Ok, this is a kind of silly topic/thread, but I've always wondered what people thought. When you head into a wilderness area, there are these little self-permitting tags where you fill-out info about your trip, and drop the detachable part into the box. The instructions say you're then supposed to "display" the permit on your pack or self. The question I have is - why?

Why do you need to display this? If you do happen to run into a ranger they can surely just ask you for it, and you can pull it out of your pocket or a zip-lock bag. It's not like you'll be standing there, unable to move or speak while they comb-over your pack... and its not like they need to read the thing while you're rambling down the trail, unable to stop.

The only thing I can think of is that if you're found dead, they can find it more easily. But, that's pretty morbid... I mean, if you're dead, you've got much bigger problems than a missing wilderness permit. Or, I guess I could see putting one on the outside of your tent if you're inside it, so they don't have to wake you up. But that's a different thing.

Plus, the newer permits are not really waterproof... and I think they could easily get banged-up outside your pack.

All this said, I've never had someone ask for one of these permits, and I doubt they'd really care if it's "displayed".. so long as you have one (and even then, I'm sure they'd be forgiving). I remember one instance in the Enchnatments where I stopped & talked to a ranger for like 10 minutes, just chatting... Then I said, "Hey! Don't you want to see my permit?" Permits there are restricted, and I had to get up at like 4am to stand in line and get one. I figured after all that, I wanted someone to actually check the thing!

I last saw a ranger in the woods at Upper Twin lake in the now Bull of the Woods area in 1975.  He was very nice, we talked for a few minutes and he was on his way.  I have filled out the trail head cards and stuffed them in the box but never read anything about having one with me.  I guess as a guy not reading the instructions is normal.  I would like to know what they would do to you for such a flagrant violation.
Bill

I carry the permit in my pocket, sometimes in my pack

I've been out more than 100 days and no one has ever asked to see it

I think they just want to get an idea how many people there are for planning purposes

We went to McNeil Pt a couple years ago and ran into an agent who was checking for the permits. But, that is the only time anybody asked.

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“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.”
~John Hope Franklin

If you have them displayed in plain sight they can check from a distance like with binoculars.

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"There is this to be said for walking: It's the one mode of human locomotion by which a man proceeds on his own two feet, upright, erect, as a man should be, not squatting on his rear haunches like a frog." --Edward Abbey

As noted above, if they're displayed, there's no need for a ranger even to ask.  It makes her/his job easier, and (theoretically, at least), limits whatever annoyance some people might feel about being asked for paperwork in a "wilderness" settting.  I don't think I've ever been checked in a National Forest, although I have been in a National Park.

In practice, the carbon copy you put in the trailhead box is likely the only thing that ever gets scrutinized.

this is a fun topic, twice last year, there were none in the box to fill out. so I got a scrap paper and made my own. then once back on the rode again, I stoped at a ranger station and asked for some spares to keep with in my truck, they looked and could not find any, this was a large place.So now I grabbed a few spares when I see some, to keep with me, and oh a couple off trail heads that I have returned to have my old permits from one to two years ago! I should ask sometime to see what this permit system really does.

Last year it took so long to repair the bridge over the Sandy on Road 1825 that they never bothered to stock the trailhead box for Burnt Lake. So just for fun (okay, I'm easily amused..) , I  took a bunch from the Ramona Falls box and stuck them in the Burnt Lake box. Sure enough, people started filling them out.

I usually stick mine in my pocket. Amazingly enough the noise of it bouncing off my backpack was getting annoying. I generally hike alone and those things can make a racket when you're trying to listen to the silence as you wander along the trails..