Chopper Hunts Into Landlocked Public Land

[wapitibob]

2025 seems to be the year of inflation, but prior to, 3 guys would be all in for less than $1,000ea from what I have seen posted the last few years.

Blue Mountain is the outfitter in OR that does this.

 

[Beendare]

2025 seems to be the year of inflation, but prior to, 3 guys would be all in for less than $1,000ea from what I have seen posted the last few years.

Blue Mountain is the outfitter in OR that does this.

They will be booked solid for the next 5 years now....grin

 

[JF_Idaho]

"Considering charges" - what constitutes hunter harassment in WY?

Yeah. In the first article it seems like the hunters "let it go" after an apology.....not sure.

I guess at this point its up to the warden or state f&g to decide to press charges.

 

[180ls1]

Yeah. In the first article it seems like the hunters "let it go" after an apology.....not sure.

I guess at this point its up to the warden or state f&g to decide to press charges.

Ah, OK. Honestly, that video is probably far more damaging.

 

[TaperPin]

A little bit of word salad here TP?
What is it you are saying?

I have a wide variety of friends, but I really don’t know that many people, not like a social butterfly who might have thousands of people they keep in touch with. In my circle of friends and slightly larger circle of acquaintances, which is a very small percentage of the population, I know a guy (maybe two and he won’t talk about it) who was paid to sign a NDA after a back country helicopter trip that didn’t end well so the location and identity of folks on board wouldn’t come out.

It wasn’t until working for some well off clients on their vacation homes that the amount of idiocracy surrounding boys with expensive toys became more clear. One client with a moderate amount of new money has an annual fun budget for hobbies of $200k in walking around cash and about that for moderate size purchases. He firmly believes rules only apply to others and sometimes it bites him on the ass. He’s more likely to hunt a high fence ranch with an expensive hooker under his arm for company, but if he wanted to be dropped off next to an elk herd on public land, he would concoct some far fetched way to get plausible deniability and do it. He’s the type that would pay one of his employees to take the fall for him.

Another client of a guy I worked for with new money bought tens of thousands of acres bordering good elk hunting for a hobby ranch. He flies into the property on a helicopter and I’d bet an expensive steak dinner, one with those fancy warm wet towels I never know what to do with, that he has no problem being dropped off up on the mountain to meet up with his ranch manager during hunting season. Unless someone could prove the guy getting out of the helicopter was him, it would be argued it was the camp cook arriving with supplies. In an afternoon he could be at one of his 6 other properties many states over, with an entire staff of people saying he never left. He was the biggest ass I’ve ever met - hopefully he has some long drawn out painful kind of medical condition by now that can’t be treated.

 

[TaperPin]

What Wyoming law or regulation was broken by using a helicopter for transportation? Oh, that’s right, none of them. The only lawbreaker here was the landowner trying to keep people from accessing public land.

I have no doubt both sides are ass hats, and even if no laws were broken anyone is allowed to sue anyone in civil court. Some big ranches are owned by attorneys and they love to flood people with bs civil suits. It has historically been an effective way to keep people away from private land just to avoid the hassle of defending against such things.

Corner crossing and landing on islands of public land sounds like a good use of time to many people, I’m just not one of them.

 

[passinggas33]

I don’t think you can legally use a helicopter to do that in Idaho.

I called fish and game about this last year. You can get dropped off by helicopter but you cannot legally transport game via helicopter, so if you kill something you have to get it out some other way. I was looking at a hug chunk of prime land locked hunting ground. Thanks to the Wilks bros.

 

[Customweld]

I called fish and game about this last year. You can get dropped off by helicopter but you cannot legally transport game via helicopter, so if you kill something you have to get it out some other way. I was looking at a hug chunk of prime land locked hunting ground. Thanks to the Wilks bros.

They locked up a ton of ground.

 

[noisy]

Funny I just watched a couple old Newberg videos where he does this exact thing. Seasons 3/4. Surely in Montana. Only reg he mentions is not being able to hunt the day you fly.

 

[loganwayne]

Sounds like all the regs are aimed at helicopters. Why not use a bush plane. Yes I realize a plane will limit where you could land.

 

[Geewhiz]

I think you guys might be sulprised at how few parcels of land locked land are possible/legal to fly into and on top of that how few of those would actually be worth it. A helicopter or a plane is not as much of an easy button as most think.

 

[MuleyFever]

Sounds like all the regs are aimed at helicopters. Why not use a bush plane. Yes I realize a plane will limit where you could land.

