Locking up stands
 

How do yo guys lock up your stands? Around here people think that any stand they find is theirs for the taking. I want to put up a ladder stand for my son and I but where I want to put it is close to state land. Any suggestions?

Greg

RE: Locking up stands
 

good ol' chain and padlock, sometimes you have to use a few of each depending on how your stand comes apart.

RE: Locking up stands
 

Nothing will stop a well prepared thief .
If possible , use a ladder stand that allows you to remove the lower sections as you descend . At least the thief will have to work for it .

RE: Locking up stands
 

If the theives want it they' ll get it no matter what you do. I usually hunt from lock-on stands and put them pretty high. I use climbing sticks which I take home each and every trip. They' ve got to really want my stand to climb up that tree and try to cut it down. It has happened to me though! *#^&#%

RE: Locking up stands
 

I never leave anything in the woods anymore. I lost a stand on my own property to theives, and I' ve seen people suddenly show up on hunting day with tree stands that they " found" in the woods. I mean, how could you possibly think that someone just forgot about a stand in the woods. Or perhaps they dropped it in a bush and didn' t know it. There was a ladder stand against a tree where I hunt for several months last year before it disappeared. Don' t know if it was stolen or not, but I can tell you that there was no lock on it. I was amazed it lasted that long!!!

RE: Locking up stands
 

A determined theif will have it no matter what you do. Best think is just padlock it with a chain.

RE: Locking up stands
 

Stands with a chain, I simply use a padlock. On stands with a ratchet strap, I use a padlock and " aircraft" cable. In adition to this I remove the bottom 4 steps and take them with me. This has worked well for me but I know if someone really wants my stand they will get it.

RE: Locking up stands
 

No matter how you lock your stand, nothing will make it theft-proof. I swear, some guys would ferry a oxy/acetylene torch into the woods to steal someone else' s stuff. I have heard of people cutting a whole tree down with a chain saw just to grab the stand in it. WTF??? Some guy took one of my stands a couple years ago - cut the lock with bolt cutters - then left the pieces of the lock for me to find at the base of the tree. How nice.

Last year, opening day of rifle season, I concealed a pair of USED hunting boots in my ground blind behind a log (covered up too) when I left to get lunch. I came back an hour or two later and they too were gone.