Yeah, my first stand on my land was welded rebar with a blind I built atop it with hand tools cause I didn't have a generator back then. It lasted three weeks into the season. I found a bunch of lumber and the stand part missing.
The second one I lost cost me 200 bucks at a local sporting goods store.
That one was steel, nice and heavy. Then, I ordered this little aluminum 125 dollar portable 10 foot tripod and set it up down there, bring it home after season. I've hunted a couple of seasons in it, brought it home and it sat up a several seasons while I had a bird lease and was all into goose and dove for a while. Now, it's getting a little crusty and old and the seat is sorta eaten up. I'm hopin' they'll figure it ain't worth rippin' off. I wanna get a new stand down there so I can move this little one for a friend to hunt out of in another spot when he comes to visit. I'm getting a new feeder, too (he's my oldest, best friend and has a farm that has great dove hunting
). I just hope I can keep the thieves away. I'm thinkin' I'll dig holes for the legs to sit in on the big stand and pour sack create in it to anchor it and make it tougher to steal. I'm going to build a blind atop it, also. I want something out of the rain and wind I can get comfy in when I go down there and sit at night waiting on hogs as well as something to deer hunt out of. I'd like to build a fancy stand with carpeted floor, heck, maybe a bed/portapotty, heck, internet hook up for when I'm hunting. ROFLMAO! There's some pretty fancy stands in Texas and I mean, it's my land, ain't goin' nowhere and the beggars might move in, but I'm retired and they have no way of knowing when I'm going to show up.
I was sitting in my stand one morning before daylight when I see lights coming down this "road". Now "road" is a liberal term for this path and it'd rained like 6" and everything was flooded. I'd walked in not wanting to risk it even in my 4x4 Toyota. Well, there's a big hole down this path that fills up with water 3 feet deep in a good rain. I see this vehicle comin'. I know it's a spot lighter. He runs off in this hole and I see headlights shining from under water. ROFLMAO! As it gets light, I see him put a gun in the seat and walk off to find a phone I guess to call his dad. I briefly though of doing two things, walk over there and take the little fart's gun and drive home (not me, sorry, can't bring myself to steal something for any reason) or call the game wardens on him. But, I just sat back in my stand and watched as his dad arrives with a truck, hooks up a winch, and pulls the vehicle (a Jeep Cherokee) home. The one thing I've got going for me down there is I know when it's wet like it is now, nobody's driving in there unless on a 4 wheeler and even then they could bury the thing cause there are soft spots and hog wallows everywhere down there.