Tree Stands Left In the Bush

[VixChix]

I used to live in Alberta - we had access to incredibly HUGE amounts of land. Lots of beautiful space out there, the air is clean and the people are friendly. I stopped hunting when I first moved to Ontario because it didn't look like there was anywhere to go. Southern Ontario felt so totally claustrophobic. The farms were so small and towns were everywhere. I wasn't until a friend invited me to canoe some of the rivers further north that I felt like I could breathe again.

20 yrs later I can really enjoy & appreciate hunting on the local farms - that are moments that I let myself imagine that the woods are 100's of miles from civilization. I count myself lucky to be able to go sit in stillness and enjoy watching the wildlife. I have many great experiences even though I'm so close to home. It's not always a bad thing!

Having said that, I dream of living out west again some day....

[LV2HNT]

I have hunted public land for my whole life. The place I have hunted most is a military base that is divided into areas. Only a certain amount of hunters are allowed out into each area at a time for safety reasons. It doesn't realy work because if there is a hot spot everyone will pack into that little section leaving tons of acres unhunted throughout the rest of the area. It is very trying to hunt there at times because it is almost always full and there are lots of new hunters and hunters who never learned how to hunt safely and ethicaly by respecting other hunters rights. I have been through more crap than most of you would ever believe. Some people will learn you are a good hunter and follow you and sit a hundred yards away or memorize your car and make note of where you park so they can come back when you are not there. There is a sea of ribbons throughout most of the places near the roads and there isn't a section of woods anywhere that is ribbon free. Some places look like they have been surveyed to remove the forest and build a neighborhood. Thats not even half of it either. I have been through things that would make most people give up hunting all together but it is all I have because private land is almost non existant in this area.

Years ago before portable stands were big, permanent stands were everywhere. The rule was that you could hunt anyones stand at anytime because a stand built on public land was basicaly public property. If the stands builder would show up and someone was in his stand he had to leave even though he built it. I never made a habit out of hunting others stands but if I did, I would leave if the owner showed up, but that is just me. The most comon rule was first come first serve so if you beat the owner to his stand it was yours for the day.

Then they outlawed the building of permanent stands because the areas are actively logged every so many years. It was too dangerouse for the loggers who could be cutting a tree that used to hold a stand where the boards had fallen and the nails were embeded into the tree. If they hit a hidden nail they stood the chance of having their saw kick back or throw a chain, possibly injuring them. This made way for the portable stand craze.

These days everyone uses some form of portable stand. Some people take them down whenever they are done or after a few days while others will leave them out all season or year. No one I know of has tried to hunt from another persons stand nor would I recomend it because they are all different and require different safety measures plus there is no way of knowing if the stands owner has maintained the stand well or how long it has been up or if they have done something to make it unsafe or unusable to protect their spot. Theft is a problem so some people will chain their stands to the tree. Others like myself will take the bottom steps out of the tree when we leave. We all take a chance by leaving our stands but we have to in order to hunt certain spots.

If I go out hunting and I find a stand in the spot I want to hunt, I have to decide if it is worth hunting because the other guy may have allready spooked up the area or shot the big buck. If I decide I want to hunt the area I will. There is no guarantee the guy will show up to hunt that day and even if he did I would expect him to turn around and go somewhere else because I beat him there, so it is my spot. It doesn't always happen that way but it should. The bottom line is that public land is not owned by any one person so claiming a spot as yours is dead wrong. The only time a spot is ever yours is when you are sitting in it. I don't care if you found it first or if you have been hunting it for years. There will always be someone out there who found it and hunted it before you ever did. If a person wants to leave their stand up all year in an attempt to intimidate me from hunting that area they are more than welcome but I won't give them any sympathy when their stand gets stolen or when they climb up in it and have a weld, strap, or step break causing injury. It is up to you DanO to determine if the area is worth hunting even though there is so much pressure. Maybe it's a great spot which would explain why the other hunters went through the trouble of hanging their stands everywhere and leaving them out all year to try to keep others away. Or maybe it used to be a great spot that was ruined by a bunch of lazy guys who didn't even take their stands down. The fact that you are a Mon-Fri hunter is in your favor because most stands usualy won't be used while you are there meaning the area might not be as spooked or as unsafe as it would be on a Saturday when every stand has a guy in it, but I still would not recomend hunting in someone elses portable. Put up your own right next to his if you want and forget about reserving anything as your own untill you have permission to hunt private land and even then it is up to the landowner as to how he wants things to work.

Judging from the place I hunt it would not be smart to leave your stand or mark the woods with trails of ribbons because it makes it much more likely that some novice or a seasoned person who doesn't know the area is going to go out and see the stand and sit down thinking this must be a good spot. Or he is going to see the ribbons and follow them straight to your stand to do the same thing. The best and only way to protect a spot in my opinion is to make it look untouched and to make it look like there arn't many deer around. I regularly step on buck tracks crossing dirt roads leading into my area. I will also step on deer poop in my spots especialy if it is from a buck because it helps it to dissapear faster and it sticks in the treads of my boots which helps cover up my scent trail. I have even considered cutting down trees with big rubs right beside the road. They are all signs to other hunters that this is a good spot just like the ribbons and stands are signs. If I find a hot spot with a big buck I automaticaly assume atleast one other person is hunting it as well and I hunt it the best I can because I know the deer won't live long. That means I learn how to get there in the dark without the help of ribbons or cats eyes and I put in as much time there as I possibly can no matter what the weather. If I determine that there is someone else hunting the spot and I need to get there before him I won't hesitate to be walking to my stand at three in the morning. These are some of my secrets, right or wrong or worthwhile is up to you to decide.

[DanO]

Lots of good points in that post. Thanks.

Dan O.