ok, so here's the deal. i went out to put up a feeder for the upcoming shotgun season and to have throughout the winter.

its on public land that only a couple of us hunt and is nearby my house. every day my dad drives by the property, so we keep tabs on who is on the property every day.

the only person we saw there all week was these two kids we met recently that drive a certain vehicle. there about 22-23 years old. up until this year, when these kids showed up, nothing had ever been stolen, but when i went to put my feeder up, my stand was gone.

now i am pissed. i am 20 years old, 6'2" 200 lbs, and have a very nasty additude when someone wrongs me. the next time i see that truck there, if they have the nerve to come back, i will confront them.

so i beg you, gimme some advice on what to do to handle the situation instead of letting my fists do the talking. any and all help would be appreciated.

thanks for letting me vent. lol.

Heres some good advice,,,, take it as a lesson learned!

Go buy another treestand and take it home with you when your done hunting.

You want too confront these guys,, you dont even know if they took it,, probably did,,, but you dont know for sure.

Who's too say they dont beat the he77 out of you or worse??? and if you do get the better of them,,, who's too say you dont get charged with assault or worse??? a criminal record follows you a very very very long time... and ending up being dead in some woodlot over a $100 dollar treestand just isnt worth it...

my $.02

Go up and talk to them casually, not confrontationally. Ask them their names andif they have seen anyone else in the area recentlythen tell them that you had a stand stolen...then tell them about the 'camera' you had up on the stand that the thief didn't see and that you can't wait to get that film back from the photolab. Tell them to 'put the word out' that ifthe stand is brought back, then you won't turn thethief in to the authorities. Very simple. If they did steal it, they either will never come back or they will bring the stand back AND never come back after that. Either way, you won't have to worry about those 2 again...if they even did it. Do not accuse them of any wrongdoing though because that will cause them to be defensive and I guarantee you will never see your stand again. It may even cause these people to actively go out of their way to do stuff to your otherpersonal property.

I would go up to them calmly. Ask them if they had seen anyone out there in that area or know who may have done this. Then tell them you had a game cam set up (35mm takes longer)and it waspointing pretty close toward your stand or what ever trail you think they had or may have had to use.Just have to take film in to get developed or waiting to get them back. If you get pics of the people who did this, you are going to police. Unless it is returned asap then no question asked. If it wasn't them you can always say later that no pictures of who did it was caught on film[&:]

Then really put up a cam to see who brings it back...

Sorry USFWC, I didn't finish reading until after I posted.

Ya...What he said!!!

I think that USFWC has a pretty good idea.

You should listen to the advise above:

A. You have no proof ofwho took it
B. Your 6'2", 200 lb. frame and talking fists won't mean sh*t if they pull a gun on you

You would have to check your local laws, but I'm not sure if having a permanent stand on state land is legal or not. If it isn't,the local conservation office may have your stand and you just got away with it for this amount of time. I don't mean to be a pessimist and do understand that you're upset, but if I left a stand onpublic land and came back to find it missing, I wouldn't be that surprised. My buddy had a ladder stand on his land that waswithin eyeshot of the public 2-track stolen last year. The only other vehicle we saw back there during the summer/fall was a van and we were ready to lash out, but like you, there was no proof. We reportedthe theft to the local DNR officer, but nothing has come of it. Take this as a lesson learned and buy a climber that comes/goes with you. I would count onan automated feeder disappearing too.

If you see those 2 again, I would play a blufflike described above. I would also check the local classifieds, Craigslist (online), andmaybe even ebay to see if the standshows up anywhere. Most thieves won't hold onto stolen goods (if they are smart).

yea, thats what i'll do. i was really pi$$ed off last night, so i was just blowing off some steam.

but i can play poker, so maybe i will bluff them. we'll see. picked up a new stand today.

thanks everyone.

Ive used the camera bluff onece and it worked.I made sure to add that i use that stand as bait every year just to catch thieves and if the stand and a 12 pack are at my truck before im done hunting,Ill forget about it.

Ask them, if they say don't know anything about (and probably will), nothing you can do. You left something on public land. You have no pictures, you have no proof. Nasty attitude can get you thrown in a slammer. And didn't accomplish anything.

I guess I am too skeptical of people, but what did you expect, its public land?