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Easy to make trail markers that work great.

CharlieTN

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2019
Messages
519
These are made from 15” bright yellow Paracord with a loop tied in. The tag end that hangs down is wrapped in reflective Tenacious Tape (originally found at Walmart but I don’t think they carry it anymore). I keep them on a carabiner or S-binder attached to my saddle as I walk in. Place them as I go to find my way back to my vehicle or hang them as I’m Trailing blood. They’ll pick up any light from a surprisingly long way off including the dim red of my headlamp.

One of the things I like is that they’re visible from 360 unlike tacks or flat sided markers. Just hang them on a branch or girth hitch it around one.

1E4BD5CC-3D55-4529-B9C6-08B093FC64E8.jpeg
 
Near idea, I have used clothes pins with reflective tacks. World great too.
 
Pretty cool.
I use garden wire with a reflective tape on the middle.
You could make more than you’d ever need with one roll of tape.
I don’t leave them out unless I’m returning imminently or tracking after a shot
 

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The Paracord I found is reflective by itself.....I'll have to update pic after I get home....after seasons over I collect all the clip on orange trail marker things I can find and I took all the rusted clips off and put the orange plastic part on the end of the rope also...
I go a little overkill on trail markers I carry...they all have their place...I use the rope markers the most but I have a handful of tacks and I also have a roll of flagging tape. I keep the flagging tape in a Teflon tape dispenser and the tacks I press into a wine bottle cork. The phone is a great tool but I feel like I depend on it to much....last hunt is a great example....I hunted a spot I've never been to....walked a creek In the daylight until I found a log to cross.....I put 1 rope marker at the crossing point....after the sun set and I'm working my way back I don't know/remember the exact path and it all looks totally different in the dark.....phone has no service to check my location ....so just trust the compass and eventually I'll hit the creek....I was a little turned around and walked up and down that creek for a while and was getting a little frustrated between deep mud, down trees, relentless mosquito and then I caught a glimpse of the reflection....flagging tape would have still not been visible, tacks I probably wouldn't have been able to see unless I stuck tacks around the whole circumference of the tree as I was approaching the logs from the opposite direction and good chance a tack would have been on the opposite side of the trunk.
 
Reflective guy line for tents. No need for tape of any kind. Stuff is smaller diameter than para too so would pack a little smaller.

also, I had the childish desire to follow you to where you hunt, take your trail markers and then kill a deer in your spot. It’s my auto response to the amount of trail markers in our public woods.

great idea though, might make up a pile!
 
Reflective guy line for tents. No need for tape of any kind. Stuff is smaller diameter than para too so would pack a little smaller.

also, I had the childish desire to follow you to where you hunt, take your trail markers and then kill a deer in your spot. It’s my auto response to the amount of trail markers in our public woods.

great idea though, might make up a pile!
I don't leave them in the woods....put them up on the way in and take them down on the way out....if u follow them in u won't see anything because I already scared them all away
 
Reflective guy line for tents. No need for tape of any kind. Stuff is smaller diameter than para too so would pack a little smaller.

also, I had the childish desire to follow you to where you hunt, take your trail markers and then kill a deer in your spot. It’s my auto response to the amount of trail markers in our public woods.

great idea though, might make up a pile!
in one of the places i hunt someone literally put a ring of blaze orange spraypaint around every single tree lining both sides of a very obvious "deer" trail. when i say every tree, i mean every single one, they're all a few feet from each other. guy must have used multiple cans of spraypaint. it's a bit much.


this is a pretty cool idea, i think i'm going to order https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B..._title_dp_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A27YEJ4VVXHXHY and have way more than i need.
 
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Reflective guy line for tents. No need for tape of any kind. Stuff is smaller diameter than para too so would pack a little smaller.

also, I had the childish desire to follow you to where you hunt, take your trail markers and then kill a deer in your spot. It’s my auto response to the amount of trail markers in our public woods.

great idea though, might make up a pile!
Haha. I have the childish desire to leave them around year round ladder stands.
 
Reflective guy line for tents. No need for tape of any kind. Stuff is smaller diameter than para too so would pack a little smaller.

also, I had the childish desire to follow you to where you hunt, take your trail markers and then kill a deer in your spot. It’s my auto response to the amount of trail markers in our public woods.

great idea though, might make up a pile!
I don’t leave them either. If you follow them then you’ll find me.
 
I’ve got some reflective cord. I’ll have to make up some of those and see if I can get a side by side comparison night time photo to see if there’s a difference.
 
Pretty cool.
I use garden wire with a reflective tape on the middle.
You could make more than you’d ever need with one roll of tape.
I don’t leave them out unless I’m returning imminently or tracking after a shot


great idea
 
All the orange things are from ones I've found out in the woods....the clips will normally be rusted away/inoperable but the orange stuff is still good and works real good so I just drilled the rivets and threw the clips away. I had a hard time finding a couple in the daylight so I put the orange stuff on there too...Screenshot_20211005-123206_(1).png
 
Some great ideas here.

What has been working for me for a couple years is to wrap some auto reflective tape around a full length McDonalds straw, then cut it into 1.5" lengths. A length of dental floss tied through each one is enough of a securing loop for my needs. They can be seen from 360 degrees, pending and brush obstructions. Mine are purpose-built by color: yellow or red for marking my way to/from a stand location; white is reserved for marking a blood trail.

Going on my third year with the same set. I think the white ones will last me a decade, perhaps longer...
 
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