Tree Stand Delima

[Salmon_Run]

Ok guys lets get this debate started....If you owned property in the mountains and arrived well into the season and found that a neighboring camp (tenants unknown) have erected a tree stand with canopy clearly on your marked property.

Would you destroy it, remove it or how would you handle the situation?

They even have a four wheeler trail cut across the land, marked their tree stand with red ribbons and the trail to the stand with reflective tacs in every other tree.

Lets debate this, and thanks for the input........

[Guns&ReligionCop]

I would write a letter explaining the situation and attached at the base of the where it can not be missed then I would follow the trail to where they enter your property tie a ribbon across with the same letter attached. Just curious is the land posted? If you came back back and it was clear that they were there and had not removed it then I would take it down and remove it.

[tughillhunter]

id rip it down, and happily return it in pieces. thats just me though.

[Big Indian]

Guess you have yourself a new treestand.

[jjb4900]

Did you talk to them? my guess is that's not all they're doing on your property.

[jjb4900]

just read the part where you said they're unknown tenants.......guess you haven't spoken to them.

[bubba]

no no when this happened to me, I was told to let them hunt form there, and be a good neighbor. HelI was even called names. If it were me, I would not wait for answers here, It would be gone already.

[Guns&ReligionCop]

no no when this happened to me, I was told to let them hunt form there, and be a good neighbor. HelI was even called names. If it were me, I would not wait for answers here, It would be gone already.

I would give them a chance to get there stuff especially if it happned to be an honest mistake of not knowing the boundaries before I ripped it out.

[landtracdeerhunter]

no no when this happened to me, I was told to let them hunt form there, and be a good neighbor. HelI was even called names. If it were me, I would not wait for answers here, It would be gone already.

I remember that, not very long ago. I'd bail, before it's to late.

[Doewhacker]

I would talk to them first, maybe they own a peice of land you might want to hunt. At the very least you will be able to tell them to keep out, they might not know you bought the land last year. Shouldn't be to hard to find where they are by following their trail. If all else fails I will help you rip it down.

[Elmo]

I would talk to them first. Eliminate all possibility (regardless of how remote that may be) that it could have been a misunderstanding and express how serious you are. If they do it again the second time then you'll see a "WTS" posting here for a tree stand.

[Gthphtm]

Do you own or can you borrow a chain saw.If the tree is of no value cut it down stand and all.

[ants]

If you are positive that it's on your land, tear it down. Unfortunately ....being nice wont work with most people. The way things are now days you have to let people know, right off the bat , that if they put up stands on your property, they will lose them. Trust me.... if you pussy foot around, and try to be nice, they will keep playing games.

Take it down and then talk to them....I have been through this too many times...

Edited November 27, 2012 by ants

[Guns&ReligionCop]

If you are positive that it's on your land, tear it down. Unfortunately ....being nice wont work with most people. The way things are now days you have to let people know, right off the bat , that if they put up stands on your property, they will lose them. Trust me.... if you pussy foot around, and try to be nice, they will keep playing games.

Take it down and then talk to them....I have been through this too many times...

If you are to aggresive you may piss off someone over a honest mistake that could have been easily handled otherwise. Example they may be happy to remove, apologize and even offer to pay to hunt the spot but you destroy their stuff and you come back on the weekend and all of your stands are missing and vandalized and you have no idea who the person is or even worse they act out violently. I'm pretty sure a tree stand isn't worth catching a bullet over!

[mxsmitz201]

id tell them that you can be the best neighbor or the worst neighbor youve ever had....your choice! let them take the stand to hopefully never return. if they dont comply, dig in and be a bastard. if they do comply no reason you cant be friendly and maybe even keep each other posted on whats lurking in the woods and exchange some trail camera pics.

if you come off overly aggressive, with my experience through other people, you end up with neighbors who go to measures to see that you have a miserable time at your camp. be straight forward but dont give them any reason to think that hostilities may occur because of the situation.

