So here in Maryland it is illegal to hand a stand of a permanent nature on public land. That includes hang-ons and ladder stands unless you remove them every day. During my pre-season scouting I ran across quite a few . . . and the dummies didn't even chain them or anything. No I am not asking weather I should take them. My question is this. . . it is a little plot of land, and if I report the stands I fear that DNR will mess with the deer movement by marching in a removing the stands. So what would you do?
p.s it is a small plot of bow only NPS land, only about 10-15 acres surrounded by NPS land that is not hunted.
I think that if I saw that, under the circumstances you describe, I would not do anything. At least not until well into the season. By then, I don't think it will matter about them marching in.
I have the same problem on some public land in IL. same rules on the stands must be removed daily, I take GPS readings on there locations and contact the local CO. He has no problem removing them! Of course this property is considerably larger than the one you desribed.
if safe i would remove the stand frome the tree (not steal it) just un chain/strap it and leave it at the base of the tree for the owner to find next time they came in. Hopefully that would give them the hint.
I would turn it in.No reason they can't be required to follow the rules like you are.One trip in there to pull stands won't do any major damage to deer movement.When does your season start?
I used to have a really good spot on public land - it was as good a spot as I've ever found. Killed a lot of deer there with a bow over the years. It was a couple of funnels coming together about 75 yards apart.
This place was so remote that no one ever came across it, but I checked it each year around the time of the annual gun weekend on this place. Lots of people hunted the gun hunt there.
One year the day before gun day, I found where someone had come in by boat, parked right next to my perfect spot, walked right past it and out into a big section of woods about a quarter mile and and set up a climber and then left. I knew exactly where they walked because they hung out a roll of white flagging along the way about every 15 yards they had a 6 foot long piece of it. At one point along the way they had brushed the leaves off the ground and made a huge arrow out of white flagging pointing toward their stand.
So, I followed the flagging to the stand, (illegal to leave overnight) and I climbed up the tree in it, used the pull rope to tie it to the tree about 15 feet up. I then slid out down the tree trunk, backtracked the flagging to the big arrow, made the arrow point in a different direction, and then hung the flagging back out so that they would end up back at the water 100 yards from their boat.
I slipped in a different way in the morning and watched the guy's flashlight bob around the woods. I didn't see any deer, but it was entertaining. The guy had planned to hike right on past BY FAR the best spot on a 17,000 acre NWR. I lost count of how many deer my buddy and I killed out of that spot, and we never saw another person around there after that.
i agree with bowmaster12, just in case they don't know the law, (which we know ignorance is no excuse) but maybe leave them a not with there stand at the bottom of the tree. they will either take it when they leave, ignore you, or put a lock on it. you would still have the option of calling dnr, or cutting the strap off or removing there attaching mechanism. it wouldn't cost them much. i certainly don't avocate, stilling it. :knothead:
take them down an leave them at the base of the tree . maybe they will get the hint. or do nothing go hunt somewhere else why would you want to hunt on such a small place when you know someone can come in there an ruin your hunt at anytime.focus on hunting dont spend your season being pissed off at them.it aint worth it!
I dealt with this once at Patoka Lake in Southern Indiana. I found a beauty of a new treestand built in one of the finest looking (and valuable) white oak trees you could ever see. I located the stand on an aerial photo and turned it over to the local Conservation Officer. The officer sat near the stand on opening morning of firearms season and nabbed the hunter. He admitted building the stand and took the CO to his buddy who was hunting in a permanent (illegal) stand also. Both were cited for damaging trees.
Yep, this was a very disruptive activity -- I didn't hunt anywhere near this location on opening day because I knew the turmoil would disturb everything.
Not all officers would do what this one did though and stake out the illegal stands.
Report it immediately with out a question.
QuoteOriginally posted by JimB:
I would turn it in.No reason they can't be required to follow the rules like you are.One trip in there to pull stands won't do any major damage to deer movement.When does your season start?
What he said. Rules are rules and everyone needs to follow them. If they don't know the laws then shame on them for not reading and learning them.
QuoteOriginally posted by JimB:
I would turn it in.No reason they can't be required to follow the rules like you are.One trip in there to pull stands won't do any major damage to deer movement.When does your season start?
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :clapper: :clapper:
I think this is the way to handle it.
Frank
do it now so the woods will settle down a bit
It is a matter for the law.
I hunt on pl and you can't put a stand up before Sept 15 but a lot of people still do.
I would report it-certainly not take any action on my own.
Different story if the stands were on my land.
Report it to the law. If it is a savory character it could cause you more trouble than it is worth by taking it down yourself. It could be someone that don't know all of the laws.
Sorry, I meant unsavory. :dunno:
I'd report it as well. If you take them down. And the law comes good luck proveing they're not yours. Do it now so the area will settle down. Good luck.
Magnus
Several years ago I scouted an area and noticed flagging tape everywhere which was illegal in the area. I spent several hours scouting and removing tape. Got back to my truck with a ball of tape big as a socker ball. Saturday morning, opening day of bow season, was in my treestand an hour before daylight. Atleast 5 different guys came by looking for their stand, felt bad, I had ruined their hunt and mine. Now I just paddle my boat and let them do the same......James
With that much activity in that small of an area, you don't have to worry about the DNR screwing up deer movement, all of your hunting buddies already have it screwed... Report it.
I would poop and pee all over their Bait pile. Anyone acting like that would surely have a huge pile of corn exactly 20 yards from the stand.
People like that are the exact people I try to avoid while hunting.
I would go to another location hopefully void of other hunters because even if the tree stand may be removed, you will still have people walking around looking for it.
