Trail Markers

[RodnGun]

Do you use them.....and which type do you prefer?

Do you use reflective thumbtacks....the four sided push pin types.....the orange limb hanging clips or do you hang reflective tape....or something else?

I use them in the "big woods" of New Hampshire.....I travel over a half mile to one of my stands....and in the dark in the the thick stuff....I have to use trail markers.

I use a combination of the thumbtacks and the four sided reflective push pin types. I always carry them with me even though I carry a GPS. If I had to choose....and I'm glad I don't......I'd carry trail markers over a GPS system.

[midrivers]

Thumbtacks on my tree is what I generally use, I am either walking thorugh fields or along a pretty well defined trail on my wat to most of my stands. I really try not to use a flashlight at all if I can help it. I have really taken to slipping into my stands when I can see because I was blowing too many deer out in the dark.

[THE GOB-FATHER]

Most of the time it's reflective tape. We do have some stands that are clearly marked by trails that have spray painted dots on the trees leading to them.

[trkyhntr]

I use the reflective thumb tacks. I walk through some thick mountain laurel. Even if I didn't i'd still use them to get around in the dark.

[flukemaster]

I use my GPS to get me close and thumb tacks from there.

[JerseyHunter]

Hey we use what they call cat eyes it looks like a thumb tack.

[timhicks]

I dont use them , I used to but we have alot of poachers around here ,I dont want to give them any type of edge. I do like the tacks though. Tim

[arkansasdon]

No I dont use tail marker on my land or the farm I hunt in Saddle Arkansas.
Tim we have have poachers here too, or trespassers. If we keep our trees on the boundary lines painted in purple paint and post our land well, they usually stay off. I also have a plus to my advanage, I have my land looked after too , the side I cant see by Arkansas Game & Fish Officer, he happens to be a good buddy of mine

[timhicks]

Don we have about a mile of main hwy frontage which is in the bottoms. The problem before we got this land it used to be hunted, fished when the creeks get swollen. the 2 game wardens are great here also , Kevin and I have been out with them both at night nailing poachers. We have painted telephone poles hungs signs put new fence and painted trees. They always have an excuse, like I used to hunt here, i have permission from so and so. The place also is a main feeder creek to the lake when its has water in it.Which is most years. They take boats in and duck hunt and shoot hogs , I think we got 11 poachers last year red handed. I dont think the law is tough enough on these types.I dont think people realize what goes into putting in food plots and keeping 10 feeders going year round, The plowing discing mowing,fertilizing, it gets old when you hear a shot while in the stand 300 yards from you and you go down there and they have a 12 point poached and had been let go for 2 years getting bigger. I hate poachers!!!!!!!!! Tim

[turk2di]

Thumbtacks! Can't beat them

[IndianaHunter]

I use a GPS to get me to my stands or inrto areas if previously scouted.

[shaman]

I use kite string to mark trails. If I'm hunting a new spot that is tricky to get to, I'll put kite string between two branches here and there to give me an idea of where to go. It's cheap, and the synthetic stuff they use now is fairly reflective, and I can pick it up easily in the flashlight beam.

A bit of string between two fence posts means : the opening in the fence is nigh.

A bit of string tied along the trail means: follow this line.

A bit of string around a tree means: your stand is in sight.

I've got string up that's been there 4 seasons now. I only needed it the first season, but it's amazing how long that stuff will stay if it's left alone.


It's also something that most other hunters don't usually recognize. I had one guy tell me about "tripwahrs" that he'd seen-- somebody had set them up to see if deer were coming through.


That's another thing, by the way, that I use kite string for as part of my early season scouting. I tie kite string across a runway to see if deer are actually using the trail. It doesn't give an accurate picture, but I can rule out a trail. It's saved me from putting up a stand here and there over old trails.

[JerseyHunter]

timhicks said:

Don we have about a mile of main hwy frontage which is in the bottoms. The problem before we got this land it used to be hunted, fished when the creeks get swollen. the 2 game wardens are great here also , Kevin and I have been out with them both at night nailing poachers. We have painted telephone poles hungs signs put new fence and painted trees. They always have an excuse, like I used to hunt here, i have permission from so and so. The place also is a main feeder creek to the lake when its has water in it.Which is most years. They take boats in and duck hunt and shoot hogs , I think we got 11 poachers last year red handed. I dont think the law is tough enough on these types.I dont think people realize what goes into putting in food plots and keeping 10 feeders going year round, The plowing discing mowing,fertilizing, it gets old when you hear a shot while in the stand 300 yards from you and you go down there and they have a 12 point poached and had been let go for 2 years getting bigger. I hate poachers!!!!!!!!! Tim

We need better laws.

[timhicks]

Jersey I agree, I hate a few things ,Poachers top my list. I did a few things in my younger days I am not proud of but never poached anything. I hate them. If they would ask someone I would help or take them hunting if it feeds the family or helps them out. I just hate them.. didnt mean to turn this post into a poacher thing but we all have this trouble/ Tim

[hogdogs]

What about one of the many "sight paints" either directly on the tree at a strategic spot or prepainted on to nylon straightline string used in construction? This could be tied a bit higher on twigs near the trail rather than the tacks on a trunk making spotting by others a bit harder and still easy for the person leaving it to still "read" his trail.
Brent