lundwall

I need some input. I hunt a piece of detached heavily wooded private property (@160 acres) in middle Tennessee on the Dickson-Cheatham county line right on the Harpeth River. The owner has a farm a few miles away and I live about 10 miles from it. Fifteen years ago there was some logging done so there are a couple of old 4 wheel drive logging trails (couldn’t call them roads). Only select trees were taken out and now the underbrush is getting out of control. This means I HAVE to use tree stands to get above some of this stuff just to see.

I check with the landowner every year and make sure I’m still the only one who is supposed to be on it. It is adjacent to other wooded land and the nearest occupant is on a small farm across the road. Three years ago I had three tree stands and some climbing sticks stolen one weekend. Obviously who ever did it knew the land because a couple of these were really out of the way – not near any trails. The owner thinks he knew who did it – a kid in the area who thinks the entire forest is his own private hunting ground – but we had no way to prove it.

Since then everything has been fine. This year I only had one ladder type tree stand out there. It was stolen between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I stood there at the base of the tree just fuming for a couple of hours yesterday thinking about all the different ways to address this. I’ve thought about 1.) trail cameras that would send me instant pictures of anyone messing with a new stand ($500 plus monthly fee – seems like overkill), 2.) a regular trail camera along the 4 wheel drive road but not near the stand just to get a picture of the license plate, 3.) spiking the trail and flattening his tires, 4.) just putting up a sign that the trail has been spiked but not actually doing it, 5.) is there a Low Jack’ for tree stands?, 6.) and various other things that would probably get the attention of the ATF, FBI and Homeland Security!

This was chained and locked to the tree – they took those too. The land is posted. How do you guys handle this? Any suggestions? We ‘think’ we know who did it but can’t prove it. How do you deal with situation like this? How do you prevent your stands from being stolen? Using nothing but climbing stands isn’t an option. My dad can’t do that. Or do you let it happen again and try to catch them? If so, how? What do you and have you done? Thanks…..

early in

From the way you describe the stands being in a secluded area, and the fact that they were locked, this person had to have first seen the stand/stands, then left and CAME BACK with some sort of bolt cutters/saw. This would lead me to believe it's a local (that neighbor?) who stole them. That's a tough situation.

Alex G.

You really need to "catch em" to deal with them. Spiking the trails might harm the local wildlife(dont do it).... the sign warning of a spiked trail but not actually doing it would be a great mind trick. But a hidden camera taking their picture is proof... Tires flattened by a .22 or a close & personal shotgun blast will definately get their attention....
Think about this... where do you park when you go into the woods? Private out of the way parking? or open view for all the neighbors to see? DO you think that they know you were in the woods? Or do you think that they just roam around looking for stands to steal? HAve you asked any other land owners about stolen stands? Or are they just stealing yours? Since its not your land... and your hunting as a guest of the landowner there really isnt a whole lot that you can do about it if you dont catch them. The land owner has posted the land and if he doesnt persue trespassers or report the stolen property,,,, then your just going to be spending a LOT of $$ replacing stands. Either you catch them and deal with it in the woods.... or you visit the "suspect" and come to a mutual agreement.

Ranger2000

If you could get it on tape somehow then you'd have proof it was him.
Maybe a well hidden trailcam?
Could the local sheriff help?
What a lowlife!!
Hope ya get him.

Ranger

marquismarc

your best option other than phisically catching them stealing your stands is to put trail cams up and hide them very well. If a thief wants something bad enough they will find a way to get around any type of lock or security device. If you do catch them you must prosecute them or they will just keep doing it to you.

iSnipe

You have to start somewhere.

Inform the landowner, if you haven't already, about the great loss that you have incurred, then explain it's his property people are disrespecting.

Then contact the sheriff's office and meet with an officer along with the landowner. Try to give him credible reasons why you think it's this local kid. Now, expect nothing to happen to the kid, as there is no proof, but sometimes things work out...

Have a meeting with the parents, yourself, the landowner and the sheriff. Tell the parents you have reason to suspect the kid. Now you can or won't do this, but you can say something to the effect that you have trail cam photos that are being enhanced so they can be seen more clearly. Then tell them all you want is your treestands back and the landowner won't press charges.

If you seek to press charges, more than likely the kid will deny everything, but then that's why you talk about the enhanced photo that still needs to come back from the film processor. It's a lie, but it's like playing poker and you're bluffing. Don't forget to mention the photo, as it is, looks like him.

The other part of the bluff is that you said the "landowner" won't press charges, but he doesn't know YOU WILL!

Maybe the landowner wants to press charges for trespassing? Maybe you want to press charges for theft? Which ever one you guys decide on what you want, go for that, but most likely if you're going to pull the bluff, one of you won't be able to press charges if one promised no charges will be pressed.

It's worth a shot. Just an idea worth doing to try and get your stuff back.

Good luck,

iSnipe

kevin1

Use a trailcam, without proof of theft the cops won't even look into it. Once you have proof file a formal complaint with the county sheriff and prosecute the thief. He may still have the gear he stole from you, did you mark it indelibly with your name and addy or other ID marks that can't be removed? If so and you recover them demand some compensation from his parents with threat of a lawsuit, parents of minor children are legally responsible for any and all financial damage their child may incur, get some.

srwshooter

i had a lock on stand stolen a few years ago and i was sure that these wild kids that were hunting on property next to me had taken it. i confronted them and there parents ,well the teenagers never said anything and the parents said"our kids wouldn't steal your stuff" . one year later i went back to hunt the same property and there was my stand not 100yds from where it was taken. it had a ladder stuck up under it. well just happened these kids had borrowed the ladder from a friend of mine because it had his name painted on it. so i just took the ladder and my stand home with me. i then called the owner of the ladder and told him what happened. he then called the kids wanting his ladder back,they told him it was stolen,so he made them pay for it. then he thanked me for returning his ladder and gAVE ME HALF THE MONEY . so they payed for stealing my stand . i then called there parents and told them .they made the kids come and apolgize to me.

doetrain

We have lost equipment also and it is frustrating for sure when your property is tresspassed on and things stolen. What we did was send letters to all adjacent land owners informing them of the situation and asking them to help catch the thief or thieves who are more than likely stealing stuff from them. We have reason to believe our suspect is a tree huger because he or she left a note in the dirt under the blind they stole saying" No Hunting!" But I as has been already said would not leave spikes or any divice that might injure a person or animal,though it's tempting for sure. The VC in Vietnam had a surprise in the ground for our troops called punji sticks with bad stuff on the tips. I thought about puting something like that around the tree base or animal traps that would put the hurt on our thief but it was only a passing thought. Chances are the one who took our stuff got a letter and they were warned to keep off or face the threat of prosecution if caught on the property. Cameras seem to be your best bet. Good luck.

Rhody Hunter

I once heard a story where the guy put warning sign saying warning this stand is monitored and that your image has already been taken and sent and violators will be prosicuted or somthing like that , it wasn't really but the bluff would make them think about taking it ,
I wish sometimes i could make a container that attached to the stand that would spray dye and skunk juice so all you would have to do is look for the blue guy that stinks like a skunk. shouldn't be hard to find