Hard work out the window

[Mn Walleye 1976]

Here I sit this close to the opener, and can't hunt my stand. I spent 4 years in this stand putting salt out for the deer also. Had my salt out for this year and find out someone else is going to be hunting my stand. I was just boiling inside when I found out that the son-in-law of the land owner, who is also my moms uncle, is hunting in my stand, no quetions asked. Just decided he was going to hunt in that spot. Seems to me he is an unethical sportsman, if we can call him that.
So what would you do in this situation. I have a lot of ideas, but wanted to see what you would do.
There are other areas on his farm to hunt but very few deer sighted in these spots.

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Bob

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[BLACKJACK]

Tough question. Does the son-in-law know thats the stand that you normally hunt out of? One way or the other I'd talk to him and let him know - politely - that its your stand. Did you build it? Let him know that.

Is he a rookie hunter or has does he have lots of experience? Maybe he doesn't know anything about hunter ethics, that its hard work to maintaining a stand.

Is this for gun or archery hunting? If its for gun hunting, you could archery hunt out of the stand and then let him gun hunt.

It all depends how bad you want to hunt that land. My advice would be not to burn your bridges behind you. Maybe in 2-3 years this guy will be tired of hunting.

This is also incentive to buy your own land some day.

[leechlake]

Putting aside relationships to the official landowner...talk to him. Tell him, nicely, your perspective of the situation, ask him his and potentially he'll agree with you. If he does not you may be correct about not being a nice ethical guy. I also, can't imagine this is the only spot on the farm. Over the past years we've had neighbors sell land which brough in more hunters and we just lived with it and used them to our advantage when possible.

[Mn Walleye 1976]

The thing is the neighbor is a tree hugger. NO HUNTING on his land so the deer have a sanctuary. They walk past this site to the food scource.

He's in his 40's and bow hunts a lot.

[jlm]

Well, its not worth the effort to get all worked up about it in my opinion. I would go out and buy a climber and find another spot. This might be the best thing that ever happened to you because a new spot may produce some new opportunities! Good luck!

[bigbucks]

It sucks & obviously we don't know the whole story, but I'm trying to imagine the situation if I were that guy. I don't know how close your relationship is with the landowner, if you're long time friends or relatives, or just a guy you've gotten permission to hunt on his land who you've treated well?

Hypothetically: Let's say my father-in-law owns some land & over time it dawns on me that you know this might be a pretty good place to bowhunt, or maybe I lost some access somewhere else I had previously. Maybe I know someone else has been bowhunting there, maybe I don't, but he is my father-in-law. I ask him would it be okay to hunt there? He says sure, there's another guy who's hunted here for years that I'm still going to let hunt. He's not my son-in-law, you are, so you choose where you want to sit & he can hunt on the rest, there's lots of deer. He might even say there's too many stinking deer, the more you guys get the better, shoot them all. (I've talked to plenty of farmers with that mentality, which in their position I totally understand.)

I could even see the scenario where the landowner says to him, I know such & such tree is the best place to sit. The guy might even ask, doesn't that other guy hunt there, yes, but he's not my son-in-law, I want you to hunt there.

Now I realize the guy very well could be a jerk, that you thought was your friend, I realize he is a relative. Also it's a long season, does that mean you can't hunt there other times? My cousin & I hunt lots of the same stands throughout the season & we just coordinate & try to be considerate. Sometimes we both would like to hunt the same stand, so we try to be fair & take into consideration who's been out more, had better luck, hunted that stand a lot already, etc. I agree with whoever said trying to work something out with the guy, if that's possible, even if it's not for opening day, is the way to go. I also agree there could be other good stand sights, but than again I know some farms really do only have one good one. Sorry this got so long, good luck in whatever you decide.

[buzzsaw]

Yeah that stinks... talk to the son in law and coordinate in alternating who hunts on the stand, it's probably your only option. ) : or find public land and start over.

[BLACKJACK]

I think bigbucks hit on the head when he speculates about 'you're my son-in-law, hunt where you want'. As someone else said, this might be an 'opportunity' to scout out some other spots on that farm. Plus he can only shoot one or two deer, if you're archery hunting, once hes done you can still hunt their later in the season or early in the season.

Good luck!

[Mn Walleye 1976]

Stand has been removed. I will no longer be hunting this farm. Found another spot to try. I would love to be out there though when the guy goes out to the tree in the dark and climbs it only to find that the stand and salt has been removed. I'm sure I will hear about it but oh well. Maybe he should have done a little more work for himself. It's his problem now.

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Bob

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[bigbucks]

Was it a portable or a permanent? If it was a portable it makes sense you took it, if not you probably burned your bridge, but I can understand how frustrating that would have to be.

[bigbucks]

One more thing, my cousin had a similar thing happen to him 2 years ago. He couldn't hunt his opening stand property until 2nd weekend of gun season. He was very tempted to tear the stand down, a permanent, I discouraged him from doing that.

The land was for sale & the guys hunting it were potential buyers. They decided not to buy it & then he found a buyer for the guy, he didn't have the money himself, & the catch to telling the buyer about the property was that he could hunt his stand opening weekend again.