My time in the woods is too short to go hunting down criminals, I would move on.
Chris it sounds like your area is small and that's too bad, perhaps mid week adventures? I bet most those guys walk in 1.5 hours before dark and are back to their trucks by 7 am. Mid day hunts might be productive too.
If you want a tree stand taken down, then you might as well take it down yourself. Imagine the trouble it would be to report good enough coordinates so your state agent can hike in and take it down. That is, provided he feels like taking a hike.
A farmer friend of mine here in Ohio if he finds a treestand he takes it down and leaves a note telling them if they want it back come to the house. It is amazing that there have been some who do go and ask for their treestand back. The farmer also calls the gamewarden and tells him about what he did.
I got so tired of illegal stuff, and other issues afield that bother me, that I don't even hunt anymore. I just like to make bows and shoot, and hear the stories from others that use my bows to take game.
Leave it up to the law. If you mess with their stand and someone gets hurt your liable. I do remove all colored tape I find in the woods. Last year someone was leaving his beer cans where he moved off the road to his hunting areas. I picked them all up wondering what slob was littering. I had a good laugh when I heard him complaining to a buddy about it at the trailhead the next evening. Apparently he couldn't find his hunting spot without a silver can to mark it.
Turn it in now.
If there are that many permanent stands in one small area then the one time intrusion of a conservation officer would be better. Otherwise you will have the constant intrusion of the other non-rule following hunters ALL season long. Once is better than all season(that will definitely change deer patterns)!
The other hunters have the right to be there, but should follow the rules. You will likely still have to share the spot, but at least it will be with more contientious people.
Just my 2 cents,
I would print out the section of the law covering it and pin it to the stand after leaving it at the base of the the tree with a warning it would not be there the next time it was left in the woods.
For decades, baiting was the most common way people "bowhunted" in Michigan. It was banned two years ago. Compliance is low. VERY LOW!
After finding lots of illegal baitpiles on public land, I had my wife make up and print some warning letters, and made them look official, as if they were from a Conservation Officer. They state the law and describe the fines, and explain that anyone found hunting in the area will get a citation. They really look official, complete with MY scribbled, impossible to read signature. The warning ends with instructions to scatter the bait and remove the stand(s) and no further action will be taken. I put out over TWO DOZEN last fall, and in EVERY situation, the next time I returned, they were GONE. Worked EVERY time. They probably just moved elsewhere, BUT it at least made them THINK!
I have no idea if I broke the law by doing what I did. I ran into a CO towards the end of November, and told him what I had been doing. With a smile, he told me I should "probably" stop.
It worked too good to stop. ;)
I agree with those who say to report it to DNR. I'm not sure if there could be legal consequences for you if you bother someone else's property, even if it is there illegally. But there is no reason to take a chace. Let the law handle it.
Alrighty guys thanks for the input, my little sister is friends with a girl who's father is the head of Maryland's three western counties. I will talk to him.
to the fellow that asked why I would want to hunt such a small area .. . thats where the deer are, lol
I am not to dependent on this area, right down the road is another chunk of public land, 169 acres. and not far up the road is another 5500 acres. But those areas are overhunted a bit. I wish my 55000 acres of public land was closer than 1.5 hours away :(
as far as touching another persons property goes i wouldnt.you're not the dnr/co so its really not your place to do it.let the people who's job it is to control these things do it.you'll only start a fight if you take them down.maybe post a note to the tree at eye level.if you dont want the dnr/co walking in and disturbing the area then a note is as far as i would go.jmho
If it is illegal... without a doubt turn it in. If you allow it to go on then you have no right to complain about it. Those laws are there for all of us.
I guarantee you if I find your stands in the woods I hunt I will either mark it with a glow stick and tell the DNR or I will take coordinates and then tell the DNR.
What I would not do is take it down or take it away. That is theft. Just get good directions, or coordinates and call the DNR.
As for the tape / ribbons. I take them down too. Small pieces placed so that they are not obvious and obtrusive I will leave. The rest are trash and litter. I pick up litter and trash in the areas I hunt.
ChuckC
Here's a suggestion:
Make up a flyer that explains that it's illegal, and that if people keep breaking the law, eventually everyone will lose the priveledge of hunting in that area.
Put them in ziplock baggies & always have a few with you.
Put them at the illegal tree stands (you'll have to decide whether to take them down or leave them standing).
It's possible some people don't know it's illegal, or never thought about the possible consequences.
Hey, let me let you legal eagles in on something... I used to hunt on a large NWR with very limited access by foot. You either boated in or hiked more than a mile or both to get to some good areas. I ran across climbers that were left in there overnight on numerous occasions. Better than 50% of the time, they belonged to one guy - one of the Fed. Game Warden's son. He didn't have to hike - his dad gave him a ride. This guy was in maintenance - not enforcement.
The story I related earlier happened in a different part of the same refuge, and I knew it wasn't the game warden's son. I would not turn in the game warden's son, because frankly there is no reason to rock the boat. I had a good relationship with the enforcement guy (different guy) on that place, he respected me and liked me, and saw no reason to piss off any of them. Especially when I had 18,000 acres to roam on that weren't the game warden's son's favorite spot.
So, the situation is not always cut and dry. Turning in a game warden's son would have made my favorite piece of public land less enjoyable to hunt from then on, I promise you.
Slade,, it sounds like you should have reported the illegal action of the warden and his son to his supervisor..
Don't know about down there, but up here he would probably be looking for other employment rather quickly. At least he would have a clear understanding between himself and the guy who writes his annual review.
Now if it was the county judges son or kin, it would probably be a different story.