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D Trump Jr ?

D4570

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I here Donald Trump Jr recently bought the Strand ranch In Montana in the Highwoods Mountains near Geraldine.
Is that for sure ? Interesting how that will pan out...
 
Care to elaborate?

Do you actually want a polemic on the North American big game model, western politics, public land access issues, and the modern conservation movement or are you just feeling snarky this morning?
 
447 is pretty over objective and that lack of access caused by rich, out of state landowners or landowners who have elected to lease their ranches rather than allow public access is one of the driving factors in the privatization crowd in their call for handing wildlife over to them, rather than maintain the centuries old public ownership of wildlife. These ranches often limit access to public lands as well, in order to create larger private hunting grounds for the owners or lessees, in essence subsidizing their ranch operations (socialism!) or to increase their own recreational opportunities.

If DJT bought it, and keeps it locked up, while pretending to care about public land hunters, then I think we can continue to look down our noses at him for being part of the problem, rather than being part of the solution.

Ranch owners are under no obligation to open their lands, but then they also shouldn't be pushing for programs that seek to steal from the rest of us in order to make themselves better off. In this area, it's tough access already. Another rich out-of-stater blocking off access is one more cut from the knife. That has a tendency to cause many folks to get nervous about more tenderfeet coming in to own their own feudal estates.
 
The ideal is a balance between private property rights and proper management of public wildlife. Montana presently suffers a detrimental imbalance, continuously exacerbated by the blocked access dynamics described above by Ben Lamb. Private property rights locking public out of public lands should not "trump" public access to public lands and the best interests of proper management of public wildlife ... IMO and more broadly agreed as well.
 
"These ranches often limit access to public lands as well, in order to create larger private hunting grounds for the owners or lessees, in essence subsidizing their ranch operations (socialism!) or to increase their own recreational opportunities."

I don't think that fits the definition of socialism. He is using a private entity to pay his bills and leveraging a public resource. So does everyone who utilizes a public resource. Ha! Kinda funny that I am even arguing this side as I am a huge public land proponent!

If it was already locked up...I don't quite get the rub. Believe me, I am all about public lands, but a individual buying a private property and keeping access the same happens all the time. Does it suck because of how it is playing out in this area? Sure, absolutely we would all love to see access. But I don't think you can blame a guy for buying a ranch and keeping it private. Otherwise, you have to blame all of the private landowner who do that who do not allow access to public land beyond their property. I for one would love to see a solution to this by the way.
 
Apologies, I was being facetious.

I don't disagree, but I think that, especially in MT where we're staring down the barrel of elk shoulder seasons, liberal seasons, and attacks on the NAM and the public ownership of land & elk, adding a high profile person who is supposedly on our side and is likely to keep that land off limits is a pretty significant rub in the wrong direction.

We've been working to address this at the state and federal level. But we're losing. Mostly because guys like DJT are in charge, and they just put one of the biggest public land privatizers in charge of the BLM. We're working our way towards the English model, and father away from the North American model.
 
"These ranches often limit access to public lands as well, in order to create larger private hunting grounds for the owners or lessees, in essence subsidizing their ranch operations (socialism!) or to increase their own recreational opportunities."

I don't think that fits the definition of socialism. He is using a private entity to pay his bills and leveraging a public resource. So does everyone who utilizes a public resource. Ha! Kinda funny that I am even arguing this side as I am a huge public land proponent!

If it was already locked up...I don't quite get the rub. Believe me, I am all about public lands, but a individual buying a private property and keeping access the same happens all the time. Does it suck because of how it is playing out in this area? Sure, absolutely we would all love to see access. But I don't think you can blame a guy for buying a ranch and keeping it private. Otherwise, you have to blame all of the private landowner who do that who do not allow access to public land beyond their property. I for one would love to see a solution to this by the way.

I believe the rub is putting your money where your mouth is, can’t remember seeing the Wilkes bros calling themselves modern day Teddy Roosevelt’s.
 
If the ranch has never been open to the public then it really makes absolutely no difference how many times it sells or who owns it. Private property is private property. I'm not trying to piss in folks cheerios, I understand the frustration of the few rich folks locking huge tracks of land. But I wont condemn them as the enemy either.


Now if we are discussing folks like the Wilks brother tying up public land then that is a whole other ballgame.
 
Now if we are discussing folks like the Wilks brother tying up public land then that is a whole other ballgame.

Your logic is skewed. If it's tied up and unavailable to the public, WTF cares if it's the Wilks brothers or someone else?
 
Dang
I still don't know if he even bought it.
Just wondering?
As a kid 50+ years ago "Oldman" strand would let people with young hunters In to hunt deer and even retrieve them with our Chevy nomad.
Good old days right?????
 
I understand the frustration of the few rich folks locking huge tracks of land. But I wont condemn them as the enemy either.

I'm not condemning them either. Their land, their right. However, I honestly could care less if a locked up private ranch is owned by a hunter or not. The public receives no benefit, regardless.
 
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