Ethics of using someone else's treestand?

[bigdub257]

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If you are uncomfortable with someone using your stand (on public ground)- pack it out with you. Seems pretty simple.

There would be no problems...
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[meatwhack]

On national forest the rule is actually not to be left unattended. So is it ethical for someone to not follow that rule by leaving a stand up to try and save their hunting spot on public land.

[NOCK NOCK]

Comparing this to an abandoned vehicle is a pretty poor comparison but whatever floats your boat. I’m also fairly sure on most public land as well as most timber company land it’s illegal to leave permanent stands which if they’ve been there years that’s considered permanent.

That's pretty much what I'm saying. If it's against the law and we have law enforcement to enforce those laws why would I think that it's my responsibility to take action against it without involving them? I didn't make the rules, I am not charged with enforcing the rules, I don't know the big picture of what's all going on in the area with whom, it's not my stand, I say leave it alone and report it if you want but don't climb into it.

This is an ethical thread, not a legal thread. Asking individual ethics. If someone is trying to block me from hunting public land, i'm not losing sleep over moving or using a stand. And I would move a truck blocking me if I could do it without damaging it. Just like I would take down a fake "no trespassing/hunting" sign on public land.

I understand some of you hold an ethic that apparently keeps you from even touching something you don't own. I have no problem with that. I just don't see it the same way. Public hunting has enough challenges without people leaving stands and blinds up expecting that you can't hunt that spot.

1. Do you really believe that folks use tree stands as a means of "blocking you" from hunting public land?
…..Wow, I personally believe very few, if any others do it for that reason.

2. You would move a truck that was, again, "blocking" you?
….What gives you more right to be there than the truck owner who was there 1st?

Maybe I'm reading your post wrong, but it sure appears there is a sense of entitlement here.....the exact thing you are against. 

[idaho guy]

Comparing this to an abandoned vehicle is a pretty poor comparison but whatever floats your boat. I’m also fairly sure on most public land as well as most timber company land it’s illegal to leave permanent stands which if they’ve been there years that’s considered permanent.

That's pretty much what I'm saying. If it's against the law and we have law enforcement to enforce those laws why would I think that it's my responsibility to take action against it without involving them? I didn't make the rules, I am not charged with enforcing the rules, I don't know the big picture of what's all going on in the area with whom, it's not my stand, I say leave it alone and report it if you want but don't climb into it.

This is an ethical thread, not a legal thread. Asking individual ethics. If someone is trying to block me from hunting public land, i'm not losing sleep over moving or using a stand. And I would move a truck blocking me if I could do it without damaging it. Just like I would take down a fake "no trespassing/hunting" sign on public land.

I understand some of you hold an ethic that apparently keeps you from even touching something you don't own. I have no problem with that. I just don't see it the same way. Public hunting has enough challenges without people leaving stands and blinds up expecting that you can't hunt that spot.

   

No one said a tree stand means you can’t hunt the spot. Just don’t sit in the stand since it’s not yours. It just seems like common sense to me but whatever.  I might think about it on one that I know has been abandoned for years And it’s obvious no one has been hunting out of it.

[full choke]

Who say's I must remove a stand each time I'm done hunting for the day?   Some national forests have rules saying stands must be portable and not damage trees, but no where does it say I must remove it daily, they say if a hunter is on a hunt they they aren't obligated to move camp every 72 hours, the recent rule change freaked out some hunters who make a base camp then hike into a spike camp.

I contend that if I'm using it and intend to use it again then its not abandoned, it is still my property until it is lawfully seized as abandoned, which you do not have that authority. 


You have no authority to say what is or isn't abandoned.

I never said you had to remove your stand. I simply said- if you are uncomfortable with someone else using the stand you left on public ground- pack it out with you.

For the record- I wouldn't hunt someone else's deer stand if I came across it. But I don't feel they should have the expectation that no one else should either.

As for a duck blind- 100% I would hunt out of it if I was there first. 100%

[KFhunter]

Well my ethics are:

if it isn't mine I don't mess with it, and if it is mine you shouldn't be.

[Platensek-po]

So if I build a cabin on public land it’s mina Nd mine only and no one else should use it?? Sounds like it’s no longer public land and you are claiming it as your own private property. While the stand may be yours the land and trees it is on are not. Seems like a fine line to claim a patch of public property just by putting your private property on it.

[Skyvalhunter]

No the USFS would burn down your cabin and no one would be able to use it

[buglebrush]

So if I build a cabin on public land it’s mina Nd mine only and no one else should use it?? Sounds like it’s no longer public land and you are claiming it as your own private property. While the stand may be yours the land and trees it is on are not. Seems like a fine line to claim a patch of public property just by putting your private property on it.

Guess by your logic I'm going to be claiming your truck if I ever find it on public land.

[Jonathan_S]

It's a strange concept to me, the idea of finding somebody else's stand and wanting to sit in it.  I prefer not running into other people in the woods and that seems like it would be easier to do if I stay off their equipment.

If I found somebody in my stand, I would not be outraged as much as I would be confused.  I usually have 3+ stands in a given "area" so if somebody else is at "my" gate or cutting wood, or riding
dirtbikes etc. I'll go to another stand

[NOCK NOCK]

So you and your family are going to a Forest service campground for a day trip to have a picnic. There are 10 designated spots in this campground. When you arrive, they are all occupied by other picnicker's.

Do you go ahead and set up your family in spot #7 with the Smith's.....telling them that its public land....your family is blocking my family from having a picnic?      or      Do you move along and find another spot to picnic?

Why is hunting any different?
The stand owner is not trying to "reserve" his spot in the woods, telling all others "this is my area", he simply found a good looking area that he wants to hunt.

If you come across another's stand, YES its public land, sit below the tree, walk the area, climb the tree and sit on a branch, hunt it however you see fit, just DO NOT TOUCH other folks stuff, its not yours.

THIS 

It's a strange concept to me, the idea of finding somebody else's stand and wanting to sit in it.  I prefer not running into other people in the woods and that seems like it would be easier to do if I stay off their equipment.

If I found somebody in my stand, I would not be outraged as much as I would be confused.  I usually have 3+ stands in a given "area" so if somebody else is at "my" gate or cutting wood, or riding
dirtbikes etc. I'll go to another stand

[jstone]

I know of a tree stand in the taneum way deep. I personally wouldn’t us it. Even on public

[SuperX]

I'd hang another stand right next to it if I felt I needed to hunt that spot (unlikely), but I wouldn't sit in it unless it was permanently built and looked safe.  I know permanent stands are illegal in many public forests, but it is something that is common back east.  I rarely see 2x4 stands built in WA but in MN it was the normal type of stand to find and they had a rule in the regs that made it clear that any permanent stands were public and available first come first served, so it was basically accepted if you built a stand someone else may be sitting it at any time.

If someone builds a duck blind on a good spot, I'd sit in it every day - too easy to 'lock up' a commanding point with a couple pallets and some camo netting.

[hunter399]

What if there was no stand,but just bait ,trail cam,and a Hunter actively hunting .Woulnd you set up 40 yards away and hunt this spot or would you find a different spot to hunt.

[SuperX]

What if there was no stand,but just bait ,trail cam,and a Hunter actively hunting .Woulnd you set up 40 yards away and hunt this spot or would you find a different spot to hunt.

If you're directing that toward me, I don't hunt over bait or use trail cams, so I don't think of those things as someone 'actively hunting'.  I have respect for boundaries and giving the other hunter space so if I see the hunter, I'll move on unless I'm there first.  If I see a camera or empty ground blind / stand or a lick, I'm not going to leave just because of that.