I spent a day a couple weeks ago putting up a couple treestands and doing a little scouting. I hunt an awesome area where I am the only person who has permission to hunt.
It is a very remote area where I have to climb a 200 foot plus bluff to access but it has been worth the climb over the years. I went out this past Saturday morning to sit in one of the stands only to find the stand and two ladder sections gone. The second stand was also gone along with 9 tree steps. Both stands had been chained and padlocked. I have hunted this property for several years and never had a stand stolen. The stands had been up less than a week and both would have been very hard to locate unless someone had really spent serious time searching for them. I have bow hunted for many years and have never had a stand stolen. I have even left stands up all year without locking them up and never had a problem. I was livid. I hiked back to the car to get another stand. The land owner and his wife stopped to talk to me while I was getting out another stand and I told them what had happened. He was very angry that someone had taken the stands and he assured me that he had not given anyone permission to be on his land. He even told me that he would call the neighbor who has the ajoining property and complain to him. The only access road that even comes close to the area I hunt is through his neighbor’s property. They would have had to have walked in about 1/2 mile to where the stands were at. The area I hunt isn’t even accessible with ATV’s because it is so very thick and uneven. Nobody saw me putting up the stands. The thief would have had to drive through the neighbor’s yard to get to the access road or else climb the bluff as I do but then they would have had to park within 100 yards of the land owner’s home. Needless to say I did not leave the 3rd stand up after I hunted.
I know many hunters who have had stands and trail camera’s stolen but it never really hits you until it happens to you. I know of a permanent treestand on the neighbor’s property within about 500 yards from where I hunt. Even though I have had permission to hunt this property as well I have stayed away from it. I am believe that the neighbor knows who took my stands. He has given people permission to make deer drives through the area I hunt even though he doesn’t own it and it is posted. Two years ago I was sitting in a stand gun hunting when about 15 guys came driving right at me. When I told them they did not have permission to be on the land they just kept on driving. One of the guys even tried to tell me that the property did not belong to the land owner. When I told this to the land owner he purchased more posted signs and told the neighbor not to let hunters in to his property. I have always respected other hunters and their property. I have seen many an unoccupied treestand and have never even thought about stealing them. When I know there is a stand in a certain area I do my best to avoid the area.
Eyehunter