Teach me public access

[shootbrownelk]

I believe the sportsman act of 2012 was going to address a lot of land locked land and create easements. It is very unfortunate that it did not pass.

update: The act was going to open up 32 million land locked acres

The bill didn't pass because the ranching/outfitting industry dominates the Wyoming legislature. The landlocked public land is their personal playground if they have a grazing lease. they have access 24/7/365 but we sportsmen don't.

[Colorado Cowboy]

One of the ranches I hunt and an adjoining ranch have 3 school (state) sections totally surrounded and locked up. Each one is 640 acres (1 sq mile)and the one I don't hunt has an outfitter and yep....its their private playground! Its kinda funny because I have hunted the adjoining ranch for years and because one side of 1 of the state parcel borders the ranch. The other ranch has it fenced and posted. I just climb the fence and go hunting. The outfitter stopped me one year and was really ticked off because I had killed a really nice buck deer that he wanted for a client. When he saw that the adjoining ranch owner had signed my license and I told him it was state land that I had legal access to, he stomped off swearing ti himself.

Moral of the story is you have to know what you can & can't do.

[Umpqua Hunter]

I think a great business for someone in SE Wyoming would be a helicopter drop service, to drop you into landlocked BLM. I know I would easily pay $500/person round trip for say 2 to 3 guys, just so they came back to pick us back up...lol.

[shootbrownelk]

I think a great business for someone in SE Wyoming would be a helicopter drop service, to drop you into landlocked BLM. I know I would easily pay $500/person round trip for say 2 to 3 guys, just so they came back to pick us back up...lol.

Hunter, someone did just that some years ago and a fistfight ensued. Not sure of the outcome, but the rancher should have been charged. The guy was clearly legal.

[shootbrownelk]

One of the ranches I hunt and an adjoining ranch have 3 school (state) sections totally surrounded and locked up. Each one is 640 acres (1 sq mile)and the one I don't hunt has an outfitter and yep....its their private playground! Its kinda funny because I have hunted the adjoining ranch for years and because one side of 1 of the state parcel borders the ranch. The other ranch has it fenced and posted. I just climb the fence and go hunting. The outfitter stopped me one year and was really ticked off because I had killed a really nice buck deer that he wanted for a client. When he saw that the adjoining ranch owner had signed my license and I told him it was state land that I had legal access to, he stomped off swearing ti himself.

Moral of the story is you have to know what you can & can't do.

Cowboy, we have a certain ranch around these parts that is leased by an outfitter and has "No Trespassing" signs posted on a fence that has 3 MILES of BLM ground on the other side. The outfitter & ranch hands try to blow smoke about calling the sheriff, but usually shut up when they see the GPS...but sometimes not. And it's always a hassle, even if you're right.

[Fink]

I think a great business for someone in SE Wyoming would be a helicopter drop service, to drop you into landlocked BLM. I know I would easily pay $500/person round trip for say 2 to 3 guys, just so they came back to pick us back up...lol.

My cousin flies airplanes, it doesn't take much of a flat spot to land a Cessna, right? Maybe I'll request that he learns to fly a choppa.

[Colorado Cowboy]

Cowboy, we have a certain ranch around these parts that is leased by an outfitter and has "No Trespassing" signs posted on a fence that has 3 MILES of BLM ground on the other side. The outfitter & ranch hands try to blow smoke about calling the sheriff, but usually shut up when they see the GPS...but sometimes not. And it's always a hassle, even if you're right.

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.

[trkytrack2]

Welcome to the west.....hundred of thousands of acres of public land surrounded by private property and there is no way to access it unless you fork over the big bucks to the ranchers or outfitters. As long as these hoodlums are as powerful as they are in the legislature in their states, it will never change.

[HiMtnHnter]

The GPS's with the chips are a step in the right direction. However, I have been involved in one case where the GPS was flat wrong and the ranch manager was right. It just depends on what map the chip-maker looks at I guess . . . If we are going to pay that kind of money for a gps and chip, you would think we'd have accuracy on our side . . .

The chopper and plane idea put a new spin on "gas money"!

[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.