Ethics of using someone else's treestand?

[pianoman9701]

I'm curious if anybody has ever come across someone sitting in their stand. How did you respond? How did the other hunter?

A friend of mine said that he once came across a hunter in one of his ladder stands on state land. The other guy immediately climbed down, but was so friendly (and abashed) that my friend told him to stay there, and moved on to another one of his stands.

Not how it will always go down, of course, but it seems like that's a pretty good outcome.

This is a sportsman with ethics. 

[SuperX]

I'm curious if anybody has ever come across someone sitting in their stand. How did you respond? How did the other hunter?

A friend of mine said that he once came across a hunter in one of his ladder stands on state land. The other guy immediately climbed down, but was so friendly (and abashed) that my friend told him to stay there, and moved on to another one of his stands.

Not how it will always go down, of course, but it seems like that's a pretty good outcome.

This is a sportsman with ethics. 

Yeah,  both of them! 

[Odell]

I'm curious if anybody has ever come across someone sitting in their stand. How did you respond? How did the other hunter?

A friend of mine said that he once came across a hunter in one of his ladder stands on state land. The other guy immediately climbed down, but was so friendly (and abashed) that my friend told him to stay there, and moved on to another one of his stands.

Not how it will always go down, of course, but it seems like that's a pretty good outcome.

Agreed, seems right. But some of the hunt WA guys here have said that’s cause for violence. Scary to think people would respond like that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[h20hunter]

My over many years two happenings.

One, i hiked up, sat, watched the sun peak over the horizon as well as a hunter pop out of the treeline making his way to me. He arrived, apologized for popping out, said he figured he had an early enough start and would move on. I didn't want hom moving around the area so told him to grab a perch and lets try and kill a deer. He takes the right, i take the left. No deer seen, nice hunt and had some good info sharing on the way out.

Two, hunting over the bowl from "the rock"....  @D-Rock425 knows the spot....had a guy come in see me, and sit down 25 yards away.  I gave him the wth, look, he gave me the finger. I got up, walked out. A silly bear is not worth it, neither was he.

My point is you can only make of a situation what you can.

[MtnMuley]

I'm curious if anybody has ever come across someone sitting in their stand. How did you respond? How did the other hunter?

A friend of mine said that he once came across a hunter in one of his ladder stands on state land. The other guy immediately climbed down, but was so friendly (and abashed) that my friend told him to stay there, and moved on to another one of his stands.

Not how it will always go down, of course, but it seems like that's a pretty good outcome.

This is a sportsman with ethics. 

Yeah,  both of them!

 

[2MANY]

"This whole "its public land so I have the right" crap is such a lame argument for just being a greedy as*ho**.  Put in your own work and put in your own time, dont leech off of others. I demand better from my fellow sportsmen "

Aaaaahhhhhh..............................Yeah!!!

[lamrith]

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.

Same can be said of blacktails, muleys, elk, bears, etc.  Bait usually makes it easier but is far from required for a treestand to work.  research is what is need most.

Still reading thru the thread but here is my 

I would not use someone else's treestand I just stumbled upon while hunting.  That said there are folks we all know that think putting a stand in a spot marks it as their spot.  Just like guys that go into hunt areas 2,3,4 weeks early and throw a disposable tent up in a spot "to reserve it".    If I have scouted an area with promise and then come season hunt thru an area and over multiple days see a treestand is completely unused then I would have no issue hunting in that area, be it putting up my own stand or a ground blind, etc.  But I would not use their stand, both from personal item issue as well as not knowing if they have it setup properly, etc, just not worth it imho.  But I am not going to just give up an area I have scouted and put time into because someone left their treestand in-place for their weekend hunt.

Follow-up / Tangent but related question for everyone.
Many treestand these days have base units that can be mounted on the tree, then you drop your chair/platform into them.  I myself have gone in while scouting and prepped a good spot for my treestand and considered leaving the bad mount in place so just have to carry stand up and drop it in.  Suppose you had done that, what are folks thoughts on if you came in for your hunt and find someone else has either used your base for their stand, or just put their own stand overtop of your mount in the prepped location..?

[smithkl42]

It's been very interesting seeing all the emotions that my (maybe not so) innocent question sparked :-).

