Ethics of using someone else's treestand?

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

If it is a permanent stand, I might check it out.
I have found several in the Manastash unit.
If it is a portable, its not mine, so I leave it alone.
Got no issues with sitting on the ground near an unoccupied stand/blind.
But if its not mine, I don't touch it.
Hell, I got my grill kicked out for just walking up the trail near one.
Would like to meet that guy again...

[elkrack]

I wouldn’t personally get into someone’s stand based off I didn’t put in the work to get it in there! There’s a stand where I hunt that is super tempting cause it’s on an elk highway and they are successful in there but I resist.

[Jpmiller]

I would say hunting near a stand is fine, hunker down in the brush or the like, but I wouldn't get physically into someone else's.

I'm also not a big fan of knowingly hunting near other folks so I'd probably leave the area just based one that.

[nwwanderer]

Have found many on my own ground, usually leave a note asking for a call back.  Seldom happens, good ones disappear, most rust in place.

[huntnnw]

never ever crossed my mind to ever climb into someone else stand. I have found a few over the years that were left one was so old that the tree it was in was on the ground and stand was covered in moss

[Fl0und3rz]

Not mine. I wouldn't.

[Odell]

i've never done it but I would in a heartbeat. Public land. The beauty of it is that you are free to do what you want within the letter of the law. If the guy who put it there shows up, I would give it to them and wish them luck. But if I'm in the woods and see a stand or blind unoccupied and I feel like sitting in it then heck yeah.

But I'm a duck hunter and I am used to sitting in blinds someone else made

I was wondering if anyone was going to use the duck blind similarity.

I can’t stand to just sit very long so I don’t think I could do it even if it was my stand.

If I did and the owner came along I would do the same as you and move on.

Yeah it’s just the way it works in duck hunting, first come first served. It’s hard for me to imagine feeling so territorial about a spot on public land that you could come to violence over it as some stories here have suggested.

If guys are gonna be so protective of their stands and blinds maybe they should take them down when they aren’t using them.


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[ljsommer]

I am the author of the other thread and I see it two ways:

If you hang a ladder stand on public ground you should have zero expectation of any sort of "ownership" over that stand or that location. It's public land, for the public (or in my case: private land with permitted access available for purchase to the general public).

Personally I wouldn't be comfortable going up in a stand I didn't hang. Aside from a general position of respecting the property of someone else, I think it's wise to avoid any unnecessary confrontation in the hunting woods.

[Pegasus]

I recommend you not try to use the stand if someone else is already in it.

[KFhunter]

Besides just the ethics of the situation making it a bad idea there are other reasons not to do it. I know a guy who found someone sitting in his stand and the stand squatter ended up with 4 flat tires. I know of another situation where a guy tried chopping the tree down with the stand poacher still in it. I don’t agree with doing that either but you never know the mental state of the hunter who owns the stand ha ha . I know both guys and if you met them on the street nice guys but there are some Idaho hunters who are psycho when it comes to their elk spots. I respect others property in the woods because that’s how I want my stuff treated but pissing off the wrong guy could end badly and they might not let you leave politely 

    


Someone might find themselves getting drug down out of the treestand by their testicles   

[KFhunter]

Some of you all take your background of combat hunting  (like combat fishing) and apply your lens of ethics to that situation.  (or your lens of waterfowl hunting)

I've never combat hunted, so my lens of ethics will differ, I stay away from people and if I can hunt all day long and not see another hunter its a good day!  most of my hunting days are good days! I rarely see anyone. 

My lens of ethics are going to be very different. 


So if a "combat hunter" comes into my area and hunts applying their lens of ethics there's going to be big trouble, and if I went to your combat hunting areas and applied my lens of ethics hell I'd never see anything other than other hunters!  I'd walk away from all the hot areas disgusted at all the hunters all up in one anothers spots.

So IMO people need to change their ethics depending on which region and hunt they're on.   

[bhawley76]

Just playing the devils advocate, Would it be ok to check a camera found in the woods that wasn't yours? Some would say yes. Me not even maybe. 

[h20hunter]

That conversation has come up. Some say go ahead.  I say its not mine, don't touch. I would nake an exception if its been jostled by a bear...id spend a few minutes adjusting or straightening but thats it.

[rasbo]

Would ya wear someone else's underwear? It's the same to me,no way..

[jackelope]

Just because something is "legal" doesn't mean it's right.

Typically the stands require bait to be active, if the stands are 'freshened up' with bait then they're being used and I don't want to hunt there anyways.
If the stands have been sitting dormant and there's no bait then they aren't worth sitting in. 

What I wouldn't ever do is freshen up someone else's stand with bait, I'd make my own if I wanted to do that...I don't.

Minor thread jack, but we've killed lots of whitetails back east out of tree stands without any bait whatsoever. Put the work in patterning them and scouting and you can kill whitetails all day long without bait.