What's wrong with people?

[Gary Greene]

Went for a hunt today and found somebody using my tree stand.  I was so mad I didn't dare confront him right then so I went back and waited at the truck so I could cool down.  Finally somebody came back to the truck and I asked him if it was him using my stand and he said no he was up on the other side of the hill.  So I'm not sure who was using it.  I guess I should have confronted the guy right away.  What would you do?

[five-oh]

Could go either way, remember what happened in Wisconsin a couple years ago though?  I guess better to be safe than sorry.  You did the right thing.

[sticshooter]

Just what you did. Well I might have just went up and asked him why he was in my stand? And if he made any sudden moves I'd jump behind a tree.<><

[five-oh]

Originally posted by sticshooter:
Just what you did. Well I might have just went up and asked him why he was in my stand? And if he made any sudden moves I'd jump behind a tree.<><

It better be a big tree  :D  .

[sticshooter]

You would surprise how much I can tuck it in LOL <><  :eek:    

[five-oh]

Sorry couldn't resist that one.  I hear you though, I'm the same way!

[hill boy]

Gary if you think you need time to cool off!You did the right thing.I would have got my stand.Or got whipped or both.But I have had it with thieves.scum of the earth. :mad:A man can't even protect his property any more with out haveing to worry about a law suit.

[Gary Greene]

The thought entered my mind that if I caused too much trouble they might do somthing to my treestand or truck.

[knife river]

If that was the same guy in your stand, you made your point loud and clear.  He knows he was busted.  Can't imagine he'd try that stunt again.

[mxracer483]

well We have three tresspassers on our 200 acres that put up stands a year ago and still have them up. I use them to hunt every morning sence me and my good friend are the only ones with permission to hunt on the land. I often wonder what they would say when they come up on me in their stands on My parents property. lol. should be interesting. Then again they are the ones trespassing and i guess you could say the stands are mine now???  

[Littlefeather]

You guys are a kind hearted bunch no doubt. I think a chainsaw, a long draggin chain, and a truck would have got me started. If he was still hanging on when the tree came to a stop I'd have some questions for him. Then I'd kindly tell him GO FIND YOUR OWN TREE(if he could still climb)! Sorry, didn't mean to yell. CK

[Orion]

Didn't say whether it's a portable or permanent stand.  One way to keep out interlopers with a portable stand is to lock the platform in the up position.  Can do this with most hang ons.  Does take a little extra time, and one might make a little extra noise doing it, but it will keep the slobs out.  Can't do much other than ask the person to leave if it's a permanent stand.  You showed more restraint than I would have.

[SouthMDShooter]

i think a rubber blunt to the hindquarters would have got your message across lol but no im kidding. i think you made a good decision but i dont know if could have been calm enough to walk away like you did though   :mad:

[Shawn Leonard]

I agree with curtis, I would of probably yanked him out of the stand. Last year i went in to a tree that I had prepared with 10 steps and a bracket to hang the stand in, when i got to the tree a guy had a ladder stand in the same tree. I said what are you doing, can't you see this tree has been prepared for a stand, he sid yup that is why I sat here. Well guess what that was the wrong thing to say, lets just say this, he was out of the woods and to his truck in less than 2 minutes, and all that with a big heavy stand on his back. I was amazed at how easy they come down, even with someone in them!!   :mad:                Shawn

[Aeronut]

Here in Kansas if you hang a stand on public ground it is open for use by the first person who gets there.  Most (not all) of the people around here would not sit in someone else's stand and go elsewhere to hunt.

On private land that is definitely a sure way to start a fight.  I'm like CK but didn't have to use the chainsaw.  He was on our land and the only thing I told him was he'd better beat me back to his truck.  He did.

I was once in a stand on public land and watched a guy still hunt up to a trail I was watching and climb a tree.  He was real quiet doing it all and didn't see me until he was set up in the tree.  I motioned for him to stay because he had just as much right to be there as I did and he motioned back that I had the first shot at game.  Fair enough.  We were only about 25 yards apart.  We saw several deer that evening but no shots.

Dennis

[sidebuster]

Don't know how the rules are in CT but if you were in Texas this would be a serious offense since most of the property you are hunting is private not public.  In this world where everyone has a cell phone in their pocket I would have called the Game Warden.  I would have wathced him as he got down to see where he was going.  Gotten his license# of his vehicle.   You also could have just beared down on your auto horn to ruin his hunting.  Or drive your vehicle within 50 yards if that was possible of the tree blind.  Most importantly you don't want a major incident if you can possible avoid it but on the other hand you don't want him to get away scott free either.

[Ian johnson]

last year I was squirrel hunting on my grandfathers land, I am the only one that hunts there, my cousins just go there to sight in thier rifles, one day I was in the woods, I found a pile of about 100 shotgun shells and a lot of trash in my hunting spot, there is an old cattle fence that surronds this land, so, they knew they were tresspasing

[Labs4me]

I know this is a G-rated, family site, but this is a very, very sore subject for me. Aside from stickbows, my other passion is training hunting Labrador Retrievers. Ugly story made short, last Fall I had a "bowhunter" charge me while my Lab, Huck and I were out bird hunting with WRITTEN PERMISSION on my neighbor's property. Not only did this idiot charge me while I was holding a loaded 12-guage, he threatened to KILL MY DOG the next time it went past his stand.

What kind of IDIOT charges someone who is holding a shotgun and then threatens to kill his dog? After I ejected three unspent shells from my gun, I was compelled to make it painfully clear that threatening my dog comes with an absolute consequence.

[hoebow]

Gary, You did the right thing. On the other hand you could have pulled him out of the tree whipped him or better yet shot him, but you have to ask yourself " What would the grand jury think?" Deer are like women there are plenty of them out there and none of them are worth fighting over.

[Turkey-duke]

Okay, just playing devil's advocate here - Assuming the guy had permission to hunt there.  I think that sometimes we get the idea that if we have a stand in an area that we have exclusive rights to that spot.  While I don't condone his hunting out of your stand (completly unethical and lazy to boot) I also understand the frustration that comes from scouting an area only to find that someone hung a stand in the same area that you have scouted out.  

I hunted an area for several seasons that was privately owned but had several people hunting it.  One of the guys had several stands set up (at least 6 that I found) that I knew he did not regularly hunt.  It frustrated me because he hung most of the stands in spots that I was interested in setting up but because I am more afraid of stand theives than he was I did not "reserve" the area with a stand.  After the first two years of hunting the area and watching several of the stands going unused most if not all season I started hunting closer to those stands.  Luckily I never was there on days he was because he might have not been all that fond of me hunting near "his" area.  So just as a thought just because someone is near your spot doesn't mean they are lazy or a poor hunter - think about it (is that why you are there?).  They have the same right to that spot as you do.  An empty stand should not reserve your spot for the whole season.  That would be unfair to everone hunting the property.

With all that said, I hate that situations like this happen and I think you did the right thing.