Deer stand 'mansions' irk foresters

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) -- Foresters in St. Louis County are annoyed by increasingly elaborate deer stands, including many on public property that the county's land commissioner likens to "mansions" in the trees.

The Duluth News Tribune reports Sunday that county officials are seeing stands with stairways, decks, shingled roofs, commercial windows, insulation, propane heaters, carpeting, lounge chairs, tables and even occasionally generators. Some hunters are even planting crops on public land to attract deer.

St. Louis County Land Commissioner Bob Krepps says that private landowners can do what they want but that the tax-forfeited land that makes up nearly 1 million acres of county forest is public and supposedly open to all hunters. He says hunters who customize stands in these areas are inappropriately claiming public land as their own.