Permanent Deer Stands on Public land

[dkhntr]

Benny. The second quote is the page continuation of the same artical.

It came out of the 2004 hunting and trapping regs. May sound lame but I actually read it every year. That's how I knew about that one.

This is the link: http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/rlp/regulations/hunting/publiclands.pdf

Pages 128-129

This is the only county one in the regs......

Cass County Managed Forest Lands

• Tree stands that damage trees are not allowed; no nails, bolts, or

screws. All new tree stands that damage trees will be removed; old

tree stands will be removed as timber sales take place in an area.

• The county encourages portable tree stands, freestanding stands,

and any tree stands that do not damage trees.

I would have to say check with the county you are hunting in for their regs on it. But then again you may not. Because you may have to take it down.

[dkhntr]

To whoever hunts on a Wildlife Management Area (WMA):

• Elevated Stands: A person may not construct, occupy, or use any elevated scaffold or other elevated device for the purpose of hunting, watching, or killing wild animals, except that portable stands may be used if they are removed each day at the close of hunting hours and do no permanent damage.

This does apply to ALL WMA's. So watch out. I may be ripping them down when I roll through town scouting.

[lawdog]

I posted all that on page 1 already. It doesn't matter though, these guys with their illegal permanents think the state is taking something away from them if their already illegal stands are not allowed to stay...

Don't bother wasting logic/reason/facts on that kind of thinking...

[Benny]

Who in this thread has an illegal stand?

And yep, my sentaments exactly!!!

Benny

[Benny]

Yes those laws have been in the regulation book for maybe two or three years now.

Also it has been for a long time now to build ANY THING on a WMA,you can't even drive off the road a little bit to get out of the traffic lane on the WMA unless it is in one of the landings they usually have to park in.

I can't agreee more that there are places like WMA's that must not be allowed to have stands,blind,or roads of any kind that can not be removed when your done hunting.

For me it isn't so much to keep it public but to protect the WMA from being run down or degraded to the point the DNR won't put any more money into it for up keep.

I wouldn't have a problem with wording to the effect that you have to remove portable stands such as those big barrel type Fleet Farm sells after the close of the season.

But if people want to elimanate permanant stands, then there has to be some type of compramise from them as well.

I just think that if we let these people get away with dictating what happens on public lands then sooner or later the PETA bunch will get it so no one can hunt there at all.

And they to will hide behind a poorly writen law that tells every one that public land is public only if they get to use it too.

There are answers to the precieved problem of perm. stands, but we as a hunting group should stop arguing about who can hunt where or who can have a stand and who can't.

Just look at the ATV threads, for the past 4 or 5 years now the ATV group has lost many places to ride just because a few (Contact US Regarding This Word) had to tear up a swamp.

If deer hunters can come together and talk about solutions instead of fighting each other over who has thier rights to an area, then we could show the world how it is done.

Come on ,can't we all get along???

[Kidd]

Quote:

---

And they to will hide behind a poorly writen law that tells every one that public land is public only if they get to use it too.

---

Isn't that the definition of public land?

[Benny]

I guess you could look at it that way, but if some one beats you to the best spot first it no longer is public land as per the harrasment law that some one was quoting earlier.

Now if you want to hunt that same spot your harrasing the person who beat you there and you now have no right to be there.

So it is now not to be consedered public right????

So the poorly writen law just caused public land to become the other guys private land just because he got there first and can hide behind the law.

So if you want to hunt it then you have to decide how early are you willing to get up in the AM to beat the other guy out there, and don't forget he will be up earlier as well knowing your going to try and beat him out there.

This law is a bunch of bolony, it only can cause conflict because too many people think they can just walk right out to the spot you scouted out for a year and sit down to hunt.

If your there before them they still can screw up your hunt just by being out there near you causing all kinds of noise trying to find a different spot to sit.

If there had been a stand there then the other guy would have known that some one else was planning on being there to hunt.It may have given that person enough time to scout out another area before season opened.

But since these tree huggers who think they have to control the whole woods just made it imposible to give any one a warning that your going to be there.

And it could be a warning to them to get there early to beat you out of the stand or blind you took time off of work to build, but now your SOL and have to stumble around in the dark to find another stump to sit on while the tree hugger enjoys the nice stand you paid money and spent time to build.

As the tree hugger law reads, even a portable stand if left out there is also open to the public if joe public beats you there.

So your $300 Gorilla tree stand is now property of some one else for that time they are there, and you can not do any thing at all about it.

Do you people get the point here??

It never has been about permenent stands being out there , it's the joe public who is too lazy to go out and find his own spot to hunt.

Joe public just takes over your stand and hides behind a poorly writen law.

