Public Roads?
- Thread starter mrklean
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Lonesome_God_outdoors
Active member
Plat maps
Topgun 30-06
Active member
Official County road maps, most of which can be accessed right on the county websites on the net, showing all they take care of with taxpayer money is the only way to be sure of road status and if you have any questions about a particular one you should contact them.
Some county road maps show roads that are not really public. I talked with a road and bridge superintendent and he was able to set me straight on some roads in Natrona County. The maps may show private roads for reference points for the county he stated.
Topgun is right contact the county for good info.
Topgun is right contact the county for good info.
Not much more annoying than when a country road is public on each end, but there's a ranch in the middle with the road gated on both ends, yet no map shows the road ending! You ask "is county rd XX public" and the answer is yes, but the reality is only _part_ of it is public.
Great question.. I struggled finding black and white answers to this. Step 1 and best bet are BLM maps, which do a pretty good job of showing public roads. My second best advice came from County Road & Bridge Department. They had PDF maps of county roadways - there were 10-15 year old maps and not perfect but gave me a start in my research. Then I used the appraisal district's online GIS page which has pretty good interactive maps to become more familiar with road names, numbers, etc.
I called weekly to get the biologist and warden on the phone. While they were nice and professional, the best advice they gave me was that most private landowners make it clear that there roads are private, with signage, locked gates, etc. I was a bit skeptical but after going on my hunt I realized it was easier than i thought it would be.
I finally got Onx maps and did a lot of looking on there. Combine that with google earth and the BLM maps and that is about as good as you'll know until to get there. Sometimes you will hit a roadblock and other times you will be surprised a road has access you didn't think did. Either way, try not to sweat it and put your research in and you'll be rewarded.
I called weekly to get the biologist and warden on the phone. While they were nice and professional, the best advice they gave me was that most private landowners make it clear that there roads are private, with signage, locked gates, etc. I was a bit skeptical but after going on my hunt I realized it was easier than i thought it would be.
I finally got Onx maps and did a lot of looking on there. Combine that with google earth and the BLM maps and that is about as good as you'll know until to get there. Sometimes you will hit a roadblock and other times you will be surprised a road has access you didn't think did. Either way, try not to sweat it and put your research in and you'll be rewarded.
Irrelevant
Well-known member
rbaca10, did you run into any instances where the research lead you to believe the road was open/public but it was gated?
Crawfish-MI
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I've seen sections of public road (confirmed to be public by a phone call to the county) gated with Private Property - No Hunting - No Trespassing signs on the gate. Not locked, but the gate and signs kept a lot of people out. The ranchers and outfitters in Wyoming are something else...
Topgun 30-06
Active member
It is not unusual for some ranchers and especially some of the outfitters to do what you mentioned. One rancher in Wyoming a number of years ago kept giving us all kinds of static saying we were hunting on his land when all he had was a grazing lease on the 640 acre state section. I finally got tired of his BS and wrote a letter to the Land Board about his harassment. They sent him a letter with a CC to me telling him that if they had any more complaints about hunter harassment on his leased section that he would be in jeopardy of losing his lease. We haven't had any more problems after that and have hunted it every year since 1999 and he still has that lease. We had another incident out there where a guide for a big outfitter kept trying to run us off of legally accessed BLM land. A written complaint to the local GW that I knew pretty well took care of that when he went to the outfitter telling him mine wasn't the first complaint he had received about that and any more would result in the GW recommending to the Board to take his outfitter license away from him. That ended that problem and we have hunted that land ever since and the outfitter still has the lease on that 100,000 acre ranch. Stand your ground if you know you're legal and don't let anyone bluff you from hunting it.
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They will also post no trespassing signs in places to make it seem like you will be trespassing...places where the road intersect the corners of public/private etc. Every private road that I have seen out there was posted so there wasn't a chance of mistakenly driving on a private road.
ClearCreek
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You can not determine if a road is public or private by looking at a BLM map or the OnX chip - don't make that mistake. County road maps are better than either BLM or OnX maps but there are roads listed on some county road maps that are named roads but are private. And, there are roads that are public county roads that get little or no maintenance from the County Road and Bridge Crews.
ClearCreek
ClearCreek
MN_Bowhunter4
Well-known member
Your best bet is to contact the county, as others have said. Have a list of roads you want to ask about and they will give you the info. I personally list mine out in an email so I have it in writing. Road X North of Road Y...yes or no. Then hold onto that email just in case.
ClearCreek
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JM77
Well-known member
There is nothing but BLM behind this sign on the right of way fence.
bjochem
Member
JM77, if there is only BLM beyond the fence, can you cross it and still hunt it by foot? How can someone stop you from doing that?
Lonesome_God_outdoors
Active member
970 is a Colorado area code. Don't blame us Wyoming folk for that greenie bs
