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? Your Opinions on Permanent Stands On Public Land ?

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IaCraig

New Member
Here is my pet peeve: I have been bow hunting public lands for many years, and I have seen lots of spots I'd like to try but there is already a permanent stand in a nearby tree but no one seems to ever be hunting in them. I wish people would use portables and take them down so when they are not in use so other hunters can hunt the area.

I can't get myself to sit in someone elses stand, or setup close to them. But it ticks me off to miss out on some very good funnel areas, just because someone wired some boards in a tree a few years ago. I should mention that these are probably legal stands because they are put in the tree with plastic coated cable, and they look new enough to still be solid.

You get to vote, am I a jerk or do you share my views that permanent stands should not be allowed on public land?

IaCraig
 
If my memory serves me right, it is illegal to make a permanent stand on a public hunting area. Just for the reason that if everybody that hunted built one, imagine the # of decrepit eyesores you would see on public land. You have to use strap-on steps and a portable stand if you are treestand hunting on public land.
 
No such thing as a "private personal stand" on public land. I'm not going to sit in your stand but if there is no indication that you are hunting there at the present time then I will set mine up in the area if I so desire. Don't get me wrong...I take great strides to give other hunters their birth but I've seen folks set up behemoth wooden ladder stands and portables and leave them all year claiming that's their woods. Yet you only see them hunting there occasionally. I stake out multiple sites and if someone else is already there when I arrive I just quietly back out and go to another.
 
Hunting on public land is a trick in itself. It's not just the permanant stands that are a pain, it's the guys who put up 4 or 5 stands a piece in the same area that lock up public hunt areas. Read the what I posted on (Hunting on top of each other) it is the same thing everywhere. I would say if you hunt this place enough, and you never see someone there, I would go ahead and hunt..If a guy come to hunt,explain the situation and see if there is some compromise! Most of the guys I met in the field would understand where you are coming from, and maybe he could tell you when he plans to hunt. The ultimate goal between hunters on public land, is to co-exsist without hurting each others chances. Right?
 
I rarely hunt on public land, but if I'm ever walking on public land and see a permanent stand, I will tear it down.
 
I'm gonna try some public hunting next year. Lots of good land out there...and I think it would be cool to shoot a nice one on public ground. I'm gonna try it here in a couple of days during late muzzleloader.
 
Swanny,

I started utilizing public grounds for 95% of my bow/muz hunting several years ago. I am amazed how few other deer hunters I see during bow season. I have shot a few decent bucks & a couple does, nothing P&Y but I've see a couple in that class. It seems like the big boys don't stick around long in the public areas I hunt. I think quite a few people wander around during mid-day to trap or hunt small game and preditors or just check things out, so the big boys don't have much of a chance to get comfortable and careless.

Good Luck,

IaCraig
 
I went to a four county area of West Virginia to hunt this year, the area has been bowhunting only for 22 years, it holds some monsterous animals.Myself and a friend hunted public ground for 7 dasys straight,
we covered a lot of ground, it is very mountanous, every good saddle or potential setup area we found had either a permanent
stand built in it or a portable hung. Many of the portables were there for several seasons, as the trees were grown over the chains of the stands. Another disturbing item
was almost every stand area we came across had salt/mineral blocks or deer cocaine nearby,(baiting is legal in WVA, even on public land. We didn't tag any deer but both saw several pushing the 150"-160" mark. To get back to the orignal question, my opinion
on permanent stands on public land, is that they should not be allowed, and portables should have to be taken out with the hunter at the end of the days hunt.
 
Put a stand any place you want. If you're the first one there in the morning or afternoon, then kindly say "see ya later" to the other hunter when he walks in. If he is there first then sneak out and he probably won't even know you came by.
 
Personally I tend to hunt public land quite a bit, and I can tell you one thing for certain it can really get frustrating, with hunters coming by, but it also has a lot of rewards. I myself don't think leaving stands in over an extended period of time is a good thing, for one reason it just gives someone the opportunity to steal your stand, and another it just advertises where in the woods you hunt.

I myself take my stand out every time and put it up in trees that I'm familiar with and it is not a big hassle, and I have become quite good at doing it quickly and quietly. I do add that I will leave my stand in on one exception to the rule and that is if I'm the last one out at night or am planning a morning hunt. Basically this gives me the incentive to be out there before anyone else in the morning and I'm not falling out of a tree in the dark before the sun comes up.

I think that public land can be rewarding if you know and understand the area and are willing to go the extra mile that others are not willing to. A person can even use all the day pressure of others hunters to your advantage if you have a good enough understanding of where most people generally hunt. The major drawback that I have with even thinking about public land isn't the stands left up which i rarely see, it is the long drag off without a motorized vehicle.

If You want to see the proof that public land works go to the lastest pics and see jon everson's deer or go to last years pics and that was also a public land deer. But make not mistake public land hunting is not a gimmey, it does take patience, more so I think that private.
 
Thanks for the quick replys. Swany's comments led me to check out the DNR websites and I was suprised by what I found:
http://www.state.ia.us/government/dnr/organiza/fwb/enforcmt/deerhunt.htm

Tree stands. You may not build permanent tree stands on state public hunting areas

http://www.state.ia.us/government/dnr/organiza/fwb/enforcmt/huntinfo.htm#BLINDS

Portable blinds placed in trees and used for purposes other than hunting waterfowl may be left on an area for a continuous period of time beginning seven days prior to the open season for hunting deer or turkey and ending seven days after the final day of that open season.

I'll probably setup closer to these old stands next year. Since they are technically illegal stands anyway, I can do so with a clear concious.

IaCraig
 
I have hunted public land almost exclusively for the last 6 years and have come across the same thing many times. If a stand is not ocupied for a long time, I don't hesitate to put up a stand in the area and hunt it. Only once have I run into the other hunter, and after a quick hello, we went our seperate ways with no harm done. First come first serve when you're on public land. I'm sure that some hunter's wouldn't be as agreeable as others, but most would be understanding. Most of the time the stands are for hunter's who only hunt weekends. This leaves a lot of free time during the week for you to hunt the area. I always talk to other hunters that I meet in the area and ask where they are headed and when they expect to be back so we can hunt different areas and don't set up too close to one another. This has always worked well for me.
 
Fastflyght:

I also usually setup my stand in the afternoon, hunt that night and the next morning and then carry it out with me.

For those long drags, I bought one of the 2 wheel carts you pull behind you 3-4 years ago called the mule, and it works great for packing deer out. I know the newer ones are designed even better with a wider wheelbase and/or lower center of gravity to work better on side hills. Anyway this year I used mine on a 3/4 mile deer and another one around 1/2 mile. if you get on a good trail or bean/corn stubble you can pull it just as fast as you can walk!



[This message has been edited by IaCraig (edited 01-01-2002).]
 
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