Marking your deer spot?

[wdgold]

Sorry if this long winded but I wanted to get your input. On public land if you enter area from a gravel road is it better to mark your entry point to let people know your in the area already to maybe prevent someone from hunting on top of you, or is it better not to and hope no one else goes in there. I have always marked my trail a few yards in the woods and have a natural marker to mark the spot along the road where I enter in at so it is not obvious where I go in. The reason I ask is that I have seen areas marked along the roads right before deer hunting opens and I am assuming these are areas where people have gone in to scout already. Maybe I have already answered my own? because personally it keeps me from going in to that area.

[mrklean]

on public land all bets are off you never know what someone will do, they might know your trail is there and still hunt right next to you

[fivebucks]

I mark my trail and hope the other people are decent. I've learned from experience that not all people are decent though as some people have used my scouting for their benefit. Se la vie!

[InTheNorthwoods]

I would never mark a spot on public land, besides leading people right to where you hunt, it looks like litter in the woods. Also, not everyone who follows the markers and hunts in that area is a "no good, dirty, leech of a hunter" - many of them may be brand new hunters who don't know a lick about the woods or the perceived problem with hunting where someone else has marked, it also may be a person who has been hunting that area for a lot longer than you have and now you just ruined their spot as well by marking it for others. The thing to remember is that its public land and you have no greater right to "your spot" than the next guy.

If you don't want someone else in the spot before you, I suggest waking up earlier.

[FishingWebGuy]

When we were out this past weekend one of the locals stopped and told us about some regulars that come up and camp on the public land during firearms. He said those guys won't scout at all and make a habit of following other hunters to their stands and sitting near them or getting to their stands before them.

It all depends on what type of people are in your area I guess.

While pheasant hunting we've had groups enter the other end of a field while we are driving it. There are all kinds out there.

[wdgold]

Thanks for the replies guys, I will keep doing what I have always been doing when hunting public land. Out of sight, Out of mind! and get out early.

[lichen fox]

We hunt alot of public land during bear season in big forest areas...alot of the ribbons that you see along roads and trails are actually "markers" for road maintainence crews and or forestry crews....we've learned over the years that different colors mean different things for different departments and that may even change from year to year...ie: when we see yellow ribbons in a spot along a road...there will soon be a new culvert there...blue ribbons...some tree's that are too close to the road need to be removed...etc....We have observed this several times over the years, made notes and sure enough...poof! there was a new culvert when we came back the next time or there were tree's cut...but we always dreaded the "blue" paint around or near one of our baits as we knew that area was soon to be logged and we'd be out another bait site....

[charliepete]

Marking is nothing but litter, I'll pull it down if I come across it on public land. Folks who figure they mark to 'let other folks know they are there' are just tying up land that belongs to all of us. So you hunt a spot 5 times a year and flag the heck out of it, I suppose now everybody should avoid 'your spot' the other 99 days of the season. If you want privacy, buy 40 acres, if you want to hunt public learn to share with your fellow hunters.

[wdgold]

Sorry I brought the subject up. When I mark a trail it is with marking tacks and after the hunt I try to remove them when I am done so I can use them again, if that is littering and it makes a me a bad sportsman then so be it. Maybe I should use a GPS instead. As far as littering goes what about the idiots out there who hunt public land and leave all of there trash by there hunting tree, that is far worse then someone marking there trail.

[Wanderer]

We hunt alot of public land during bear season in big forest areas...alot of the ribbons that you see along roads and trails are actually "markers" for road maintainence crews and or forestry crews....we've learned over the years that different colors mean different things for different departments and that may even change from year to year...ie: when we see yellow ribbons in a spot along a road...there will soon be a new culvert there...blue ribbons...some tree's that are too close to the road need to be removed...etc....We have observed this several times over the years, made notes and sure enough...poof! there was a new culvert when we came back the next time or there were tree's cut...but we always dreaded the "blue" paint around or near one of our baits as we knew that area was soon to be logged and we'd be out another bait site....

I learned the same a couple years ago. I don't pull ribbons anymore since I don't know why they were put there or by who.

