Reflective Trail Markers
by DRM Outdoors LLC

If you say you do not use trail markers then please read this!

Trail markers and trail marking systems have been around for some time. Some of the earliest trail markers were used by early humans was for survival; they marked trails to find food, shelter, water and each other. Most of the trail markers they used back then are still out there today. There were and still are a lot of natural trail markers that were used in the past and are still used by us today. The large Oak tree we go to and turn right, the creek we follow until it splits and turn left, the hilltop we try to keep an eye on while venturing through the forest  are all trail markers we utilize. Remember the rocks you stacked, the limb he broke, that spot kicked out on the ground? Yes those are trail markers as well.
       Those are all great for day time use. What we have done is evolved so that we can mark our ways around in low light and completely dark conditions. Instead of torches of fire we now carry torches with batteries. They have the best of light sources from LED’s to Halogen bulbs. They have shrank considerably from just a few years ago but, the candle power works very well in the darkened world of a whitetail deer hunter traveling to or returning from their stands in the periods of the day which lack any sunlight. We have began using GPS systems to point the way as well. These can be very handy and you can even share data to a friend by giving them datum about your waypoints. Have you ever followed a GPS at 4:00am to a coordinate given to you by your brother? Yes he told you which fork in the road to turn left at, how many fields to pass on the right and left and when you get to the dead tree struck by lightening on the right to turn left and follow that trail until your 4 wheeler can go no further. He told you it was a 45 minute to one hour hike to the stand. Oh yeah! Did he tell you that you could not miss it? (By the way you follow trail markers very well)
      When you finally get the 4 wheeler to the end of the trail you unload your gear and fire up the GPS and allow it time to find all the satellites it needs you find that you are but a mere 150 yards from the stand. By now it is still very dark and you know you have at least 2 hours until sunrise and the 150 yard trek to the stand will not take long. You pack on all your gear pick up the GPS and notice the little arrow is pointing you in the correct direction as you head off into the darkness lit only by the torch you carry. With in a few minutes of following the little arrow showing on the LCD screen, in a due North direction, you notice the forest up ahead is thinning. When you have traveled 20 more yards you look at the GPS screen to see you are now only 100 yards from the prize you seek. The only thing standing in your way is that you just realized you are standing at the edge of a gorge with what in the darkness appears to be a 40’drop and can see no way down.
Sure you can mark a lot of waypoints and go from on to the other or even use a lot of waypoints to generate a track to follow. Only issue is that GPS units are never right on the money and sometimes out as much as 100 yards.
      OK so let’s try it my way. Same scenario but, instead of the stand being marked on the GPS, I have marked a trail marked with some reflective trail marking tape that we started using over 10 years ago. I marked this trail 3 years ago and have let my brother in on how to follow what he seeing. He gets all his gear on and show to have 200 yards to the coordinate I gave him to this same stand and funny thing is it takes him North East. As he approaches within 50 yards of the point marked he raises his torch and scans the direction of travel with its beam. He sees something shiny ahead and to the right and as he draws closer he finds my first marker and proceeds to turn off the GPS unit and travels by torch along. As he travels he is continuing scanning ahead and finding each reflective marker in the distance. As he goes by each he reds the information by the way each is applied and knows approximately which direction and how far to the next one. Some are 25 yards from each other and others 200 yards apart. But he finally arrives at his destination with time to spare and could easily follow that hidden path down thru the gorge.
      Now do not get me wrong I personally use GPS units when we are in the great outdoors. It is a great tool to utilize in the pursuit of whitetail deer. We mark scrapes, rubs, trails and other features we want to plot on topographical maps. I use them to take me to a gap I can see on a map by entering the coordinate as a waypoint. I only follow it during day light hours to avoid dangerous situations and never have had to only rely on it.
      You can use the reflective trail marking tape during hunting, hiking, camping, mountain biking, ATV riding and horse back riding to mark trails as well as equipment. When fishing mark the tip of the rod, as well as other gear, trails to the river, camp site and even that favorite honey hole that is hard to find from a boat and even on trot lines (above water) and limb lines, use it around the farm to make fence lines, feeders and anything else easier to see at night.