BENNY

[Guest]

Post deleted by jlm

[Giant_Jackpot]

Is there really a problem here where people use stands built by others? I’m sure it might happen once in a while, but reading what Benny posts, you would think there were a line of hunters waiting to get in his stand just to [PoorWordUsage] him off! Is there a problem like this with ice fishing houses? I’m sure it happens once in a while but you never really hear about it.

Ban the permanent stands and license the portable stands. Allow the hunters to leave them up through the season and just like ice fishing houses, set a date when they have to be removed.

[Benny]

Man some people will stoop to any low , it sure takes a real brave person to post with a username that say the person he/she is replying to is toast.

I don't hide behind a false user id just to roast some on.

I am up front and opinionated.

You don't know any thing about me as I don't about you.

Personal attacks like yours about me having a CCW permit or saying things about my familly, just goes to show how low your selfesteme goes.

Post your real alias, I do!!

Benny

[Benny]

I don't know how you read that into my posts, but if you really think about it for just a minute.

The laws read it is open to the public, so that tells every one that they can do what ever they want on this land!

So now you have a good majority of the 450,000 deer hunters in Minnesota all wanting to hunt where they think is the best place to bag deer.We all want that right?But when does it become to crowded on any given public land for all the people who want to hunt it?

If one person beats the other out to a prime spot, that person most move on to the next.So what if there are 20 or 30 people all wanting to hunt the same 10 acer public land parcell?Now you have a conflict of violence ready to happen, just because the law said it was legal for all these people to be on that same parccel of land.

The law doesn't limit the number per spot,the harassment law only states you can't hinder another from taking game.So that means that Joe Public can see you in the spot and just walk 75 yards away and hunt, it's not harassment at all per the wardens.

Now doesn't that make for an unsafe hunting area?Do you know if that other hunter who you beat out to the prime spot is a safe hunter?Is he/she going to shoot at a deer running in your direction?

Ban the stand all you want, it still will not fix the problem one bit, there simply is not enough public land to hunt with out stumbling over each other.

As for a license on a stand, good idea.But it still would be open to the public, how would you feel if you paid $10 for a stand license only to walk out here Saturday morning and find another slob hunter took your stand because it was on PUBLIC LAND?

Now if they allow some teeth in the law to arrest people using a licensed stand who didn't license it then we might have a great idea.

Why can we license a fish house and it isn't consedered PUBLIC at all?

Can I walk out to your fish house before you get there and open it and start fishing, then is it legal for you to kick me out?

Every one how is yelling about permanant stands are really only making it harder for them selves down the road.

Why did all this fighting start any way about public lands and permament stands?

Because some person finaily took a walk down the trail that the stand builder created to get his material there and saw the stand.

Maybe it was a simple tree platform or one of those huge condos the media seem to find out in the middle of nowhere.

I don't know , but I bet it was some one who wanted to hunt that area so they made it a point to start raising a rucuss to get the other hunters out.

Sure I can agree to not having the huge condo's out there, they don't belong there.But why now after over a hundread years of permanent stands does the public suddenly want them gone?

I say it is because to many people are leasing, buying up all the prime spots leaving only public lands for the rest of us to fight over.

Now they are all laughing at us poor soles who can't afford to buy private and refuese to spend the cash wanted bt most people to lease thier land.

Oh and a word for those who would say, there is lot's of public land to hunt.

Then why are we arguing about permenet stands, why don't these people who have a problem with stands on public land go find another spot they claim is out there to hunt??

Are they to lazy to walk 2,5,10 miles down the forestry trail that is closed to travel by ATV's or vehicels to get to a spot that isn't hunted by some one else?

Yes there are 1000's of public lands to hunt but not very many people are willing to do the work it may take to hunt most of it.Most everyone wants that little public strech right off HWY169 so they can just get up 5 minute before shooting hour get to thier spot with out breaking a sweat.

I know I sure like not having to sleep in my truck at the landing to get there before the next guy, or like I do for waterfowl sleep in my boat next to the point I want to hunt just so the other guy can't beat me there.

Benny

[duckbuster]

Benny there is a post in the Duck hunting forum on page 3 titled " a story about the drakeslayers" I suggest you go and read that thread and then go back and read every post you have written on this topic. Hopefully when you are thru reading that post about the drakeslayers you will understand what they and every one of us as hunters should be.

CURTIOUS, RESPECTFUL, & CONSIDERATE to our fellow hunters.

The more you write about this and I read it, the more I think you have started to twist this into your realm of thinking.

Don't take this the wrong way Benny but I agree with an earlier post. I do not think there are 30-40 hunters lining up to take your stand. I do not believe there are hunters out there that intentionally sabotage your hunt.

Reading your posts on this topic one would think that the majority of deer hunters are (Contact US Regarding This Word) without any respect at all.

I'll close with something that I wrote about earlier. There should not be ANY difference between YOUR deerstand and MY duck blind!!!!

Public is Public, we need to be willing to adjust to other hunters and the cards we are dealt the day of the hunt.