I have thought of putting a cardboard sign in my window while on public land hunts stating the number of hunters in the group and which side of the road we're on.

A little communication doesn't hurt.

[fivebucks]

I'll continue to mark to let people know I am there and to let people know to avoid my spot. Yes it is public land and I can't do anything about it if someone hunts right where I do. Where we hunt we know where other groups of people hunt and we stay out of those areas and they do the same to us. If I found a good spot over the years and have hunted it for several years I don't want some newcomer to hunt the area that I worked hard to find. By leaving some surveyors tape people know that someone is hunting there. I do alot more damage to the enviroment driving up north in my truck than a few 4" pieces of tape cause. The "other" hunters need to learn to respect where others are hunting. I certainly respect areas that others are hunting.

[InTheNorthwoods]

I'll continue to mark to let people know I am there and to let people know to avoid my spot. Yes it is public land and I can't do anything about it if someone hunts right where I do. Where we hunt we know where other groups of people hunt and we stay out of those areas and they do the same to us. If I found a good spot over the years and have hunted it for several years I don't want some newcomer to hunt the area that I worked hard to find. By leaving some surveyors tape people know that someone is hunting there. I do alot more damage to the enviroment driving up north in my truck than a few 4" pieces of tape cause. The "other" hunters need to learn to respect where others are hunting. I certainly respect areas that others are hunting.

And I live up north where all these people from the cities come up in a sea of orange and do nothing but disrespect the woods marking trails after speeding up here in their chromed out leather seat jacked up Lincoln pick ups tearing up county roads that my tax dollars maintain and take over the woods that I have been scouting all season that I have known about since my daddy first took me out there as a toddler and I know like the back of my hand and now some yuppie from down south in the Cities thinks because he's been coming here for 5 years and put out some silly little flags people should stay out of his way on public land that I have chose no to hunt hunt for the past few years because there were no good deer using the area as I learned from all my scouting throughout the summers.

Sounds ridiculous doesn't it? But I'm willing to bet thats what your post sounds like to a lot of the locals. This isn't a snapshot of me, but a lot of it is true. Thats why its great that the land is PUBLIC and EVERYONE has a right to hunt where they please when they get there first. First come, first serve, no matter how many times you've been there or where you currently live or where you grew up or what you think your silly little flags mean.

Respect is deserved by all, and that most certainly includes respect from a person who put flags up marking their spot when they see someone else got there first and is sitting near there.

[Jameson]

When I am hunting public land I will park on the side of the road that I am hunting on and place some blaze orange for others to see near my windshield. I hope, but do not expect, other hunters to stay clear of the area as I would.

Now if I am deer hunting and follow some marking tape to what I consider a great deer stand in a great spot I will climb right up in it and hunt. If someone comes along and asks me to get out of 'their' stand.... well I ain't moving, and I ain't feeling bad about it.

So, I guess to mark 'your' spot or not...I would not.

[Cheetah]

Sorry to those who disagree, but if I do enough research to find a public land hunting area and you happen to hunt it too, that sucks for you if you think you own it because you've hunted the same tree for the last ten years. I'm going to hunt, I'll give you your due space, but it isn't your land just as it isn't my land. And I sure as heck won't turn around and go home just because you are think you own it.

A similar situation happened to us last year out west. We showed up at a parking area that can hold a dozen vehicles, some guy and his son are eating lunch in their truck. We pull up and jump out to chase pheasants and it just so happens he wanted to hunt the same section. He starts yelling at us for disrespecting the fact that he was there first... Gimme a break...

[RumRiverRat]

I love hunting private land so I do not have to deal with this.

[Big Buck Buster]

To me, putting trail markers is more for safety than marking your own hunting spot. I hunt the big woods of the north, and use trail markers if I am entering an area not known to me, so I can make it back out without getting lost. I will teach my children to do the same thing I do. I would like to see them back at camp that evening. If I have an area marked with ribbons, that will give my son an opportunity to go in, and make it back out the way he went in. I remember back in gun safety training, they taught us this very same thing. MARK YOUR TRAIL IN!! SAFETY, SAFETY, SAFETY!! They also taught us to use our compass, but a compass will not get you out in the same spot as trail markers will. GPS is nice, but in the dense woods, they don't always work. They have to see the satellite in order to work properly. Just my opinion.

