I do have a problem with stand left on public land and I'll tell you why!! In most spots in my area are small wood lots and the larger state owned areas. Now these few guys who are our area slob hunters put up stands all over the place. They spend all of their off season doing this and I am talking about hundreds of stands over the years. Now along comes Joe average ethical hunter and sees these stands he will not hunt anywhere near another hunters stand just out of respect. But now tell me these guys who have put up these stands may never even hunt out of them that year or multiple years! But if you go anywhere near them you r a bumm and a ****** for going near their stands. These same people spend a lot of time hunting my truck during the season so they can find me and hunt my areas as I will have nothing to do with them or any of the areas they ruin. Once in the area (remember these are little wood lots) they won't wit still they urinate where ever they are hack spit weeze and what ever. I have now decided that any new place I find and they move into I will destroy any stand they put up. I am at my wits end with these guys and I don't know what else to do. I shot a real nice trophy deer this year and the next day they were all over the area now no one hunted this spot before and you can best be sure its ruined now. And by the way these guys rarly shoot a deer and when they do is always small buck and doe. So what would you do. I'll get off my soap box now.

Mike, it sounds like you have a good reason to be on your soap box. It sounds like you have a tough situation. Have you ever considered speaking with your local wildlife management/dept of natural resources/game and fish or whatever you call them where you are from regarding this?

The main reason State and other Gov lands disallow putting permanent stands and leaving other types of stands in the woods is to eliminate the potential for hunter confrontations-intimidation, not to mention any possible damage to trees (permanent stands).[:@]
I think it makes perfect sense, why can't people just go by the rules? It's sooooo basic.

I totally agree. I dont want to hunt over another guy, and I really dont want to deal with any kind of confrontation that could result. And suppose I did use the stands. They're illegal to have on public land in MD, so I'd be at fault for using one. It just sucks. I dont see why people just dont put up portables. As far as leaving a stand somewhere, I dont think it's illegal in MD, but I'd fear it'd get stolen. And if it did, it'd be my fault and I couldn't whine about it.

On public land here we can pretty much do what we want as for stands but all structures have to be removed by the end of December of each year. Spring bear starts around end of april so many are put up again. This law just came into place a few years ago as it used to be a free for all. Permanent structures that were built before this law were not taken down so there are a few in the bush but they are in very poor condition. Private land you can do what you wish as long as you own it or have permission and leave them there all year if ya want. Here's a pic of one of my stands on my land which i have arrowed 2 elk out of.

It sounds like you need to get a different truck.

i would have torn them down if i were you

It's against state hunting regs to put up a permanent or leave a portable stand up overnight on public land in MN. And it should be. These are the lazy ones who want to try to "reserve" what they think is "their" 10, 20,... acres of public land to hunt without going out early and putting the stand up and taking it down.
Personally, I don't hunt in stands period, mainly for safety reasons. But no one should be putting up stands to stay on public that belong to all.
For such stands that do stay up, anyone can hunt out of them by law in MN. But then of course you'd probably end up being confronted by the not so bright guy mid morning yelling at you for being up in "his stand". Not worth it. Just report them to the DNR, Game and Fish or whatever your state's dept. is called.

MinnFinn,

You must have much better DNR guys in your area than I do. When I called them about stands put up around my area, they pretty much got this "light in there eyes" look. Like....what do you want me to do about it. I have also called about the poachers shooting deer off my fields at night and guess when he drives by to check....around noon!!! I guess he figures that way he won't have any paperwork to deal with. My brother say a guy stick his gun out the window of his truck and shoot a deer in the cemetary near his house......the warden said,"I didn't see it so there's nothing I can do."

This was a news release from 2005, but it's still valid for hunting deer in MN on stateand federal forestland.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/news/releases/index.html?id=1130346548

State forest land it says portables are "recommended". Permanent (without walls or roof) are allowed, but if unoccupied, anyone can use. However, 'In state parks and state wildlife management areas that allow hunting, permanent stands are not allowed. Portable stands are allowed but may not be left overnight. No deer stands (permanent or portable) are allowed in Scientific and Natural Areas."
On Federal Forest land it reads, "On national forest lands, only portable tree stands that do not damage trees and that are removed at the end of the hunting season are permitted."
So, that tells me permanent stands can't be constructed on federal forest land. I think that's consistent across the country on the later.