I have never found anything, but I would remove it and keep it until they came to talk to me about it. At that point, it's not likely I would give it back to them anyways. People need to learn their lesson, even if it's the hard way.
You people are crazy... I would obviously leave a note saying "call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx, lets talk hunting strategies/tactics and do some crystal meth!" ...You're trespassing - You're $hit is mine.
We found a double ladder stand on the back of our property (owned). The property behind ours has new leasers every year and the fence line isn't accurate. We left it 3 years and put a camera over it. Nobody used it so we removed it and gave it away. Didn't want to set it back up on our land. The first year they used it, the guy shot a doe and left it lay. We found it 2 days later frozen solid. We carried it up the ladder and put it in his stand showing him that we didn't appreciate his waste. No wonder they never came back for the stand! I would have loved to see their face when they climbed up into the stand while still dark in the morning and find their wasted deer propped up in the stand.
It's mine I'll take it . It happened to us in 2010 we caught a guy in a tree on my buddies property hunting I came in from behind and my buddy approached from the front so he was seen the guy almost crapped him self he could barely climb down he was so shook up we took all his gear his bow his bag his stand every thing besides the camo he was wearing. My buddy was so pist he told the guy I want all your gear im confiscating it due to illegal hunting and trespassing or im calling the police and pressing charges the guy dropped his stuff and ran off so fast and never came back we knew someone was always going in there cause there was boot prints that weren't ours and marks or branches broke off trees from stands that we didn't hang. After we talked about it we kinda felt bad for the guy but he caused it himself by trespassing my buddies deer that he would watch would just disappear cause the guy was killing them before my buddy could. He wasnt a neighbor or a local my buddies property boarders the illinois river on one side and the other side is an illinois state wildlife preserve where no hunting is ever allowed so he would park on the road somewhere or get dropped off and walk in.
I have never dealt with this but the gear will be mine if I find it. I will leave the local PD's number to straighten it out so the guy doesn't have my number. If I don't receive a call from the police, then Ill get some brand new free gear.
If its actually ON my property, it's mine. If it's on the edge, I leave it. I make a note and try to catch the guy up in it. Never know what connections you might make. I've gained a lot of ground and a good life long friend by just talking with the neighborhood hunters and not freaking out.
The last stand I found I took down. It was cabled on but when I pulled on it it opened. I left a note that said if you want you stand and ladder call me & left my number. No one did.
I had this happen to me. When the landowner told me there was a Trespasser/Poacher on the land he gave me permission to hunt. I took the stand down and left my name and number on the tree. 3 months later the guy called and said I stole his stand. I said, " If I stole it, why would I leave my name and number?" He said, "Oh, that's right!" I told him he was trespassing and he could meet me ands the landowner and get his stand. He did and we never heard anything else from him.