[arrow nocker]

are you 100% without a doubt it is on your piece?

If so i would try to handle it nicely.I often think of being a dick because honestly it is part of my nature.I am good at being a mean A-hole.But it wont get me any where with someone that i may be able to get along with in the future.If you just cut it down you will just start a fight and honestly,it is the coward way out if you do it with out talking to them first.I know that confronting them would be the most straight up way.Tell them to move it or you are cutting it down.If they don't move it,then you cut it down and they know who,how,and why it was done.

"Don't go sucker punching them.Just tell them whats coming if they want to mess with you".thats what my old man used to tell me.

If you cut it down with out confronting them first,they will be trying to retaliate.You never know what kind of crazy you may be dealing with either.

[nybuckboy]

I would write a letter explaining the situation and attached at the base of the where it can not be missed then I would follow the trail to where they enter your property tie a ribbon across with the same letter attached. Just curious is the land posted? If you came back back and it was clear that they were there and had not removed it then I would take it down and remove it.

I would agree with this. I would add... to make sure your phone number is available and tell them they MUST call you upon reading this letter. Essentially letting them know they have just 1 chance to contact you to discuss this and if not then the tree stand comes down.

[Dorsilfin]

My Brother takes the stand down, and leaves a note on the tree in a zip lock bag. if they dont contact him in a month it goes on craigslist and gets sold.

Granted his property is fully posted every other tree and anyone setting up a stand is doing so illegally and trespassing. Surprisingly he hasn't had one person contact him after hes taken the stand and left a note.

Edited November 27, 2012 by Dorsilfin

[fasteddie]

I guess I would try to contact the culprits and request that they remove the stand from your property . Since you mentioned neighboring camp , I imagine that you aren't and cannot be there all the time . If you tick people off , they will no doubt , retaliate and do some property damage when you aren't around .

Try to contact them and talk it out first .

[ATbuckhunter]

I would have destroyed the hell out of that thing. Now im not sure if they know the property boundary which might prompt me to talk to them first but it sounds like the blatantly went on your land and did all the damage. No matter what the thing is going down weather they like it or not.

[josephmrtn]

take it and leave a note to contact you for a return OR go talk to em and try and see if it was an honest mistake.... i bet you would sure hate if you accidentaly put up a stand on someones property and they just smashed it or took it without giving you a chance to explain....... Stands Cost MONEY!!!!!

[WNYBuckHunter]

I would take the stand down and leave a note pinned to the tree in a plastic bag telling the owner of the stand to contact me to get it back. If the person contacted me, I would talk to them about where the property line is, etc. if they dont contact you before the end of the season, keep it.

I honestly have no idea why people seem to want to destroy things, etc and end up creating more problems for themselves. What if you have a wounded deer run onto their property? You dont want a good chance of having recovery rights? What if vandals or thieves are damaging or robbing camps? You dont want your neighbor keeping an eye out for those things rather than just turning a blind eye?

[SteveB]

What many are missing in their responses is the OP said the land is clearly marked.

Therefore this is no mistake or misunderstanding.

The neighbor is intentionally doing this because they feel they can get away with it.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I didnt miss that at all. I feel that the first time offender should be delt with by talking to them. These are neighbors that the OP doesnt even know yet. Again, why cause problems for yourself, be the bigger person the first time and see what happens. If they do it again, then rip the stand down, destroy it, whatever you want to do.

Its no wonder to me why there are so many neighbor disputes when people react with the most harsh reaction possible before even attempting to be reasonable first.

[SteveB]

Wasn't directed at you.

Several have given responses saying maybe the neighbor was mistaken or didn't know the boundaries.

OP stated land was clearly marked.

I did not make any suggestions to action - harsh or reasonable.

Just stated that based on the 1st post, the neighbors are knowingly trespassing.

I would talk 1st, but based on my experience with people knowingly trespassing, it will not be enough

and further action will be required.