Territorialism and how I think we could quell it

I hunt primarily public land also but I don't know about purchasing separate tags for a tree stand. Tree stands are already required to have ID's on them. If someone is hunting my spot, I just move to a different spot. It is public land after all so first come first serve.

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I don't let a stand deter me from hunting an area. I will occasionally leave a stand for a few days if I found a good area. I do wish the law about treestands left after a certain date was updated to define them as litter.

 

Hard pass on tree stand tags. I will give another hunter some space if I see he is hunting an area that day but a hung stand means nothing to me. I assume most stands get hunted only on the opener of rifle so the odds of me running into the other guy is slim. Any stand I can see evidence of being hunted hard I assume he has already blew out the area and will avoid it.

 

But what if it is just a stand that has been there since last season?? I thought they had to be removed by certain date. I guess just ground blinds. I need to review.

After all as you noted "...it is public land, first come first serve." How long does a 'reservation' hold?? Some seem to think from season to season.

As others mentioned-after a date all become litter. My son called the fish cop on a stand w/ no name. Cop came and removed it-state land.

 

This would be highly unusual. Official correspondence with the DNR a couple of years ago (and posted here on a previous thread) said they will not remove the stands. If you give them the GPS coordinates they may try to catch someone in the stand and then write a ticket and ask them to remove it.

Sadly, this is why teritorialism is such an issue. There is no (or very little) enforcement on the law requiring stands to be removed at the end of the season.

 

Totally agree. The day after they are up past the last legal day they become fair game for anyone to take down.
How many thousands are left up year-round in the state ?

L & O

 

Found 17 on a 40 acre piece in March. Bet I could sell them for $15 a piece if I could legally take them down

 

Wonder how long those 17 had been up??

They might not all be safe to use, depending??

I knlw people that put em up one weekend and by the next they were gone. They had been cabled besides. As Ive said before-some must drive around w/ bolt cutters in the trunk/truck. In the big city that would be considered bugluary tools.

 

Looking back over years, hunting state or federal land produced far fewer issues for our old crew relating to "territorialism" - and most other issues in general, then did "territorial" neighbors on shared boundaries on private land. The vast majority of hunters that I've met on public lands were overwhelmingly decent people, but I can't say the same for a good handful of the private land folks. I hope - for the sake of future small property owners, that our experiences, mainly as we all got older, were the exception and not the rule.
My advice has always been never buy a hunting property until/unless you assert a 100% effort into ascertaining your neighbors hunting ethics. Its the single most important factor you should consider when buying hunting property.

 

Great advice. Due diligence is always appropriate but the caveat to that is...in two years the best neighbor in the world sells to a less than great neighbor and all your research is down the tubes. Since we don't have a crystal ball, I guess it is what it is.

'bout the only cure for worrying about nasty neighbor - fence sitters on small properties is to not be a small landowner. Win the lotto and buy enough property in the SLP so that no matter where the neighbors sit it won't matter...or spend a lot less and get a 40 or more in the UP where you might never even hear a shot other than during the first week. FM

 

you are correct, claiming is a huge issue on public land. down here in southern mi the state parcels are small and year over year claiming is rampant on EVERY parcel. the dnr not addressing this elephant in the room has made it worse. i once suggested daily stand use only. not allowing all year stands. i am not a fan of your suggestion but i understand the issue. even if a new law was made, i doubt it would get enforced, similar to the lack of current enforcement.
allowing year over year stands to be removed by anyone under the state abandonment law would help. the state allows vehicles left on highways to be recovered under abandonment and vehicles are more expensive than tree stands. if you find a 100 dollar bill on state land, do you have to leave it? NO! treestands should be no exception.

 

So right you are!!!! Some things are beyond our control. Many stories have been written about the scenario you described. Good luck to you this year, reluctantly, this might be my first year ever I miss the entire season.

 

As far as I'm concerned if there's a tree stand up past the required date for it to be taken down and before the date they're allowed to be put up, that's litter. Remove it. There's no law preventing you from doing that.

I'm on the extreme side, I think all stands and blinds that are used on public land need to be removed everyday. There are states that follow this practice.

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