Accessing National forest beyond private

[MTLabrador]

I'm not talking about just access to national forest but actual FS roads. See the attached example here.

View attachment 150338

Both FS 84 and 173 leave the national forest boundary and there is a section of these roads that extend to the county road. The county road map does not include these two FS roads on their map because they aren't maintained by the county. However, if you call the national park office, they will tell you that they maintain these FS roads outside the national forest to the county road and are legal access roads a cross private ground.

And here’s a case where the Forest Service road doesn’t continue past the forest boundary, which is very common.

 

[seeth07]

And here’s a case where the Forest Service road doesn’t continue past the forest boundary, which is very common.
View attachment 150351

Is this a road you have verified? I'm not arguing and believe you but it would for sure be worth the call. You can't trust OnX. The roads they show are often incorrect.

 

[SAJ-99]

And here’s a case where the Forest Service road doesn’t continue past the forest boundary, which is very common.
View attachment 150351

Wilkes Bros.? Just saying.

 

[JLS]

I'm not talking about just access to national forest but actual FS roads. See the attached example here.

View attachment 150338

Both FS 84 and 173 leave the national forest boundary and there is a section of these roads that extend to the county road. The county road map does not include these two FS roads on their map because they aren't maintained by the county. However, if you call the national park office, they will tell you that they maintain these FS roads outside the national forest to the county road and are legal access roads a cross private ground.

I can think of several, right off the top of my head, FS roads where your legal right to travel the road ends at the FS boundary.

 

[westbranch]

Is this a road you have verified? I'm not arguing and believe you but it would for sure be worth the call. You can't trust OnX. The roads they show are often incorrect.

These roads show up on MVUM in central MT and there is no public access to them. Which I have confirmed. Several others in this area too.

 

[seeth07]

These roads show up on MVUM in central MT and there is no public access to them. Which I have confirmed. Several others in this area too.

View attachment 150352

Gotcha, maybe its a MT thing. I've never come across that before in WI, WY, ID or CO yet. I'm sure some exist, just haven't had it happen to me yet on various trips.

 

[westbranch]

Gotcha, maybe its a MT thing. I've never come across that before in WI, WY, ID or CO yet. I'm sure some exist, just haven't had it happen to me yet on various trips.

Yeah, I haven't ran into this issue in Idaho. Yet anyways.

 

[seeth07]

for some reason my fall hunting adventures have never taken me to MT....maybe I'm missing out on all the fun.

 

[JMG]

I was looking at BMAs in MT and one that I looked at does not allow mule deer hunting, including no mule deer hunting on state trust land that is accessed through the BMA. It seems odd that they are able to add a restriction like that, but based on that it seems they could say you can't access certain public lands through the BMA. A thin invisible line.

Does the forest service website have any info on access to the trailhead? I guess I would start with calling them.

Keep in mind that if you violate any rule of the BMA, your "permission to hunt/access" the BMA is no longer valid and you are now trespassing. I speak from experience regarding another BMA. I parked too close to a gate, thus I got a trespass citation (parking ticket = trespass violation). I admit … I didn't park exactly 150 feet from the gate. It was and is a frustrating and upsetting experience.

 

[SAJ-99]

maybe its a MT thing.

If you spend more than a day driving around MT roads and don't say "WTF?" at least once, you are doing something wrong. @Magnum Sherpa asked the most complicated question and didn't know it, and even gave a lot of detail on it short of the BMA #. There are only a few Type 1 BMAs in Beaverhead county, so...
You can start with the Montana Cadastral http://svc.mt.gov/msl/mtcadastral. That will show county roads and legal easements registered with the county. Once the county jurisdiction ends (at USFS boundary, for example) you have to use the USFS map or appropriate agency (BLM, for example, which suck) for that region. This is why I just said go the BMA map and see if it shows it as an access road. You can try to call the landowner, but given it is Type 1, they probably don't give a number. You can call the regional FWP office and ask, but you may get different answers if you ask two different people. If you sign the Type I BMA ticket, the landowner isn't going to care because he/she gets paid. If it wasn't in the BMA program, this conversation would be a LOT more difficult.

 

[MTLabrador]

Is this a road you have verified? I'm not arguing and believe you but it would for sure be worth the call. You can't trust OnX. The roads they show are often incorrect.

Yes I have. Been there many times.

 

[Wyohunt]

I tried to make my explanation as simple as possible, but obviously wasn’t successful in that. The issue is the road crosses private land first before it gets to any of the public parcels. In Montana there are private lands open to public hunting with permission under a program called Block Management. The private section is enrolled in that program.

I have OnX and know who owns the private parcel. I was mainly unsure of whether Block Management can be used to access to other public parcels that lie beyond it.

Try talking to the local game warden cause he will be the one who busts you if you get caught trespassing. Those guys know quite a bit about that stuff

 

[Flatbrimmer]

The law clearly states you must sign in each day prior to accessing. If you camped outside of the BMA and tried to come out a few days later, it’d better be right next to a sign in box. Can’t cross the bma back to your truck on a new day without that sign in ticket… I know of a couple spots like this I wanted to do the same thing. If there is no sign in box between the public land and BMA- sign in box way back at the beginning, you’d be best to talk to the BMA holder…