Two Tree Stands were recently removed from Brookfield Land Trust Property - Brookfield, CT. You can private email me if you would like to pickup your stands.
I would strongly suspect they were not there legally; my experience with Land Trust properties are that they may allow a limited number of trusted bowhunters access to manage the deer population.
My experience (some of it personal) has also been that they are a prime target of unethical hunters who feel any out-of-the-way spot they can hang a stand on is fit for their use. Years ago in a similar setting (different town) I removed some stands and left a note for the responsible parties that their stands and equipment could be picked up at the local Police Dept. (I checked, no one ever claimed them; what the police did with them I don't know).
If this property is as well-marked as the particular one I just mentioned there is no excuse for not being aware of where the person(s) was (were)-NONE. This is likely a clear-cut case of some scumbag saying "F" the regs I feel like hunting here.
I have nothing but contempt for people who act in this manner.
weigh in on this one, curious how you would handle it. (tweak)
Mike - I couldn't agree more.
I would have contacted the land trust and let them know about the stands.
It it wasn't too much work I would have taken them down or if they were in a good spot might have used them myself.
see, we're not so different afterall. Now how about deer camp next year?
I think taking the stand down, leaving a note to the owner, and letting the landtrust know about the activity on their property is what I would have done.
When I had permission to hunt Great Mountain Forest years ago I informed the caretake of ALL activity on the property, like someone cutting trees, hikers, bikers, hunters, etc. I made sure they knew that I was interested in protecting their property, not just taking the deer.
Difference is Land Trusts typically choose to make their private property open to the public for things like hiking. Hunting requires written permission just like hunting any other private land.
I would guess that most Land Trusts choose not to allow hunting on their property, but I am not sure on that.
Not hunting there, I'm not aware of the rules. Do the stands have to be marked or posted with the permitee's information like in the water co?
If he needed to know who owned the stands, if legit, he could ascertain that with a phone call.
In Airrow's case I'm certain he has permission to be on the Land Trust property and knows who doesn't. I would bet money he was 100% certain these stands were illegal. In my opinion he's actually doing the person a favor as he method allows them to recover their property and not be charged. If he simply called a CO then it's a whole different ball game and at minimum the person is out a stand and stacking sticks.
With regard to the property I mentioned there was absolutely no doubt as the Land Trust chairman was my point of contact and he gave me a limited number of permits to manage the property. As a result I knew everyone legally on the property.
For the first 3 years after our initial meeting (where among other "ground rules") we discussed how to handle illegal stands his policy was to call him, tell them where they were and he went with his son and removed them (I never asked him what he did with them). The beginning of my 4th year on the property as his business took him out of state with greater frequency he asked me to remove any illegal stands and drop them off with the animal control officer at the Police department who was also on the Land Trust committee. For the remainder of the time I hunted that property that was the procedure.
I would never remove a stand on my own in any other setting not so well-known and controlled; if I had any doubts the first thing I'd do would be to contact every other hunter I could who had permission to be on the property. Sometimes circumstances dictate stand movement so I would never make the assumption a "new" stand had to be someone who didn't belong there. If we had a consensus on that property and nobody could vouch for the stand then we'd notify the landowner and let him handle it how he saw fit.