Land Grab Map-- Tell me a story

[Ben Long]

This map displays the BLM and national forest land that could be up for sale under the legislation now being discussed by the Senate. It includes national forest land in Idaho's St. Joe River drainage where my dad and I hunted elk throughout the 1980s and where I got my first bull. That land has been free for hunting since time immemorial. But perhaps not much longer. Do me a favor. Look at the map and tell me a story about one of the places that this marked for potential disposal. No spot-burning.

 

[Ben Long]

The map is a bit finicky and slow to load in my computer. There are other links floating around the internet.

 

[TheTone]

The places I have killed all but two of my elk and the place I plan to hunt elk this year are all included as potentially for sale

 

[Schaaf]

My first out of state bull came from this forest service chunk in, let’s say Nevada, that is marked for disposal. Magical trip and area without a road in sight also ran into a grizzly sow with 3 cubs.

 

[Chama Grande]

Not hunting related, but the map of lands to be 'nominated' include two areas in Tucson that everyone grew up using

First, the entire Mount Lemmon highway from Tucson to Summerhaven. It's a classic drive that everyone's family does in the summer when it gets hot, or in the winter when you just want to 'see snow'. You gain 6k feet and take your kids from saguaros to pine trees and let the go wild for an afternoon. Everyone complains about the luxury houses along the bottom. If the FS areas were sold to private parties, then would it become luxury houses all the way up? Do we need a Whole Foods at the top now?

Second, Sabino Canyon area. It's another spot in town that people take kids and families to a lot. Perennial water is rare in Tucson, and Sabino usually has some flow to it. You can hike up into the mountains and most every family in town has stories and memories of going there.

I've sent that map to everyone I can, left or right of center. These places are culturally significant beyond the individual and no one likes the thought of even hypothetically losing access to them.

 

[FairWeather]

What a nightmare.

Literally every spot I go hunting, that isn’t already private timberland, is on that map. Thus far, a few timber companies have been good about free/open access for hunting & fishing, but more and more have been moving to a permit system. If this goes through, there will be serious limitations on true publicly accessible hunting areas in Western Oregon pretty soon.

I’ve been contacting my senators, but haven’t gotten a reply from either.

 

[44hunter45]

I used to take my sons to Lost Lake every summer. You could drive within 1/2 mile with a little pucker where the old road had slid. So many solid memories here. We would catch crawdads by the sack full. THe boys would bring each one to me and I would clean it and drop it in the soup pot. In the end I would add veggies and Ramen noodles for a massive meal.

I took my oldest and two of his friends in there for their 14th birthdays. Three 14 year old boys jockeying for who got to shoot grouse with .22 pistols had me frazzled. They are 37 now.

One of those years I woke up in the night to pee and the Auroras were blazing overhead. I woke everyone to see it.



In the Crater Peak Square I've had some serious bushwhacking adventures getting in to solo camp at Crater Lake. All part of the Grandmother Mountain WSA now. What better way to prevent this from becoming a Big W Wilderness than to sell it. If you have the stones to get down off Freezeout Ridge and descend into this hell, you will be at full drawer at least once, I guarantee it.

Ironic? My BHA profile pic was taken here at Crater Lake. Nothing like waking up in the morning and your tent is surrounded my Shiras Moose tracks. This 2020 solo trip was to test me and my gear before my 2021 SEAK trip.

 

[Elky Welky]

I can't really say much without spot burning (although one could argue the spot has been burned for some years now), but part of the landscape that got me involved in conservation in the first place could be up for grabs.

This is an existential threat, the thing I love the most and hold most dear is at stake.

 

[44hunter45]

I killed my first elk in this green rectangle over 30 years ago. My second elk hunting trip to the Selway. This is when the Idaho hook was set in my jaw.
My sister's first husband was a wildlife biologist at Fenn Ranger Station. I spent so much time on the Selway in those years.

The NE corner of this plot contains Coolwater Lookout and Coolwater Lake.
Again, if you had the stones to hike down into that cirque and fish Coolwater, you had a full stringer. On the rim of the Coolwater cirque is one of those crazy USFS outhouses that hangs on the rim seeming to defy gravity. Incredible views all the way to the Bitterroot, but if you looked down your business might be over quicker than you had planned.

in 1986 I spent a night on Roundtop that was so cold our green US Army surplus canteens froze solid.

 

[44hunter45]

I can't really say much without spot burning (although one could argue the spot has been burned for some years now), but part of the landscape that got me involved in conservation in the first place could be up for grabs.

