accessing leased public lands

[rmyoung1]

Background: I have driven past this certain ranch near my hometown in SW MT a million times. There are always deer and/or elk on this place. I recently found out that much of the land I have been looking at is actually state and BLM property that is surrounded by this ranch. There are some access points to the public ground via public roads, however. I'm 99.9% sure that the ranch leases the state and BLM ground for their agricultural purposes.

My questions: Is there any limitation to the public's use of these leased properties? Does a landowner's lease inhibit the public's use of the public property for hunting in any way?

I know there are guys out there on this forum who are experts in this area. I appreciate the help.

 

[MThuntr]

Public access cannot be denied unless those public roads are closed (which happens). You have every right to use them.

 

[sbhooper]

Exactly. You can go there as long as you do not have to cross the private land to get there as long as the road is not shut off by BLM.

 

[A-con]

I would research it a bit, maybe talk to the local BLM manager.
Landowners have a way of claiming public lands for their own, and throwing people off.

Talk to someone in charge, take a map and point out the lands and roads in question. Write down his/her name and when/if there is a confrontation with the landowner in question and local law enforcement, have that information at your finger tips.

 

[1_pointer]

Yep, if you can get to the parcels via public accessible routes you can set foot on those BLM lands. Wether or not you can hunt them is up to the state of Montana and their regs.

Furthermore, preventing public use of lands is a prohibitive act for a grazing permittee and can result in fines and/or loss of grazing privleges. From the Code of Federal Regulations:

Interfering with lawful uses or users including obstructing free transit through or over public lands by force, threat, intimidation, signs, barrier or locked gates

 

[JoseCuervo]

First of all, find out if the lands are "leased", or, if the Welfare Rancher just has a "permit" to graze the lands. A grazing "permit" just allows the Welfare Rancher to have his cows or Range Maggots eat the grass (and drink some water, and shit all over the place), and there can be other people with "permits" on the land (cutting timber, extracting minerals, drilling the shit out of the place for oil/gas, etc.)

You can actually have "leases" of public lands that are actually "leases" that allow the exclusive use of the land by the lessee. Examples are in Idaho, the State has some great cabin sites on Payette Lake that they leased out years ago. These leases allow for the exclusive use of the cabin owner, and you can not trespass on their land, even though it is "public" in deed.

In your example, the fact there are State lands (from Montana) might or might not have some sort of actual "lease" as opposed to a "permit".

I don't have any first-hand knowledge of BLM actually leasing land (as opposed to permitting), but I could imagine scenarios where the BLM provides a lease that allows the leaseholder to exclude the public (windmill sites, cell phone towers, etc.) (Now that I think about it, I would guess the Mine Operators would be able to exclude the public from an area due to safety concerns.)

 

[sbhooper]

If it is BLM and it is accessible, no one can keep you off of it.

 

[pointingdogsrule]

If it is BLM and it is accessible, no one can keep you off of it.

In Wyoming there is BLM land that IS accessable and the mining company has "NO TRESPASSING" signs up.

good luck to all
the dog

 

[rmyoung1]

Good stuff, guys. Thanks!

 

[MThuntr]

In Wyoming there is BLM land that IS accessable and the mining company has "NO TRESPASSING" signs up. /QUOTE]

It may be a safety thing associated with mineral leases...the local BLM office can help sort that out.

 

[sbhooper]

I'll bet that is a safety thing, but a rancher would have a hard time with that one.

 

[howler]

find out the exact name of the rad and findout the county it is in then go to the county court house and find out if the road has had and gas tax money used on it, if so it is a county road and open to public use. if not well then jsut drop in from above,