State Land?

dieseldog

Active Member
Messages
221
Is all state land sections open to hunting in montana? I have noticed on my atlas map and my gps all state sections are blue colored, and in eastern montana where i have been hunting some of these state sections are tillable farmland. I am under the impression that these are open to hunting is that correct?
 
All state lands are open to hunting as long as they can be legally accessed. You pay for this right with the purchase of your conservation permit. With a gps landowner chip you will be surprised how much of this land is illegally posted.
 
Yes that is why i had to ask. On alot of the state land the farmer/rancher is trying to make it look like it is just another section of pasture or wheat. Thanks for the clarification.
 
Call the fish and game if its posted. They will come out and pull the signs and talk to the land owner. I did this last season.
 
Some state land has restrictions. State land close to a persons house for example. Some farm ground may also have some restrictions.

Antlerradar
 
Looking at your map you will notice that the stateland and BLM checkerboards through a lot of private. With a GPS you could conceivably get access by crossing corners, but that is illegal so make sure you are getting permission to cross private land. Private land being posted locks in a lot of "public land" legally. There are large blocks of BLM in Eastern Montana that you can't get to without crossing private land, but that private is posted and this is often the case with the state land.
 
Thanks but none of the stuff i have been seeing is landlocked at all. It is just run of the mill state land in each township.
 
It should also be added that some state lands are enrolled in Montana's Block Management program. These are not open to public hunting without obtaining permission from the Block Management area's manager even if they are legally accessible. On a side note, legally accessible federal lands are open to public hunting even if located within a Block Management area's boundaries.
 
???, did not know that. I must have missed that in the regs every year. I have the booklet here and cant see it yet, but it must be in there?? Hard to believe block management can stop a person accessing public lands. Do you have a link on the web site or page number in the regs of this reg?
 
This is from the Region 7 Block Management Guide, Page 5.

"Some accessible tracts of DNRC (State School Trust Land) are formally enrolled in the Block Management Program. Formally enrolled State Land must be posted with contact information for the method of obtaining permission. Please contact regional FWP staff to verify accessibility and use rules for accessing public lands contained within BMA boundaries."

It also says on each BMA map that "These rules do not apply to legally accessible federal lands."

Take from that what you will. I have had conversations with FWP folks about this and the message in a nutshell is that you need to be signed in to hunt legally accessible State Lands within BMA boundaries. However you do not need to be signed in to hunt legally accessible Bureau of Land Management property.

Good luck out there...time for me to head east to Powder River country for a couple weeks.
 
Keep this in mind as well, some state land can be legally posted by the lessor for up to 5 days while they are moving cows. What happens is the lessor will legally post his state leased property while he moves cows. This can only be done for 5 days with an optional 5 more days. So what they do it post their land the day before the big game hunt and then never take down the signs. Sometimes the same rancher will even let his paying hunters hunt the land. Which is illegal by the way. I've seen this happen multiple times in an area I hunt every year.

I complained to the regional manager about the illegal posting and he basically told me ranching is more important than non-resident big game hunting. Which I don't totally disagree with, but my main question was; "who is in charge of enforcing the 10 day posting law".

Anyway, something ya might want to consider if ya run across a piece of state land that is posted.
 

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