Teach me public access

This topic just frustrates the heck out of me. In my opinion, there is no point in having 'public land' if there is no 'right of way' to access it.

I understand laws are laws, but this makes it tough for out of staters or non-land owners.

Western land owners, consider yourselves lucky. The rest of us are very jealous.

It is very frustrating. Kind of like corner jumping, where you step across corners of private/public properties. Many landowners feel the public property behind theirs is theirs. They can get pretty fiesty and in your face when asking how to get to said public property. The fact that we are out-of-staters makes it even worse. One year my wife and I were hunting Raymond Mtn. and we came up to a fence with a locked gate. The land behind the fence was posted and we turned the Jeep around, I noticed something just inside the fence. I looked over the fence and there was a pile of rocks in the shape of a grave with a cross at one end. On the cross was painted "here lies the last California hunter who came through this gate". Nuf' said.

Moose

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Originally Posted by Colorado Cowboy

I understand what you are saying totally. I guess if I was in that situation, I would plan ahead and go talk to the county sheriff and get his take on the situation before you climb the fence. Depends on how determined you are to hunt that particular spot.

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Cowboy, I was determined to hunt that area, opened the gate and have hunted it for a few years. The outfitter can pound sand!

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Originally Posted by shootbrownelk

Cowboy, I was determined to hunt that area, opened the gate and have hunted it for a few years. The outfitter can pound sand!

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I guess if they are not pushing the issue with you, they probably know they are wrong!

Well, being from Wyoming I can help you out a ton.....first, don't put in for antelope anywhere on the eastern side of the state. Simple as that, it's all (well all most) private or land locked and you will have to pay to get access. The great thing about Wyoming is there is a western half.....lol. Virtually no private land. Hunt wherever u want to with no trespass fees. There is a reason why there is always left over tags in the east...no land to hunt, unless u want to pay. AND in my opinion, the quality is better in the west. Also, I have found that the ranchers in the west are WAY easier to get along with. In 26 years of hunting the west, I have never been turned down for land access, if I needed on a ranch to chase a trophy. In the east....good luck! My in-laws live in the northeast corner and the only land I get access to is a family ranch. All else I've been told yes, but for a trespass fee.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

I hunted antelope in eastern Wyoming, with an outfitter. They dropped me off at the blind, at a water hole. I had my gps with me, keeping my tracks, and when I got home, it said that where we were it was national grassland. Would I be able to go back there and hunt on my own if I wanted too? plus any BLM land that was there? Had roads through the private land that were marked on garmin city navigator.

Bobcat, you could only hunt those sections if there is LEGAL PUBLIC access on the roads through the private, Roads marked on a garmin only indicare a vehicle route, not the ownership, status or maintenance. Most roads that show up on a garmin in eastern Wyoming are not public access.

Thanks, I'll be sure to have a detailed USFS or BLM map. Not that I'm going there, I just wondered what the deal was.

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Originally Posted by BKC

I was on a public road that went thru private property looking for access to a section of state land and found the road just went by the corner of this piece of land. I had my truck parked on the road and was standing in the ditch ( 10' from my truck ) leaning on the corner post, which was posted state land. The wire gate at the corner was permanently wired shut and had a length of chain and a lock on it. As I was scratching my head trying to figure out the lay of the land, the land owner told me I was on private property and I said how is that so. He said the fence was his and the ditch was his and the only public land was the gravel road and the state land. I could have tuned my truck perpendicular to the road and backed up to the edge of the road, droped my tailgate and jumped onto the state land over the fence. I don't know how I could have gotten out of there or what I would have done with my truck but It wasn't worth it for 1 section. Now if it would have freed up a ton of land, I would have figured something out. This is a classic example of how public land is tied up, basically our tax dollars NOT at work.

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From your description, you DO have access to this state section. Public road right-of-ways(in MT I know) are 60 feet wide(30 feet from the center-line of the road). The public road does not end at the edge of the gravel. That landowner was blowing smoke up your a**.