Deer stand etiquette

Was out today at the farm we hunt checking on deer stands and low and behold someone has put a hang on stand right in the same tree that my nephew has his ladder stand in, we all thought who would ever put a hang on stand in a tree using our ladder to get into his stand? So now what? Oh we come up with the idea to take down and move his ladder stand, leaving the hang on 18 ft in a tree with no pegs or ladder what the heck! Kind of dirty but why would someone ever think this is ok?

yeah that doesn’t seem right to me I would check with the farmer /landowner and find out who they all let hunt try to track the bonehead down that way , positive side is they didn’t totally steal your nephews stand at least the had the decency to leave it .I’ve heard stories this year about people hunting private farmland and getting cameras and stands stolen now that would make a guys day

It never ends. Heck, I’ve been sitting in one of my stands and at daybreak, see someone SITTING IN one of my stands across the field with all private land around me.

Been there opening day years ago. Came in at day break and a guy was in MY stand on private property! Some people are just plain a**holes .

I have hunted other peoples stands on public and private property. It has never been an issue. People have hunted in mine, again no big deal. Every time we have run into each other we discuss what our options are. I have let people stay in my stand and I just go to another and have had the same done for me. I have also gotten out of the stand and went somewhere else. It really isn’t something to get worked up over especially if it isn’t your land or if you don’t have a written lease where you control the property. It is best to play nice with others or you may all get the boot no matter who is right or wrong.

havent had anyone build a stand on our place but we have had several times where a group walked across our property pushing deer to their buddies on other properties.
the exuse of,we thought this was part of that place over there,BS!! the old beg for forgiveness instead of getting permsission crap doesnt fly around here as there are too many ways to find out who owns what these days.

the worst thing we had happen was years ago,a new guy to the area begged to go hunting with us.
we worked for the neighbors to gain persmision to hunt as we had every year,building fence,helping with livestock,etc.
the next fall several of our nieghbors called us saying we couldnt hunt their land anymore.
when asked why not,they told us the new guy we let hunt with us came in with his group of friends and paid money to hunt !!
I guess the neighbors couldnt see the difference,oh well,it bit them in the butt when deer were found dead and left to rot on their properties,trash left in the fields,driveways torn up when it was muddy,sometimes karma is a wonderful thing !

IMHO deer stand etiquette is as follows.
Public land – non issue
Private land – issue

If its’ in Iowa I got no idea. Is Iowa still a state?

Eelpoutguy wrote:

IMHO deer stand etiquette is as follows.
Public land – non issue
Private land – issue

If its’ in Iowa I got no idea. Is Iowa still a state?

yep,Iowa is still a state,the ocean hasnt risen over us yet but it could be we are sinking into it.

Maybe the other party thought the ladder stand was abandoned or thought it would be a good place for a father and child to hunt together for the youth season next weekend if they had permission from the landowner. Don’t just assume the worst in people.

Highlife4me wrote:

Maybe the other party thought the ladder stand was abandoned or thought it would be a good place for a father and child to hunt together for the youth season next weekend if they had permission from the landowner. Don’t just assume the worst in people.

This or someone helped filming the hunt.

I’d be curious before passing judgement if the landowners allow other hunters or not. If so, then I’d see nothing wrong with it.

I’ll make double sets using a ladder and hang on stand. I’d touch base with the landowner.
DT

Raised hunting public land and taught that if it wasn’t ours and we di$nt build it, stay out of it. Legal or not, put your own stands up and stay out of mine, and I will return the favor. Finding people using my stands gets under my skin.

We talked to the farmer he said nobody new has permission to use the property, I was brought up if it’s not yours don’t mess with it! So if you wanna hunt in a tree stand bring your own! Would it be ok if I wanted to go fishing and didn’t want to fish off the dock and your boat was just sitting there that it would be ok to take it out?

The SCRATCHER wrote:

We talked to the farmer he said nobody new has permission to use the property

Well that said right there sounds like he (and you) may have a trespassing problem.

Public land is entirely different, private property…I’d hope the landowner would maintain some control on who he allows, and when and where they hunt on his property. Unless of course someone is trespassing.

Nobody new or nobody else? I guess if I was sharing a lease/property and some guy had a great spot, and this is on a smaller track of land, yeah I’d probably hunt on it or near it. If it was a larger track with a lot of descent hunting spots, I’d say the other people are being rude.

