MOtgrinMI wrote:Interesting response you received from the Wildlife Division (i.e., that they are considered abandoned and people can just take them). My local warden told me the opposite (i.e., that removing someones stand would be "stealing"). This is where THE STATE needs to make the interpretation of the law clear so that wardens do not relay their own interpretation of the tree stand laws. I am also a member of the MI Sportsman Forum (same name) and you would be surprised at all the different interpretations of this law that those guys have received from their local conservation officers. This is a perfect place to use the KISS (keep it simple stupid) method and make the law clear, standardized, and easy to enforce with no room for interpretation. Also some of the folks on that forum, who I suspect are the same a-holes that put up tons of stands on public to mark their territory, call out other hunters for removing this abandoned property. The truth is local citizens should not have to form their own "stand sweeping posse" to enforce these laws, so if the abandoned property interpretation is correct, I think DNR should be the one to organize local groups of volunteers for tree stand sweeps, and provide some equipment/open up the gates to vehicles so that those stands can be removed safely and easily. An incentive to participating is that volunteers could keep some stands!
Agreed.
The simplest thing would be to not allow “permanent stands” like ladder stands and go to portable stands only on public land. That eliminates all the problems.
Bob