I'll admit that it's a grey area, which is why I asked the question in the first place.

A couple of thoughts on my side:

(1) Oddly enough, I think my reaction partly depends on what sort of stand it is. I wouldn't ever use some guy's climber - *moving* some other guys' stuff just seems weird, even if it's just up a tree. Climbing up a ladder someone else left on public property feels different. I'm touching some other guy's stuff, but I'm not even going so far as to move anything.

(2) I wouldn't ever make using some other guy's equipment part of my hunting plan. If I know that a tree stand is there, I wouldn't *plan* on hunting it. But if I happen to see that it's empty while I'm still hunting an area, I might (MIGHT) climb it and sit in it a while, just to see.

(3) It doesn't even feel weird to me to hunt in an area where someone else has an empty tree stand. It's not my land, it's not their land - it's public land. But if someone was *in* the tree stand, I'd make sure to stay well away - that just seems polite. And if the guy came along while I was nearby, I'd move. More manners than ethics, but still good manners.

(4) If I happened to be up in the tree stand and the owner came by, I'd immediately climb down, offer whatever apologies were necessary, and if the gentleman was angry, I'd grovel appropriately, and then quickly leave. I can't imagine having the affrontery to tell someone they couldn't use their own stand. (I don't think anybody here was suggesting that.)

(5) It's also a bit touchier doing it while hunting than while scouting. The tree stand that I have in mind is one I noticed a few months ago while scouting some state land. I had found this nice meadow, was hungry, and thought, "I'm going to have some lunch and just watch. I only wish I had a slightly higher vantage point." And literally five seconds later, I noticed a ladder stand about 30 feet away. It felt a *little* weird to climb up it, but given that it was the off season, it seemed unlikely that the owner would be coming along, and hence unlikely that I'd be making anybody angry. I'd be more careful about doing it during the season. Maybe that's just me being scared of getting caught doing something I should know better? Maybe?

FWIW, I'm not saying any of the above is *right*. Just that this is how I (currently) think about it.

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone.

[NOCK NOCK]

Ethics........hmmmm

Is it ethical to sit in/near another’s stand/bait/cam?
Maybe the real question is, Is it sportsman like? (Basically same meaning, but answers may change)
Another Hunter has put in a lot of time, effort, money to his setup. To use his setup is taking advantage of efforts you did not put forth. Unsportsmanlike like IMO.
There are thousands of miles to hunt, usually the best are where there are NO other hunters. If I come across another’s setup I move along.

Who has the “right” to use a particular area?
We all do........ as we see fit, and it’s legal, or considered legal (as in past practices). The use of stands/blinds/cams/bait are all either legal, or considered legal (baring permanent stands in most forests)

This ethics thing related to this is just another “Hunter against Hunter” thing. No wonder we always get screwed. 

If it’s not yours, don’t touch it. Simple

[Pegasus]

All your treestands are belong to us.

[SuperX]

All your treestands are belong to us.

LOL

[Buckhunter24]

Seems obvious to me, move on to one of a million other spots available to kill a deer.

[NOCK NOCK]

Smithkl42.... One of your sentences says all you need to know

“Maybe  that’s just me being scared of  getting caught doing something  I know I shouldn’t be doing”

Follow your ethics. 

[SuperX]

This is the kind of stuff that should be in the WDFW hunter's code of conduct!!

[donsk16]

I hope we all agree that in regards to public lands, we should have equal access to public lands.

For those selfish individuals who attempt to take away our access, I think we as sportsmen need to let those people know that their behavior isn't okay.  Peeing on people because they got to "your" public land before you did isn't okay.  You are a bully and a poor sportsmen if that is how you think.

To those who put up tree stands and understand others may hunt the public land that you planned on hunting - good for you and I hope that your extra efforts in preparation works out for you!  To those of you who put them up to reserve your spot on public land for weeks or months, you give sportsmen a bad name and you are putting other people in a very unfair situation - they must try to make an ethical decision based on your selfish action.

Think about this:
The government is trying to take away our rights to own firearms - I think everyone here thinks that taking away our rights to firearms is not okay - why is it acceptable for people to take away our equal access to public lands by "reserving" them for weeks or months with dummy camps, tree stands, etc?