This is an existential threat, the thing I love the most and hold most dear is at stake.

I willingly burned one spot. If a damned near guaranteed bull gets someone fired up enough to fight for this, good.

 

[44hunter45]

Looking forward without spot burning, the exact piece of BLM I have been e-scouting for a fall hunt is shown on the map. The Hunt brothers have already bought and gated several roads within 15 miles of here.

 

[Wild Bill]

Somewhere in the swath of BLM on this map, my dad, brother, and I all killed pronghorn bucks a couple falls ago.

 

[44hunter45]

From ages 11 to 14 I lived in Reno. I attended Swope Middle School and Reno High.

Our family dirt biked and water skied all over Northern Nevada. I cut school to hitchhike up to Mount Rose to snow ski. I have knocked about all over Nevada and part of my soul is there.




Zooming in on just one corner. What if the Winecup Gamble wanted to go from allotments to deeded? This makes no sense on the balance sheet, but I'm making a point.
Ask @Big Fin how much time he was spent on this corner of paradise. I will tell you that my Zillow profile is pointed here in case I ever hit the lottery. Ironic since I don't play.
$12M can buy a lot of Nevada, or anywhere in the Big Basin. This map could go almost all white. The W-G already controls nearly a million (yeah that's a million) acres. The 5th largest landowners in the US.

Just in 2023, there was a checkboard cleanup swap proposed here. You can learn about that by Google or the BHA archives.

 

[wyoelkfan15]

I could tell you about thirty to forty camping trips I've had on the bear tooth plateau in northwest Wyoming just outside the park. My fondest memory up there is probably my first elk I ever shot was with my dad up there, just before Christmas time. There was 12" of fresh powder and we had no idea what we were doing but somehow put it together. I would be devastated if that beautiful mountain meadow got turned into mansions.

 

[Big Fin]

Somewhere in the swath of BLM on this map, my dad, brother, and I all killed pronghorn bucks a couple falls ago.
View attachment 375198

View attachment 375199

Boy Howdy! Same goes for me.

That map has three of my own elk, three elk of family members, two elk of friends, one of my best mule deer, and countless pronghorn for me, family, and friend.

The map shown by @44hunter45 has my first, second, third, and fourth mule deer, a year of college tuition bobcats and coyotes, one elk, three B&C pronghorn I've been a part of, and a desert sheep hunt I helped on. The number of chukar I've shot on those lands would feed Mike Lee for a year.

 

[Ben Long]

My first out of state bull came from this forest service chunk in, let’s say Nevada, that is marked for disposal. Magical trip and area without a road in sight also ran into a grizzly sow with 3 cubs.

View attachment 375186

Hmm grizzlies in Nevada...

 

[brownbear932008]

One of my favorite units in NM has a small USFS roadway included which would cut off access to thousands of acres of public land and wilderness if transferred. Someone locally knows exactly what they want to do there IMO.

 

[Ben Long]

Boy Howdy! Same goes for me.

That map has three of my own elk, three elk of family members, two elk of friends, one of my best mule deer, and countless pronghorn for me, family, and friend.

The map shown by @44hunter45 has my first, second, third, and fourth mule deer, a year of college tuition bobcats and coyotes, one elk, three B&C pronghorn I've been a part of, and a desert sheep hunt I helped on. The number of chukar I've shot on those lands would feed Mike Lee for a year.

Rumor has it that Mike Lee does not actually eat food but lives on dollar bills boiled in 40-weight motor oil. Please note I was not able to confirm this. Not saying it's true, it's just what I've heard from generally reliable sources.

 

[TheTone]

The places where my wife, dad and myself all killed Wyoming pronghorn last year is on the chopping block

The area I’m planning to cash in double digit Wyoming elk points in the next couple years is also listed.

 

[Bluffgruff]

The spots where all but a few of my pronghorn, mule deer, and elk are on that map. The last western hunt with a friend who has passed in the Black Thunder country of NE Wyoming, my last pronghorn hunt with my brother and my dad in the same area. The first pronghorn hunt I took my girls on with just dad near Cody. Spots where I hunted or helped on hunts in Nevada, Wyoming, and Colorado. Even the Henry Mountains WSAs where I (and everyone else) hunted bison is on the block. I also fear the access that will be lost if these areas are sold, including the areas around a ski resort in central Colorado where I hope to hunt mountain goats this fall.