If a person would ripped down the trail markers that some young kid, possibly, just put up to find his way out after hunting, they might have just got that kid lost, or even worse, dead. Not very smart!!

[BucksnDucks]

I agree that at times putting up flag markers will lead sum to your area, but I myself and I hope others have enuf common sense to avoid that area at the time I come across it. Now that doesnt mean that entire region is all urs for all season, but its all give and take. Sum1 said earlier about ppl hunting certain areas for years and years, and thinkn that its all theres. Thats where I have a problem. Its public guys, not yours not mine, but public! I just wish more ppl were like you guys and under stand the first come first served motto!

[wdgold]

Good point! I do it also for safety to better find my way out, and also I hunt with my teenager and if something were to happen to me he would be able to find the road quicker in an emergency instead of having to fumble around with a compass. Like you said it is really irresponsible for those who pull markers, you never know what someone’s situation is who put those markers out?

[charliepete]

If you send your kids into the woods on their own unprepared to get back out without ribbons, it's you that's not very smart. What happens when the kid tracks a deer? What if he gets turned around in the dark on the way in? Modern GPS's work no matter the tree cover (mine works in my basement at home). A compass and a map defintely do tell you where you are, you just have to know how to use them. If you want to mark a trail on your way in, and pick it up on the way out I don't have a problem. By a 100 close pins, spray paint them blaze orange, and put them up and take them down as you go. Just don't think leaving your flagging up claims a spot on public ground for you, and don't litter the woods with plastic that won't break down in your lifetime.

[sticknstring]

I'd rather stress the importance of how to use a compass than how to mark a ribbon trail. Good woodsmanship will last a lifetime.

[JeffB]

A buddy of mine brought his son deer hunting to the big woods as he was walking into the woods I asked him what dirrection to walk out to hit the main road. He said he would just follow the gps out. I put a my spare compass in his pocket and drew a simple map. Well when he shot a deer he followed the blood trail found the deer marked it on his gps, gutted the deer, and left the gps next to the gut pile. Couldn't find his way back to the stand or trail out. He said he was about paniced before he realized he had the compass. You can't have to many ways to get out of the woods. I seldom need a compass anymore, but always like to have 2 with.

[FishingWebGuy]

A buddy of mine brought his son deer hunting to the big woods as he was walking into the woods I asked him what dirrection to walk out to hit the main road. He said he would just follow the gps out. I put a my spare compass in his pocket and drew a simple map. Well when he shot a deer he followed the blood trail found the deer marked it on his gps, gutted the deer, and left the gps next to the gut pile. Couldn't find his way back to the stand or trail out. He said he was about paniced before he realized he had the compass. You can't have to many ways to get out of the woods. I seldom need a compass anymore, but always like to have 2 with.

I would never leave without a compass. It's quite easy to get turned around and to start doubting your sense of direction -- especially in the dark. I'm trying to get my son to think the same way but he thinks you'd have to be an [PoorWordUsage] to get lost. I don't only carry my compass to save me from getting lost for days but to protect me from ever not knowing exactly which direction I am heading.

[FishingWebGuy]

... Modern GPS's work no matter the tree cover (mine works in my basement at home).

I've had different experiences. I have 4 "modern" GPSs and all have lost signal in thick woods, low spots, under cloud cover or stormy conditions. It doesn't happen often but it does happen.

[charliepete]

I've had different experiences. I have 4 "modern" GPSs and all have lost signal in thick woods, low spots, under cloud cover or stormy conditions. It doesn't happen often but it does happen.

What brands and models? Get your self a Garmin gpsmap 60 or 76 and I guarantee you won't lose coverage just from tree cover.

[charliepete]

Webguy...I should also mention. If your boy isn't worried about getting lost, take him on a 'coon hunt' after dark and start pretending you don't know the way back to the truck after you've made a a few twists and turns. Let him panic for an hour or so and then whip out the compass. My Uncle gave me 'the cure' when I was 14 and getting a little too big for my britches. You can bet I still have a compass in every hunting coat and vest I own.