First time I ever put out cable restraints I was so excited i didn't even think about marking them. Put out six dozen. Came back home with 4 dozen. lol

Now I use a gps and flag material. Same with trotlines. Looks a lot different when the water raises or lowers a foot over night.

ol'dad

Occasionally, on private property, I spray painted clothes pins orange, then just clipped them near where I had a muskrat trap. I'd just clip them on a nearby branch. Now they are all hanging on our clothes line at the house.

map,map,map...Draw a map

It sounds like if you're going to be in a "big" area, it'll be NE, KS, NM, or similar and you'll find real quick the writing it down part is tough when it all looks the same. 10 traps can do. 25 traps can be done. 50 traps all strarting to look the same. 100 traps, someone will find some, after you are gone. And moving them a bit.... oh boy.

It's a bit tough to recommend to you without more information on what state? Terrain? Take it from a northerner who went to the heartland to trap, you can write stuff down, I did for decades. You can flag. I've tied out miles of red, yellow, pink, and orange.

But you can't beat a GPS if you want to roll and not worry, change sets and rip fast, and so forth
I will be setting 200 leg holds and maybe 80-100 snares on a Texas ranch starting Saturday and I can't tell you happy I am that I have a Garmin 64ST.

Allstate!
Don't leave home without it.

Before we left I figured out how to use my onx hunt on my phone. 2 days later It snowed 8 inches without onx i would have never found all of them onx is great. Your right Mark it all starts to look the same. If it snows it makes it much worse.

^^^^^^^ true that. Very true that. VERY TRUE THAT!

When I get back to car after setting a site, I pour a cup of coffee and draw a crude map in a notebook. Include prominent features used to define where trap is. An x marks a trap. For each x I include type of trap. At bottom of map I summarize the number of traps - 3 #2 coil, 6 rebar. When I pull the traps or partially pull the traps I cross off what I retrieved.

No flagging here for johny sneakum

Notebook. I'll even draw little maps if my sons didn't set with me so they can check.

I like looking back at prior years in the notebook.

a reflective trail tact or two helps greatly too

I’ve never had a problem remembering where my sets are, even running 75 or more. The brain is a tool that you can train and improve, I highly suggest doing so.

Bob I would like you to come to the one hundred and eight thousand acres of land I am trapping and you set your 75 traps. Let it snow 8 inches and you can show me your trained brain in action.

ONX rocks! Not only can you mark your sets but also make notes and pictures.

My trapline covers literally millions of acres. Over 100 miles round trip for one leg which o have access to over 2 million acres there, over 100 miles for another leg round trip the opposite direction, where I have access to right at 3 million. Your hundred and eight thousand acres is peanuts out west. And yes, we do get snow in the desert. It snowed last week around 6-8 inches total in some places and I never lost track of a single trap. In fact I swept the snow off of them so they would stay dryer when the snow melts off. I 100% can always find every trap I set.

Bob..what about us poor suckers that are deficient in that dept?

You’re not deficient. You’re untrained. You would be amazed your brain is capable of if you take an hour a day to train it.

Install hunt stand . Go to maps and save the areas you are setting . IT will always be there. There is a place to add trail cams Just put the icon every where you set. Doesn't matter if you got signal where the trap is set that map is saved in the app always.

I use a tablet in the truck. Fits in a cupholder mount. I use Gaia GPS and it doesn't need cell reception. $20/year. You can download satelite, topo, and all kinds of other maps. I like it a lot.

A handheld GPS for marking exact set locations. Nothing fancy or expensive. Flagging tape at set locations when land trapping in case of snow. I don't flag water sets unless out in a marsh.

And a write in the rain notebook.

I ran over 100 sets this year and there's no way I could remember each one just by memory. I give props to those that can though....that's impressive.

Here in Maine we need to submit a harvest report at the end of the season. Keeping good records makes it easy. I know that I could BS the paperwork end of it but I take pride in submitting accurate info. I like being able to look back over things and develop trends to see what's working and what's not. Sometimes during trapping season when you're going hard it's hard to see the forest from the trees. A good system makes it possible.

Bottom line.....just stay organized and find your own way. There's more than one way to do it well.

I do the same thing.It not only helps me remember where they all are,,but with my diagrams,,one of my sons could pull all the sets if anything happened where I was unable to.

Flagging

Larrywaugh how are you guys making out?Catching much?