Tree stand ethics?

[Mark from MA]

As far as etiquette goes public or private, I don’t understand people sitting in someone elses stand.

Sit near it if you want, as its public land and anything goes but dont sit in it. That to me is disrespectful and asking for trouble.

I will say ive gone in in the dark on public land, found a spot climbed up and when it got light noticed I was near or one time litterally next to someone elses stand.

At that point, fuxck no im not getting down, and do not feel one bit of remorse about it. As that day, I got out of bed earlier and got there first. and public land is first come first serve. Tough shit. If the person came in later and said nothing but went up in their stand I cant bitch about it either as long as they didnt bitch to me about setting up near their stand

Hunting on public land sucks because I know someone would bitch to me about setting a climber next to their fixed when they have absolutely no right to. Yet because they set a fixed stand there they think theyve “reserved” that whole patch of woods. NFW, not how it works

 

[AHM]

Climbers are (or ought to be) deeply suspicious of using existing pitons.
(Bolts - intended to be "permanent" - not so much).
Using some other hunter's tree stand is a special kind of risk.
One doesn't even know if it's been booby-trapped by a moonbat
(or even the owner).

Leaving your tree stand for total strangers to use is also risky.
Especially since it constitutes an attractive nuisance.

I still remember playing on some farmboys'
rudimentary tree fort near my grandparents.
The framework must be long gone,
but the nailed-on rungs might have survived.
Any one of today's Tom Sawyers who could build a tree fort
accessed via nailed-on rungs would have no problem
adding rungs to access an existing tree stand.

 

[HorizontalHunter]

My post you quoted was only for the sake of clarity.

With regard to this "name and phone number" you mention, have you got a cite for that? I've never read that one.

I have seen that for some of the controlled hunts like the Centennial Watershed and RWA hunts in Connecticut. It wouldn’t surprise me if that was adopted by some here.

Bob

 

[W.E.C]

As far as etiquette goes public or private, I don’t understand people sitting in someone elses stand.

Sit near it if you want, as its public land and anything goes but dont sit in it. That to me is disrespectful and asking for trouble.

I will say ive gone in in the dark on public land, found a spot climbed up and when it got light noticed I was near or one time litterally next to someone elses stand.

At that point, fuxck no im not getting down, and do not feel one bit of remorse about it. As that day, I got out of bed earlier and got there first. and public land is first come first serve. Tough shit. If the person came in later and said nothing but went up in their stand I cant bitch about it either as long as they didnt bitch to me about setting up near their stand

Hunting on public land sucks because I know someone would bitch to me about setting a climber next to their fixed when they have absolutely no right to. Yet because they set a fixed stand there they think theyve “reserved” that whole patch of woods. NFW, not how it works

I might have met you.

Was hunting public land a few years ago, scouted out a deer path with frest droppings on it. Setup my stand and left. Came back that sat. In the dark , thanksgiving morn. Archery season. Got out to my stand and 50 feet away was another guy set up on the trail ,he was on the ground.
So i got in my stand and he stayed where he was.
About 8 am someone drove a big buck and 2 does right up the trail to us, th buck let the does lead, the smaller one first then a large doe.
I could see the buck pull up about 60 yards out. And headed off away from me at about a 45o° angle , and here comes the does,

I let the first one go by me, and she ran right into the ground guy, who took it. The second one slowed to a walk 10 yards to my right , under the stand.

I got that one top down, right between the front shoulder blades. It was so close the top pin on my bow would have put it on the hind quarter,
We both got a doe, meat for thanksgiving.

ETA: Thursday, doh,

 

[FrankNA]

Aren’t you supposed to bang the wife, take a dump and start the car or something???

 

[AHM]

I could see the buck pull up about 60 yards out. And headed off bladed away from me at about a 45° angle, ...

That deer could have gotten a good job working security at a shopping mall.

 

[Mark from MA]

I might have met you.

Was hunting public land a few years ago, scouted out a deer path with frest droppings on it. Setup my stand and left. Came back that sat. In the dark , thanksgiving morn. Archery season. Got out to my stand and 50 feet away was another guy set up on the trail ,he was on the ground.
So i got in my stand and he stayed where he was.
About 8 am someone drove a big buck and 2 does right up the trail to us, th buck let the does lead, the smaller one first then a large doe.
I could see the buck pull up about 60 yards out. And headed off away from me at about a 45o° angle , and here comes the does,

I let the first one go by me, and she ran right into the ground guy, who took it. The second one slowed to a walk 10 yards to my right , under the stand.

I got that one top down, right between the front shoulder blades. It was so close the top pin on my bow would have put it on the hind quarter,
We both got a doe, meat for thanksgiving.

ETA: Thursday, doh,

Not me. I dont shoot does in MA and I dont hunt from the ground.

If I was hunting on the ground, and saw a stand in the daylight I would likely move away. If im up in a tree already nope...sorry.

Where I hunt in public land in 20 years
Ive seen one person. I dont hunt WMA land. Out by me we have gobs of DCR land thats uncrowded in archery. Not a lot of deer though either.

 

[Mark from MA]

Aren’t you supposed to bang the wife, take a dump and start the car or something???

Leave an upper decker is the dump your referring to.

 

[BrianWilson]

I dunno. I see someone in the spot I had planned on sitting I say to myself" Dammit...I shoulda got up earlier" and move on to another, aways enough so as to not interfere with the guy who did get up early.

