5 hours away).

I headed out a few days earlier than usual for the gun opener. There is another farm on the opposite end of these woods and Danny tells me the people are TROUBLE! He suspectes them of the thefts. I scouted the woods from end to end and wound up over behind their farm/barn. With my binoculars, what do I see? Three ladder stands stacked up nice and neat on the side of the barn. THAT LOOK EXACTLY LIKE MINE!

We called local LE (both PD and CPO) and met them at Danny's place. Told them the story and right off they thought it would be the troublemakers from the other side of the woods! (LE had them as suspected of shooting a neighbors cow with a high powered rifle around Halloween) I told them I could positively ID the stands because my initials and ss # were on them.
They went over and the trouble makers said that they had made the stands themselves. LE checked the stands out and didn't find any ID so they left and came back telling us...&quot;Sorry&quot;. No ID so we were out of luck. I said, &quot;NO WAY! THERE ARE MINE. I BUILT THEM. I'M NOT SETTLING FOR THIS. I'm going over there myself.&quot; They told me not to but I was gone (with them right behind me!). I pulled my truck up to the stands and KNEW they were mine. Heck I sprayed the camo paint on them and would recognize them like my own sons! I started loading them, the people came out and LE said to put them back or I&quot;D be arrested for theft & trespassing! All the while the punks are yelling. &quot;We built 'em! we built 'em!&quot; They all shut up when I peeled back the masking tape that I'd painted over to show MY INITIALS AND SS #! The older punk took advantage of his jaw hanging open by running his jaw into my closed fist a couple times before anyone could stop him. Immediately they start singing a different tune. It went more like this, &quot;We bought them stands! We bought them stands!&quot;

Anyway, the punks got to wear some fancy steel bracelets pretty quickly! Got a free ride to the jail where they were charged with theft and criminal trespassing and criminal damage to property (for cutting my locks).

While they were sitting in jail waiting for a buddy to bail them out LE was looking around their place some more. When their buddy came with the bail it wasn't nearly enough! Additional charges were filed for 2 stolen 4 wheelers that were in the barn. Dumb a**es! Felony grand theft, 2 counts each! They both wound up doing some real good time in prison (not jail). Couldn't work and make money when in jail so they lost their house. Too bad-So sad. They'll probobly try to get revenge on me some day, but you can't let punks ruin the world for everyone else. I never have - never will. If you're man enough....bring it on punks!

Also, I didn't even get charged for the punches! They were &quot;on the house&quot; as the CPO said. Guess it pays to be one of the biggest and oldest families in town!

Good luck with the new baby and God Bless you & your family.

Now.....&quot;Go Get Ya One!&quot;

anniegetyourgun

uncle matt, all your hard work, smarts and perseverance payed off. i do not feel a bit sorry for the guys who stole yours and others property. its high time these crooks got a little of what they give--or take maybe i should say. they obviously wer`nt too smart to leave every thing setting around where it was found. you were smart to put the ss# and name on the tree stands.

years ago my uncle john and my brother and his friend were working on some alumium products that they would buy and resell for recycling places. folks would bring my uncle john a variety of things any where from aluium chairs to pots and pans, ect. well one day he bought a bunch of things from a couple of guys who brought him some hosewares ect. my brother was helping him look through it after his costumers had left, my brother started laughing because he found something in the junk that looked like something of his, next thing he found some more things that looked like his and his buddys belongings. his buddy and him had a camp (actually it was the buddys old home place) back in an out of way place and this stuff looked as it had all come from there. sure enough they went and checked and the camp had been broken into and robbed. since there was nothing of a lot of value they just took any thing they thought they could sell. and being it was mostly camp gear--pots and pans ect.- they took it to my uncle for his alumium.----this wasnt the only time that people had brought him things they had required unlawfully. it surprises me so many people would risk punishment of stealing for such little gain.

Rack-attack

I have had about 12 stands stolen over the years. Now i use climbers, they can't steal whats not there.

smokyghost

I second that rack attack. self climbers is the way to go. espcially if ya hunt public land. what i like is having stand, seeing sign, and hunting it. ill never use a portable stand again

1950KID

You're just out of luck probably.

Good luck with the new baby. They're a lot of fun. Being a dad is a very important job. Have fun.

ButchA

Wow.... Please forgive my being a &quot;newbie&quot; to all of this. I don't own a tree stand. I hunt from a little portable blind (looks like a tipped over umbrella - can also be used as a tree stand umbrella/canopy). Or I just use whatever is available on public land.

Fear of being ripped off, is the #1 reason I don't have a hang-on or ladder stand (yet). I want a good investment and with me not having access to private land (or an &quot;In&quot; with the hunt clubs), I just use the WMA's here in Virginia).

I mean, I can't justify buying a nice hang-on stand, and leave it at a WMA, and just take home the climbing stick!! <img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle> That is an open invitation saying, &quot;Take Me&quot;. Same with a nice ladder stand.

I feel sorry for you guys that had your stands stolen. I know with me, I would be <u>SERIOUSLY</u> P*$$ED OFF and like Uncle Matt's post, I'd want to kick some a$$!!!

Butch

TREEDOG

oh that would make me so mad i probly would of just went home p*ssed off. sorry to hear you lost your stand.

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