| How many times have you been left standing in the middle of the woods,
in total darkness, looking for your stand without a clue as to where your
next trail marker may be?
Or, on the other hand; how many times have trail markers afforded you
a good experience while hunting new territory?
As small as they are, trail markers can be vitally important to your
enjoyment, success and even your safety while hunting. My brother-in-law
found that out the hard way. After bagging his first ever Pennsylvania
Black Bear, nearly 500 pounds worth, he marked his trail on his way out
of the woods to get help. After he and a few others returned for the Bruin
it was soon apparent that still more help would be needed. While the others
stayed with the bear, Brian headed for his truck with light fading fast.
Somewhere along his trek, he lost the trail! Thinking he knew where the
gas line was that would lead him to his truck, he took off in that direction.
Well, 6 hours and over 100 search and rescue people later, Brian emerged
from the below freezing, wind driven snow storm in shock and a little beat
up. The bear made the trip out the next day!
If Brian would have marked his trail with FireTacks I'm almost certain
the whole thing would not have happened.
My first experience with these bright little tacks came a couple of
years back when Dave Conrad received a
supply to review. That was the first time I realized there was a better
trail marking option available to me. Compared to what I had been using
these FireTacks were incredible.
New for WildTech in 2003 are two improved versions of their popular
Stealth and Ice FireTacks.
 The
new Stealth Bright model incorporates the same 3D multi-directional performance
with 3x the brightness of the originals.
The new Diamond model is the most brilliant the company, or anyone else
for that matter, has ever made. The Diamonds have a stealth Gray grid pattern
so that they are not easily seen during daylight hours. They are advertised
to be 10x brighter than flat tacks, 3x brighter than push pins, 15% brighter
than their own Ice model and 25% brighter than any other tack on the market.
The Basics:
Fire Tacks commercial grade reflective material is combined with a
high quality plastic tack to make the rugged trail marker. Tacks are available
in 3 or 4D. "Retro Reflective" refers to the visibility being the highest
when your flashlight is held at eye level. This lessens the possibility
of someone else finding your trail or stand. The comparable brightness
to other tacks is magnified when tested in rain and fog or damp conditions.
Testing:
 A
quick quality check found the two packs to be of good, but not perfect,
quality. A few of the tacks had their reflective coating peeling at the
corners due to misalignment. Immediately I went to work peeling the material
the rest of the way off on one of them. Although the corner was loose the
remaining material was tough to remove. I have since learned that every
tack is hand made and even though the material is die cut there will be,
due to human hands, an occasional overlap. Not a big deal and it's nice
to know machines haven't taken over everything. Bottom line, even if you
get a few with loose corners it is not a problem.
Since someone here in Southwest Ohio forgot to turn off the Rain Dance
Music, I have had plenty of opportunities to test WildTech's "wet conditions"
claim. I placed the Stealth and Diamond tacks, along with two other manufacturer's
tacks, on a tree at the edge of my yard (about 75 yards away). I evaluated
the effectiveness of all the tacks in a steady rain and quite frankly,
there was no comparison. The FireTacks, while not as bright as usual, were
easily visible. The other trail markers were very difficult to see, at
best.
My final test was a distance visibility evaluation. I placed 3 each
of the Stealth Bright and Diamond Tacks on a tree and started moving back
and marking distances using my Nikon Rangefinder. I've got to tell you,
it isn't easy finding a place to test at 400 yards without obstructions!
Markers were set up at 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350 and 400 yards.
When night fell the testing began. The Stealth Bright became too hard to
see at approximately 275 yards while the Diamonds lasted to almost 350
yards!
WildTech is in my opinion the very best in the trail marking industry.
They took a seemingly simple product and made it technologically advanced
far beyond any other on the market. I don't even carry other brands with
me anymore.
For more information on the complete
line of WildTech Products contact:
Linda K. Burch
WildTech Corporation
1082 Tamberwood Court
St. Paul, MN
55125
651-730-7333 phone/fax
Web Site: www.firetacks.com
Email: lburch@firetacks.com |
