Deer stand thefts and security

[EatBugs]

So, I finally bought a deer stand. It isn't one of those climber types(I hate those). just a simple ladder type. I asked the lady who helped me if she ever had a stand stolen. she said "several times on public and private land"

Holy Cow! (yeah I say that alot)

How bad is the tree stand theft ring?
Could these thefts be other unethical hunters or nasty anti-hunters?

If it is a serious problem, what are some good ways to protect your stand when left overnight or for several days?

I plan on engraving name and address and then maybe getting some chain and a lock. Yeesh... but what if they come back with chain cutters?

 

[Sunray]

"...unethical hunters or nasty anti-hunters..." Could be either one. Some rectal orifi will steal a stand because they think they should be the only hunters in the bush. Even from private land they have no premission to be on.

 

[langenc]

Yes get chain and lock. That will keep the honest hunters honest. If someone comes with bolt cutters you are screwed no matter what.

 

[S&Wfan]

Hi,

I hunt on a 1,500 acre club with about 20 hunters. Sadly, we have had occurances in the past where stands would be stolen. There are some really low life folks out there who poach your land, and help themselves to whatever they can find and plunder.

Last year, on opening morning, I approach a certain old wood stand I wanted to hunt. The danged thing was GONE . . . and I'd scouted the area a week before and even cleaned out the seat! Grrrrr . . . it was too late to move, so I just sat on the ground.

I have about ten metal stands on our club. ALL are off the beaten path, and NONE have trail markers to help anyone locate them. If I get turned around my self trying to locate one, I just turn on my GPS.

Naturally, all these stands ARE still there . . . although some low-life DID steal the black nylon seat out of one a couple of years ago . . . ALSO ruining a nice morning hunt. I moved that stand out of the woods, repaired it, and placed it somewhere else.

ANOTHER PROBLEM WE HAVE . . . is the Mexicans coming onto the club to HARVEST PINESTRAW DURING HUNTING SEASON. They always run off when we come up onh 'em, for the DON'T have permission to steal the landowner's pinestraw . . . but this also ruins a nice hunt that was planned in an area where everyone had avoided tramping all over.

Yep . . . lots of great folks in the world . . . and sadly, too many azzzz-zoles too!

 

[mrmeval]

Those surveillance cameras for wildlife can come in handy for taking pictures of crooks.

 

[S&Wfan]

Unless they steal 'em!

 

[fordman650]

i thought about getting a camera but around here i would be afraid some one would steal it,would like to leave the motorhome out in a camp spot for the season but i know people would wreck it
Larry

 

[BIGR]

I put a lock and cable on my stands. Have been lucky over the years and haven't had one stolen yet.

 

[Rock_Steady]

When your next-door neighbor comes and puts his stand up in the spot that you have been hunting for the past two years, it is a real annoyance. The neighbor's kid has done this to me, and let me tell you, I'm irritable. I had given thought to moving the dern thing myself - that just ain't right. Should have talked to me about it, since I'm the only one that hunts there.

On the other hand, I have enjoyed "practice" with all the raccoons that come around that stand and my 870 12 guage loaded with slugs - just about turns them inside out, and ridding my property of the raccoons, too. bonus.

 

[swampgator]

On our family farm we only allow a select few to hunt, other than family members. For the longest time I never thought anything about leaving a stand up indefinetly.

A couple years ago a kid moves in on the property next to ours. He asks nicely if he can hunt the land next to his house. We (actually my uncle, I would have said no) say okay. One day I go to get in my stand and yep, there he is, smoking in my ladder stand. I just turned around and left. Later that year I go to retrieve the stand and it's been moved to an area closer to his house and he's got a padlock and chain.

Needless to say I reclaimed my property. It's sitting in an oak behind my porch as I type this. But since then I've had fences cut, a ladder stand stolen as well as a climber stolen that a buddy had left on a tree.

So the rule on the farm is any stand not marked with owner's identification is confiscated by property owners.

 

[abearir]

I had a ground blind tent stolen a couple years ago. The a-hole took it and a chair that was inside. Lucky for me he didnt see the trail camera I had overlooking the site. I got a real good picture of him. I'm just waiting to the day I run into this clown out in the woods.............man he's going to have a REAL LOOONG walk out when is truck wont run.

