Ethics question

[Bean Counter]

If you're 100% on public land then I say feel free to hunt over the bait. Don't touch the other mans stand, though. I've never researched and verified this myself but I once heard that if you hunted out of someone's deer stand in Germany that you could be shot--legally. Not sure if that's a law of the past or what.

[ghosthunter]

I do not see any difference between a portable blind, hub blind, mountain bike, rifle, lawn chair, truck with the keys in it. Personal property is just that. OK to use a guys trail camera once you get it off the tree?

If its not yours hands off.

[PolarBear]

Absolutely unethical. 

On all counts.

[Button Nubbs]

if it was my stand and i found someone in it id thell them to get the f&^k out. if they didnt id climb the ladder, start taking it down, and leave them in the skybox to think about it.

[jackmaster]

i am with the guys that say if it aint your tree stand and you did non of the work putn it up then keep the hell out of it even if its on public land, and me personally i wouldnt hunt over his bait either but thats me, i figure i didnt do the work so why should i get to reep the benifits, it all comes down to karma

[KillBilly]

I personaly would not use it but have to reflect that anyone who hangs his personal property out in plain sight for everyone to see has lost some marbles. They have to know that someone is either going to use it, steal it, or destroy it. If they build one on public land and drive nails/spikes into my public tree, I would report it's location to enforcement. I might even remove it from our tree so the tree has a chance to get healthy.

 

[Yak-NDN]

I can see it now everyone packing in their own stand around the same lick. lol we could call them scaffolds. lol
The salt belongs to some one so are you sure it is ok to sit over it?

[Bshiftbc]

You played it perfectly....good work!

[BULLBLASTER]

If I come across someones stand/bait/set up I treat it as if I just came across somebody actually there. I move on with the least impact I can. Find another area.
When I climbed into my stand this year on opener I was surprise to see a stand and bait within 100 yards of mine. I could have shot a deer off their bait... I would have thought a fellow bowhunter would have the courtesy to move to a different area knowing I was already there but I guess some people don't care if they ruin another persons hunt. 

[NWBREW]

  If they build one on public land and drive nails/spikes into my public tree, I would report it's location to enforcement. I might even remove it from our tree so the tree has a chance to get healthy.

 

I haven't ran across a newer one but have ran across a half a dozen or so in some nasty places in the N.E corner that had to be around 50 years old. Trees looked healthy.....and big.  i wouldn't remove any of those.....kinda like a piece in time past. As for a newer one....I would tell a lot of people.  Why not..I'm not gonna hunt out of it.

[Miles]

If they build one on public land and drive nails/spikes into my public tree, I would report it's location to enforcement. I might even remove it from our tree so the tree has a chance to get healthy.

 

You would be a very busy person if you were to hunt some locations in the Spokane area.  You had better bring your carpenters belt, hammer, and claw, just leave the rifle at home you won't have time for hunting.  Some of the IEP land around Mt. Spokane seems as though it has wooden stands hanging out of every 10th tree.

[jackmaster]

back in the day when we baited bears, and i was also a kid at the time, well we built are tree stands out of wood that we packed into some of the nastiest places and we built them to last, hell if they ever bring back bear baitn, my stands should be good to go, i have hunted for quite some time now and have only come across a few wooden treestands, the ones i find funny are the ladderstands and climbers that i find that are just in little day hunt spots barely off the road, i know where a ladderstand is that has been in the same spot for 12 years maybe even longer and to this day have not even thought about huntn out of it

[huntnnw]

so the people on here that say its okay to use..how about your camp...its setup on public land its then okay when your gone hunting for me to use your camp? cause its public land   same premise

[GoldTip]

I would personally be EXTREMELY peeved if I walked up and saw someone sitting in my treestand, public land or not.  If it's public land and someone hunted my bait if they found it and I baited, then that's different, but it would be very unethical in my opinion to climb into another guys stand.  And dangerous as well, you didn't hang it, you have no idea who did and your gonna go up 20' and sit in it?  What if it was hung up there by a 90lb hobbit like Bucklucky who could balance the thing on a one inch limb and be safe, any of you are gonna drag your 200, 250, 300lb butts up there and sit?  Well if you do and it comes down outta that tree then you get what you deserve. 

All of you guys who would sit in this treestand, is it OK to use someone else's game camera because it was left in the woods on public land?  Ok to open it up and take the chip and see what pics they have if you've got a viewer?  I would agree with what someone else posted above, ethics in this state, and probably others are in a serious decline.

[PolarBear]

I have left my treestand out in the woods on public land many times before.  If I found someone sitting in it they would have a seemingly endless 3 1/2 mile hike back to their rig with me kicking them in the butt the whole way back!  This is a BIG part of why I hunt remote, brush choked hell holes because I never see another person and feel safe about leaving my stand.  I do, however, cover it up with branches and conceal it as best as I can.