If it is on game lands, pull them out and take them with you, the same with the surveyors tape, it is litter.

 

Yes, this is on game lands, and yes I do haul it out....There are two treestands that I know of there that seem to be abandoned. One is an old climber that has been left at the base of a tree for a long time. Its showing the silver aluminum under the paint in some spots. The other is a ladder stand that has rotten camo around the guard at the top, and you can see where the tree is starting to engulf the old ratchet straps that are holding to the tree. I have never seen anyone using either one of these stands. They're both chained to their respective trees or I'd have hauled them out too.

 

X 2

X 2, this stuff is litter and should be removed when done hunting, but rarely is.

 

Agreed. Really hacks me off. You can't get away from them on gamelands and state forest alike. I think some element of it is guys passive agressively "reserving" spots. Right up there with treestands littering public land.

 

They could be for Geocachers, some are night caches that can only be found at night. Used to help guide them to the cache.

 

So what, it is still litter on game lands! Geo cashing on game lands is litter in its self!

 

Blue bird, report those stands to the PGC so they can remove them before someone gets hurt or killed using them.

 

Will do.

 

Nothing you can do on private land.

 

Man, I finally got home just now. Somebody removed all my tacks.

 

Wow, where is the "leave them alone, someone who only hunts once a year needs them" responses.


I say, when the season is over, take them out or if they have rust anywhere on them remove them. And the old stands as well, if you can not take those out when you are done for the season, well do not put them up.

 

I was just talking to my buddy about this when we were dragging my buck out of the woods ! I shined my light up to see where we were compared to the mulching trail that I walk in on and when I did the woods lit up with those things so I shined my light around and I couldn't believe how many were in trees ! I very rarely even use a light coming or going to my stand let alone use those things !
I pull them out if and when I can !

 

I agree with that. On a trail is one thing. But what if you walk in through trackless forest? In the dark, you could miss your stand my a few yards and then spend the best time of the day (first light) wandering around. I don't have a problem with them although, I can accept the argument that they could be taken down at the end of the season. Even though I don't do that myself.

 

Its called GPS...Most people's phones have GPS or you can download GPS apps. GPS today is accurate to within about ten feet or even less, so there is really no excuse to use those tacks anymore. Even if you don't have a phone, you can buy a cheap Bushnell Backtracker GPS for like $50 bucks. I got one for a Xmas present some years ago and still use it. It only has three waypoints you can program, but the thing will lead me to the exact tree I've picked out. I used it this past turkey season and it got me to within ten feet of the tree I wanted to park against. Even in the dark, you can find a tree from ten feet away.

 

Most of the time when you follow the ribbons or tacks you come up to a bunch of plastic bottles and assorted litter I am looking for person who has been leaving Schneider sweet tea bottles all over GL 51 real slob

 

I'm lost without them. I have a stand I took my boy on his first successful hunt with a well worn trail of tacts from my first successful hunt. Love seeing them on that trail! Sorry if they bother you, but it brings great family hunting memories to me when I see them (including last week on a bow hunt)!!!

 

Tacks? I thought they said to use snacks. No wonder I can never find my popcorn.

 

I was just thinking about this Saturday morning walking into my stand. My woods look like the Milky Way galaxy if you shine a light! I really need to take a winter night time walk and pull the things out. Years and years of guys going to different and new spots and the tacks never get pulled. It's private land, I don't really care about them, but i notice it. I'm not even sure, with how many there are, how anyone could find their way to anything....very few are actually in any kind of line and the ones that are cross all the time and go every which way.

Public land is a different story though.

 

I get a kick out of them, I don't know how anyone knows whos are whos. You walk in down here in 5C and it looks like a runway lit up with those tacks. Now someone has found reflective paint and is painting limbs and blotches on trees. At least it helps me see where everyone else is hunting so I can avoid those areas.

 

At least it helps me see where everyone else is hunting so I can avoid those areas.

I don't understand this rationalization and it applies to treestands too.

