Hunting pins: what to mark, and how
A pin is a note to the hunter you will be next week, or next year. The map has 74 kinds of pin, each with its own colour, and every one can carry a name and a note.
What a pin can do
- Name it, colour it and add a note: what you saw, when, and which way the wind was.
- Say what it marks, from 74 kinds in 7 groups.
- Move it by dragging it to the right spot.
- Copy its coordinates, or send it to a partner as a link they can open and keep.
- Keep it on your account. Signed in, free, a pin made on your computer is on your phone, and the other way round.
The kinds of pin
Hunting
Glassing spot, Seat, Tree stand, Blind, Trail camera, Shot from here, Animal down, Blood.
Sign
Animal sign, Tracks, Rub, Scrape, Wallow, Bedding, Droppings, Shed antler.
Animals
Elk, Mule deer, White-tailed deer, Moose, Pronghorn, Bighorn sheep, Mountain goat, Black bear, Mountain lion, Wild turkey, Pheasant, Scaled quail, Bobwhite quail, White-tailed ptarmigan, Greater sage-grouse, Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, Greater prairie chicken, Dusky grouse, Abert's squirrel, Snowshoe hare, White-tailed jackrabbit, Cottontail rabbit, Dove, Duck, Goose, Coyote, Bobcat, Sandhill crane, Prairie dog, Other animal, Heard here.
Ground and water
Water, Spring, Feed or meadow, Thick cover, Saddle, Creek crossing.
Access
Truck, Trailhead, Gate or access, Locked gate, Fence crossing, Road closed, Private, keep out, Hazard, Phone signal.
Mushrooms
King bolete, Chanterelle, Morel, Hawk's wing, Oyster mushroom, Puffball, Other mushroom, Berries.
Camp and gear
Camp, Meat cache, Gear left here, Other.
What is worth marking
- Where you parked, and the gate or trailhead you used. The first pin of any trip.
- Sign, with the date. A rub or a wallow with no date on it tells you little next year.
- Water you have seen with your own eyes, and whether it was running. A blue line on a map is often dry by October.
- Fences, signs and corners. What the ground says about a boundary is worth more than what a map says.
- Where you sat, and what the wind did.
- A downed animal, before you leave it, and the way out.
Your pins are your hunting spots. They are kept on your phone, and on your own account if you sign in, and they are never used for anyone else's hunt plan. That is part of our fair chase promise.
Coming from another map app? Bring your pins in as a GPX or KML file.
The map shows the ground. A plan tells you where to go.
The map is free. A FilledTag hunt plan is the paid part: for your tag and where you drive from, one exact plan with a legal place to park, a camp, morning and evening spots and the walk between them, checked against land records.