I do a lot of hiking to get in shape for the hunt. This year, I'm already seeing more tree stands than ever and most of the stands I'm seeing give me cause for concern because they're illegal. Illegal activity can never be good for bowhunting.
Guy Perkins wrote an excellent article on the subject, well worth reading if you haven't seen it:
www.backcountry-magazine.com/Bowhunt/Treestands.pdf
I see this like I see a lot of other issues. ATV's, for example, were almost unregulated a few years ago. You could take one anyplace you were fool hearty enough to go. The damage they did was minimal because there weren't that many around. Now, with tens of thousands of the things on the mountain, they're heavily regulated and even banned in some places, with more regulation coming. Let's use our noggins, not piss off the regulators and not invite more tree stand regulation.
