Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Idaho to fix problem of blocked access to public land?

The whole thing caused a huge to-do here. Happened shortly before I got here but apparently everyone knew the story that hunted there. The politician who was in charge of the area allowed it. Apparently, there was a very limited easement through to the area and he somehow finagled a deal where he allowed the landowner to buy it.

That year the politician was allowed to hunt that same landowner’s ranch. He gets big bucks for big bucks on his property. They told me it was something like the second or third largest buck killed in the state that year. I can’t remember all the details exactly but that’s close enough. He was voted out the following year by sportsmen. A few years later he tried to run again but they handed him his ass again.

Like I said, I’m not form the area so I don’t know the exact story but every single hunter - including my NM friends - we ran into in that particular area knew what had happened and would talk about it. Pissed a lot of people off but the rancher at least got away with it.

Dryfly, he was the NM Land Commissioner?

Expecting the government to solve a problem is whats wrong with America. When the gooberman gets done neither side will be happy.
Rocky mountain elk or a private state hunters organization should be working on these on an individual basis, win some lose some but do it the right way. Its not a one size meets all scenario, and some landowners will truly be hurt if some politician comes up with a shortest route is the best solution. And making bad laws because of a few assclowns will help no one and won't hurt the assclowns.

Private property rights are what has made America the land of the free, and eminent domain is a pandora's box of troubles hunters don't want to open.

Could be. Again I apologize as I don’t know the exact details but it’s very close to what I relayed.

Just to add, as far as the rancher goes, pretty sure he’s one of the heirs to the Budweiser fortune and he’s been buying up every shred of land he can in the southwest corner of NM. Including all the other privately owned ranches. There is a lady there who’s family has been there forever and when he tried to buy her place she told him he didn’t have enough money to make her sell then told him to GTFOHL... 😁

If it’s the same parcel Dryfly’ is talking about, yes it was Dunn.

It all happened with one of his “land swaps”.

I did run across a guy that was forbidding easement to adjoining properties... even though they owned to the county road.

He told a couple of those guys that his dad had retained a narrow strip along the road before he sold the land, to keep people from building/living next to his place.

They called me to survey, and there was no such strip of land. He was just lying to them. It took a copy of the survey to him and gave it to him, and told him he was full of schidt.


The guy was in charge of road maintenance for the county, too. He knew better.

Pretty sure it’s GMU 26/27.

Aubrey Dunn Jr.

I knew him and Sr...

They were from Llano County, Texas originally.

This fuggin guy goes as far as to ride around on the county road during the season and whenever he sees a truck he’ll stop them and tell them he owns the strip and they are not allowed to cross. It borders on hunter harassment.

I was threatened with violence on a county road once by a land owner.


Turns out she did not want to be the first to die, and it was indeed.......a county road.


She was very sorry and I could continue on my way.

Wish you would have kept Jr. in TX.

Private land is, well, private, so the owner has the right to either allow people to trespass or bar them from doing so.

If a governmental entity wants to compel a land owner to allow the public to trespass on his/her property, the government could go to court and attempt toe seize it via eminent domain law.

A guy I used to hunt with was one of those "my public lands" types (an uber liberal BHA supporter) from Idaho. Every time he'd start up with the "I'm a public land owner" diatribes I'd let him vent then remind him that I'm a lawyer and I'd like to see the deed to public lands he claims to own and ownership is legally defined as the exclusive right to control the thing owned, which is at odds with the notion of public lands. One day, I had had enough of his crap and told him that I was also a public land owner and since I paid more taxes than he did, I get first rights to any animals. That was the last time I talked to him.

The states attorney general should be contacted, when elected officials abuse their power over citizens and land owners alike. Fraud is fraud and should be prosecuted.

Hunters them selves have burned a lot of bridges with land owners over the years, and most land owners have memories like elephants, once scorned they never forget !

rockin',

as a surveyor you have it right for sure.

But the major problem with turning a historical easement into a prescriptive type can be money to take it to court, especially against large developer or "rancher" types.

Not a ranch, but a place I lived in NorCal had a levy along the river folks had used for many many years as a path to fishing spots and for walking their dogs. New landowner bought the pastures behind the levy, found out the property went to the mean high water line or some such, and attempted to close the levy to the locals. It took a couple of years in court as I recall, but the public ended up winning that one. Apparently the new owner wasn't a multi-billion dollar corporation that could tie it up forever in appeals and such.

You likely know the "rules" on those historical ROWs goes back centuries, English common law if I'm not mistaken. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean the folks using it will prevail.

Kinda sucks to be locked out of places one has been going to for years, on a historical right of way, and then not have the money to fight it in court. But such is life at times.

Geno

Sr. was an okay guy. Did a lot of land developmental survey work for him in High Rolls, NM. He was just a businessman. Had to move to NM due to health reasons, for the drier climate.

Never thought much of Jr. I always thought the only interests he looked after was his own.

there you go, showing your "heritage" again

and your education to boot.

Geno

It's a bad habit...but this guy was as white and goyische as they get, so his politics would definitely earn him the Bolshevik moniker from some here.

I hope Idaho paves the way and sets precedent for “sportsman’s rights”. Surrounding public lands with private property as a means of locking out the people from THEIR land is wrong and needs to be fixed. Private landowners that are able to acquire large or small “strips” of land that border public land in order to deny access to it is, in essence, their way of stealing PUBLIC land for their own greedy corporate and/or personal use. Those ass holes have the money to buy politicians and the ability to tie up the state, the feds and individuals with years and years of litigation. ALL PUBLIC LAND should have reasonable areas of access for hunters and outdoorsmen with the number of access points being dictated by the geography and the size of the public land in question. If the landowners that have locked out public lands aren’t willing to come to an agreement then the application of eminent domain is warranted. Private property is a rather unique and sacred principle in the US that allows one to keep people off of the owners property BUT when it’s used (abused) to keep people off of THEIR own property then it’s an egregious abuse of the law or statutes and needs to be remedied. Anyone that bought private land that borders public land, public land that existed as public before the purchase, should be fair game when considering possible locations for easements. It’s like people that buy a house next to an airport and then complain about the noise.

Your freedom ends when it infringes upon my freedom.