Protect equipment and permissions: Ask First - Always

Lock up all tree stands & other hunting equipment to prevent theft
photo courtesy Dave Richey Outdoors ©2012

My ultimate goal is to be ready for bow season by Sept. 1, and August 15 is even better. That gives my area 30-45 days to settle down before I start hunting.

My fall food plots are planted, and there is a fairly lush green growth. We need a rain bad, and last week the plots got a nourishing drink. Even more rain would be good to keep it growing.

What we don’t need is any more 90-degree weather. It’s time some cooler weather and some more rain. Nice late-summer rains would be nice.

We need some nice steady rains but don’t need a gulley washer

Deer are moving through the food plots, and after tomorrow, there will be nothing left to do but bide our time. Some long-distance scouting can be done but I don’t plan to spend any time walking through my hunting areas.

We’ve got deer spotted, trees stands are up, our coops are almost all ready, and all I need to do is spend a few hours putting chicken wire around the bottom of the coops to prevent porcupines. skunks and other critters from chewing holes in the wood.

Two ground blinds are completely checked out and set in place. The fencing around the bottom has been put in place, and the coops are locked. Are locks necessary? To my way of thinking, I’m beginning to believe my father was right.

“Locks keep honest people honest,” he used to say. “If you don’t lock things up, and exercise certain precautions, some people who are given an opportunity to steal something, someone will take advantage of it.”

I’ve had people take advantage of me when they thought that leaving coops unlocked was an open invitation to hunt my land or steal tree stands. So, in the past I’ve had people climb into my coops to hunt when I can’t get away for one reason or another. I’d find the coop doors unlatched and blowing in the breeze, a larger shooting window cut more to their liking, and a chair stolen.

Another time I spent two days fixing up tree stands. I went to one stand, and some fool had stolen the bottom two sections of the ladder stand. The seat and foot rest was still attached to the tree with a good chain and a heavy-duty lock.

This was an out-and-out theft

Now I stand the sections together, duct tape the chain to the ladder, and lock it. The cost of two good padlocks for the ladder section and another lock and chain for the seat is certainly cheaper than replacing a complete tree stand.

I once had an excellent tree stand, and located in a great spot where two deer trails merged. The deer always came from behind me and on my left side to present a perfect broadside or quartering away shot. The person who would occasionally sneak into my tree stand always left his signature behind.

He was left-handed. He would try to reposition the stand so it was easier for a left-hander to shoot from. The stand was in a cedar tree, and I had pine boughs conveniently placed to break up my outline. Those boughs were tied with twine to suit my needs.

I went to this tree early one morning, and waded into the cedar swamp and hid. My presence kept the deer from moving that morning, and right about daylight I heard brush cracking as the poacher walked to the tree.

I let him set there, and both of us could hear deer giving the area a wide berth. I snuck up behind the stand, and pulled out the two lower ladder sections. The guy looked down at me, and yelled, “What do you think you’re doing?”

I said I knew what I was doing. I was making it difficult for him to get down

He was in my tree, I was on the ground with two ladder sections, and he’s whining about how he’s going to get down. So we had us a little heart-to-heart chat.

“You’ve been hunting my stand illegally for a week or more, and we’re going to settle this now. You either agree to quit sneaking in on my leased property, and stay away from this area, or I’ll call the cops right now. It’s a long ways to the ground, and too far to jump, so either agree to stay away or I’ll press charges and wait down here until the police arrive.”

“You’ll still be up the tree when the police come. Then we will have a chat with the landowner. What’s it going to be?”

He quickly agreed that he wouldn’t come back. OK, I said “Toss me your wallet, with your driver’s license and hunting license so  I can make a few notes in case I find you’ve been hunting my spot in the future.”

He whined and carried on but I convinced him the two ladder sections wouldn’t be replaced until he complied. I added that while he was at it, he could lower down his bow on my haul rope.

I asked him if he was the one who was hunting out of my blinds. He said he just hunted the tree stand, which was obviously difficult to deny. I took notes, learned that he lived nearby, and I then threatened to walk away and leave him there.

Make it hard on trespassers and poachers. They get no sympathy from me

He gave in, complied with all my wishes, and I asked if he was going to be aggressive when he came down. I didn’t want to fight him, but I wanted him to realize the errors of his ways.

“No, no more hassles,” he said.  “I’ll leave and won’t be back.”

So that episode ended peacefully, but I’d learned my lesson as well. Ladders and tree stands are now chained together, and to chained to the tree, and I never lost anything since. Land leased for hunting carries much the same laws as ownership, and I’ve had all of trespassers and thieves to last me a lifetime.

If they don’t respond to reason, I get on the phone and call the local conservation officer or the Sheriff’s Department, and let them do their job. They get no second chances with me.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors