Most of you folks are right, public land means first come first served. And I agree, you don't need a mile of orange surveying tape to find your way around in the woods.

If the hunting stores sold "marking tape" in white or orange paper, it would last a month or so in the woods, but by the time the real winter hit or the spring it would rot away and not be a problem any more. Plastic has no place in the woods.

I have been known to put a reflector dot or twist tie on a tree on public land. Here are a couple of hints on how to do it:

1) Never use anything big or even visible during the day. Mine are only reflective at night and no bigger than a thumbtack or twist tie.
2) Only use them where you have to. GPSs are fine, but they won't tell you which path through the briars you should take at 4:00am. I never use more than 2 or three for getting to a particular tree, but those are critical. I hate to spotlight the woods looking for the best trail. Hang them close to the ground, about knee height. I guess once I have been hunting the same area for a couple of years I won't need to do that any more.
3) Deception will keep others from following your bread crumbs. When I hang a tag to tell me where to leave the fire road trail, I hang it on the opposite side of the trail. That is enough to deviate 90% of the folks.
4) Get there early. I take the "road edge" reflector with me on the way in and put it back on the way out. If it is near the end of the season and I don't think that I will come back there, I take them all out.
5) When you are doing your scouting in the pre-season, you should be taking notes anyway. Mark where you put the reflectors so you can come back and get them on the way out.

When tracking a wounded deer, use toilet paper to mark the blood trail. It is visible a long way away, disappears in a couple of days and it is handy to have in the woods for other things. [:'(]

Chubber