Law Breakers

[JRM KY]

with the decline in hunters this country has every year id rather see people enjoy the the spot and if that means they need to hang a stand with screw in steps so be it. we are our own worst enemy some times. now if that guy was taking deer illegally or other major violations that is bad for the wildlife then i might call but. who knows that guy might find a big buck you lost and tell you he found it when you walk out too the parking lot, or maybe he will jump start your car one day. who knows he might be a real good guy. i just try to treat every man and woman with respect and curtsy till proven otherwise.

Exactly!!!

[rfickes87]

Thanks for the input guys. It's funny though, because even with that guy's stand out there, I still found some decent sign. Nothing too spectacular to my very untrained eye, but still sign. Makes me wonder if I could slip in before he tries to hunt it and get one early. I'll have to see what my cameras tell me an go from there. That is, as long as the camera/card is still there when I get back to check it.

Thanks again for the help!

I found 3 stands on one piece here in PA and i called it in. I never got a thank you or that they took care of it. So who's knows...

I scouted all the bedding on that property and those bucks could bed, go for food and go for water and never be seen by any of those stands. I'm kind of kicking myself. Leaving those stand there might have done me good. Might have helped keep the bucks stacked where i found the bedding and such

[Twenty Up]

I leave it be unless it’s a significant violation, our Wardens are understaffed trying to catch poachers & road hunters as it is. A couple stands on public they could care less.

They couldn’t even catch poachers when I gave them GPS coordinates to their stands

[ghoasthunter]

Thanks for the input guys. It's funny though, because even with that guy's stand out there, I still found some decent sign. Nothing too spectacular to my very untrained eye, but still sign. Makes me wonder if I could slip in before he tries to hunt it and get one early. I'll have to see what my cameras tell me an go from there. That is, as long as the camera/card is still there when I get back to check it.

Thanks again for the help!

dont leave your cams at ground level put them up in trees with a climbing stick or two. its saved a lot of my sd cards

[JakeB]

Stands left out really don’t bother me too much. I guess I get it, that’s how most guys hunt. What I don’t do is let the stands stop me from hunting an area if it’s where I want to be. They also let me and all the animals know where they hunt.

Now it really ticks me off to walk up on a pile of corn or rice bran on public. If you can’t hunt the deer get yourself a lease and do what you want over there.

I’ve considered getting a hand full of game warden business cards to put in ziplocks and attach them to the stands and piles of bait I find. I don’t think calling the law will do anything, those guys don’t seem to get out of the truck anymore and are content writing pointless tickets in parking lots, while deer are getting shot at night.

[peteherbst]

Stands left out really don’t bother me too much. I guess I get it, that’s how most guys hunt. What I don’t do is let the stands stop me from hunting an area if it’s where I want to be. They also let me and all the animals know where they hunt.

Now it really ticks me off to walk up on a pile of corn or rice bran on public. If you can’t hunt the deer get yourself a lease and do what you want over there.

I’ve considered getting a hand full of game warden business cards to put in ziplocks and attach them to the stands and piles of bait I find. I don’t think calling the law will do anything, those guys don’t seem to get out of the truck anymore and are content writing pointless tickets in parking lots, while deer are getting shot at night.

I've thought of that ziplock idea as well. Just letting the guy know that "Hey there are other guys out here" and some of them don't break the law might push him or her towards a straighter path.

[peteherbst]

Or maybe just put the Fred Bear quote that's in my signature in a ziplock and pin it to the tree.

[shocker99]

I’m not one to scream foul at first minor violation I see. Though these laws are put in place for a reason. One guy could leave 15 stands in the woods if these rules weren’t put in place. What I’ve done on couple occasions is took their set down and left at base of tree. They got the point.

[Horizontal Hunter]

Stands left out really don’t bother me too much. I guess I get it, that’s how most guys hunt. What I don’t do is let the stands stop me from hunting an area if it’s where I want to be. They also let me and all the animals know where they hunt.

Now it really ticks me off to walk up on a pile of corn or rice bran on public. If you can’t hunt the deer get yourself a lease and do what you want over there.

Same here.

If I want to know if the stand is being used I will hang a branch on it.

Bob

[BKMississippi]

I asked an out of state warden about stands being left out. He said he doesn't write tickets for it. In the wma I hunt at home, it's legal to leave a stand out but if someone is sitting in it when you go hunting it's just tough luck. Also, you never know when they're going to start prescribed burning so it's a gamble to leave them out.

[Dpierce72]

I guess I don't necessarily mind them, but I do hang a branch in the stick/ladder to determine if they are used (as mentioned above). It also helps me cross more spots off the map which narrows my search.

[Rutnstrut]

I report every illegal stand I see. As I have said many times. Either you are part of the problem, or part of the solution.

[CChunter2]

I have only been hunting public for 5 years or so and seriously for only 2. But in my area there is a stand in 90% of ever good looking terrain feature that's been left from year to year. So it doesn't really bother me to see them left. Because it shows me more or less where I'm not killing a 4 plus year old deer. If they were going past those stands routinely they would have already been killed. Just my opinion

[blackwidow]

I used to work for the department of conservation when I got right out of high school. We took care of several areas, keeping them maintained, planting crops, doing TSI, that sort of stuff. We were told that if we came across any stands after the time they were supposed to be removed that we should remove them ourselves. Told to keep them if we want or give them to somebody that would use them. Nobody was getting a free pass and everybody had to play by the rules. Right or wrong, that was how we were instructed to handle the issue. If guys didn't want to take them down, we would take them down for them.

[hambone]

Legally, all stands on MO public must be plainly labeled with the name and address or conservation number of the owner. Stands cannot be set up before Sept. 1st and must be removed by Feb. 1st the following year. The law is just too much for some people to abide. There are trees grown into stands, all over Missouri public land. If the MDC can continually fly over private land, checking stands for hunters who aren't wearing orange in Mo Firearms Season, they already know where the stands are on public. Bottom line is, there is no money in removing the stands from the woods. Besides that, somebody would have to get out the truck to remove illegal stands, so that ain't happening. Other than seeing nice White Oaks grown into tree stands which pisses me off considerably, I consider the site as infected. I mark them on my GPS move along and steer clear of them in the future.