Land Owner Protection Act Will Lead To a More Colorful Fall

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Purple will be new color in the woods this fall

Purple paint is now a legal option for landowners to post their property with the passing of the Land Owner Protection Act. Gone are the days where mythical winds blows Posted Signs away making posted land umposted.

LANDOWNERPROTECTIONACT
The newLandowner Protection Act provides two ways for landholders to post their lands to
allow only hunters, trappers and anglers with written permission to legally enter their property:
• As permitted in the past, the landholder can place
notices, signs, or posters on the property boundaries
at a distance of 200 yards apart or closer.
• A new way for landholders to post their property is
with purple paint. The landholder can paint a vertical
line of purple paint on trees or posts around property
boundary, or areas intended to prohibit trespass. The
paint line needs to be at least 8″ long and the bottom
of the line should be between 3′ and 5′ from the base
of the tree or post. The paintmarks need to be placed
100 yards apart or closer.
Sportsmen need written permission, dated within the
past 12 months, signed by the landowner or lessee, to hunt,
fish, or trap on lands posted with signs or purple paint. You
must carry written permission on your person. If a hunting
club has leased the land, hunters must have a copy of their
hunting clubmembership and a copy of the landowner
permission given to that club. Wildlife officers will enforce
the Landowner Protection Act.
The Landowner Protection Act does not change general trespass laws nor have any effect
on lands which are not posted. It does not repeal any local acts currently in effect that require
written permission to hunt, fish or trap.
North Carolina law encourages owners of land to make property available for recreational
use. The law states that a landowner who allows someone, without charge, onto their land for
recreational purposes owes them the same duty of care theywould owe a trespasser.

NCWRC

Landowner Wallet Size Permission Forms

While I don’t think the new law is perfect, and many of the teeth was stripped from the original bill, this law should be a step in the right direction. It will be interesting to see how this law is enforced especially with people like myself that hunt multiple tracts of lands with multiple land owners. I’ll have to be extremely organized to make sure I have all my permission forms in order. I wonder if the wildlife enforcement officer will have the ability to identify the landowner in the field to even know if the permission form is legitimate. I guess I’ll have to carry at least 10 or more permission forms with me so I better get a bigger wallet.

Decoydoc

On The Hunt For Purple Paint
By Tony Robinson
The pre-dawn woods are still and quite as a mid autumn deer hunter makes his way down a familiar path. Stopping only to catch his breath and adjust his gear, he can hear the soft tap of newly falling leaves as they land on the surrounding forest floor. In the distance an owl gives out one last call before settling in for his daytime sleep. Back on the trail, the seasoned archery hunter continues his trek, as he knows the importance of being in place, high up a tree before the day’s first light.
Still young and in great health, the hunter makes the laborious two mile trip in good time. Using his little headlamp only intermittently, the full moon of October helps illuminate his way. The woodlands are familiar, as he has hunted the area for years. Not sure of the properties owner, he has never encountered another person or seen any type of poster or no trespassing sign in this back woods retreat.
As the sun breaks the horizon, the bow hunter surveys the landscape from the small confines of his portable treestand. The random sound of falling acorns as they bounce from limb to leaves is interrupted by the rhythm of steady steps. Staring through the fall foliage, he makes out the figure of a person coming his way. Seconds later a state officer is beneath his stand and asking to see his hunting license along with his written permission to be hunting in this location. Puzzled by the trespassing questions, the hunter discovers that not only was he hunting for deer but should also have been hunting for purple paint as well.
Since man first decided that this was his land, he has been using words to describe those that come on the land without his permission. It was the word “trespass” that followed the first European settlers to the new world and his stuck ever since. While the Native American certainly felt that they were being trespassed on themselves, our ancestors wasted no time in letting outsiders know to say away. While a small sign on ones front door with the message “No Trespassing” is easily seen and understood, how does a large landowner let the outside world know to stay off that land? For the past several years the issue of trespassing by hunters and fishermen has seen its share of new and challenging laws designed to legislate and enforce trespassing. This year was no exception as the states General Assembly decided to make the color purple the law that covers your land.
From main street parking lots with “Police Authorized to Arrest” signs, to roadside trees plastered with the words “Posted”, one doesn’t have to look far to find places that he is not welcome. The majority of people have no problem with accepting the idea that if you legally own property, that you should have the right to decide who can enter it. On the other hand, what is an acceptable way to let the public know to stay out and how to remove them if they ignore the notice?
For many years the most standard way of enforcing trespassing was to first have ones property posted a certain way. This included posters worded properly, being a certain size and placed a certain way around the property. Then the lands owner had to go before a magistrate and take out a warrant for the person he saw trespassing. A law enforcement officer then served the warrant on the trespasser and the landowner would have to testify in court.
Since hunting and fishing was one of the biggest causes of trespassing complaints, many attempts have been made at providing a method in which landowners could shift the burden of enforcing the violation to law enforcement officers. This year the issue came up again and at the end of the day, the current General Statute 14-159.6 was once again amended. As a result of the changes, landowners are now able to simply make a few small marks on trees with purple paint and law enforcement officers with subject matter jurisdiction are able to enforce trespassing by hunters and fishermen without the landowner’s knowledge.
However, according to Burke County attorney Jon Jones who also spent several years as a District Attorney and a District Court Judge, this simple paint mark might not be so simple after all.
Jones took a look at the new law this week and noticed several things that could create problems for the state in enforcing the law. The first thing Jones pointed out is the color itself. “Since there is no legal definition of what the color purple is, it creates a subjective situation that can vary from one person to another” advised Jones. “Another thing is the mark itself”, said Jones. The law says it must be at least eight inches long but makes no reference as to how wide it needs to be. Jones went on to add that while the intent may be to enforce trespassing without needing the landowner in court; key provisions in the law may actually require the landowner to testify as to whither he is the actual owner and if he is the one that put the purple paint on the perimeter of the property. In any case, it now looks like both officer and hunter will spend a lot of time this up coming season hunting for purple paint.
Tony Robinson can be reached at decoydoc@charter.net

Land Owner Protection Act Will Lead To a More Colorful Fall

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