• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Illegal Ladder Stands on Public Land

The problem is, do you really want to leave your truck parked all day long at a place you just openly "volunteered" to remove someone else's stand? Pretty brave on your part. The guy leave the stand doesn't care about the law anyways. The stand in a tree doesn't scare the deer away and it also doesn't mean you can't hunt there. The guy occupying the stand scares the deer away and makes me not want to hunt there. The stand shouldn't be left there, but it really isn't a big deal. You are hunting public land with 50,000,000 other people, you have to expect to have people think that is a good place to hunt also. It is why I seldom hunt public land anymore. I would rather do a quota hunt or just stay home during peak times instead of having someone walk in at 8am and scare everything for miles. It is public land, everyone has a right to be there.
 
I want to clarify my earlier post a little as well, if a guy leaves a stand overnight to come back tomorrow and get it, whatever, not a big deal. If he comes back and finds someone in the stand they left, they should back out and come back to collect their stuff later, they lost the rights to that spot for now.

If you barge up and demand your spot because you claimed it, and have a stand there, you can have it, but best believe I'm blowing up the area on my way out, since the entitled richard walked up and blew my hunt. I'm petty like that sometimes.

If it's there longer than a week, it's no longer yours, so you dont get to complain if it's gone.
 
Loopwing said:
The problem is, do you really want to leave your truck parked all day long at a place you just openly "volunteered" to remove someone else's stand? Pretty brave on your part. The guy leave the stand doesn't care about the law anyways. The stand in a tree doesn't scare the deer away and it also doesn't mean you can't hunt there. The guy occupying the stand scares the deer away and makes me not want to hunt there. The stand shouldn't be left there, but it really isn't a big deal. You are hunting public land with 50,000,000 other people, you have to expect to have people think that is a good place to hunt also. It is why I seldom hunt public land anymore. I would rather do a quota hunt or just stay home during peak times instead of having someone walk in at 8am and scare everything for miles. It is public land, everyone has a right to be there.
Click to expand...
I don’t disagree with most of this, however, they don’t have the right to break the law. Also, the volunteer idea was a suggestion, but it won’t ever happen due to liability issues.
 
I agree, you leave a stand on public land. It is not your stand anymore. I also do not condone using someone else's stand. This gives me an idea. I am going to put a throw away stand close to the parking area. Then go pee around it for 100 yards in every direction. I will get the guy that has a problem with the stand to go sit in it for the hunt and I can go hunt the good stuff with my saddle.
Next, the guy is breaking the law is already breaking the law. If he sees you in his stand or his stand is missing, when he gets back to the parking area your truck is the only one there....better be ready for 4 flat tires, minimum.
I walk into an area and find a stand I hunt or I move on. I don't get my panties in a wad. Do you drive down the road and yell at everyone doing 46mph in a 45mph area???? Do you drive 46 in a 45? Did you drink before you were 21/18 (for the old guys)? Have you ever not paid full price for something at a store because it rang up wrong??? Be careful throwing those stones in a glass house.
 
Loopwing said:
I agree, you leave a stand on public land. It is not your stand anymore. I also do not condone using someone else's stand. This gives me an idea. I am going to put a throw away stand close to the parking area. Then go pee around it for 100 yards in every direction. I will get the guy that has a problem with the stand to go sit in it for the hunt and I can go hunt the good stuff with my saddle.
Next, the guy is breaking the law is already breaking the law. If he sees you in his stand or his stand is missing, when he gets back to the parking area your truck is the only one there....better be ready for 4 flat tires, minimum.
I walk into an area and find a stand I hunt or I move on. I don't get my panties in a wad. Do you drive down the road and yell at everyone doing 46mph in a 45mph area???? Do you drive 46 in a 45? Did you drink before you were 21/18 (for the old guys)? Have you ever not paid full price for something at a store because it rang up wrong??? Be careful throwing those stones in a glass house.
Click to expand...
Wouldn’t care if it didn’t look like this. All that were required to be taken down months ago C1F6532B-C464-4E89-AA09-B650BE8B1FB6.jpeg
 
^^^What state is this PA? I can’t even imagine that much pressure, I know this isn’t the best or easiest answer but I would be looking at some bigger maybe less desirable looking ground (at least to the average hunter), burn some more gas my friend and move on, screw all that nonsense, pick the largest nastiest looking block of woods that you can realistically hunt and scout that, if there is any available.
 
Topdog said:
^^^What state is this PA? I can’t even imagine that much pressure, I know this isn’t the best or easiest answer but I would be looking at some bigger maybe less desirable looking ground (at least to the average hunter), burn some more gas my friend and move on, screw all that nonsense, pick the largest nastiest looking block of woods that you can realistically hunt and scout that, if there is any available.
Click to expand...
Yes, PA. Will need to travel quite a ways, but might be what I need to do.
 
Here are some completely non-constructive, but entertaining ideas:

1. Hang some homemade wooden anagrams and Blair Witch figures from the stand.

2. Frequent the area throughout the season, putting a new fake dog turd from the dollar store on it every time you go by. After the fake turd has been removed for the 4th or 5th time, put a real dog turd on it.