 

[DJBrad]

Per DCR regs:
“Use of tree stands is permitted. Allowed 14 days prior to the start of deer season and must be removed 30 days after the end of hunting season. All tree stands must be visibly marked with Permit #.”

There’s another reg on permanent attachment and damaging trees/branches but i cant find that at the moment.

This is a very interesting thread. I am fully aware of the possibility that any and all bumps with other hunters can occur. One thing I do notice is that all my cameras never picked up another hunter in the past 3 months. I’ve seen one mushroom farmer and one guy with slacks and a green camo jacket.

I would hope that most hunters show a certain decorum and comportment when out in the forests and field. Surely there are numbskulls and knuckleheads. I would hope that is a small percentage and my meetings with other hunters has been amiable thus far.

One of my buddies who’s been hunting awhile helped me set up a ladder stand and we walked in pretty far according to him. I felt it wasn’t far enough. Like most of you guys I wanna be as alone as possible but with public land it’s just not too easy to find that situation.

Another buddy of mine was calling gobblers last spring. Well,he ended up calling in another hunter who was also calling. Lol. They waved when they saw each other and carried on in opposite directions.

I may have made some mistakes in my setups, camera checks, and scouting this season I’m absolutely sure. Funny thing is I haven’t even hunted a deer yet. But now after copious amounts of research as well as practice I feel to narrow myself down to a bow and a Lone wolf climber in due time.....

 

[MisterHappy]

I would hope that most hunters show a certain decorum and comportment when out in the forests and field. Surely there are numbskulls and knuckleheads.

Another buddy of mine was calling gobblers last spring. Well,he ended up calling in another hunter who was also calling. Lol. They waved when they saw each other and carried on in opposite directions.

One of the things that we teach in Hunter Ed is NOT to wave at the other guy: Speak.

I edited your post, to show why we tell folks not to wave.

 

[MaverickNH]

Somebody hauled my blind off in a huge field under the power lines near my neighborhood in SoNH. There was dew on my cam but I saw a blurry image of a guy in camo dragging it away. It’s EverSource property with rotting wooden tree stands from years ago all over, but some scumbag stole my blind after it’s been in the same spot for several years.

Hunters are pretty much like the people who commute to work around you every day. They might cut you off without a thought on the roads and be your nicest colleagues at work. Somehow, people just don’t extend common courtesy to others on the roads and in the woods, and just assume everyone else is doing them wrong by pulling in front of them in *their* lane or hunting in *their* field.

 

[HorizontalHunter]

Another buddy of mine was calling gobblers last spring. Well,he ended up calling in another hunter who was also calling. Lol. They waved when they saw each other and carried on in opposite directions.

This is how people get shot. Plain and simple. It takes a special kind of stupid for some kind of knucklehead to stalk a HEN when you can only shoot TOMs.

I gave up spring turkey season quite a few years ago after having shot whipping through the trees around me for the second time.

In general most of my interactions with fellow hunters over my 35+ years of hunting have been good.

I will add that you haven’t seen anything until you have experienced the orange army hitting the woods.

Bob

 

[Mark from MA]

Somebody hauled my blind off in a huge field under the power lines near my neighborhood in SoNH. There was dew on my cam but I saw a blurry image of a guy in camo dragging it away. It’s EverSource property with rotting wooden tree stands from years ago all over, but some scumbag stole my blind after it’s been in the same spot for several years.

Hunters are pretty much like the people who commute to work around you every day. They might cut you off without a thought on the roads and be your nicest colleagues at work. Somehow, people just don’t extend common courtesy to others on the roads and in the woods, and just assume everyone else is doing them wrong by pulling in front of them in *their* lane or hunting in *their* field.

Being that people that steal stands are likely the lazy dickhead type of hunter. Dont like to scout, steal spots, and peoples stuff

I feel that stands probably make a a**h*** tempted, but it would require work. So that keeps the lazy a**h*** at bay.

A blind on the other hand just too easy and they cant resist. I would NEVER leave a blind anywhere.

If I put a stand on public property its usually a heavy ladder type. It takes a special a**h*** to want to steal it.
As it requires work.

 

[AHM]

Somebody hauled my blind off in a huge field under the power lines near my neighborhood in SoNH. There was dew on my cam but I saw a blurry image of a guy in camo dragging it away.

My father would always hide some return address labels inside the tubing of something like that.
And maybe engrave some ID on the outside. Beauty of that is if the thief thinks they've found all the ID
on the outside, they don't think to look on the inside...

 

[moojpg2]

Don't put up permanent stands or leave behind gear on public land or private land with open access. It's bad etiquette IMHO and just asking for headaches. Pack it in, pack it out. Not to mention, if you've scouted a good spot, why give it away to some other hunter by leaving behind a big "hunt here" sign. I had a buddy when I was in college that used to make it a point to take a piss at the base of a stand if he found one left on public land, just to try throw off the other persons chances.

 

[MisterHappy]

So, because your buddy personally didn't like another's lawful conduct, it was cool to mess with their hunting location?

Your opinion does not seem so humble.

IMHO of course.

 

[moojpg2]

So, because your buddy personally didn't like another's lawful conduct, it was cool to mess with their hunting location?

Your opinion does not seem so humble.

IMHO of course.

I would never do something like that, I'm just saying I know other hunters that do. I've also had things like that done to me. Leaving tree stands and blinds and things in the woods on public land is just asking for headaches.