First off Hello to you all. Visit several forums and found this one, which I like, so I joined.
I have been scouting for several weeks in a WMA that I have not hunted before. Found a couple spots that are OK and one that I really like. Anyway, I am driving down the main road in this part of this WMA and a truck coming towards me stops and waits for me to get to where he is. He waves for me to stop. I do and first thing he asks is if I have seen anything, which I told him no. The conversation then went like this:
(him) You planning on hunting here? (me) Yes. (him) For bowhunting? (me) Yes (him) You got your spots set up? (me) Well not yet, your not allowed to yet. (him) Um, ah, um, ah (I that it from this that he has already set his stands) well I meant have you found your spots yet? (me) Yeah I found a few spots I like. (him) Well my son is hunting here, probably the same spots, so I just wanted to let you know so you know out of courtisey you guys don't shoot at each other. (me) Ok.
This conversation got me to thinking, do some people think that if they have found a spot to hunt that everyone else has found that exact same spot to? And really, shoot at each other while bowhunting? Geeze never know who you might run into out there.
As I continued down the road I noticed that almost every road/trail that comes off the main road now has Flagging Tape hanging on it. Several of these trails I have already scouted down, so the tape has been hung in the last week or two. Do people think that if you hang a piece of Flag Tape at the enterence of a trail that you now have laid claim to that area and no no one else can scout/hunt there? One tape stated that they were hunting there in archery and there would be three hunters.
My question is: Do you Flag your intent to hunt and label it as so, or do you just hunt? I just hunt and do not like to flag my way as I feel it just leads lazy hunters to my area that I have scouted out.
Also If there is tape hanging do you still hunt the area if you had planned to?
In other words, what good does the flagging tape really do.
Welcome to the forums. I do not use tape. I mark specific spots on GPS and use brite eyes sparingly
Welcome aboard Deadeye!
Its sad to say that, Yes, Some people do feel that if they flag a area "its theirs" to hunt and nobody else should be in there.
I will (out of respect) go to another area if I see a vehicle parked where I want to go, but Tape means nothing to me. I pay the same money to hunt public land as they do and it is open to everybody with a permit.
welcome deadeye +2 I tape also , what gets me is some folks pull the tape down, or worst they move it, so i use the gps a lot
I don't own a GPS (yet), but I did find a good app for my I-Phone that offers Topo and GPS points. So I use that to mark trails and where I find sign or see deer. I often place a point for a parking area, a spot where I plan to turn off the main trail, and where I plan to place a stand. Works for me.
I know of several guys that remove any flagging they find. Don't know for sure what good that does. I do wish that folks that use flagging would remove it after the end of their hunting. I do not like to see flagging that has been hanging there for so long that it has faded to almost no color (seen one today that was almost white it had been there for so long).
Talked to some guys last year that had flagged, as well as 3-4 others on the enterance of a trail. Another group came in and tore down their flags and hung their own stating "group of 6 hunters using this area".