Because if I remember correctly in many areas its illegal to land. Helicopters can drop you without touching the ground.

 

[MtnW]

I think it’s time the elites lose control of their land locked public lands and the complete control of the wildlife within. Not saying access to the land by any means imaginable. But a more manageable program like Colorado’s Ranching For Wildlife where the general public is given opportunities to hunt these properties. If the ranch kills 50 bull elk the public is entitled to 5 to 10 of those bulls or 10-20% of the bull elk harvest on the ranch. Most of these ranchers are pretty greedy and feel very entitled and they don’t want the general public killing the bulls on these ranches. Instead they try to only allow cow hunts which is total BS.

 

[Geewhiz]

I think it’s time the elites lose control of their land locked public lands and the complete control of the wildlife within. Not saying access to the land by any means imaginable. But a more manageable program like Colorado’s Ranching For Wildlife where the general public is given opportunities to hunt these properties. If the ranch kills 50 bull elk the public is entitled to 5 to 10 of those bulls or 10-20% of the bull elk harvest on the ranch. Most of these ranchers are pretty greedy and feel very entitled and they don’t want the general public killing the bulls on these ranches. Instead they try to only allow cow hunts which is total BS.

Cool let’s go grab our pitchforks.

If you owned a large ranch, would appreciate (enter governing entity) to tell you that you have to allow some random person on your property to shoot animals?

Again, I think that if you actually looked at a map and studied all of the pieces that you call “landlocked”, you would be very suprised at (1) how few of them are actually land locked with no access, (2) how few of those actually have any kind of decent habitat to harbor animals.

I’m playing a bit of devils advocate here, but just trying to make a point that it’s not as much of an issue as most people think it is.

I know of a few pieces of land locked ground in my home state that I believe harbor decent numbers of animals. It is not legal to fly into these parcels for reasons that differ by the parcel. Aside from changing the laws and making it legal to fly into them, I honestly don’t know what I would propose as a solution. As a private property owner, I sure as hell wouldn’t want fwp or another entity to tell me that I had to allow hunters access through my property. Unfortunately, nobody tears up roads/wrecks fences/leaves gates open/litters/surface shits more than hunters who are determined and on a mission.

 

[omicron1792]

I think it’s time the elites lose control of their land locked public lands and the complete control of the wildlife within. Not saying access to the land by any means imaginable. But a more manageable program like Colorado’s Ranching For Wildlife where the general public is given opportunities to hunt these properties. If the ranch kills 50 bull elk the public is entitled to 5 to 10 of those bulls or 10-20% of the bull elk harvest on the ranch. Most of these ranchers are pretty greedy and feel very entitled and they don’t want the general public killing the bulls on these ranches. Instead they try to only allow cow hunts which is total BS.

You must not own land

 

[MtnW]

You must not own land

None with any public land locked in it . I strongly oppose tying up public lands where the landowners greedily control the wildlife on the public lands. Why should individuals control public lands just because it lies within in their private holdings? Way too many other benefits are given to these large land holders Dude this isn’t Europe.
Any further comments?

 

[omicron1792]

None with any public land locked in it . I strongly oppose tying up public lands where the landowners greedily control the wildlife on the public lands. Why should individuals control public lands just because it lies within in their private holdings? Way too many other benefits are given to these large land holders Dude this isn’t Europe.
Any further comments?

Yeah. You talk like someone that has never poured blood, sweat, tears, and money into your own land

What if the government annexed the property behind your house and let people just come through anytime? Your idea above would be like them letting randoms sleep in your house 50 nights a year since you sleep in it 300. Would you give them the master bedroom too?

 

[MtnW]

Yeah. You talk like someone that has never poured blood, sweat, tears, and money into your own land

Really dude? You say your own land. We are TALKING about private individuals controlling PUBLIC land and not allowing the PUBLIC on their own land. Please explain what the hell you are talking about. Pouring blood sweat and tears into your OWN land has nothing to do with controlling our PUBLIC land. You sound like one of the entitled ones who thinks the PUBLIC LAND within private holdings is now somehow your land.

 

[pacoalcracker]

This is a really easy problem to solve. It's called eminent domain, where the govt buys a parcel of private land at going rates to ensure the public has access to that and other parcels of public land. There is not a thing a private landowner could do to stop it, especially if it has immediate benefits to the public. It does not matter how much money the private landowner has. Nobody has more money at their disposal than the federal govt. Now, we need someone in those states to get that ball rolling.