Stolen Stands In Maryland :(

[Redhawk1]

I had 2 New stands I bought 2 months ago stolen. Over $300.00 bucks gone. :evil:  I am on a lease in Maryland.  I put the stands out for my son and myself. I have had them out there sense October. We went to hunt in them tonight and they were gone. We were just out there 2 days ago and they were there. I had them chained and locked with  heavy duty cable. Every thing was gone even the cables and chains. This is a big farm and the owners live there but did not see a thing. The sad thing is, it was other hunters in the area. They came in on 4 wheelers, we saw there tracks. Thats OK, we are going to set a trap for the redneck rats in our woods.  :twisted:

[New Hampshire]

First of all they aint "hunters."  Real sportsmen respect other sportsmen's equipment.
The sad thing is that your story is quite common.  As a matter of fact just last year a guy had his 4 wheeler stolen.  He had had major leg surgery and was still recovering so he couldnt walk too far by himself.  So he used his 4 wheeler to do some late summer scouting.  While out looking around some guys stole his wheeler and left a note saying "You stole our trail cam so we took your wheels.  Give us back our cam and we will give you back your vehicle.  Till then enjoy the nice walk a**hole."  The guy had never even been to that spot before so he was not the responsible party for the theft of the trail cam.  Add to that the 2 mile walk back on a bum knee!
Then there was the idiot going around and steeling tree stands by shooting off locks with a shotgun.  Its sad when you have to start thinking of ways to HIDE your dang stand from thieves, but still leave them useable to you.  Im thinking of picking up a chain on stand from Cabelas that uses a bracket that the stand goes into.  You can buy extra brackets cheaply and set up different stand locations but have only one stand itself.  What is nice is I will be able to pack it in and out with me, but not still have to go through the big hassle of setting up my climber.
Hope ya catch some varmints.  Dont be gentle, and skin them good  :wink: .
Brian M.

[trophyhunter]

I got lucky this year i put up several stands including a expensive tree lounge.  i leave it in a tree so that i don't make noise putting it in the tree. about 3 days before muzzleloading season i went to move my stand and noticed that it had been hunted from.  I am not complaining none though the did not steal it.  i did not like the thought of someone else hunting in the area that i don't no of.  To me that is unsafe.  i hunt on private land and have found a few stands on it that did not belong there.  I have taken these stands down and put them by the tree so that the people know the should not be there.  if the ever go back up (which has not happened) i will assume they did not actually want them.

[rickyp]

what kind of stands where they?
how well do you mark the trail going in to the stands?

I leave mine in the woods during hunting season with an aircraft cable and harden lock if someone wants my stand they will really ahve to work hard to get it.
when I mark the trail going in and out  I never mark the entrance with anything but a small dot of scotchlight stuck to a close pin. then about 50 feet in the woods I start using ribbin.

[Redhawk1]

what kind of stands where they?
how well do you mark the trail going in to the stands?

I leave mine in the woods during hunting season with an aircraft cable and harden lock if someone wants my stand they will really ahve to work hard to get it.
when I mark the trail going in and out  I never mark the entrance with anything but a small dot of scotchlight stuck to a close pin. then about 50 feet in the woods I start using ribbin.

They were 15 foot steel ladder stands with shooting rests, very nice stands. They were place on the edge of a 200 acre field about 250 yards from each other. They are about 1/2 mile from the road. No trail to stands. Stands are black and they blended in very good with the woods. I think they saw us in the stands and went in after we left. I had 2 locks on each. One a heavy duty cable and a heavy chain with master locks.

[JPSaxMan]

That bites. Makes me wanna re-consider placing stands on private land that is frequented by other hunters  :x . I hear them redneck varmints fetch a fair price for the cannibals of Guano-Guano   . Once again, sorry to hear about your loss. I hope someday you will be able to put stands up w/out worry.