This 20-by-18-foot deer “stand” was built on St. Louis County forestland.
I was always taught to leave the forest as I found it. Pack it in, pack it out. I know not everyone else feels this way. I’ve come across my fair share of trash and rouge structures in all sorts of wild places. It seems that foresters in Minnesota are seeing some extreme cases of these selfish hunters.
Apparently, hunters are building elaborate deer stands, cutting shooting lanes and planting food plots on public land. One deer stand on county land was a cabin 18 feet wide and 20 feet long. And, increasingly, some hunters are buying elaborate manufactures stands and leaving them in the woods all year.
“Multiply hundreds, perhaps thousands, of deer stands with the hundreds of feet of cleared forest for shooting lanes, and the total is adding up. Some of those shooting lanes are more than 30 feet wide and up to 700 feet long. In one area of county land near state land, it’s estimated that a group of hunters had cleared more than six acres of forest combined for their 47 shooting lanes.”
Aerial photograph shows a deer stand built on county forestland with several shooting lanes cut through the woods.
It’s a shame that hunters feel they can take such liberties on public land. While these activities are perfectly legitimate if you own the property, you don’t. We own the land. Hunting is sustainable as long as we take efforts to maintain its pristine nature.
“In some areas, hunters have taken to clearing the forestland and planting clover and other farm crops to attract deer. While the ethics of food plots is hotly debated in the hunting community — some say it’s akin to baiting deer, which is illegal in Minnesota — county foresters say the plots are taking even more forestland out of production.”
The unfortunate outcome of this behavior is the measures public land managers will have to take to curb the bad apples. These selfish hunters scar the land and our image.
What are your thoughts about permanent tree stands and food plots on public land?