 

[rock jock]

Could these thefts be other unethical hunters or nasty anti-hunters?

Hunters. In my experience, a fairly good percentage of fellow hunters are not all that ethical, and a high number of these are outright criminals. They poach on others lands, ignore game laws, leave harvestable meat behind, encroach on hunting areas, and are outright theives.

I only wish there was a bag limit on them as well.

 

[swampgator]

They poach on others lands, ignore game laws

Today my brother and I were talking about one of his coworkers on whether it's legal in Florida to bait prior to season. My brother tells yes, provided you do at least six months out of the year. The fellow tells him, "no I just drop a couple bags of corn right before season starts".

 

[MCgunner]

I've had two stands ripped off on my property. I wanna set one in concrete down there with a box blind on top of it.

I currently have a small, cheap tripod set up down there that's gettin' old and probably will need to be replaced soon or repaired somehow. It's effective, but open to the north wind.

 

[swampgator]

A friend that had his climber stolen from my property started using a lock on stand and the ladder stick. Locked the stand at 12 feet I think, climbed the stick. Took stick back with him leaving stand up with no way to get it. Not sure if it would work for everyone but nobody came back for that set up.

We've had fences cut and crops driven over by people going after our stands. Sad part is that most of the thefts in my area are committed by my neighbors.

 

[IllHunter]

Don't pith me off...

Yeah it sux but I lock the canoe after I cross the lake to get where others aint. I take the paddle and life vest into the woods and cover them with stuff and take a gps waypoint. I have a climbing tree stand but will not use it across the lake. Way too much to drag in and out and think of the locks and chains. OK maybe it's cause I grew up in NYC where if its not tied to you its vulnerable and sometimes even then! But I work hard for my stuff and nothing pizzzez me off more than some fool stupid enough to steal stuff belonging to an armed man. Thats brazen!

 

[carterbeauford]

How high in the air can you put the aformentioned game cameras? I am wondering if they'd work 10' in the air if you angled them down a little, the thieves might not be looking for them up there.

My treehouse is about 15' high, I keep an aluminum ladder chained to the tree with a very heavy chain. Yes people will steal a ladder. I have not tried taking bolt cutters to this kind of chain but one would need some big boltcutters if they intend on stealing my ladder. One nice thing about a treehouse is no one can steal it.

 

[swampgator]

One nice thing about a treehouse is no one can steal it.

Nope, they'd just use it when your weren't there. Then possibly urinate or defecate right next to it (yep, seen it happen too). Some people have no respect for other's property as many have mentioned.

 

[danurve]

Had a nice ladder stand with arm/gun rests stolen. Heavy duty chain & locked to. The only way it was going to move was the key or bolt-cutters.
Sure was disheartening one fine morning walking up to my spot and no stand.
A few years back some stinkweasle stold a feeder I set up.
Locks only keep honest people from stealing. Regardless of where or what it is. Bolt cutters make it easy for theives. Best defence is keeping trespassers off your property if you can. Or go back to building permanent wood ones.

 

[DogBonz]

Yes

or nasty anti-hunters?

Yes, as unlikely as it may seem, some treehugging hippie or green peace types will steal, of destroy your hunting stuff. When I was in college, I had this girl in my class that liked to mountain bike. I liked to mountain bike. She was quite cute. (you do the math) So, there we were mountain biking through a state forest (that you can legally hunt on during hunting season) having a grand O’l time, when she stops, gets off of her bike and starts ripping down those little flags that people use to find their way to their stands. I stopped her before she got to rip down more that a few, but I was not impressed, to say the least.

 

[carterbeauford]

Nope, they'd just use it when your weren't there. Then possibly urinate or defecate right next to it (yep, seen it happen too). Some people have no respect for other's property as many have mentioned.

I know, I know... to our knowledge, it has not been used without our permission. Our property is now posted, this has cut down on, if not eliminated trespassers. That and my dad has not been so kind to the trespassers he has caught. I am in the process of remodeling the treehouse, I'll get some pics.

Guy at work told me someone built a large, rather nice treehouse on his property. He is trying to find out who so he can thank them, because now it's his

 

[648E]

One nice thing about a treehouse is no one can steal it.

