Public Land Stand Etiquette Question

[NYSKIER]

Quick Etiquette Question wanted to get some opinions from fellow hunt talkers. I usually hunt a small chunk of private when I'm home and hunt all public when I'm out west. Usually out west the pieces of land are huge and even if I only see one car I'll give a super wide berth or go to another spot all together. T

Long story short this year my small private whitetail chunk stinks so this morning I went out to scout a small public spot close to home that looked good on the map. I found a good rub line/trail however it is around 100 yards away from a lock on stand which I found out scouting with a thin line of trees in between. The property isn't that big and in my limited scouting this is the best spot the I could see from a sign perspective and it is in a really thick area.

My first inclination is to just hunt the spot that is around 100 yards away and potentially leave a note when at that hang on stand to try and contact the owner. I definately would not walk in to hunt if I saw a car at the very limited (1 possibly 2 car lot) Or should I just move on. I've seen lots of different posts and answers on the topic so I just wanted to see how some guys would respond to my predicament. The spot is only about a .5mi x .5mi track.

 

[Carnage2011]

I'd personally hunt it as long as no one else is there when i show up. If someone is parked there i'd move on, but there's no reason not to hunt it otherwise.

 

[Crumb]

If there is not a vehicle in the parking lot, hunt the spot period. Just because someone left a stand up doesn’t mean it’s their spot, it’s public land.

 

[vanish]

I've seen plenty of stands on public where I'm not sure the owner ever used it all season.

 

[np307]

Hunt it. I hunt public land whitetails here in NC and I've walked past plenty of blinds and stands. I don't even think twice about it if nobody is parked there. You might even want to take a look at the stand, there's a chance it has just been left and not hunted for a while. Not sure about how the season works where you're from, but our bow season is in the heat of late summer/early fall so I have all the public land just about to myself. Something to keep in mind for next year.

 

[NYSKIER]

Thanks for the input guys I was thinking the same way as all of you just wanted to reach out to see what you guys would say. I plan on hunting the spot as long as I don't see a car there.

 

[brymoore]

First come, first serve. I wouldn’t let someone hold a public land spot with a stand.

 

[Reeltime]

I agree, hunt it!

 

[MThuntr]

Hunt it but be prepared for a possibly grumpy pants even though they feel they "claimed" the spot

 

[406LIFE]

I'd hunt it and id leave a note. See if you could work together

 

[mplane72]

I've never sat in another guys stand. I have set my own stand in a tree 10 feet away from someone else's stand. Some guys have stands set all over the place and may never sit in them all through a season. In this case it didn't look like anyone had been there recently.

 

[Rancho Loco]

I'd sit in it. Hell, if I have a stand out and someone uses it when I'm not there I wouldn't care.

If they kill something though, it'd be nice to find a note and a nice bottle of whisky for thanks.

 

[OhHeyThereBen]

I agree with the above. This fall I hunted a relatively pressured area and gave my number to all of the college kids that I met back there. There's no point in not working together in a circumstance like that.

I will say that most people that I've ran into (maybe it's the age group?) never contacted me at all about it. But at least they could if they wanted to. A note with your name and number would be a nice touch.

Where I hunted there are hang on stands all over the place. But everyone that hangs one back there realizes that it's public land and you could have someone hunting 50 yards from you.

 

[NYSKIER]

I'd sit in it. Hell, if I have a stand out and someone uses it when I'm not there I wouldn't care.

If they kill something though, it'd be nice to find a note and a nice bottle of whisky for thanks.

I would be in that school of thought. If only everyone was like that. Hunted the general spot twice and left out camera. Not much on camera but there were tracks and sign everywhere after the snow the other day. I'm going to keep scouting and hopefully will find something

 

[Mallardsx2]

Unreal the amount of people saying they would hunt out of another mans treestand.


Ethics have clearly flown right out the proverbial window. Unreal. It sums up my season seeing these kinds of posts.

 

[awbowhunter]

I would never, EVER, hunt another mans stand on public land. BUT..... food for thought....true story.

Last year I was hunting public land in Illinois. I had walked in to scout a funnel area I was familiar with and walked up on a climber hanging on a tree very close to where I planned to hunt. Bummed out someone was there already I backed out and hunted another area the rest of the week. On one of my last days there I went back to check that area and the stand was gone. No telling how many days it had been gone either. May have been pulled just hours after I was there. Another thought that comes to mind is what if the owner of said stand left it there a month ago, don't hunt it again all season, you just don't know. I would hunt the area if you want to....it is public land....BUT if you run into the other hunter be polite, and have a conversation. Then move on if he plans to continue to hunt the area. JMO

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Unreal the amount of people saying they would hunt out of another mans treestand.


Ethics have clearly flown right out the proverbial window. Unreal. It sums up my season seeing these kinds of posts.

Disagree totally depends on the context, there is a piece of public that I used to hunt that has "permanent" tree stands. Not sure who put them up or when but they were up for at least 4 years and I never saw anyone in them, I think anyone who got there first thing in the morning was totally justified in using them. But yes if you put your stand up a couple of days before the season, get there 90min before first light and find someone in your stand you have every right to be pissed.

 

[onpoint]

Unreal the amount of people saying they would hunt out of another mans treestand.


Ethics have clearly flown right out the proverbial window. Unreal. It sums up my season seeing these kinds of posts.

Hmm. I've been reading stuff on here since I think 2010 (?) and I gotta' say the content of this thread ranks right down there at the very bottom of the "alarming" scale to me. Might be an Eastern vs Western attitude thing.
My wife likes to hunt whitetails.
We hunted a piece of public land on a river bottom the other day. We observed three unoccupied tree stands that morning. One looked as if it had been there a LONG time. One had no boot prints in what was five day old scattered snow at it's base. The other was a permanent wooden job.
I get bored sitting watching for WT's, but if I didn't, I'd a set in any one of them and not thought twice. Quite happy with my "ethics"................

 

[vanish]

Unreal the amount of people saying they would hunt out of another mans treestand. Ethics have clearly flown right out the proverbial window. Unreal. It sums up my season seeing these kinds of posts.

It might help if you explained why it is unethical? Educate us!

Where I am hunting, there are few trees that can support a treestand. Nearly every treestand I see on public land has nobody using it 95% of the season. Most of them are left up beyond the legal timeframe and are not legally marked as required by law. I don't usually sits in other's stands, but when I find one in a good spot, I will often climb up and check out the view to assess that tree for future use.

Legally, its first come first served, but I wouldn't be "that guy" either. If the stand owner came along, I'd hop out and move along, but its never happened. I guess that's my ethical line?

 

[MN Public Hunter]

I would hunt your spot and not worry about the other persons stand.

Here it would be an illegal stand anyhow because you can't leave your stand on public land overnight as it needs to be removed daily. I believe the rules are different for state forests, like 14 days or something like that. Because it is illegal here, I take a picture of it with GPS on and send it too the DNR who then monitors it or goes and takes it down.