Public land, admit it, what do you do with....

Permanent stands are illegal on public land in MD. I don't take them down though, I just give the coordinates to DNR and let them take them down .

 

I try and hunt where there are no ribbons or tacs

 

Though, in my younger years, I did once find a stand way back. I pulled the last 3/8 mile worth of ribbon, then re-strung them in a large circle back to itself.

I do feel bad now. I hope he's still not out there doing circles looking for his stand....

 

LOL ...it sounds like you may have walked in one of my circles of confusion.

No joking sorry! Like I said, most times I do nothing. But I've also hunted a spot several times only to show up and find a ladder stand in an adjacent tree. I pack a climber in each and everytime and leave NOTHING in the woods Stands..Garbage...etc

 

TJ,

Where I bear hunt It looks like Christmas Is going on, fricking ribbons every where. Deer season has long since passed (8 months ago) when bear baiting/hunting starts. Most of the ribbons are older then dirt, not freshly put up. Slob, laziness, call It whatever. Honestly I wish the CO's would nail people for littering If they can't take their stuff down when they are done. I have no problem with people marking their stuff, just take It down when your done. It's not asking much as far as I'm concerned. The Mn DNR forestry division Is guilty as hell of this too. They have ribbons every where marking area's they want to get logged.

 

i take the tape down but the pins stay

 

I pretty much don't touch anything. If someone is going to enter into a place I too am hunting, I'd much rather they quietly followed in a tagging trail, than stumble aimlessly in the dark. Hopefully they also quietly leave when they see my light that I am there first.
One time I did pop off a tack that was on a tree I intended to climb. I didn't see it until I had the climber around it.

 

I don't really use them to find my way around the woods, but will use a tack to mark a tree I intend to climb to make sure when it gets light out I'm in the right tree. I generally leave these items alone on public land, but on private land I'll pull them because none of the guys I know with permission use them.

On one public land piece I had been scouting all day and found a nice tree to climb in a funnel between two fields and a creek bottom. I put a tack in it to hunt during the season (this was late August). When I came to hunt this spot I walked in the wood and was literally scared because it looked like a mob of angry racoons there were so many "eyes" in the woods. Needless to say I never found my tree by using that marker.

 

Like I said Steve, after the season is done they should be taken down. That beeing said I build/hang a stand for my son/wife/nephew/grandson whatever how in the hell are they going to know where to go? You are 100% right about the DNR leaving them. It was a Forestry timber inspector that tore mine down. He also hunts the same areas I do. I dont mess with other stands, blinds, camps, anything. I dont think poeple have the right to tear down a marked trail that they didnt place. Unless its against the law, here in MN it isnt. The local CO can confiscate (sp) and/or punish the individual if it goes over X days untill then it is illeagal to mess with someone elses marking ribbons.

 

Flagging tape comes out with me. A lot of it is years old anyway since these slobs can't seem to clean up after themselves.

 

I grad all the old tape I find. If it is fresh I leave it. Of course if it is heading towards my property then it might go missing or wrap back around to there vehicle.:D just kidding. One year the ribbon went onto my property and I found the stand and took it down. I left him a note with my phone # on it nobody has ever called.

 

GPS Rocks

 

I've been tromping around the bear woods since I was 3 years old with my dad and man has the way/looks of the woods changed since then with all the junk people leave there now. My mom also bear hunted for many years as well In the big woods when they were still married. Dad did not want us getting lost and neither did we want to get lost so we did anything we could without littering the woods up. When we make trails In a woods we break small little branches along the way every time going In and out. We also use a knife and make small little marks on the tree's that your light can easily see when walking In or out In the dark. On the real nasty, dark walks In and out we have used tacks for my mother and for me and my brother when we were younger. After our bear hunting season was done them tacks came out. Some of the trails I've been on a blind man could follow with the ribbons people leave out there. It just disgusts me seeing that junk out there, It's not a place to litter. Beer cans, pop cans, whatever It Is I can't stand litter. Clean your stuff up when your done and I wouldn't have a problem In the least.

 

It also makes you fall into ditches :D I have seen this in Kentucky

 

I see the tape or tacks on the public land around here I usually stay away from it. I don't use the stuff, but it doesn't bother me when others do. When I was just starting out my dad used it for me to help me not get lost in the vast public land by our house. It was taken down every year though. Last year I took a lot of it down after the season was over.

The way I see it, if someone else is hunting in that area, then I don't know what kind of hunter he is, exactly where he's hunting, or if he has stunk up the entire area for the rest of the year. I walk deep into the land I hunt, and very rarely see many markers, and only bump into a few hunters during the first half of the walk. I do try to limit my public land hunts for during the week to avoid such conflicts though.

 

I agree with all of this. I dont know if Sam (my 14 yr old) could follow a trail marked with broken twigs. I am not going to risk loosing a 14 yr old up there in the big woods. Way to vast of a forrest. To each their own, I am going to flag a trail for a inexperienced hunter. Im also going to be really PO'ed if I find someone is F'ing with it. Yes, I clean it up when ML closes. And will continue to do so untill it is deemed illegal.:D

 

BTW I erased your number Steve, text or call me. LOL

 

I'll pull the tape, cans, bottles and any other garbage thats used but will leave the bright eyes. The bright eyes don't make the woods look trashy.

 

Man did that hurt, LOL

I used GPS at H&H with no issue

 

I rarely find tape or tacks on any of the public grounds I hunt.

It seems like guys never want to go where I go. Strange.

During the shed season and in my scouting I do pick up quite a bit of garbage from the hunters who left it there. Peakrut has been there.. he can attest.. I throw it in my back-pack and continue on my way.

I will atdmit though.. on public ground.. I have (on occasion) been known to cut down rubbed trees that I deem 'easily' seen by other hunters.:D