Elk do the same thing with fences.
The water sources that have been put in on the range are definitely helpful to wild life.
The ranchers locally do a piss poor job on them public, good winter range gets grazed to dust in August/September every year. Then the whining commences about elk and deer, if you bring it up they’re doing gods work preventing fires. We have cows illegally in wilderness areas, and the fine for over grazing is 1.33 per additional AUM, not exactly a deterrent.
I hunt some private ranches in nm, their range management is amazing and seeing how good ranchers treat their own dirt is fascinating to me. I know a lot of great ranchers including one of my best friends, it’s not all bad apples, just a few that fuk it up and it’s mostly the entitled lease guys that I end up having bad interactions with.
I carry a chain in my truck that I use to rip out illegal locked gates on public a couple times a year.
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