Ok I know public land is first come first serve. I went in this evening to my long time opening day spot just to gander a min. I find a lock on stand with screw in steps up the tree to it in a tree 5 ft from the tree I climb every year. It's illegal to leave overnight stands especially with screw in steps in the tree. (Wheeler NWR) Do I report it if so wonder if officials will remove it? Or do I report it and try to beat him in there and hunt anyway. I don't wanna cause a drama the first day of bow season.

First come first serve....Avoid the drama....shine him in the face.....02

Ya I'm just worried he's gonna try to act stupid and ruin it for everyone

If he does he does....you prolly logged in a lot of time in that place and I wouldn't give it up...sux but the early bird gets the worm and if he is gonna act like a idot that's on him....Happy hunting....

Ya he's gonna have to beat me to it is all I can say. I've killed a deer out of that tree every year opening day for the last 4 years.

I'd report his azz

Report him, crap like that pisses me off and in my experience they don’t tolerate it on Wheeler like they might on a regular state WMA.

Yeah I was sick when I found it this evening.

Take it down throw it in the dumpster

It is wrong for the guy to break the law and it’s public land , first come first serve regardless of who it is or how much time anyone has spent scouting it out. Unfortunately that’s just the way it works . I dealt with this many times. Hunters can Be very territorial and have a tendency to feel as though they have earned the right to hunt this spot or that spot every year. I can certainly understand their point of view . I seen guys go as far as climb right in the tree next to you due to this very fact. There has been fist fights and even killings over public land claimed spots. That’s why those who can afford it buy land others who can’t lease and those that can’t afford either deal with the hassle of public land. I had access to a 80 acre farm but the right away went through a several hundred acre farm. The guys that leased the large farm where mostly doctors and lawyers out of state. It neve failed that they would meet me at the gate every morning and dog cuss me for getting to the farm I had written permission to hunt. They want as far as greeting me with pistols in hand. I was determined not to allow them to ruin my hunting and even called the Police and game wardens a few times , however in the end they won because it was getting to the point something stupid was going to take place and imo deer hunting isnt worth it.

Report it, let WR folks handle that part. Get there before him. Then hope thats not his only stand. Experienced a guy said that was his only stand and climbed 40 yards away anyway.

I used to hunt Wheeler almost exclusively, I made a mad dash from work to hunt one afternoon and found 2 brand new climbers left on the bases of trees right were I was going to climb. One of those trees I had trimmed up myself and made it climbable and where I was going to hang my stand that afternoon. As has been already mentioned this is illegal on Wheeler. I had mixed feelings, I thought about owning 2 new stands and calling it an afternoon but I'm not a thief so I wound their pull-up ropes around the stands and probably tied a few knots in them. I also used my trail marking paper towels and tied a dozen or so white flags on the stands. You could spot those stands as far as you could see in the woods. I went on a hunted another place but I came out early disappointed I didn't get to hunt my hotspot. I eased by the earlier spot to see if anyone had shown up to hunt and ran a deer off that was eating the acorns near my tree. I guess the white flags didn't scare the deer but those stands were removed the next time I went to that area. I never knew if a thief or the owners had removed them.

To answer your question, report them!!

I am calling it in today!

Report to game warden and let them take care of it.

Hell just go hunt it. And leave em a big gut pile next to it.

Then report it.

There is no “my spot” on public land or wma its always fcfs, but some idiots should have respect. Whoever this stand belongs too has already broke the law and obviously is not worried about following laws in the first place. I’d report it and maybe the bastid will get a nice greeting the first time he’s in it. Also correct me if I’m wrong, don’t you have to have a tag with name and address on it permanently affixed to the stand.

Oh I know there's no my spot, I've just always made a point to be the first one there. if someone was there before me I would respectfully leave and go find somewhere else to hunt. First come first serve. Just the simple fact that the law is being broke I don't mean to sound like a sore loser it's just WHY do that on public land especially on wheeler. They don't take too kindly to it. It's not in a secret place or remote location in fact it's in a very obvious spot I've just been fortunate to have alot of luck there. I reported it called The Refuge they gave my number and information to an officer yet I still haven't heard anything back.

I walked into a favorite spot of mine at Wheeler one pre-season to do some scouting. Got about 100 yards from the tree I usually climbed and noticed about a literal 12" of orange flagging tape every 10 yards or so right up to my tree. I proceeded to do my scouting and yank every bit of it down on my way out.

Give me that LAT and LON and i'll have it outta there for ya tomorrow morning. PM me

Same thing happened to me this weekend when I was scouting. Canoe'd into a place and looking around there's a lock-on left on the tree. Looked like it'd been there since last year. Ticks me off when people feel like they have to break the rules on public land.

Wasn't in a hotspot or anything, but if it was, I'd just beat the guy or gal in there.