birddown101
Member
Is it legal or illegal to sit in any treestand you find hanging on public property? I use a climber but had this discussion with a fellow hunter and couldn't seem to find the answer in the rules and regs...
Public is public and therefor anything left on the property is public property. Which means your free to technically use anyone's stuff whether that be a treestand or a groundblind. Let's be honest though, would you really consider using someone else's stand?
So if anything is left on public it is fair game? So I can check somebody else traps or cameras. How about eating his lunch out of the back of his truck? Why not fake a tree stand injury and leach off the guy and his family the rest of his life. Give me a break.
I get what you are saying. Treestands left on public are open to anyone who gets there first to sit in then but that doesn't allow for theft. Im very cautious to get away from other hunters. If I do leave a stand up its in an area that I have a fairly good feeling that no one else will visit. I do pack in and out each hunt but I have left treestands over night.
I asked this earlier but I'll ask again. If you put a ladder stand on public ground and leave it only to return at a later date and find someone in a climber 10 feet and away. Would you still hunt from your setup?
No, I would back out and go someplace else. However if I walked in and he was sitting in my ladder stand I would ask him to leave and if he refused I would proceed to take it down. He would have the option to leave it before it hit the ground.
That's funny.
I don't believe hanging a stand reserves a spot but I do believe in ethics and common courtesy which dictate that you don't use somebody else's equipment whether it's on public land or not and the first one to set-up in a spot THAT DAY deserves the spot.