But they can cut it down

Ask me how I know

 

[MCgunner]

Yeah, my first stand on my land was welded rebar with a blind I built atop it with hand tools cause I didn't have a generator back then. It lasted three weeks into the season. I found a bunch of lumber and the stand part missing. The second one I lost cost me 200 bucks at a local sporting goods store. That one was steel, nice and heavy. Then, I ordered this little aluminum 125 dollar portable 10 foot tripod and set it up down there, bring it home after season. I've hunted a couple of seasons in it, brought it home and it sat up a several seasons while I had a bird lease and was all into goose and dove for a while. Now, it's getting a little crusty and old and the seat is sorta eaten up. I'm hopin' they'll figure it ain't worth rippin' off. I wanna get a new stand down there so I can move this little one for a friend to hunt out of in another spot when he comes to visit. I'm getting a new feeder, too (he's my oldest, best friend and has a farm that has great dove hunting ). I just hope I can keep the thieves away. I'm thinkin' I'll dig holes for the legs to sit in on the big stand and pour sack create in it to anchor it and make it tougher to steal. I'm going to build a blind atop it, also. I want something out of the rain and wind I can get comfy in when I go down there and sit at night waiting on hogs as well as something to deer hunt out of. I'd like to build a fancy stand with carpeted floor, heck, maybe a bed/portapotty, heck, internet hook up for when I'm hunting. ROFLMAO! There's some pretty fancy stands in Texas and I mean, it's my land, ain't goin' nowhere and the beggars might move in, but I'm retired and they have no way of knowing when I'm going to show up.

I was sitting in my stand one morning before daylight when I see lights coming down this "road". Now "road" is a liberal term for this path and it'd rained like 6" and everything was flooded. I'd walked in not wanting to risk it even in my 4x4 Toyota. Well, there's a big hole down this path that fills up with water 3 feet deep in a good rain. I see this vehicle comin'. I know it's a spot lighter. He runs off in this hole and I see headlights shining from under water. ROFLMAO! As it gets light, I see him put a gun in the seat and walk off to find a phone I guess to call his dad. I briefly though of doing two things, walk over there and take the little fart's gun and drive home (not me, sorry, can't bring myself to steal something for any reason) or call the game wardens on him. But, I just sat back in my stand and watched as his dad arrives with a truck, hooks up a winch, and pulls the vehicle (a Jeep Cherokee) home. The one thing I've got going for me down there is I know when it's wet like it is now, nobody's driving in there unless on a 4 wheeler and even then they could bury the thing cause there are soft spots and hog wallows everywhere down there.

 

[swampgator]

Our property is now posted, this has cut down on, if not eliminated trespassers. That and my dad has not been so kind to the trespassers he has caught.

I worked for the Game Commission in Florida for four and half years. Still very close friends with the officers in my home county. Several come to the place to squirrel hunt. Makes it easy to keep people off the property who don't belong there. Posting property is important. FWC would enforce trespass laws, but for the person caught on unposted property it was always just a friendly reminder. Penalties substantially increase for when property is posted and the offender can't use the "sorry didn't realize I was trespassing excuse."

some treehugging hippie or green peace types will steal, of destroy your hunting stuff

Had a case a few years back of someone dumping bleach and soap on a hunter's feeder. Dumb**s didn't realize that molesting a feeder or tree stand that is legally placed was a crime. So was the trespass. Goes to show "ethical" people aren't always smart people.

 

[MCgunner]

In Texas, if you're on private property and it ain't yours, no matter if it's posted or fenced, you're trespassing and it's now a felony to poach on private property. It's cutting down on all the trespass, but there are still those that do it. The big ranchers were behind stiffening the laws and it's a good thing, but it still don't stop 'em. You can't just shoot 'em when you catch 'em, much as you'd like to sometimes. I mean, I didn't buy that land and don't pay them taxes to let all the locals hunt there, idiots. I don't buy my stand for some other a**wipe to take home either, of course. Not that I would, but you CAN legally use deadly force to protect property in the state of Texas. Much less hassle just to hold 'em there and call the law, though, if I ever catch one of 'em.