Just move the markers and redirect the lazy bums into a pit lined with spikes. Problem solved.

The experience has also reminded me how thankful I and others of my generation should be, to have grown up hunting with men who would have chuckled at using such things.

invest in a GPS.

Would these men have chuckled at using a GPS that costs a few hundred bucks that you say should be invested in or is it just the reflective tape that's unacceptable to the "real" woodsmen? Both are ways to help one find his way, though I'd have to say that reflective tape has been around and available to the American hunter quite a bit longer than GPS units and would definitely be thought of as more "old school" to me anyway.

And here I was a couple days ago wondering where Dan the Man went with his all of his wonderful posts.

However, I might be tempted to move them so that you travel in circles. Or even worse, unknowingly end up at another hunter's stand.

And "time" is what the current generation so often doesn't wish to sacrifice being in the woods when they might otherwise be playing the latest version of Grand Theft Auto.

Or maybe they're busy working to earn a living to support their families or coaching their kids' sports teams or going to school to better the lives for themselves and those that rely on them. The former two are more and more responsible for taking my time these days to where I'd use reflective tape as a "fall back" tool to ensure I found my way since I'm unable to spend as much time as I'd like in the woods, much like you use a GPS, which you find totally acceptable.

Seriously....you really need to check your cynicism at the door.

Or do you really want the extent of your son or daughter's knowledge of how to find their way safely through the forest, to be limited to leaving bread crumbs?

I'd teach them all the ways in which to navigate themselves, including reflective tape primiarily to mark and find entry/exit points and the age-old Boone-esque use of a GPS that the oldtimers used generations ago. Apparently it's also important to teach kids and adults alike that there are intolerant closed-minded folks out there who will attempt to put them in danger in the woods because they don't approve of their methods...

My dad and I both use tape to mark our way on our own lease. Does this make us any less "wood savvy?" Taking the time to mark the path of least resistance to a handmade ground blind off the beaten trail makes me no more woodsy than the person who has a stand on the side of a trail and uses his headlights to get to their stand. Just like you using a compass to guide yourself around makes you no more woodsy than myself.

What I find funny Dan is that you are aggravated "with so many apparently becoming dependant on something to guide them with such ease,." Now I will agree that a compass is one of the more primitive ways of finding direction, however don't you think that there are some out there that would call you an idiot for having to use "something to guide you with such ease" when the sun is out all day long? Just trying to put it in perspective.

I can understand getting agitated over someone "scenting up" your area if you believe that it is a big deal (personally I don't.) Maybe you should take some time to teach your partner how to be "woods savvy" and not get irritated at him. Maybe he didn't have some one to teach him how to use a compass... Just think about it.

Seems like what you have a problem with is ignorance. ( by definition - the lack of knowledge, learning, information ect...) You want to sit there and preach education but what are you really doing to make a change? Out side of your children who are you passing this vast wealth of knowledge and experiance that you have on to? Not every one that hunts was blessed with having someone with your knowledge teaching them along the way -so since you have all of this time available to properly scout your area have you ever thought that maybe you should take the time to educate others? I am sure that if you posted that you were going to teach " Navigating the Out of doors by Dan" class many of us less educated individuals would spend lots of our hard earned dollars to just catch a glimps of you in action and hope to retain even a tiny fraction on the knowledge that you have. Sure is easy to say all the right things but the challenge to you is get off your A$$ and do something about it or just shut up. There is my vent.

A solid response no doubt.

Yes, thinking back, I should have taken the time to walk my partner over to his stand that morning and showed it to him. But that seems more like something you would have done for a youngster, not an adult.

As shown by some of the comments made here, it's seldom easy to get past the male ego so that a guy will recognize when he doesn't know how to walk 50 yards in a straight line without needing something to show him the way. So for that reason, I'll probably pick up some of these stickers and put them out for him to use the next time we hunt that area.

I see no excuse for a grown man, who has called himself a "hunter" for any length of time, to require bread crumbs to find his way to his stand.