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When hunting state land

How do you guys feel about seeing tree stands up on state land? Do you guys take that as a positive because you think if someone else has hunted there than there must be deer or do you take off thinking that it’s too much pressure on the deer? I recently saw empty tree stands and first thought that was a good sign because someone else thought that area would be productive, but now I think the deer could have moved out do to too much pressure. Thoughts?

I hunt state land and leave my stand in for the season. As far as seeing other stands there a a few things to consider. You don’t know if that person knows what they are doing so you can’t judge the spot based on there being a stand there. Second if there is a stand there then there is going to be traffic. Worst thing is you being in your stand and have someone walk thru the area. I would rather scout for deer sign and find a place away from other hunters

You need to find old wooden ones the guy dud not put them up for nothing ,Lol

if you can determine someones been there recently, its probably not a good spot. but a lot of the stands i find are abandoned, chains grown into the tree and no recent human sign around base of the tree, those i disregard.

I find another spot. I will say there are times when you can use their walk to their stand as a way for them to drive deer your way. Look for hot dots or some other trail markers their using. I used it in one for years, works great.

or the times you find a spot through map scouting and decide to take a gamble and get in there before daylight. when it gets light you can spot three stands from your tree within 60 yards

i never not hunt a spot because there is a tree stand...some guys have a ton up and never use them some hunt it hard....all depends....i usually hunt and see what happens

Whaler that exact thing happened to me once. And I thought I was so smart.

I also look at the ladder closely to see if the wood scum has been taken off from use, also see if there are leaves in the seat. Can usually tell if it’s active.

or that youve made a mistake BBB and gone to the most obvious "idiot" spot.

This happened a couple weeks ago and shot a coyote and saw 2 deer at 80 yards so it couldnt have been too much of a bad spot.

Steve's advice x2 and find the old wooden stands......or pieces of what remains. No way someone took that much and effort to haul all that gear into the woods without it being a good spot. Find the old stands and set up. You'll kill deer.

I have to confess that I've really only hunted state land here about once, on a ML tag, and I couldn't get out of sight of multiple stands to save myself until I just decided to keep on walking away from the road until they thinned out.

Which was about the same place where the number of trees suitable for hanging a stand started trending toward zero.

Suited me just fine, because I feel kinda silly sitting up a tree in an aluminum climber with a .54 roundball caplock across my lap.

Hunted a state land spot in east Windsor. Went to any area I thought would be good and there was a shiny new ladder stand attached to a tree there so I moved on. Walked to another spot about 200 yards away where I thought the deer would funnel into this field only to find another ladder stand there. Didn’t see any deer.

I carry in and carry out. My opinion is, leaving a stand up is the way some hunters “claim” their spots and deter others. There’s evidence to support this right in this thread.

Jim, I agree and I also carry in and out. These are the type of hunters I avoid on state land because I think they may believe they own the area. I'm not saying they ARE that way, but I would rather be far away from others when hunting. That's part of the reason why I hunt.

I came across this fossil treestand I took a picture of a few years back. The stories it could tell. I never followed up on hunting the piece but I think I will next season.

Wait a minute, I recognize that stand. I think Steve or Gene told me about it when I was a kid.

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