All I can say is Seriously????

Taxing the deer stand?
By Joe Albert Associate Editor | 1 comment

Randall, Minn. - Jeff Hardy's got a deer stand on 40 acres of land in northwestern Morrison County, but it may not be there much longer.

That's because the county wants him to pay property taxes on it.

"I'm not paying taxes on it," Hardy said. "I'll tear it down before I do that. It's not a taxable structure."

County officials beg to differ.

The deer stand, which is 8 feet by 16 feet, has vinyl siding and sits 10 feet in the air on telephone poles. It also has windows, stairs leading up to it, and a shooting deck. When Hardy constructed it, he made sure he wasn't required to have a building permit. It doesn't violate any planning and zoning ordinances, he said.

Gale Zimmerman, of the county assessor's office, says the deer stand reminds him of a storage shed or a bunkhouse. He says he's never seen such an elaborate one.

"To me, it's a structure - it's more elaborate than a typical deer stand," Zimmerman said. "My initial thought is it is going to be valued," (which would require Hardy pay taxes on it).

The taxes would be payable in 2012, though there is an appeals process if Hardy disagrees on the valuation the county places on it. Zimmerman figures taxes would be about $40 per year.

"By all definitions, it doesn't fit into the category of cold storage, a garage, or a house," Hardy said. "It's nothing other than a deer stand. It shouldn't matter how fancy you make it."

Hardy bowhunts and rifle hunts from the stand, which is near food plots. His wife and kids also hunt from it, and his 11-year-old shot his first deer with a bow from it last year.

"The gentleman I bought the property from is elderly and expressed an interest in hunting, but he gets cold easily and can't walk up a ladder," Hardy said. "My kids are young and are just getting started hunting. Rather than going out there and freezing them to death on their first hunts, they can actually go in and warm up."

Hardy said Zimmerman told him if the stand were used only for hunting deer, that it would be treated as such. Hardy said he and other family members have spent the night in the stand.

"By all definitions, it's a temporary structure," he said. "It's a deer stand."

The deer stand "looked to have more utility than other deer stands I've seen," Zimmerman said. "It's a bunkhouse up on stilts as much as it is a deer stand."

To Zimmerman's knowledge, this is the first time such a question has come up in Morrison County.

When the county figures property taxes, it attempts to value items based on how they would sell in the marketplace. The bottom line is whether they contribute value to the property, Zimmerman said.

"There isn't anything that says deer stands are exempt from being taxed," he said. "But they don't necessarily add value. I have seen a number of deer stands and they are usually just used for deer stands and they are really not suitable for anything else."

When is a deer stand. no longer a deer stand???
They need their tax money up there....Really $40 a year.  It us less then that for our if we put new ones every year.
I just might have to agree with the county on this one.  You want all the comforts, you should pay.

 Decks are taxed,Sheds, garages. Not temp structures,BUT a temp structure to be considered is movable.Sounds like he has it on posts and it also sounds luxurious. So its not temp and being over 100 sq.ft.He should have been required to get a building permit.
 Unless he avoided the county.I wonder why he even told the county?? If he didn't they would have had to find it.

An person I know used to brag at the local watering hole, that he got his deer opening morning at first light.  He would just open the back door and shoot.
Seems the CO was waiting for him one year.  He said after that he quit deer hunting.  That's what he gets for bragging.
I also remember hearing about a guy that had an ice shack on his property and used it to hunt from...shot and deer and got a ticket.
Now what is the difference between this guys stand and an elevated ice shack or the back porch???
Let's not get too controverial here though.

The thing with this is where does it stop? Tax one hunters stand he gets mad and starts to complain that its an unfair tax because his neighbors are not getting taxed on there stands. I for one think that its a joke to try tax deer stands. Yes I agree they can be an eye sore and yes some are a little over the top but come on. I pay enough in taxes and I to would tear it down before I paid tax on it. Just another view of big brother rearing its ugly head.

