Millions Acres Montana's Private Lands Locked-up For Outfitting...

Why do we care so much about public land access ? Put simply: Because if the current trend to lease private to outfitters continues there won't be anywhere else for us poor folk to hunt (or fish, or recreate). The brown areas on the above map of Montana show about 19 million acres private lands currently being to outfitters for commercial hunting. In other words the average hunter is now locked out of about 1/3 of Montana's 59 million acres...And considering in 2012 there was just 7 million acres leased there appears to be no end in sight.

Consider also of the private land that’s not leased much that remains is urban/suburban, industrial, governed by Indian tribes, or not suitable for wildlife or hunting.

The map doesn’t detail the variety of hunting but in my experience the majority is for big-game, with lesser acreage for upland bird hunting, waterfowl, turkey and even predator hunting. Hard to believe but recently I saw an outfitter ad for shooting ground squirrels (yes, pay handsomely to shoot gophers for cripes sake...like around here ranchers beg for shooters)

THIS LAND IS OUR LAND...

Rainbow, Beaverhead National Forest, Montana

...But NOT SO FAST, for here we go yet again…

…Yes, I know the efforts of a handful crooked, greedy, self-serving politicians to sell off our public lands really has never stopped and doubtless never will until we—hunters, fishermen, campers, mountain bike riders, ATVers, snowmobilers, every last one of us who recreate on public lands comes together to vote the bastards out…

Until then we can count on a never-ending barrage of egregious bills such as the most recent entry submitted by Alaska’s head henchman, Congressman Don Young.

In a nutshell the bill would permit the sale of millions of acres of National Forest to the states. It would allow each state to sell up to 2-million acres of National Forest to be managed strictly for timber production. These lands would no longer be managed as “Multiple Use” thus the management of fish and wildlife would go down the drain. The bill makes no mention of maintaining public access nor does it require states to retain title, clearing the way for sale to to private entities.

Should this baby pass there is no reason to believe the flood gates will be flung wide open for any special interest group to get similar crap through the halls of a Congress which has to rank right up there with the smelliest ever.

If you buy this rant please take the time to contact your legislators and tell them bluntly “WE WILL NOT STAND FOR ANY MORE BS.”