Ethics of using someone else's treestand?

[pianoman9701]

Well said.

[KFhunter]

Wallows keep getting mentioned, personally I dont use tree stands elk hunting, I move too much, but my take on wallows is that its a natural feature, theres no development of anything, no bait hauled in, so it would be first come first served but stay out of other stands unless its a permanent built one, outta wood,  but if its fresh hung stay out of the stand or hang your own.  You can tell if its fresh hung by pitch, bark roughed up, moss etc. Most I do on a wallow is a quick brush blind but its one time use.

Same with bear hunting an old orchard or apple tree, first come.

But deer hunting where an area has been developed with salt, bait, shooting lanes cleared, stands hung, a very particular deer is probably being hunted, the deer probably has a name.... stay out, move on, find your own spot.

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[KFhunter]

Im not a bully or Ahole, I'm a hella nice guy, it was hypothetical, a guy could get hurt horning in on a setup someones put a lot of work into. I know guys who'd drag you down out of a stand no question.

Unless you make yourself an ahole first, then I dunno. Ive never met anyone the audacity to take over my setups. So I cant say for sure.

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[smithkl42]

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.

To the extent that it *is* a question of ethics, yes, you're quite right. But it may also just be a matter of communal expectations, which is less ethics and more etiquette. (Everyone seems to agree that duck blinds are first-come-first-serve - that's a communal expectation.) And by definition, etiquette is all about how to behave *when other people are around* (or are likely to be affected by your behavior). In reading through the comments, and listening to the arguments raised on both sides, I've concluded that I see anything inherently *unethical* about climbing someone else's stand, anything more than there's something unethical about, I don't know, farting in an elevator. It makes a difference if you're alone. Just as I'd try to hold it in if someone else might smell it, I'd refrain from climbing a stand if I thought there was a reasonable chance of it annoying someone. And clearly, it sounds like it would probably annoy a good percentage of hunters. So I'll try to make sure they never have a chance to get annoyed on my behalf :-).

[2MANY]

The whole subject seems crazy to me.

In my eyes the solution is simple.


LOG IT ALL!!!!!!!!

[Pegasus]

If it causes you guys this much angst over a simple question I would hate to see how much agony occurs if you had to face a real problem...

[Odell]

Wallows keep getting mentioned, personally I dont use tree stands elk hunting, I move too much, but my take on wallows is that its a natural feature, theres no development of anything, no bait hauled in, so it would be first come first served but stay out of other stands unless its a permanent built one, outta wood,  but if its fresh hung stay out of the stand or hang your own.  You can tell if its fresh hung by pitch, bark roughed up, moss etc. Most I do on a wallow is a quick brush blind but its one time use.

Same with bear hunting an old orchard or apple tree, first come.

But deer hunting where an area has been developed with salt, bait, shooting lanes cleared, stands hung, a very particular deer is probably being hunted, the deer probably has a name.... stay out, move on, find your own spot.

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There it is again. Here is how you "own" public land...just do a bit of work, "develop an area" and it's YOUR SPOT. Doesn't matter how many others have hunted here, you cleared some lanes, you baited, you named a deer (lol) and NOW IT IS YOURS!!!

This kind of thinking makes me want to petition the banning of bait and cameras on public land.

You named the deer??? Sorry, not sorry... that is nonsense.

[Jonathan_S]

Jeez Odell you've really latched onto this one

[Odell]

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.

To the extent that it *is* a question of ethics, yes, you're quite right. But it may also just be a matter of communal expectations, which is less ethics and more etiquette. (Everyone seems to agree that duck blinds are first-come-first-serve - that's a communal expectation.) And by definition, etiquette is all about how to behave *when other people are around* (or are likely to be affected by your behavior). In reading through the comments, and listening to the arguments raised on both sides, I've concluded that I see anything inherently *unethical* about climbing someone else's stand, anything more than there's something unethical about, I don't know, farting in an elevator. It makes a difference if you're alone. Just as I'd try to hold it in if someone else might smell it, I'd refrain from climbing a stand if I thought there was a reasonable chance of it annoying someone. And clearly, it sounds like it would probably annoy a good percentage of hunters. So I'll try to make sure they never have a chance to get annoyed on my behalf :-).

Having duck hunted for 27 years I can tell you that its the communal expectation *in theory*

But it is sadly common that you are in a blind and someone shows up, gets pissed you are in "their spot" and then sets up down wind of you and ruins your day.