How do you tell if its being actively hunted?

Some of these tacks could have been put in trees 15 years ago. Maybe the guy has been there every season for 15 years, or maybe he hunted it one year and abandoned it.

Why would I discard a good public land spot because someone hunted it last year and may not be back? If I operated based on that logic there would be few good places to hunt, they would all be "claimed".

 

Most people don't want to crawl out of bed and wonder around in the dark to pull thumb tacks that are $3 a dozen.....

 

Ribbons I can see taking down. They really trash up the woods. But tacks?? Come on. Worry about what your hunting a little more then taking out some tacks that are in trees. I use them here and there. Especially to help my dad get to his stands. It sure beats him wandering around trying to find the stand. I do try to take them down at the end of the year but i may miss a few here and there. And for that I will apologize to the clean up crews.

 

No one is saying you have to remove them. If you don't have a problem with them ,then by all means leave them. However I take issue with slobs and I will and have picked up trash and hauled it out, and this includes tacks and spent shells when I find them. I'll worry about what I choose to worry about,.

 

How deep does this vein of intolerance for trash left behind by others run? I know spent shotgun hulls are a no-no....and tacks. Does this go all the way down to retrieving spent BP patching? :smile2:

 

Normally you would not ever find BP patching as its more than likely going to fall on the ground and be covered by leaves, etc. Besides patching is usually made from biodegradable material so not a big issue.

 

We only use them on one spot on private land and only because of the location of the stand. The stand is on the backside of a steep ridge and there is one safe way to get down to it.

Since we got tired of people missing the drop off to the stand and wandering into the rest of the group we marked the trail down with a couple tacks. Even now people still get lost and have to wait until day light to actually find the tree stand.

 

Since we got tired of people missing the drop off to the stand and wandering into the rest of the group we marked the trail down with a couple tacks. Even now people still get lost and have to wait until day light to actually find the tree stand.

It sounds like you need a couple of more tacks on that trail. >

 

It is one thing to use tacks or ribbon on private land with permission, quite another on public land or private land without permission. Since it was brought up, it is in fact not a violation to leave spent shells on the ground on game lands, the littering law specifically excludes them so long as there are no more than 6 at one location, such as a dove hunters stand. Section 2510 is the littering section and this is the exception: The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to any spent shotgun shell or spent rifle shell casing which is ejected during normal hunting activities. Definition of normal hunting activities: (c) Definition.--As used in this section, the term "normal hunting activities" shall not include a circumstance when a person has fired more than six rounds from a stationary position.

 

That's interesting since you always seem to hear these -- stories about overzealous WCO's demanding that a hunter account for their spent shells if they are in possession of any animal and issuing a litter citation if the hunter cannot produce

 

Not Visible

Spent shells are not visible like tape/tacks. The forest leaf litter does a good job covering up spent shells. Heck, sometimes I have a hard time recovering a shell I drop, lol.

 

I had a friend who was always buying more tacks and the small screw-in bow hangers. He once said he must have a hook in just about every tree where he hunted! I have forgot one before but got it back the next time I hunted there.

 

Marcus, I have a hard time believing that anyone ever got prosecuted for littering because they couldn't account for all their spent shells and had game since the officers know what is and is not illegal and they would surely know they would lose in court. Sounds to me like one of the many stories out there where people got pinched but minimized and or lied about what they did when they tell the story.

 

No Cell Coverage

BB, do the GPS function work without cell coverage? I don't have a smart phone with all the apps, I can only send/receive calls.

 

BB, do the GPS function work without cell coverage? I don't have a smart phone with all the apps, I can only send/receive calls.

That is a good question, and unfortunately I'm the wrong person to ask it to. I was merely suggesting the use of phones because we all have them these days, and cell phone service is pretty good most everywhere recently. But, since the question was brought up, this is a good reason to buy one of the little bushnell or similar units as they don't require any kind of cell service to function, as they're merely a receiver which picks up the signals sent from the GPS satellites in space.