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What's your strategy for marking your waypoints to a preset tree using reflective markers?

Cajunyankee said:
Not really. I have an old pen light style one. I originally start bringing it with me to help blood trailing deer. It works better with bucks than does because of the higher iron content in their blood.
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That's the style I was sort of looking at. Something small to go in a backpack. I was looking on Amazon and there seems to be a couple of different wavelengths mentioned. I just wondered if one was better than the other.

That's an interesting observation about the iron content in the blood. How well do the blacklights show blood?
 
NMSbowhunter said:
That's the style I was sort of looking at. Something small to go in a backpack. I was looking on Amazon and there seems to be a couple of different wavelengths mentioned. I just wondered if one was better than the other.

That's an interesting observation about the iron content in the blood. How well do the blacklights show blood?
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It is not the best and varies by individual. I prefer a big white light and only resort to a black light or hydrogen peroxide if I am about to give up. Luckily I haven’t had to do that in about 15 years. Last time I couldn’t find blood, I called a guy with a dog and she took us straight to the deer.

My understanding is that because we all have slightly different ability to detect color that a black light only works for 10% of the population. It definitely isn’t like on those crime scene tv shows. When I did use it, I noticed some false positives which at that time I contributed to squirrel or other animal excretion.
 
Jammintree said:
I’ve taken to using a single reflective tack on my preset tree. I have some tacks that only reflect using the tiny handheld light that comes with their package. They won’t reflect a normal flashlight. I’ll try and get to the package later and provide the product name.
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Me too except I put my reflective tack up at my stand height. Most folks don't look that high. And I have never spooked deer doing this.
 
BTaylor said:
Possums will blow at you though, specially when you start up the tree they are in.
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You say that in jest, but ya know I’ve grown fond of setting up in porcupine trees. Those little buggars sound a lot like a saddle hunter getting set up and fidgeting around.
 
Jammintree said:
You say that in jest, but ya know I’ve grown fond of setting up in porcupine trees. Those little buggars sound a lot like a saddle hunter getting set up and fidgeting around.
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I've never liked having porkies in the tree above me. Inevitably they decide its time to come down about an hour into my sit and, there's very little you can do to dissuade them once they've made their decision. The other factor, even if they don't decide to come down is that I'm not really happy getting bombarded with porky "nuggets" and "rain" while in the tree.

I'll relate a story a hunting buddy of mine likes to tell. It was in the early 1980's and we had driven out to the woods together in my truck to bow hunt one morning. Well we go our separate ways and he headed to a tree on the opposite side of a field from me about 300 yds away. I went to a climbable tree with a good crotch (pre tree stand days) down in a hollow with a good trail running adjacent to it that I had sat in before. I climbed up and settled in the crotch of the tree in the dark. As I stood there I couldn't help but notice that there were things raining out of the tree onto my hat and shoulders. I kept looking up but couldn't see anything in the darkness. Well daylight come along and realize that there's a porcupine in the tree directly over my head and the things raining down are "porky nuggets". Well I did my best to suck it up and ignore it, after all porky nuggets are a lot like deer nuggets, pretty firm and not really all that messy, for about the first hour of the sit. I must say though I was getting a it perturbed at the constant drop. So when it finally started "raining" I'd had enough. To shift to my buddy's POV. "I saw Joe come climbing up out of the valley and walking back to his truck. It was too early to be done hunting so I assumed he had shot something. I figured I'd sit a few more minutes before I climbed down to meet up with him at the truck. Suddenly he reappears along the top of the top of the valley but he's exchanged his bow for a shotgun. What the heck? I thought as he made his way back over the hill edge out of sight. Suddenly there were two shotgun blasts followed by him heading back for the truck again."

Well I finally had enough so I decided I was going to eliminate that problem. So I took the "appropriate action" for getting peed on by a porky. It wasn't until I got back to the tree that I discovered there wasn't one porky up there but two both hanging out in the branches directly over my head. FWIW, shooting porkies in Michigan isn't frowned on, they're considered a nuisance animal with no closed season. The problem with my action was that both porkies tumbled down through that tree right through the crotch where I stood and leaned to hunt. The quills they left behind ruined that promising spot for the rest of the year. I guess you could say they got the first and last laugh . . . sort of anyway.
 
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Back on topic. I don't use any reflective markers, flagging tape or other markers to identify trees I'm heading to. I don't like to a trace for others to find any of my good spots. As @elk yinzer said, I use a combination of canopy and ground features to guide me in. For instance, there's a tree I hunt that has a big broken off beech stump nearby. The stump is an unusual feature that is easy to identify, even in the dark. I can find my way into the stump following the visible edge of a clearcut through the treetops and I know where my destination tree is in relation to that stump. The following of canopy features highlighted against the dark sky is one of the reasons I don't generally use a headlamp on my way in during bow season.
 
