In general I like the idea of being able to keep a stand out on public land, but I'm not sure allowing it all season long is the best idea. With trying to get in the woods with my youngest daughter, it would certainly be easier to setup ahead of time so we only needed to walk in when we actually hunt. But I can definitely see hunters going out and leaving a stand sit and only hunt from it a couple days all season. would be nice if there was a good way to limit them to no more than a week at a time without having to take them down. Maybe only allow them overnight from Wed-Sunday. https://www.wpr.org/dnr-oks-leaving-tree-stands-overnight-public-land
This is just a change to WDNR lands. National Forest and many northern Counties have allowed this for many years. Sure, there have been some problems but more problems with bait sitters getting territorial. I like it so I can slip into hunt in the dark without making noise. Alos safer since I don't have to do it in the dark and set up only once instead of very hunt.
If you have a stand on public, get there at first light and another hunter is setup 10 yards from your prehung stand, what do you do? If the other hunter was there first he has as much right to hunt that spot as you do. Do you hunt your stand, do you leave, do you pull your stand and move, or do you confront the hunter for hunting "your spot".
If someone beats me into "my" area of public woods, then it's incumbent on me to relocate. I wouldn't pull my stand b/c that could screw him over. I'd make do for the day. I've spot/stalked/shot deer from the ground before... Takem- I'm curious; what "issues" does it cause? I've hunted public land in IN and MI for 25+ years and never had any issues resulting from that.
Its the same issue if they stand is there in advance or not. Nobody can claim any area. Simple as that. The stand being able to stay there reserves nothing. You either will have respectful hunters or you won't.
People think they own the spot.... Hunt close because they are to lazy to move, or it is getting light and they think it is too late.... Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
Maybe just me, but I think it's more disruptive to have guys coming in and out pulling stands then it is to leave several out in the woods all season...long as it's "first come/serve" and every one knows that ahead of time, what's the issue?
The problem comes from folks who do not respect much of anything. Folks will set up 20 stands and only hunt one or two during the season. They "expect" sportsmen will honor the stand and not hunt in the general area so they feel their "spot" is protected. Then you have guys who say, it's not my stand, but I got here first - prove it's your stand! Oh, believe me - there are issues on both sides of this argument. dnoodles, I agree with your comment, but there are definitely issues even though everybody "knows" the story ahead of time. BJE80 is right - you will run into respectful hunters or you won't. Public land can be challenging to say the least. You folks in big states may not have as much of an issue as those of us in small states. Some of you guys have public land larger than my state of RI. We have a total of 66,000 acres of public land! Try and put 200,000 hunters on that kind space. Yeah, there are always issues! Trust me.
I put mine out 2 weeks before season and pick them up after January 1st. It is nice to just climb into a pre hung stand. Been doing this for 10+ years and have never had a problem. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Feel like it could cause some issues like many have stated. Can obviously be inconvenient to set up a stand everytime you go, but feel like that is the better option.
there used to be a wisconite that worked here and he said that law wasnt obeyed anyhow, he said you'll walk around the woods and there are stands up all over the place, he hunted north of hayward. said the samething about baiting, i beleive he said there is a period when you can bait and how much, but there again, other guys would disregard it and it almost sounded like CO's just didnt give a rip. I would always ask him why WI has to bait to hunt just to get him going
Yea I hunt in Wisconsin and there are a lot of people who hunt but all they do is dump a huge pile of corn and sit on that. Even though there was a ban plenty of people still baited obviously.
In my opinion I never understood why one part of the state can and one part can't. It would be nice to be able to keep a stand out on public. It's at your own risk of having it stolen. I think that if you leave it out there then the information for the owner should be attached, yes anyone can hunt it, it is public. Just make sure you're the first to it. I hunt a lot of public land. I hike in 1 to 2 miles with my Stand, sticks, bow, and gear on my back. It's a pain lugging that in, making a ton of noise and then having to set up a stand in the dark. Talk about unsafe. I just feel that the WDNR would want everyone to be as safe as possible. If one part of the state allows it then why not allow it in the entire state?