[Giant_Jackpot]

Benny,

Sorry if I turned this into a Benny against the world forum. I want you to be able to hunt on public land and be safe in doing so. My problem with your take on this is that you really do make it sound as though there are people lined up to take your spot from you. Is your spot right off 169 as you described?

I guess I have to go back to my point about licensing and ice fishing houses. If you put up a stand and are required to put your name and tag number on it and take it down at the end of the season, I would think that most people would leave it alone. The reason I think this would work is that people would know you put it up for this season and would go somewhere else. If you are allowed to keep a stand up year after year, how do people know that is currently in use?

As far as how much public land is available to hunt, you seem to contradict yourself. In your last post you say,

Quote:

---

Ban the stand all you want, it still will not fix the problem one bit, there simply is not enough public land to hunt with out stumbling over each other.

---

And then later in the post you say,

Quote:

---

Yes there are 1000's of public lands to hunt but not very many people are willing to do the work it may take to hunt most of it.Most everyone wants that little public strech right off HWY169 so they can just get up 5 minute before shooting hour get to thier spot with out breaking a sweat.

---

It is hard to understand where you really stand on the issue. Do you want to be able to hunt right off 169 and make others go somewhere else? Or are you willing to go the extra mile and find a new place with fewer people?

[FOOT]

Just to clarify. I have no problem with permanent stands being grandfathered in. If they are already there, fine leave them there for people to use. BUT no new ones and old ones shouldn't be fixed.

My concern is trying to LOCK in your favorite hunting spot just because you, your father, your grandfather or someone else in your family/party built a permanent stand or placed a chair on public land.

If a permanent stand/chair/seat is in place and another hunter gets there first have the common courtisy to find another place to hunt, giving him plenty of room.

Now I'm not stupid and realize that there are certain hunters out there that will get PO'd about another hunter taking "there spot, I built that stand/chair/seat, therefore it's mine" and arguments and fights will/may occur. Unfortunately confrontations will occur with or without permanent stands. It's too bad and could lead to another incident as we had in Northern Wisc.

No deer is worth getting into a fight/shoot out with another hunter. We have collectively lost respect for our fellow man and need to somehow get it back.

[Benny]

I did read that thread and didn't I agree with you that they were some real nice fella's?

I personaly have met Josh (he is my cousin)and a few of his friends, I think they are all great people.

One gave me a ride up to my truck from Agate Bay resort to Malmo when he was going the other way.

I helped Josh and his friend get his friends rifle sighted in at BeaverBrook gun club this past season.His friend had surgery or something wrong with his dominant eye, so we showed him how to shoot with his left eye and sholder the gun as a lefty would.

So please don't try and say that I said any thing bad about them, and I agree if all the hunters out there were the same we would not have this post going.

Benny

[Benny]

You know you have a point here.

With all this arguing between certain people who I personaly think are here just to cause trouble in our forum, that I have lost sight of where I was really headed with my rantes.

I will have to sit back and count to ten and look at where I really stand on this issue.

I didn't mean to sound like I was retaliating against you, but there has been a person who poped in on our forum board who has not had any thing positive to add to any thing he has replied to.

Now that the DNR forum is shut down I think those (Contact US Regarding This Word) are now infultrating this board along with the other board on the web like this one.

Thanks for pointing out my rambling nonsince:)

Benny

[dkhntr]

Benny, I think we could actually get along out in the real world besides the differance of hunting blinds. You stand for what you believe in. I have to commend you for that. Also, I hope that the Admin here logged the IP and called the bennyistoast poster.

With that being said. As the other duckhunter said, why should thier be a differance in your deer blind and my duck blind?

[echotrail]

Benny, could you consider another option? Eight years ago the public area we hunt near Orr, MN. was getting crowded to. People parked trailers in an area upto two weeks before the season started just to say "Reserved." Some would camp in one site and pitch and empty tent in a nearby site to send a "No more room message." With nearly 500,000 deer hunters in MN. about 98% hunt the opener and the first week. We simply switched to hunting the second week and love it! There is nearly no one around and we take our share of deer including the big bucks. We would never go back to hunting the first week. If you hunt an area that does not offer a longer season, maybe just avoiding the opening weekend would help.

[iffwalleyes]

That is a great thing about second weekend isn't it. I have shot more deer second weekend in MN and ND than I have on first weekend in either state. I personally don't agree with someone in St. Paul telling me I am to hunt. Also lets think about this whole license stands deal. Who is going to enforce that. We would need twice the DNR staff to wander through the woods and check on all the stands to see who is legal and who isn't. I don't think this good option at all. We own some land that boarders state land that so we never have too trouble with crowding since the easiest way for them to get to the state ground involves trespassing on our property. It is a pretty ideal spot. I glad my dad bought it 30 years ago when he did.