I don't mark trees but I do have 25 Popsicle sticks with a wrap of 3M reflector tape in my kill bag to mark bloodtrails in the dark. They work really well and last a really long time. To find my preset trees I use a red lensed flashlight to minimize disturbing the local wildlife.
 
Jammintree said:
You say that in jest, but ya know I’ve grown fond of setting up in porcupine trees. Those little buggars sound a lot like a saddle hunter getting set up and fidgeting around.
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funny little guys. I watched one stay up in a tree for 4 days straight during an Allman Brothers festival. He was not happy haha. Bunch of deranged lunatics camping, awake at all hours right underneath him
 
I carry flagging tape, tacks, clip on flags, and some reflective Paracord. They don't weight anything and I like having options. Finding the parking areas early in the morning can be difficult and this 1 certain place I hunt and I'll have no shame and string up a
5 foot streamer right off the road. The tacks are good....I'll mark coming coming in direction 1 color and the exit another so not to get confused. It's its thick enough to be using tacks it's real easy to get turned around. I have the clip on flags clipped on the outside of my hunt vest so I can take 1 off and put it up anywhere I need without having to unpack anything. I don't use the reflective rope very much but keep it with me for blood trailing jobs were I may need more reflective things than I normally use. I don't do presets but when I'm in real thick stuff or need to be real accurate I usually reach for the clip on guys to mark my way in and then I'll take em down as I exit.....sometime if I visit the tree early enough before season I'll just lay down sticks and logs marking the way to where I wanna be
 
I mark a tree in OnX, and snap a picture of it from the side I plan to approach from, sometimes two sides if I think I could come in either way. There's nothing left in the woods for anyone to know I've been there.

I can generally recognize the tree in the dark with my headlamp, and it also helps decide which set of sticks to take in. That may be irrelevant after I get my 2TC stuff delivered and practice a bit.
 
TreeRecon said:
I don't use this, but always wanted to try it lol
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Reminds me of my childhood. First couple of years Dad let me deer hunt on my own( I was 12), he had rounded up one of those blinking yellow lights that you used to see on highway project barrels or stands. Ran on a 6 volt battery and he would set it on the cleaning table in the yard of the cabin so I would know when I was getting close. His rule was that I was supposed to always be within eye sight of the river so worst case I could walk the bank back. He also knew I had an unrealistic view of how far I could see the river bank. LOL
 
I want to be able to see my marks well in light and dark. I bought a roll of orange flagging and a roll of yellow reflective tape and a bag of large twist ties. I cut a piece of orange flagging and then wrap some yellow reflective tape over each end of the flagging and staple it to the flagging. I then fold a twist tie in half over the middle of the flagging and give it a few twists to keep it in place. You can twist tie these over any small branch or even thick piece of bark sticking out, etc. They are super visible under all conditions. I store them in both side pockets of my pack belt.
 
raisins said:
I want to be able to see my marks well in light and dark. I bought a roll of orange flagging and a roll of yellow reflective tape and a bag of large twist ties. I cut a piece of orange flagging and then wrap some yellow reflective tape over each end of the flagging and staple it to the flagging. I then fold a twist tie in half over the middle of the flagging and give it a few twists to keep it in place. You can twist tie these over any small branch or even thick piece of bark sticking out, etc. They are super visible under all conditions. I store them in both side pockets of my pack belt.
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Allen Reflective Flagging Tape Orange [26509000464]

Cheaper Than Dirt! is America's Ultimate Shooting Sports Discounter, and we live up to that title. Expect bulk ammo deals, discount firearms, parts to build your next gun and more.
www.cheaperthandirt.net www.cheaperthandirt.net

I carry a few feet of this in my kill kit for difficult/extended tracking jobs...
 
raisins said:
I want to be able to see my marks well in light and dark. I bought a roll of orange flagging and a roll of yellow reflective tape and a bag of large twist ties. I cut a piece of orange flagging and then wrap some yellow reflective tape over each end of the flagging and staple it to the flagging. I then fold a twist tie in half over the middle of the flagging and give it a few twists to keep it in place. You can twist tie these over any small branch or even thick piece of bark sticking out, etc. They are super visible under all conditions. I store them in both side pockets of my pack belt.
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Public or private land? Just curious.
 
Not reflective but for tracking I buy bright color, usually blue, streamer stuff, like the rolled up tissue paper stuff. It's cheap, easy to see the trail and I figure it'll decompose as fast as anything if I miss some cleaning it up
 
bowhunthard88 said:

Allen Reflective Flagging Tape Orange [26509000464]

Cheaper Than Dirt! is America's Ultimate Shooting Sports Discounter, and we live up to that title. Expect bulk ammo deals, discount firearms, parts to build your next gun and more.
www.cheaperthandirt.net www.cheaperthandirt.net

I carry a few feet of this in my kill kit for difficult/extended tracking jobs...
Click to expand...

I like it. How does it light up when a light hits it? My thick reflective tape (faceted like a proper road hazard marker) REALLY lights up. Like I can see it from 100 yards if I hit it with a 1000 lumen light.
 
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