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What a long morning I had...

For several weeks I have been looking at a parcel of BLM land that I saw on BLM webmaps. I checked it out on Google maps. I checked it out on Google Earth. I checked it out on my phone. It looked good and I decided I was going to drive out (2.5hours) and see if I couldn't find some coyotes on it.

Now, mind you, I have never coyote hunted in my life. In fact, I haven't even hunted anything in over 20 years.

I looked at all of the maps some more. I even stitched together a lil something in photoshop and paid to have a large print made to have a hard copy map. I notated it with things I was seeing on satellite.

I decided that today was going to be the day. I loaded up the truck. I don't have a call, so I spliced together some calls and dead space into an audio track and burned it onto a CD. I planned on using a portable stereo do that work for me. I loaded up most of what I needed in the truck last night, and the rest this morning before heading out.

Step out the door. Holy Wind!

First stop: The Dalles. I planned on this stop. I knew I was going to need to gas up the truck and I needed batteries for the stereo. Got the batteries first and then swung into a gas station before hitting the freeway. Credit Card expired. Damnit. The replacement card has been on my desk for about 2 months. Fine, debit it is. Gas and go.

The fog starts creeping in, but I'm good with that. It keeps me hidden and makes sure I keep shooting distances short. I make my exit and start heading to "my spot" that I've never seen. I find the turn off. I know at this point, thanks to all the map studies I've done, that there are two ways to get to where I want to go. I also know of a couple other options for other areas since I had kept my mind open to the fact I might have to alter course slightly.

My first turn off is marked with an old plastic "private property" sign. That's fine. I had anticipated that being the case. It was mostly going to be a short cut. Since that was out I had just a short distance to go, and I can try out the other options on BLM land.

Then, through the fog, I saw it. It wasn't on any map or satellite image.

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(image appears further away than real life)

Whoa. That's big. And there were a lot of them

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(but, those tracks!!!)

None of these were on satellite. I knew there were about 10 total according to my comparisons to the BLM map and Google Earth, but those arrays were supposed to be 3-4 miles away. Instead the area is COVERED in mills.

And these blasted signs.

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I was confused. Was not BLM land supposed to be public land? WTF is going on??

After driving around for a half hour I knew I had been beat. I ended up tucking tail and going home (back in Portland to meet my wife for lunch!) and whining about how well I managed to waste the day.
 
Go to caltopo.com

Upper right corner in the pull down menu, select the "land ownership" map layer and turn it on......
 
Makes me wonder if this was properly documented, or just an under-the-radar grab... way out in the sticks there's probably not much keeping tabs on things, especially if it was a beneficiary of one of Obozo's "green energy" sweetheart deals.

Contact BLM and see if they know anything about this? If not I bet they'd be VERY interested in an illegal private seizure of public property...
 
Makes me wonder if this was properly documented, or just an under-the-radar grab... way out in the sticks there's probably not much keeping tabs on things, especially if it was a beneficiary of one of Obozo's "green energy" sweetheart deals.

Contact BLM and see if they know anything about this? If not I bet they'd be VERY interested in an illegal private seizure of public property...

I have. Sent them the photos I grabbed and a screen shot from the BLM online maps.
 
I was SOOOO getting into your story! All excited, didn't scroll down to see the dead coyote, reading, reading....And then_____:s0054::s0054: What a crappy story!

Really sorry man! But not as sorry as I am when thinking what The Great Oregon Country is turning into! Bastages!
 
BLM says the land is open, it's just surrounded and not accessible.
I have a feeling GE won't let me through, but I'm going to shoot them a letter anyways.
 
I've lived in the sticks for going on 17 years. And were surrounded by Wharehouser land. Last year they started selling permits. Walk in and drive in. For over $200 you can walk in and over $300 you get a key to the gate. We used to walk the dogs and sometimes cats, to the pond and enjoy the woods. Now it's all about money. Way more traffic and idiots filling the pond w lead. Private gated spot for the wealthy to hunt and shoot guns. It's getting FN crazy. I sure hope no one welds their gate shut some day. :rolleyes: Luckily it's 5 acre minimum lots out here. Still have some space to breath in. Thank God.
 
I've lived in the sticks for going on 17 years. And were surrounded by Wharehouser land. Last year they started selling permits. Walk in and drive in. For over $200 you can walk in and over $300 you get a key to the gate. We used to walk the dogs and sometimes cats, to the pond and enjoy the woods. Now it's all about money. Way more traffic and idiots filling the pond w lead. Private gated spot for the wealthy to hunt and shoot guns. It's getting FN crazy. I sure hope no one welds their gate shut some day. :rolleyes: Luckily it's 5 acre minimum lots out here. Still have some space to breath in. Thank God.

This is whats going to happen everywhere if the politicians in office pass the current proposed legislation to sell off our public lands (blm, nat forest....) to the states.
 
didnt work for me. Gonna have to try at home on better internet

So what I found today is that if it doesn't seem to work, give it 5 minutes, it may have to do with internet connection or bandwidth but it has to load the land use layers separately from the base map you select. It took a while for it to load but once it did I can switch it on/off and no wait anymore.

here is a screenshot of the area south of The Dalles (where the OP wanted to go coyote hunting)
Selection_001_20170203_14:50:40.jpg

so for the OP, as we can see there isnt a whole lot of public land around The Dalles.
 
Actually, I was much further east, but there still isn't a whole lot of space. Some folks wondered why I went so far out, I like the solitude, otherwise I would have looked for something closer to home.
 
Actually, I was much further east, but there still isn't a whole lot of space. Some folks wondered why I went so far out, I like the solitude, otherwise I would have looked for something closer to home.
I'm in the same boat, have driven the extra mile many times to get away. This is exactly why I'm against the transfer of my public lands to the states to sell off. Hopefully the Caltopo website can be helpful for your trip planning, its been invaluable for me. Just remember though that property boundaries can and do change before maps get updated, although Caltopo gets those maps from the USGS public domain so they should be good. The biggest issue Ive had is that what I assumed was a county/public road turned out to either be private or illegally gated blocking off access to many smaller parcels of public BLM lands... many of which are actually landlocked by private lands, frustrating.
 
Actually, I was much further east, but there still isn't a whole lot of space. Some folks wondered why I went so far out, I like the solitude, otherwise I would have looked for something closer to home.
How 'bout some drift gunnin' out of your kayak? Think of it.. a pumpgun stoked with 4 buck and you've got those sweet fresh batteries!
hey, a guy can dream
 
Plenty of duck hunts from plastic boats! I've actually long dreamed of a cast-n-blast overnighter on the JD. Steelhead. Chucker. Bronzebacks. Good times. Someday.
 

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