Good question, sorry to hijack, while riding atvs I see a lot of tape on trees, various colors, what is the meaning of it? One pink one said mnr forest something on it
Remindes me of the guy I know who got lost in fresh snow and couldn't figure out what way to get back to the truck.
About all you can say with certainty about various ribbons, is that they mean you were not the first guy there.
That happens more often than one would think. Unless you immediately backtrack, some guys will wander in circles coming up to their own tracks from earlier. Pretty soon they have no idea which ones were the original set, I've seen it happen a few times.
What would it look like if everyone did it?
Just use a construction spray paint... it is water soluble and will eventual (not too long) wash right off... I would rather see that than a bunch of plastic ribbons left all over the bush.
On crown land, is it permissible to spray paint spots on trees instead of using trail marker tape ?