Wow. I cant imagine. I might hang it all up if that happened to me. Ive never left my bow. Stand only if I was going to leave at dark and return at dark. But thats on public.
That sucks and I feel bad for your buddy but....I cant imagine leaving my stuff overnight in a tree! A cheap stand, yes, my bow and a bunch of other gear no FREAKING way.
There is NO WAY this would ever happen. I work way to Hard for my expensive toys and time in the field to Ever leave it behind. Pack it in and pack it out. We have to face the facts..human nature. His gear is most likely still local and if time allows he should hunt every venue, pawn shop,classified ad, and make reports with local shops and shooting ranges...statewide. That is tough and a hard, expensive lesson.
That really sucks. I had a trail camera stolen earlier this season, and that was a blow. I can not imagine all that gear being ganked.
Man this crap is rampant. Has he been talking about where he's been hunting to various people? Somebody knew he was there.
That really sucks! I feel really bad for your friend. I have left my bow in the tree before but I'll never do it again.
I HATE thieves. Homeowners insurance might cover most of the loss, but that takes time and doesn't make up for frustration or lost time in the woods. I have a friend that had all his stuff stolen last fall from a property he hunts but not at his house; stands, sticks, brush hog he kept on the property, decoys, etc. His homeowners covered it all. I am not piling on, but I can see leaving the stand, I would NEVER leave my bow. I can still hunt without a stand. Without a bow I'm done, I do not have a backup. My bow always comes out with me.
I have seen something similar to this Mini GPS Tracker GSM GPRS Tracking SMS Real Time Vehicle Motorcycle Bike Anti-thief Tracker before put in a trail camera to catch a thief. I don't think this is the actual thing but you get the idea. I would have also have a hidden trail cam on my stand in the future. The cameras today don't make noise and no flash are great for security.
I have kind of a funny story if there is such a thing on this subject. Years ago when trail cams first came out. I had a 35mm trail cam stolen or so I thought. I had it up the week before and when I returned it was gone. I found it weeks later in the same area on the ground all chewed up. This is when I learned bears like to eat trail cameras and pull them off the tree. All my cameras have to be in the metal security box now.
That sucks. I always take either bow or my gun back with me no matter what because of this exact scenario. I do leave bags in my tree stand but I might have to re think that now.