3. Frequent the area, and move the stand over one tree each time... Or even better, move it onto a hilariously small tree.

4. Buy a cheap camera, add a fake cell antenna, and put it in plain view facing the stand with a label on it stating PROPERTY OF XYZ GAME COMMISSION.

5. Buy a pair of tighty-whities. Strategically smear some chocolate and ketchup into them. (Use your imagination here) Hang "soiled" undergarment from stand.

6. Go to a barber shop and get a bunch of discarded human hair. Spread it out around the area along with some shavings from a bar of Irish Spring. Won't have to worry about him shooting your hit list buck....

... Most importantly, if you actually go through with any of this, make sure you wear a rubber Richard Nixon mask while you do it in case he has cameras. That way, if you get caught, at least you can hilariously claim that you are not a crook.
 
I see them left all over the place. I mark them on Onx. If im going in on a hunt and a truck is already there I figure they are at that stand. If not and I like the spot I will go sit right next to it. Very 1st paragraph in the Wisconsin Hunting regs about stands and blinds.
Placement of blinds/stands on public land does not restrict others from using the blind/stand or hunting the public land where the blind/stand is located.
 
This thread must be a curse.... I have owned a small hunting camp a couple of years surrounded by public, never once have I took a walk out back, I already have my established spots in the area I hunt, this weekend I decided to make a small loop out back out of curiosity more than anything, first thing I find is a ladder stand on a ridge behind my place, with the leaves off the dude probably has a nice view of me when I’m on the back porch watering the ferns..... This is serious big woods, I could walk about 10 miles in any direction and not hit another road and this stroker has a stand staring at my back porch and outhouse LMAO, I’m sure it has been there several years the tree is completely dead and wobbles with a push.
 
Topdog said:
This thread must be a curse.... I have owned a small hunting camp a couple of years surrounded by public, never once have I took a walk out back, I already have my established spots in the area I hunt, this weekend I decided to make a small loop out back out of curiosity more than anything, first thing I find is a ladder stand on a ridge behind my place, with the leaves off the dude probably has a nice view of me when I’m on the back porch watering the ferns..... This is serious big woods, I could walk about 10 miles in any direction and not hit another road and this stroker has a stand staring at my back porch and outhouse LMAO, I’m sure it has been there several years the tree is completely dead and wobbles with a push.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you need to hook up a chain and make it look like the wind blew the tree over... :p
 
I use found stand are signs saying no hunting. Since I try and avoid other hunters, if I find stands in a location, I avoid those locations.
My be kind of of stupid, but I pretend the other hunters are hunting me.
This forces me to think like a deer, would I walk through there if I were a deer and they were hunting me?
In the public areas I hunt, I always avoid corn fields and the like. The pilgrims hunt these food sources hard, and I never go within a 1/2 of a mile of a major food source like corn or soybeans. Hunting where the other hunters don't, doesn't necessarily mean going back further then the other guys. Sometimes I am so close to a road, I can read the license plates.
 
I'm in PA as well. Have found several stands this year, along with accompanying screw in items, from bow hangers to steps. A couple I have completely taken down, and packed up nicely, then left along the access roads, plainly visible, for the game commission, or owner (though I highly doubt their lazy rear ends will find them first) to do with as they deem fit. I'm not a thief, but I do believe in picking up discarded trash on public land. It's my good deed for the day.
 
If I'm going to share the woods with a hunter, I'd rather him not be mobile. That way I know where he is at and to avoid the area and his wind currents. I'd much rather compete with a ladder stand user than someone that scouts every year and sets up on hot sign. I'm more likely to run into the mobile, active hunter and have him blow out my spot.

If every hunter on a WMA just stuck to a ladder stand and used obvious travel routes, then it would give me a good idea about where they are pushing the deer.

Also, most bow hunters in my area carry a gun and aren't always "cool dudes". I'm not messing with anyone's stuff. I tossed an illegal salt block on public land into a creek last year (looked around good for trail cameras) and was still paranoid somebody would attack me over it.
 
Last edited:
useyourbow said:
If I were to come across a stand this long after the season was over and it was not labeled (name, address, etc...) as hunting regs require I would remove, sell, and buy some arrows. ;)
Click to expand...

I like how people can break the law, and justify it as less wrong than leaving a stand out.

I dislocated my shoulder this November. Had to beg for help to get my stand taken down, not because of a rule, but because theives and self-righteous pricks (read: theives) are everywhere.

The level of opportunistic scumbaggery in this thread does not belong in the hunting community.
 
Last edited:
MIbowhunter49 said:
I like how people can break the law, and justify it as less wrong than leaving a stand out.

I dislocated my shoulder this November. Had to beg for help to get my stand taken down, not because of a rule, but because theives and self-righteous pricks (read: theives) are everywhere.

The level of opportunistic scumbaggery in this thread does not belong in the hunting community.
Click to expand...
There are no laws being broken when you are cleaning up litter.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top