[Giant_Jackpot]

Iffwalleyes,

I know what you are saying, but why would it have to be “enforced”? I think, and I’m sure you would agree, that most hunters would buy the license and not give it a second thought. Look at all the new laws that are passed every year in this country. They certainly don’t hire more law enforcement officers for each new law.

[Benny]

Well I would have to agree that we probably would get along.I even think we would get along even if we have different opinions on deer stands.

As for duck blinds ,I know all to well about them being public.I have always hunted WMA up at Fergus Falls area, and now that we have moved west we still hunt them there.

And I see where your point is coming from if one would view it like the waterfowlers have for so many years.

Most of the posts here are correct to say public land is public land, and if that's where we end up at when the dust settles on this battle for stands or bans, then we will all have to live with it.

When I look at how my family hunts now vs how we used to hunt, a ban on stands would not hurt us at all.

The fact that the slob hunter moved in on us is a sign of the times I guess.Sure he may have the right to be there and so does my party.They actually didn't get a deer out of those woods we hunt infact I think they scared the one I shot to me.

They did shut down the route most of the deer take from the top of the mine dump down to us, but the deer will change thier route with in a few years.

They are the "come in at the last minute type" so we will always beat them out there as I like to get to my chair with at least 35 minutes to spare.Depending on the snow or noise factor is takes me 25 minutes to walk in.

Yes I did contradict my self in the statement about how much land is out there to hunt.

But my Father, brother and I can't spare the extra vacation time to drive every where in the North county to find a spot to hunt so we will stick with the sight we have hunted for those three generations I talked about.

If it means getting up at 3 AM to be in my chair an hour and a half early then that's what I will have to do to get the spot I want to hunt.

I just have to buy a larger blind so I can lay down and nap during the time between arival and hunting hours.

But I feel for my father who is getting up in age and has a tuff time walking in the woods, let along to do it in the dark.

Luckly for us the land is county so he can still use his ATV to get to and from the stand.

I hope that by the time my daughter gets her safety permit the other group will have moved on or we have come to some type of agreement to not hose each other up.

I do want to add some thing that my brother pointed out after he read the forum posts.

The land the slob hunters are on is not public, it is actualy mining company land and they are really traspassing.

They just have not been caught by the mine security yet.

My brother has a permission slip to travel the property for trapping, and the gaurds have given him thier nod to hunt if we wish to.

He doesn't intend to say any thing about the slob hunter as it could shut us down from hunting it as well.

So my point of view on stands is that if it is state land they don't belong there, if it is county land it should be up to that county if they want to ban them.

As for size and materials used,a size big enough to be comfortable in but not big enough to house an ATV under, and any degradable material should be allowed, but not nailed to the trees.

Not because of the loggers, as 50% of all timber sales come from private land and every logger I know has said it is private land timber that has the most problems with nails,wire,insulators,rocks,and believe this bullets!

But I believe a nail in a tree causes damage to the life of that tree.How many people here have a stand that is 10,15 years old that is still in a living tree?

Most of the stands we built back when it was legal to do so are now in dead trees.Maybe because of some thing in nature but I bet it was from the rusting nails.

Some one posted that a license was bad due to enforcment, true, it would be hard to enforce that one.

But how about something like bear hunters have with your name and address listed so the CO can contact you if there is a problem?

Well I typed enough tonight, so thanks for setting me back on track.

Benny

[iffwalleyes]

Well Benny I completely disagree that nails in the tree kill them. My dad has a stand that was built back in the 50's trees are still good. As a matter of fact except for probably 2 of the stands on our property and state ground that we boarder the rest of the stands are probably all 10 years old or more.

giant I suppose you are right that if I was told I needed a permit for my stand I would buy it. I don't like the idea of having to though. I think it is a dumb idea myself.

[Benny]

Well your from ND and those trees out there are so darn hard from the wind blowing on them ,nothing would kill them.

Benny

[Cooter]

No comment, I haven't read 90% of the post. Just can't believe the attention this topic has produced! Can someone summarize the debate to a short paragraph so I don't have to read all 4 pages?

[dkhntr]

Cooter, The issue is "What would happen if permanant Deer blinds were illegal on state land".

Some people dont want them to go, and some people want them to go.

For example, I want them to go. I have had bad experiances running into people with/in these stands that think they just about own the land. Hell, I dont even deer hunt, but I am chasing Grouse or Pheasant, mostly ducks. Yes, I am in the water/shoreline setting up dekes and some yahoo in his blaze orange sits on his plywood platform by shore. And tell me I am too close. I've been there since three! He should go away.

But Benny, I hope I get this right, does not want to be down because him and family have been hunting the same locale for three going on four generations. They know the area, has been fruitful for them and just out and out comfortable. I do understand where he comes from too. Because I have comfortable spots I would hate to leave and dont like other hunters beating me there.