I’m more curious what your hunting arrangements are for the land…

He has 350 acres about half are woods he has let us and a few other hunt the property we have hunted 8 or 9 years always work on helping him in any way possible tree cutting fence work and many other jobs no lease. Just help in any way we can to help him out. I think some people just come as a place to hunt he has no family hunting the ground just people who ask he is a great guy and we sure don’t ever complain about others we deal with 1 group that I suspect they are the 1s that would do something like this

The SCRATCHER wrote:

He has 350 acres about half are woods he has let us and a few other hunt the property we have hunted 8 or 9 years always work on helping him in any way possible tree cutting fence work and many other jobs no lease. Just help in any way we can to help him out. I think some people just come as a place to hunt he has no family hunting the ground just people who ask he is a great guy and we sure don’t ever complain about others we deal with 1 group that I suspect they are the 1s that would do something like this

This would not be real comfortable having to deal with crap like this.

Why don’t you ask that group if they put up the stand and why they would do something like this?

To OP. This sounds like a joke from one of your buddies. If not I would remove one of the stands.

ClownColor wrote:

Maybe the other party thought the ladder stand was abandoned or thought it would be a good place for a father and child to hunt together for the youth season next weekend if they had permission from the landowner. Don’t just assume the worst in people.

This or someone helped filming the hunt.

Yeah, I’d talk to your own group first, sounds like it’s one of these scenarios. Also, I wouldn’t think a trespasser would leave a stand behind where it will definitely be found and confiscated, but criminals aren’t usually the brightest bulbs either lol.

I would agree, it sounds to me like somebody is getting the tree set up for the youth season. Lots of people put two stands in the same tree for youth seasons nowdays, IMO not that unusual.

And if it’s not your land, then IMO you say nothing to the landowner. The last thing I’d be looking to do would be to raise a stink about what’s going on on land where I’m a guest.

Back when I was a guest on private land, the ONLY thing I would do as far as claiming my stands was to put little “reminders” on each one that someone intended to sit there. I’d leave seat cushions and water bottles with my name on them in the stands just so other guests of the landowner would see that somebody intended to sit there. We would also leave a note in a plastic bag, something like “Hey [Landowner’s Name], just fixed up this stand so it’s good for opener…” Basically laying claim to the stand in a nice way.

My thinking is the landowner gave others permission and they assumed that any stands found on property belonged to the landowner himself, so they did what they did.

I agree, cannot see a trespasser leaving a stand behind. Especially in such an obvious location.

A few pungee sticks at the bottom of the tree should do the trick, I’d forego adding poison to the tips though, just in case some critters step in there first.

No reason anybody should have to do that on 350 acres..

We don’t put up permanent stands on the private land we hunt. There are other guys not in our group, that hunt the other seasons and bow hunt out there.

We leave their temp stands alone and I’d expect they’d do the same if we left them out there.

Because we don’t own the land I wouldn’t bother the landowner with petty stuff for fear he’d just get aggravated and say no more hunting at all on his land.

If someone in our group experienced what you’re describing, my first thought would be someone in our group was the culprit, probably me.

The SCRATCHER wrote:

He has 350 acres about half are woods he has let us and a few other hunt the property we have hunted 8 or 9 years always work on helping him in any way possible tree cutting fence work and many other jobs no lease. Just help in any way we can to help him out. I think some people just come as a place to hunt he has no family hunting the ground just people who ask he is a great guy and we sure don’t ever complain about others we deal with 1 group that I suspect they are the 1s that would do something like this

Are you sure this other group has permission to be there? It never hurts to mention something to the landowner especially if you are helping them with some work. If the other group does have permission, some coordination needs to be done as even archery hunters should be spread out.

My father went through this years ago, one hunter was a son in law of a cousin and was hunting on the farm. We had a couple rules, obey the laws and one buck per season per person. This guy had bait out that wasn’t legal and decided to shoot 2 bucks in one day, he said he had to shoot the second one or someone else might. He was done hunting on the farm after that. A different cousin of his heard what happened and the following started with “I didn’t want to say anything, but” ends up the guy was putting up cheap treestands everywhere including the other side of the property line