Recently, two of my friends became statistics. And another joined the ranks of becoming a victim. The culprits of these events were people who pretended to be sportsmen and hunters but are really thieves and posers in the worst possible sense of the words! They don’t take the time to do their own homework; they depend on finding the work of others to help them clue into what’s happening in certain areas. Or, in a worst-case scenario, they steal both property and someone else’s work, with no sense of remorse. This makes them thieves and posers, which is even worse than being a poor sportsman! Who knows when these events happen? It’s usually under the cover of darkness! But some have enough negative ambition to do it in broad daylight, knowing that the people who did the real work can’t be in these places every day. And it happens every year to hunters all over the country, including Franklin County. Maybe it’s happened to you! Which means you would know exactly how my friends felt when it happened to them during this year’s deer season! That’s right! Someone stole tree stands from two of my best friends. While another placed their cameras within 20 feet from where another friend already had a stand set up, and in place, to deer hunt. Which brings Franklin County in step with other counties in Massachusetts where the same things happen every year during deer season!
In the first case, my friend’s stand was 15 feet up a tree on private property. It was a climbing stand in an area where my friend had hunted for the past 10 years. He and his father had been hunting from that area using a variety of stands during this period. This year, they decided to place a climbing stand in the same area, but in a different tree that overlooked a mostly rectangular area of woods at the top of a ridgeline. There was grass on both sides that narrowed down to about 50 yards wide as it entered the area where my friend’s hunting stand was located. If a deer tried to enter or leave this area, it would have to move past this tree. And if that happened, the deer would be well within range of my friends’ abilities. So earlier in the season, my friend’s father helped him place this stand, and both men are certain that none of the people who legally hunt this area would have ever taken it. Yet, someone certainly took it!
The second case is pretty much the same. It happened in eastern Franklin County, again, on private property. My friend has hunted this area for years alongside other hunters who respect the property and each other. They’ve shared, and coexisted, on this 150-acre parcel for decades without interfering with each other’s ability to hunt. However, this stand was a little different, as it was a ladder stand with a large seat attached to the top, 20 feet off the ground. This stand was placed here by my friend and his buddy, but in mid-November, as my friend was climbing into the stand, he noticed that the ladder was unsteady. As he got closer to the top, he could feel it starting to sway away from the tree. That’s when he noticed the top level was partially ripped away from what secured it, leaving the entire system unstable at best. Then he saw how someone had tried to rip out the entire top seat, bending the brackets that held it, partially pulling out heavy screws, with his weight now making the entire stand compromised and dangerous. He slowly backed down without incident. But the stand was rendered useless until they could repair it. Not something you want to do in the middle of a deer season! Someone had tried to rip away the stand from the tree to steal it, and he was boiling over with anger!
And finally, in a third incident, someone found an area where another friend of mine was hunting with a stand already in place and his own cameras surrounding the area. So, what does this poser do? He places his own cameras within 20 feet of my friend’s tree stand, which really irritated him to think that someone would do such a thing. Again, this was on private property. And after checking with the landowner, he found that the only person who had permission to be hunting in this area was him. So, the good news is that my friend knows who did this! But he’s not yet sure what, or if, there’s anything he wants to do about it. His hope is, after the landowner confiscated the poser’s cameras, he will have learned a lesson, and not do something like this again!
All that said, having anything stolen from you, or having people trespass on private property where you have permission to be, is aggravating at best! I mean, someone who knows the cost of a tree stand must also know what’s involved in finding a location that will give a hunter the best chances in that stand. This doesn’t even consider what it takes to get one into the woods and in place! And as far as the trespasser putting cameras next to his stand, this person is not a thief, not yet at least, but he is a trespasser, and a poser, displaying the poorest form of sportsmanship. This person was just too lazy to expend the time and energy it takes to gain permission and find good property to hunt on his own. You’re just a non-ethical hunter! I wonder if any of these people felt any guilt. Probably not, because I’m guessing that the same urge that pushes someone into stealing and trespassing, also prevents that person’s ability to think about anyone but themselves!
Joe Judd is a lifelong hunter and sportsman. He is an outdoor writer, seminar speaker, member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association, and a 2019 inductee into the New England Turkey Hunting Hall of Fame. Joe is also a member of the Quaker Boy Game Calls and Bass Pro/Cabela’s Pro Staff.