Flagging Tape on Public Land

[EJFS]

Does anyone else have a problem with seeing flagging in the woods. I hate it, and I pull it almost every time. Would it be acceptable to drop plastic trash everywhere you go? With modern technology there is no excuse for polluting the woods.

I think there are times when it is appropriate such as marking a blood trail, trying to meet up with someone with limited communication, or emergency situations. But in these cases... clean up after yourself and place the minimum necessary!

Just curious if others feel the same and what do you do when you find it? I pack it out just like I pack out the other trash that I find in the woods.

If you do this... please STOP!

 

[dusky]

I pull it down also.

 

[IDVortex]

State agencies, FS, Logging companies all use tape for different reasons, including surveyors...

 

[EJFS]

State agencies, FS, Logging companies all use tape for different reasons, including surveyors...

Administrative use is entirely different, and they tend to be bad about cleaning up after themselves too to be honest. But that's a good point, one should be confident that they aren't pulling flags for timber sales, trail planning, etc. but that should be fairly obvious based on the location and the surroundings.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I pull all of it down. It's litter. When I first started hunting this large wildlife area in MO, I would find hundreds of these little glow tacks in the trees. Those got gone too. Funny to see guys walking around aimlessly after I killed my deer, with no navigational clues whatsoever.

 

[Silveroddo]

Someone flagged a trail into one of my stands on some county land one year before rifle season, that time I re-routed about half of it into the middle of a bunch of aspen regrowth. The rest of the time I pull it.

 

[Forestryguy]

Just use the tape that is cellulose-based. It will degrade fairly quickly.

 

[EJFS]

Just use the tape that is cellulose-based. It will degrade fairly quickly.

Eh... Better for sure, but I don't think you get free pass for using neon tape anywhere you want to because it's biodegradable. A lot of things that we wouldn't accept as ok to leave in the woods are biodegradable, and depending on the environment it can last quite a while.

 

[Dirtscoots]

90% I see is timber companies marking a sale. Especially butting up against someone else’s land you want you marks correct. You complain about a bit of ribbon in the woods yet in a month there will be no trees in said plot. Maybe a bit of litter will come out of it but that’s cheap compared to a law suite from the cut boundary not being identified

 

[MuleyFever]

I take down any I see. One year I was walking in and there was a piece on a tree so I took it down. A few hours later on my way out there was another one in its place. I took that one too.

 

[Bubblehide]

Sure I see flagging, but it's minor compared to the beer cans, food packaging... that I see hunters leave behind.

 

[dreamingbig]

I pull it down also.

Me too but I also figure I am helping out another hunter who didn't want to backtrack the blood trail.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[9.1]

I tend to leave pink ones if they're near a property boundary in case they're from a survey crew. I pull just about everything else.

I have a very small roll of it in my kill kit for marking last blood on a tough blood trail, but I think I've been pretty good about cleaning up after myself in the rare instance I've used it.

 

[go_deep]

Lots of different reasons for it being there, most of which id never know for sure why, so I leave it alone

 

[Macintosh]

I hate this. Theres a lot of it around me, and virtually none if it is actual survey tape. Its slob hunters, but mainly what I see is mtn bikers, skiers who cant keep their way in the woods and are marking clandestine trails that they want to illegally establish on public land. No one needs a line of ribbon every 6 feet, but most is simply illegal trail building and illegal glade cutting. I leave it if its survey tape, on public I pull it if its not extremely discrete. Its litter, plain and simple. Id much rather see sparse reflective tacks or even sparse flagging tape discretely placed. Problem is virtually no one removes it. 99% of what I pull is many years old. And the last thing we need is more mountain bike trails and ski glades.

Also— maybe some flagging tape is biodegradable, but I routinely see flagging tape that has been there for many, many years. Safe to say that 99% of what I see is not biodegradable in any sort of realistic timeframe that would cause me to change my mind even a little.

 

[Geewhiz]

Think of all the poor folks that are lost and wandering around the woods because you guys pulled their flagging tape down and now they don’t know how to get back to their pickups!

 

[Rotnguns]

In Idaho, flagging tape is used to mark timber. Also used by state agencies to mark areas of concern (erosion, deadfalls to be removed for firewood, etc.) Various means are also used to mark mining claims. Couldn't someone use the same logic to destroy trail cams and bait stations?

 

[Phaseolus]

Me too, I leave the woods with a pocket full of tape.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

Does anyone else have a problem with seeing flagging in the woods. I hate it, and I pull it almost every time. Would it be acceptable to drop plastic trash everywhere you go? With modern technology there is no excuse for polluting the woods.

I think there are times when it is appropriate such as marking a blood trail, trying to meet up with someone with limited communication, or emergency situations. But in these cases... clean up after yourself and place the minimum necessary!

Just curious if others feel the same and what do you do when you find it? I pack it out just like I pack out the other trash that I find in the woods.

If you do this... please STOP!

I’m guessing you don’t realize that flagging tape is biodegradable. And used by foresters, engineers, surveyors, wildlife managers, gas well workers, etc….

 

[Poser]

I always pull it and throw it away. It’s less common out West, but when I lived in TN, it was out of control. Bright eyes placed sparingly or on single trees is fine, but some people go nuts. In those cases, I’ll pull those, too.