Flagging !

[Abalone]

Every where I go on the Coast range while hunting i find marker tape.
White tape, red tape, purple tape all on the same trail and in every direction. What's with that ? isn't that the same as littering ?

If you use Marker tape to relocate a dead animal why not remove it when you are done ?

Sorry but I remove any marker tape if find. Sometimes I come back to camp with pockets of the stuff....

From this link: http://www.bendweekly.com/Outdoors/1283.html


Although many hunters use flagging to mark the path from the animal to their vehicle, there is so much flagging in the forest these days that it can get confusing. Hunters should always remove their flagging on their last trip out of the woods. So should any other folks such as contractors or government workers. Deer and elk have also been known to eat the flagging, which can be detrimental to them. OSP Trooper Amos Madison

[ElkMaster78]

Timber Co's and Forest Service also use flagging.

[ehunter]

Alabone that is a good point I always enjoy seeing where other people were hunting are tracking it is like reading a map..Seriously your right though and timber companies as mentioned above do flag after surveys..

[Abalone]

Originally Posted by ehunter

Alabone that is a good point I always enjoy seeing where other people were hunting are tracking it is like reading a map..Seriously your right though and timber companies as mentioned above do flag after surveys..

Most of what I am seeing is hunters marking out a trail, I assume so they can find it again. What gets me is how often they put it and where. I have seen three different colors on one tree going in the same direction ......!

[Drakeblake]

Working for the USFS I can't tell you how many hours I've spent re-flagging sites because somebody removed the flagging. The flagging is used to mark trails, boundaries, reference sites, and a number of other things. If you are anywhere on the Siuslaw NF please leave the flagging up.

-blake

[cheyenne10]

I would not advise removing other peoples flagging. It is placed for very specific reasons most of the time. Someone paid to have it placed to mark something. On private timber land this almost consitutes stealing to me. I agree and have myself removed any flagging I placed while hunting. I would like to see the discussion that supports animals eating it and its dangers.

I do not disagree that I have seen areas with a lot of it hanging and it can be unsightly. I do however understand many of the reasons why.

While surfing the net to find spporting info. on this subject I did find a detailed guide for terrorists in the woods advocating removal of survey stakes, flagging, etc. in addition to tree spiking, etc. Do we want that label?

Good topic, I would like to see some more facts.

[scottishsetter]

Homelande Securitie?????????

Bull, Pick it up and re-locate 1/4 mile away! But be nice about it. Smile!






([CAMERAS in the woods])

[steelheadslayer]

As a former forestry tech student I can tell you that a lot of different groups use flagging for different reasons. Don't remove them, please.

Another thought could go like this, "I own all this timberland that the general public has had an open invitation to hunt on. Now, whenever I pay a lot of money to have someone come in and survey, check for animal deprivation, disease or the need for more access roads, I have to pay to have it done again. I guess I'm just going to have to lock the public out because they're hurting my business."

Timber companies want you to hunt their land, hunters keep crop damage down by removing the animals that are doing the damage.

Slobs and poachers are looked at all the same by the owners, do we honest hunters want to be lumped into that kinda grouping.

I can only guess that the same kind of surveys and research is being done on public land. The govt. could close down the lands for the same reasons mentioned above.

[johndeeregreen]

I could not have said it better. Steelheadslayer,Cheyenne10,and Drakeblake said it all. Thanks.

[stoneflyguy]

I'll bet you that 99% of the tape you are seeing is put there by TIMBER CRUISERS. Don't get your panty's in a wad, it's there for a reason. I carry tape with me when hunting but have never had to use it. The tape is there for a reason. It's to mark sectiojns to be logged or thinned etc. so don't get worked up over it.

[Abalone]

Before you BBQ me.

I am on private property for the most part and I am well aquainted with the managers of the land I am on. Trust me ! I am not messing with
boundry markers.... even the other guys that hunt there use way too much of the stuff. What caught my attention to this subject was the comment made by the trooper in the above article. He is asking hunters to remove their flagging when done for the season.

Do you suppose he just made it up that it is harmful to Elk and Deer ?

Maybe I am just more observant then most. I see no reason to mark a trail
when it's obvious you are on a well established Transistion Zone or a grown over logging road. I use Flagging occasionally when I really need it.
But I eventually remove it, preferring not to reveal my spot. There are other ways of marking a trail. Sorry ! it's just that there is soooo much of it.

[steelheadslayer]

Abalone, thanks for providing more info. Not trying to 'BBQ' ya. I can see the need for people to mark their way with flagging so they don't get lost or can get back to a downed animal. If they would only pick up after themselves, these situations wouldn't come up.

THANK YOU for bringing it to widespread attention.

[Bigshot]

Every where I go on the Coast range while hunting i find marker tape.
White tape, red tape, purple tape all on the same trail and in every direction. What's with that ? isn't that the same as littering ?

You have got to be kidding me....

[thehunt]

Originally Posted by Abalone

Sorry but I remove any marker tape if find. Sometimes I come back to camp with pockets of the stuff....

That is BS dude. Who are you to decide it someone is attempting to locate an animal or on their way back to a kill. I think you are trying to do somthing good here and completely out of line. I hope for you sake you don't encounter the man who has marked small drops of blood with tape and your removing it.

If it bugs you so bad, go back when all seasons are closed.

[Snakebite]

Some folks put up flagging to find their way in the dark to be in a place to set up by daylight. When I worked for GP I used chartreuse flagging to mark my study sites. It was noticable enough without being annoying like flame orange. I too have removed tons of the stuff, but only if it was old.

[fishrite7]

I have spent summers putting up flagging, not so you could take it down. Like was mentioned earlier flagging has a specific purpose. If a forester puts up flagging one week he expects it to be there for a contractor at a latter date. Mutliple flagging on one tree might mark a cruiser trail, site index tree for the plot, and that a bore increment was taken from a tree. It doesn't make Foresters or Private timber companies happy when they have to re-flag a line for a contractor because some one has taken it down. You wouldn't leave a farmers gate open, don't tear down flagging.
Nick

[Snakebite]

Flagging is used to mark buffers near streams. If you took it down the timber faller just might cut right to the creek.

[Magnum]

Well, if you ever find my flagging tape you'll know why. All my tape has been written on & states "marking trail to game animal - please remove if found" Hopefully it is found & removed after I am done, but it has never been a problem as of yet. I try to remove all of my tape afterwards, but I might have missed some over the years. I take my roll of flagging tape before the year & mark it up while watching t.v. or something, then roll it back up. Just makes sense to me.

[blacktail519]

I would have to agree with you on this. There is an absolute ton of the stuff here in the coast range.... So much so that i have assumed that it was maybe the timber companies. Who knows. "If ya pack it in, pack it out"

[toas243]

I only pick up plasit bottles ,and I thought everyone new that flagging is for boundries ,I know where I hunt I don`t touch them cause they may cut my trees down

[sooslaw]

Yes, there is a lot of flagging on the coast. We are very busy thinning ALOT of ground over here. I usually put up about 1500 feet of flagging on a very productive day. The elk are very curious about it. They will chew it up and spit it out. It is almost always laying very near where they stole it from and spit out in a ball. Our boundary cards are also a favorite for the bear, but from what I have seen, its always laying nearby with chew marks all over it. I would be curious to know how much they ingest. It seems to me that they taste test it and quickly realize it has no nutritional value and spit it out.

[Bigshot]

And then some purist comes along and takes down what the elk and the bear dont... Niiiiiiiice!