Littering or marking trails?

[GoldenOscar]

So I was up in the high country on Mount Baker yesterday enjoying a wet cold day of spotting no animals and came across quite a number of wet wipes hung on the tree branches to mark the trail. I have seen my share of flagging and am used to seeing this, but these wet wipes just looked like garbage strung along for 3/4 or so of a mile. There was a hole torn in the middle of every piece so that a branch could be pulled through or it was tied in a knot to the branch.....many times to a branch that already had ribbon on it!!!     No this wasnt toilet paper, I double checked.

I have been to this spot a couple times already this year and this is the first I have seen of this..........Whats everyone's opinion on folks doing this in the wilderness area or anywhere for that matter?    I just hate being up in gods country and finding a mess...........Putting this in other big game because I was up in a goat area looking for them.

[boneaddict]

Don't care for it or the miles of ribbon or string left in the woods

[jrebel]

Don't care for it or the miles of ribbon or string left in the woods

 

If you mark a trail in or out, like some do when packing meat....take it down on your last trip out.  Real simple...no need to put it up and leave it. 

[WSU]

I just use tp.

[Rainier10]

Don't care for it or the miles of ribbon or string left in the woods

 

If you mark a trail in or out, like some do when packing meat....take it down on your last trip out.  Real simple...no need to put it up and leave it.

[buglebrush]

Don't care for it or the miles of ribbon or string left in the woods

 

If you mark a trail in or out, like some do when packing meat....take it down on your last trip out.  Real simple...no need to put it up and leave it.

Exactly!  Not only are you just asking someone to follow it to your spot, but it also just makes that secret honey hole so less enchanting when you see someone else's ribbon trail into it.  Plus why would you even need to mark anything nowadays?  I don't get that?  Anyone who has a phone has a perfectly good gps.  Why mark anything?  Disgusts me the way people mark their trails!

[runamuk]

Don't care for it or the miles of ribbon or string left in the woods

 

If you mark a trail in or out, like some do when packing meat....take it down on your last trip out.  Real simple...no need to put it up and leave it.

Exactly!  Not only are you just asking someone to follow it to your spot, but it also just makes that secret honey hole so less enchanting when you see someone else's ribbon trail into it.  Plus why would you even need to mark anything nowadays?  I don't get that?  Anyone who has a phone has a perfectly good gps.  Why mark anything?  Disgusts me the way people mark their trails!

really every person has gps  well I don't and I will mark a trail especially if I leave a trail because that's what I was taught but don't worry you will never see my marks because mostly I don't want to see other people.  Also hunters are not the ONLY people who mark trails so do hikers, and other public land users.

[Rainier10]

I have a gps but I mark the bloodtrail with flagging tape.  If I lose blood I look back at the trail of tape to get a general direction that the animal was heading so I can focus on that basic line looking for more blood.  Visually it is a huge aid when blood trailing.

[rtspring]

 Was in Little Naches this weskend amd took down plenty of last years orange ribbon left by slobs!   

[turbo]

I take down every piece I see in the woods, the fresh ones are my favorite. YW..

[buglebrush]

Was in Little Naches this weskend amd took down plenty of last years orange ribbon left by slobs!

I always take it down too. 

[GoldenOscar]

I have a gps but I mark the bloodtrail with flagging tape.  If I lose blood I look back at the trail of tape to get a general direction that the animal was heading so I can focus on that basic line looking for more blood.  Visually it is a huge aid when blood trailing.

Same here Rainier

[Blcktaildreamer]

M


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[JimmyHoffa]

I try to use a different color than everyone else.  Especially after the cruisers, dnr, biologists have been through an area.  The fish bios will hang it on just about every low branch overhanging a redd.

[buglebrush]

I have a gps but I mark the bloodtrail with flagging tape.  If I lose blood I look back at the trail of tape to get a general direction that the animal was heading so I can focus on that basic line looking for more blood.  Visually it is a huge aid when blood trailing.

Same here Rainier

I do too, but I use TP.  Also works great for sweeping the brush for tiny blood drops. 

[KDB]

If hunters are going to use flagging to mark blood trails or whatever they should take it down when they are done.  As a retired forester working on private land all the extra flagging that people leave in the woods adds confusion for the people that work and make their living in timber country.

[pope]

There's a trail I know off a highway that gets me to where I want to go quickly....not too many people know about it, so I generally don't park right at the trail head, but last year I parked there once on the day I got my buck. One week later, some goofball went up the trail, cut a bunch of limbs and ....get this....hatchet chopped a blaze in a tree where the trail comes out on a FS road. Who does that anymore?  I thought I'd learned my lesson about parking near where I walk in, but in the future I'll have to be more cautious.

[grade-creek-rd]

Using TP for the blood trail marking is a good idea (yes, I use this too, have for years) as with the first rain it's gone. I don't care for flagging but also realize that if this is an area that could be surveyed that the flagging might have a different purpose than some trail markings...but in the backcountry I will often snoop around the flagging and find a cache...which is why it's another bad idea.

Now, for rivers...if you are floating or fishing a river and see flagging on an overhanding branch DO NOT wade out and take it off..these are placed by biologist for the redds of salmon and they use different ribbon for different kinds of fish. Often I float rivers and see this and know how healthy a river is by the amount of redds I see! Kind of liking "scouting" for future runs of fish!

Grade