stolen tree stand

[Duffy]

Personally, I do not use a tree stand (I am more of a stay-on-the-ground-in-a-blind kind of guy), but my first experience with tree stands was when I was a kid in Pennsylvania. My uncle has about sixty acres in NW PA where I grew up hunting, and to this day still occasionally go. Everyone in the area knew my uncle very well, and those who knew him were aware that they were welcome to hunt on his property as long as they asked him for written permission. One absolute rule, however, was that no one could use tree stands on his property, because back then there were no stands which would not damage trees. All stands available back then were affixed to trees via bolts, and other accessory hardware, with bolted steps, and since my uncle’s property had large, beautiful—and valuable—walnut, oak, and ash trees, he did not want any of his trees permanently scarred and ruined. One day close to gun season when I was visiting, my uncle, cousins, and me were out doing some scouting, when we discovered a brand new stand hanging about fifteen feet in a pine tree, with a dozen or so bolt “steps” screwed into the tree leading up to the stand. Fortunately, it was just a pine tree and not one of the other varieties, but my uncle was nevertheless furious, because he expected his rules to be followed, plus he felt violated by an apparent trespasser. He went back to the house, and returned with his Remington 11-87 and a box of 00 buckshot. He climbed to the top of the stand, and unscrewed each of the steps as he came back down. He threw the steps into the small pond the stand was over, loaded his Remington, and then proceeded to fire six rounds of buckshot up into the seat, totally blowing it away. All that remained was a frame without a seat, and the footrest. He proudly declared that this would be a lesson to the perpetrator, and a sign for all to rethink their actions, and its rusty remains are still there to this day some 25 years later as my uncle’s trophy against trespassers.