Leave If You See Purple Paint on Fence Posts

Have you been driving in some states and noticed purple paint markings on the top of fence posts? What does that mean? The aliens have invaded. No, of course not but it does mean to turn around and get the heck out of there.

It basically means you are trespassing on someone's property. There are about 11 states including Texas and Arkansas where you will see these purple markings while driving or maybe even hunting. The law was created in September 1997 allowing Texas landowners an alternative to posting those No Trespassing and Posted signs and still be legal. While this law has been in effect in our area for awhile a few people are still unaware of what it means. And believe it or not they even make special paint color for this.

Section 30.05 of the Texas Penal Code, dealing with criminal trespass, says that: (paraphrased) ‘A person commits an offense if he enters property of another without consent and that he had notice that the entry was forbidden.

Here's a little more explanation.

Now that we solved the mystery of the purple paint let's take a look at some other markings you may or may not know about.

Sometimes trunks of trees are marked with paint to indicate that maintenance needs to be done on the tree. Others get marked for cut down because of a dead tree. Other color markings you see could be a utility company marking a facility where excavators plan a dig. And those little yellow flags you often see mean some type of gas line underground. The most common flag colors are red for the electric utilities, yellow for the gas utilities and orange for cable and communication companies.

Have you ever seen any strange color markings you couldn't explain?