Thread: BLM Land?

Finally dug deep enough on line to find a BLM map of where I hunt. Turns out there's about 1000 BLM acres contiguous to the 3000 where I have permission to hunt. Now, where I come from BLM land is simply public land open to multiple uses. I was talking to the land owner, a relative, who said that it might be restricted access. I've never heard of that being the case with BLM land, even where they leased out the grazing rights. Anybody familiar with what actual legal limits there might be on access? Or is it like in other states where often somebody with a grazing lease gates and padlocks public land?

In Oregon we have road closure areas. The area is usually still open to hunt. But no vehicles allowed. So bring your good boots. You can find Road closure info in the State Game regs.

some leased land have the hunting rights also and will close to public.

Generally, the BLM is more open, regardless of leases, than the USFS. Under the rules, a lease doesn't necessarily preclude trespass rights on BLM, whereas when USFS land is leased, the lessor is allowed to post it whether it is in use for grazing (etc.) or not.

The problem many will experience in upcoming seasons is the new road closure rule.
The new rule states that you MUST have an updated map in your possession (and know how to read it) in order to tell if a road is closed.
There may be a road closure in effect with no gate, berm or barrier of any kind to physically prevent you from entering with a motorized vehicle.
That means you could be out cruising a closed road and not know it. Thus the requirement for a recent map.

The USFS and BLM claim closing the roads is necessary because they don't have the budgets required for maintenance and policing.

blm can be landlocked and inaccessible without permission from the surrounding landowner, but other than traffic restrictions it's wide open if you can get to it legally.

Originally Posted by lucky guy

blm can be landlocked and inaccessible without permission from the surrounding landowner, but other than traffic restrictions it's wide open if you can get to it legally.

This BLM land is in the bottom of a 300 foot deep canyon. It's basically the part of the area that nobody wanted. The slopes are 45 degrees and there's no way you could use any kind of vehicle in there. The only way to get there is across the ranch where I have permission to hunt, so yes, it's land locked to everyone but me a couple of other people. The canyon contains some of the biggest and nicest mulie bucks I've ever seen. I shot one last year up on the rimrock, but it went over the edge and died about 150 feet down in the canyon. Took 9 hours and a bone saw to pack it out.