Landowner claims BLM is his private property

[1_pointer]

Great bull. As a landowner, he can outfit on his deeded land with no license required. However, once he starts outfitting on adjacent public lands, he must be licensed as an outfitter with the state of Montana. If he is telling you public land is private in an attempt to keep you from legally hunting, I would pursue it to the fullest extent possible.

IIRC, would he not also need a Special Use Permit from the managing agency for guiding/outfitting on public lands?

 

[TheJason]

IIRC, would he not also need a Special Use Permit from the managing agency for guiding/outfitting on public lands?

Yep.

 

[ozmontana]

This is the content and reply I was looking for. Knowledge is power. Thank you

 

[mtmander]

good for you , we need to keep public land public , nice small bull , he is big to me

 

[ozmontana]

Thank you. My impression of the situation was that he and his neighbor were both taking guest hunting on public lands. This seem to include providing a vehicle, spraying the fence orange, and running folks off.

 

[kansasdad]

Dude Dale should be feeling the heat in every way possible. Please push forward with detailed reports on his shenanigans to the appropriate agencies.

 

[ozmontana]

Pictures always make them look bigger. Haven't scored yet but would guess only 325 ish. I saw several in the 360-380 range that where impressive.

 

[ozmontana]

I agree.

 

[ozmontana]

I should have stopped at this is public. Part of me could not let it go and part of me was curious. The problem with calling anyone on this situation is time. Your on PTO you only have so many days and out their you are hours from anyone. For example the BLM Ranger would have been a 3 hour drive. Fish and Game Wardens are very few and far between as well. I new at that moment it would require follow up. Even if the least I did was post on line the exact location of the property for next years hunters to take advantage of.

 

[NEWHunter]

First off, if you understated the level of conflict like you understated the size of your elk this Dale must be one of this world’s all time jerks. Congrats on that elk.

If you don’t plan on going back to that spot ever again I would certainly pursue the incident to the fullest extent, especially given your credible witness and gps proof you never trespassed. Sounds like your position is pretty much bulletproof, and by that I mean you sound like you have enough support for the appropriate authorities to take action so you wouldn’t be wasting your time.

Think about this as well, what if a fellow hunter and say his/her young kid were taking a rare or once in a lifetime trip and they were banking on this spot that you found. Maybe their trip is ruined or worse because mom or dad don’t have the conflict handling abilities you do. Maybe this dale pushes it too far with another hunter because they’re solo, if there is no record of what a jerk he is, the local authorities will likely side with the big local landowner.

That said, I was in WY this fall by myself and had a situation where I was on BLM and was accused of trespassing and had my hunt interfered with by some guys that I think were lead to believe they were paying to hunt private land. Given the situation and their words/actions, the authorities probably wouldn’t have issued more than a warning to them unless I had taken a photo of them while they were hunting without blaze orange. However, given that I was alone and that was my only spot I could hunt, and I might go back there again someday, I chose not to report. So as not to sound like a hypocrite, I have had a few cameras and tree stands stolen here in WI and a deer head staked on one of my no trespassing signs (as some sort of pagan warning?!??!!) and in each of those instances I called the police and filed a report.

Finally, if this was a decent or potentially great, but hard to find spot, post up the facts online so others that want to can see for themselves. Not much is going to tick dale off more than even more people hunting “his public land”. Good luck with your decision.

 

[ozmontana]

I will take a picture of my wife and kids tag. I think I even still have the letter. The story goes that I applied as a party with my cousin for the rifle either sex tag for 700. We kept my wife and kids off the list with us due to priority point odds. Then when I put in them for the tag I selected the wrong sub number which turned out to be the guaranteed bow tag. I think they give out 500 or so. I notice the mistake on the day of the draw. I had to apologize to my kids for that one. Then to my surprise when the tags came in the male they had the exact same one despite what it said online. Then a few days letter came the explanation form FWP and asking us to dispose of the tag and they would re issue the correct. Well how many folks do you think where honest in this situation. My wife and kinds can go 10 years before getting a change at that tag.

 

[ozmontana]

Thanks for the reply. The picture makes it look big. I had 2 full weeks to hunt and knew of the potential of the district. Small was the description because I have see several 400 class elk their over the years. My family and I hunt deer in 700 every year.

 

[belly-deep]

What everyone else said. You're not taking anything too far. "Dale" took things too far and he needs to learn a lesson.

 

[406LIFE]

Another vote for pursuing this to the max. I'd even use the real name. I have zero tolerance for this type of thing; this is not the culture I grew up in here in MT and I hate that it has moved this way. I don't fault a guy for making a buck on his ranch, but when you try to push me off public land, you become akin to a mortal enemy.

Also, update us on either way you choose to go.

 

[bigsky2]

Can anyone else confirm the FWP screw up with issuing the tags? I hope that didn't really happen, that is inexcusable....

 

[dcopas78]

Awesome bull, and I'll echo what everyone else has already said. I have zero tolerance for people like that.

 

[Trial153]

Dale is tool, screw him. The way people have to respect private property people have to respect public property as well.

 

[NoWiser]

I also vote for making this sting for "Dale". If he gets off easy, you know dang well he'll treat the next guy just like he treated you.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Did "Dale" make you call him Dragon?

 

[MTGomer]