Lets get real, enough is enough already.  Everytime you turn around, someone, including the county is trying to nickel and dime a guy to death.
Both the government and businesses are complaining economic times are tough so costs have to be raised and passed on.
Well if they think things are bad, hello, what about us little guys and what the economy is doing to us.
Eventually we will be taxed and or charged out of financial existence and won't be able to afford much of anything.
My utility and insurance costs alone have risen significantly so that is less money for me to spend with retailers.
God I miss Fleet Farm, Cabelas, Gander Mountain and Reeds just to mention a couple places I have less money to spend at.
If I am not mistaken, those places create jobs and increase the tax base.
How did they arrive at a $40 figure and what will that money be used for?
I would much rather support and create minimum wage jobs so someone can etch out a living, rather then raise the salaries of some government supervisor or big shot executive.

RHW and Picklefarmer raise some points that are solid and having had some time to think about this I agree. I think though that many of these structures have gotten out of hand. This should fall under the dnr's domain similar to the dock policing. Still, out of hand is out of hand and BOTH areas are guilty. I honestly feel that the rules need to be re-written so there is a uniform policy that extends throughout the state and is enforced.

I hunt out of a 4X5 stand and have plenty of room. Make the standard a 5X5 foot platform a maximum. 15 feet is a good maximum height. Allow a canopy with a head clearance of 6'6". Allow a knee wall to rise to a height of 3 feet, but keep the walls open above 3' to the canopy. If a wall covering to block wind is wanted, allow a camo fabric to be attached that must be removed at the end of the season. Allow NO electricity other than battery operated items and allow heaters designed to go into PORTABLE fish houses with a 20 pound bottle max. And now for the goodie......since tags are required for permanent fish houses, have an annual tag fee placed on all permanent stands. Have them require an annual inspection to apply for the tag. The same thing should be done with docks.

I fish a 600 acre lake and there are docks out there that cover more water than the lot our house sits on. RHW knows what I am talking about here. One such dock went in a couple years ago and covers the entire end of a bay that crappies used for spawning and when the dock went in every iota of submerged structure was pulled out of the water. Today you cannot hardly find a sunfish using the back of this bay, its been destroyed all for one ski boat and a pair of jet skis that could have been tied to a simple straight dock. There are other docks now in the same bay and they are way more than what is needed. I say control is needed to be brought back to our shorelines. I'll just leave my thoughts about docks at this point, but they do fit right in with permanent stands.

There are plenty of ways to inspect these things, but one such way would be to tap the dnr law enforcement education community. Have the junior class students use the summer months after graduation do the dock surveys to assure dock sizes are in compliance. No inspection of the dock, no permit issued. The stands could be inspected in the same way. Those structures which have not gotten the annual inspection and paid for the permit should be removed at the property owner's expense and these should become the property of the dnr. Those constucted outside of a uniform code should be  cut up. Allow absolutely no "grandfathering".

300 feet of shoreline and fish holding structure doesn't have to be ruined to tie up a boat. Jet skis? Trailer them. One boat or pontoon should be allowed on one property.  Like-wise, to hunt deer you only need to have a place thatallows a field of vision and affords a place to sit and stand. If you want luxury, then build a house in the woods and pay the taxes instead of a simple annual permit cost.
 

I am suggesting an annual license that has to be purchased each year, just like a perm ice house. I don't like the idea of a tax really. But if people have to pay for an annual tag and inspection, they might keep these things in line.

A lot of this is done not from neccesity but because of the need to boast...a show of whatever.

On another note, where I had once hunted for years and years, a neighboring property was sold to some constuction outfit. They ended up not being able to use the land as they intended  so they turned it into a family hunting property. The old man and owner of the property could not get around so well any more so a electric scoffolding lift was outfited with a covered platform. He'd get on his stool and press a button, lifting him up thirty feet or so. Then these things started popping up in a number of locations on that property. I heard the wind blew one over one day when the rain had softened the soil they had parked the contraption on. I wonder where one of these lifts would have fit in the tree stand descriptions? 

I hunted in an enclosed deer stand for a couple of days last year. Nice to be out of the elements but you really need good sized windows for shooting. I then moved to a stand that had a stairway (which are awesome!!) and was built about three feet up on the sides then had a slanted roof over it. Nice to be out of some elements. If I owned land, those are the ones I would make. Stairs make it safer to go up and down with a gun and it's nice to have the roof with rain and what not, makes it easier to sit out there most of the day.

Wow, that is impressive!! I hunt out of a 4x6 with a shingled roof and sliding plexiglass windows. It has a heater in it that I rarely use except to warm up my sandwich.