straped on my 45 bh. and went to retreive my old wal-mart special tree stand today.it was a nice day and the walk was great untill i got to my "secret"spot...tree stand is gone!(it was purchased last year after season for $30.00,no big lose!)but it really irritates me that someone took it upon themself to claim the stand for there own!oh well at least the safety belt wasnt with it...(maybe they will fall out of the thing and ............. oh well you get the idea!)jim257

know what you mean, about 4 years ago my father in law made 5 home made stands for bow season, in the spring we went out and hung them around different water holes that the elk and mulies use. Come fall we went to check on the stands and someone had destroyed everyone of them, and this is an area 5 or so sq mi. they couldn't get them off the tree's so they beat them to pieces.

No one has ever taken one of mine.
I make them out of super heavy gauge steel, welded, 3/8" to 1/2" chain, and almost bullet proof.
I mean literally 60# to 70# or higher in weigth.
I have always said if someone can get my stand out of the woods then they deserve them.
I need the atv to get them to my spot and the winch to get them up and down from my trees.

The thing that seems to walk away is the screw in steps.
I must of lost $80 worth of steps one year.
I went to 1/2"x8" lag bolts as steps and have not lost any of those ....YET....

Its not really the loss of $$$ its the violation of having something stolen that bothers me....

I feel your pain/anger bro...

Do not think all the damage and stolen hunting gear was done by dishonest hunters.
alot of anit-hunters will do just that when they come accused the stuff, as well as booby trap them so the bad hunter will get hurt of even better die

other people to consider:
kids thinking they found a nice fort that was abandoned in the woods and just want to play with them
hunters nd land owners thinking that another hunter in hunting on there hunting spot so they think they have the right to do what they want with the stuff.

Don't hear about that much here. Of course owner info is required for any treestands placed on another's property. Most i know use the vinal cover cable (heavy gauge) or grade 80 chain. Neither is something that one is gona cut easily. I can understand the fristration of the thefts. On the other hand, if one was to stick something in any of my trees without permission, they'd find thier items "missing" also. we have a thing called landowner permission here. Don't have it = trespassing.

I have 100 acres of land in Indiana and spend not enough time there, however from the tracks and beer bottles I know there are 2 legged varmits there. One day I will catch them. Would never think of leaving a stand around.