We have to get better at embracing the truth that public land is for everyone and sometimes that means we are going to be inconvenienced. We feel ownership over "our spots" but they aren't 'ours' we own them collectively.

[buckfvr]

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?

To me, not a lot of difference in destroying a guys trap line and messing up another mans tree stand hunt.  Both take an incredible amount of effort, mental and physical.  Many of us leave stands up year around as we hunt the same spot each year.  You're putting too much thought  into this by using terms like "reserving".  Many of us never even see another hunter in the woods where we hunt.  Seldom do we get pictures of hunters on our cams. 

A serious stand hunter uses multiple stands anyway, and if thats not an indication of much labor and thought, then you dont know enough about hunting from above. 

So whats next for some of you guys, an equal access parade

Smart hunters dont want any one else around them any more than they want to be around another mans hunt.

Respect the effort of the next guy, leave his set ups alone and move on, it IS really that simple.

[Odell]

Jeez Odell you've really latched onto this one

like a mississippi leg hound. 

Public land stuff gets me fired up. I get up way too early in the morning and have too few opportunities to hunt to have someone run me off "their spot" on public land. If someone is there first I am happy to go somewhere else, but don't expect a tent or a tree stand to hold your spot.

Shoot I get salty when people are saving a bunch of seats at a theater or some other event.

The only time it's "your spot" is when you butt is in it.

But I still want to be ethical and yield to other hunters ahead of me. A couple years ago I had a cow tag and ran into a few guys who were set up to cross into the area we were planning on going. They saw our headlamps and came over and asked our plans. Turns out we had the same exact plan but they were on a bull they had been chasing for two days and they beat us to the river crossing by a few minutes. We waited for them to go in first and then we gave them 30 minutes, crossed and went the opposite way. They didn't berate us for being there and we didn't complain about yielding. They were there first and they were on a big bull. I can chase a cow somewhere else. But we talked and it was all good.

[jakeweb]

I’ve been on both sides of this argument, but I still don’t think there’s an argument to be had here..if someone has a stand in a tree leave it alone, it’s not reserving a spot in any way though. I think if you’re hunting that area and happen to come across an empty stand, feel free to continue hunting that area as if you’d never seen the stand. Don’t go in the stand. Don’t use it. That part to me would be like finding someone’s camera and taking the memory card out. That’s his tool he has worked to have in place.  But if I had a stand and ran into someone hunting relatively close to it, I would leave and let them hunt. Simple as that. I don’t own the land any more then the next guy.

[KFhunter]

Go to Idaho and sit on someones bear bait see what happens.  I'm from an era where I have ran bear bait in WA.  Deer is the same thing.

Are you so entitled that you have to have 100% access to all the public land all the time? .... that you couldn't honor a guys hunt in one little hidey hole?

Or do you suck so bad at hunting you have to find an area where someone has done all the work already so you poach his efforts?

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[Odell]

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?

To me, not a lot of difference in destroying a guys trap line and messing up another mans tree stand hunt.  Both take an incredible amount of effort, mental and physical.  Many of us leave stands up year around as we hunt the same spot each year.  You're putting too much thought  into this by using terms like "reserving".  Many of us never even see another hunter in the woods where we hunt.  Seldom do we get pictures of hunters on our cams. 

A serious stand hunter uses multiple stands anyway, and if thats not an indication of much labor and thought, then you dont know enough about hunting from above. 

So whats next for some of you guys, an equal access parade

Smart hunters dont want any one else around them any more than they want to be around another mans hunt.

Respect the effort of the next guy, leave his set ups alone and move on, it IS really that simple.

You say other hunters should "move on" because you have a set up in the woods. It sounds like "equal access parade" is mocking those of us who want to hunt there too. Help me understand how is that not reserving or claiming a spot? It really sounds like you are saying "i did some work here, this spot is now reserved for me."  When you are not in there hunting, you have an expectation that people stay out...thats exactly reserving/claiming/owning public land

My high buck partners and I work pretty hard accessing and hunting 'our' area. Other people come in and it forces us to change our plan and "ruins" all our hard work, (just like we probably did to the guys who hunted it before us.) Should we get to put a sign up at the trailhead that says "I've put an incredible amount of effort, mental and physical...with much labor and thought into hunting this drainage, respect our effort and if you're a smart hunter move on to the next trailhead"

[KFhunter]

We arent talking about reserving a whole drainage, more like a small hidey hole tucked out of the way. If you stumbled on it that would be rare, but to go take it over shows a total disregard for your fellow hunter. Disrespect me like that how could you ever expect respect in kind? Ludicrous

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