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As the story goes...

Someone has something, someone else wants it, and if they want it bad enough, they’ll try and take it. As unfortunate as it is, that’s the way the story goes. Too many of us hunters know all too well the experience of going to your tree stand in the woods and finding it used, damaged, or even stolen.

In this article, you’ll discover the best theft-prevention methods and gear to keep your tree stand and other hunting equipment as safe as possible.

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Protecting your Tree Stand

Solutions, methods and Ideas to keep your gear safe

Personally, I like getting good gear that’ll last. It’s not worth the time, effort, and money to spend on cheap equipment only for it to last a fraction of the time that a top-of-the-line product will. However, our funds are limited, and we need to protect our assets.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could leave the things we want where we want them and expect to come back with them untouched? Well, as we all know, even in the far off places we hunt, that’s not the case.

There are multiple solutions to prevent stolen hunting gear. One of them is to simply carry our equipment in and out every time we hunt. However, if you’re dealing with a tree stand, ladder, bow, gear, and hopefully wheeling meat back to the truck, that’s exhausting and until you’re used to packing your gear up, it’ll take a good amount of extra time.

The section below details ideas to help prevent theft of your gear. They are organized by equipment.

For Climbing Sticks

If you’re using a tree stand, unless you’ve got a ladder, chances are you’re using climbing sticks too. A lot of folks prefer to set their sticks up and keep them on the tree. If you’re one of these hunters, I’ve got a trick for you:

Replace the round hitch pins with stainless steel nuts and bolts. Tighten these nuts and bolts enough so that if someone tries to take them, they’ll need tools. Most thieves will move on and won’t want to deal with someone who’s taken these measures. Then, when you hunt, keep a wrench in your backpack and use it when it’s time to take the sticks down.

For Tree Stands

Tree stands, and even hang-on tree stands get expensive these days. Chairs are important. They keep on comfortable, good ones protect our back, and it’s nice to have a good one.

In order to prevent theft with your tree stand, what you can do is fold it up when you’re not using it, wrap it up with some camo netting, and then to put the icing on the cake, take down the sticks so the thieves don’t have easy access to grab the stand.

Best solution to prevent tree stand theft:

Sometimes, however, you want to keep everything up, and I get this. It’s actually what I do. I bought two of these Kryptonite chain and locks and believe me, my seat isn’t going anywhere. I highly recommend this option.

For Pole Ladders

When using pole ladders lock a cable chain around the sections to the tree. I’d recommend the same Kryptonite chain and lock featured above.

For Cameras

Cameras can be tricky to keep up for long periods of time. It’s it’s not the squirrels or woodpeckers, thieves will try their hand at grabbing your camera. I recommend using a cheap camera in case theft does happen. In order to try and prevent it, however, I recommend this camo netting.

Key take aways

We’ve worked hard for our equipment and the thought of it getting stolen is terrible. Use these tips to prevent tree stand and hunter gear theft:

Write a note: I personally know hunters who actually keep a note on their tree stand that says, feel free to use this stand, but please don’t damage it. I like the credo of this hunter, and he says his things haven’t been stolen yet.
Go deeper into the woods: The further out you go, the deeper you get into the brush, the more difficult and the less likely it will be that a thief will find your gear. Go where others won’t.
Use a camera: Oftentimes, public land states that we cannot keep our gear out. However, if you have a place that you can, put a camera facing the equipment so you can try and identify the thief.
Conceal your gear: Use the camo netting recommended above. Wrap your things up, and even paint them if you feel it will help.
Report stolen gear: Make sure that you report your stolen gear as soon as possible if it happens. Then, once you notice your things are gone, play detective. More often than not, there will be clues you can use to find the person. Go as far as taken a photo with your phone of footprints left, wrappers, or any other evidence that could help the authorities find the thief.