Largest Private Western Land Owners Controlling Huge Amounts Of Public Land

[CJ19]

I actually think some states have laws against specifically using aircraft to transport hunters in and/or taking killed game off public land. Pretty sure I read that on here at some point.

 

[bowhuntercoop]

So you sold land to billionaires all your life, and not you’re mad billionaires bought land, that land locks public. Got it….

I hope I hit the lottery, I will hire you to find me a giant chunk of land locked properly, then not let you hunt it once the deal is closed.

 

[RockAndSage]

Part of this is a battle of competing values: the right to public-land access vs the sanctity of private property rights.

How would you guys feel about some sort of way to do a win-win, where the force of government isn't used, but normal hunters get access to the landlocked land?

Say...

The landowner gets an additional tag for every ___ acres of landlocked public land their property surrounds, in exchange for guaranteeing access to those public lands through their private lands, on agreed-upon routes, with waivers of liability signed by hunters coming through?

Think some variant of this could make it an acceptable, voluntary win-win?

 

[Hunter26]

Are you saying that all public land is accessible for hunting because of this video?

 

[Hunter26]

Part of this is a battle of competing values: the right to public-land access vs the sanctity of private property rights.

How would you guys feel about some sort of way to do a win-win, where the force of government isn't used, but normal hunters get access to the landlocked land?

Say...

The landowner gets an additional tag for every ___ acres of landlocked public land their property surrounds, in exchange for guaranteeing access to those public lands through their private lands, on agreed-upon routes, with waivers of liability signed by hunters coming through?

Think some variant of this could make it an acceptable, voluntary win-win?

I feel this is a reasonable discussion to have and is a step towards an actual solution.

 

[MtnW]

I could be wrong by the lack of sentiment. I just see more of the best big game hunting land being bought up by the mega rich. This group of billionaires typically buys up a large core parcel and then relentlessly starts buying up the adjacent properties. The more public land they can tie up for free the better. This is what I did for part of my career for them. It’s become a pattern. It’s much like what has happened in Europe a long time ago. With the liberal anti hunting governments in CO, CA, OR, WA, along with the loss of these prime landlocked public lands into these private mega ranches there are becoming fewer places to hunt now and for our kids. Some of these public land locked parcels are the gems of wildlife resources. I have always had an interest in protecting our future rights to hunt and not becoming another Europe. It seems from many comments that many are happy with the status quo’s. I get all the big game hunting I can handle. I apparently have the wrong thought process about what others feel about the future of hunting opportunities and our hunting heritage.

 

[The Ri Guy]

 

[Hunter26]

Do the ardent public lands people want or expect the landowners to be forced to build access roads and provide easements? Are they expecting imminent domain acquisition for an access road corridor?

What is the realistic and reasonable solution that they are proposing? Much of the public lands fight seems to be a continual gripe without proposing any solutions.

Maybe I would have to go back a reread the OP but I thought the goal was to bring to light some of these large property’s that land lock public land. In my mind the knowledge could be the first step in identifying some sort of solution to access these public land.

My mind goes to how public sentiment/movement seemed to get a transgender person put in some budlight marketing material. Then public sentiment or buying power(whatever you want to call it) seemed to swing things the other way. I don’t see the harm in calling out some of these giant private properties to apply some pressure to see if they could be brought to the so called negotiating table.

 

[Hunter26]

I could be wrong by the lack of sentiment. I just see more of the best big game hunting land being bought up by the mega rich. This group of billionaires typically buys up a large core parcel and then relentlessly starts buying up the adjacent properties. The more public land they can tie up for free the better. This is what I did for part of my career for them. It’s become a pattern. It’s much like what has happened in Europe a long time ago. With the liberal anti hunting governments in CO, CA, OR, WA, along with the loss of these prime landlocked public lands into these private mega ranches there are becoming fewer places to hunt now and for our kids. Some of these public land locked parcels are the gems of wildlife resources. I have always had an interest in protecting our future rights to hunt and not becoming another Europe. It seems from many comments that many are happy with the status quo’s. I get all the big game hunting I can handle. I apparently have the wrong thought process about what others feel about the future of hunting opportunities and our hunting heritage.

It does seem like a pretty big double standard to say you helped these mega rich do this because they paid you then on the other hand try to get people riled up to fight against it. I don’t think you are the right person for the movement!

 

[MtnW]

Hunter 26,
Yes that was my exact intention. The rednecks responding “can’t see the forest for the trees”
Many respondents gave me a headache

 

[MtnW]

It does seem like a pretty big double standard to say you helped these mega rich do this because they paid you then on the other hand try to get people riled up to fight against it. I don’t think you are the right person for the movement!

It was only part of my career and not the only type of real estate work I did. I did a lot of general real estate and research work for these billionaires .
I was just exposed to it first hand and witnessed the greed. Overall I feel very good about my career and the volunteer work I did with the Colorado Division of Wildlife and other conservation organizations.

Sometimes you need to sleep with the Devil to find GOD

 

[Steve300xcw]

 

[ThorM465]

Your energy is misplaced to say the least. If anything you should be lobbying these states to create easements with roads to these public lands. The states absolutely have the authority to do this. Whether they should is another story entirely.

At some point we, as a nation, are going to have to have the conversation on limiting the maximum acreage one person can own. It should be some absurd number such as 250,000 acres, but there probably needs to be a limit.

The fact that we haven't restricted land ownership to only US citizens is beyond the point of absurdity.

 

[CJ19]

Are you saying that all public land is accessible for hunting because of this video?

You and the op are all over the place. Whenever someone says something about how this is just a thread whining because people want cross private to access public...the response is, no this is about big landlock chunks by billionaires. If its 100,000 acres like the op is talking about, thats more than enough to justify a flight in with a good tag. Which is it?

 

[RockAndSage]

At some point we, as a nation, are going to have to have the conversation on limiting the maximum acreage one person can own. It should be some absurd number such as 250,000 acres, but there probably needs to be a limit.

This, I have to disagree with entirely - if for no other reason than the ease with which it could be worked around. Instead of 1 owner, it would end up being multiple family members owning chunks, and then multiple shell-companies with opaque ownership.

The fact that we haven't restricted land ownership to only US citizens is beyond the point of absurdity.

I agree with this entirely, on national security grounds, and for the fact I genuinely don't want US land prices inflated so that overseas Russian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern corruption can safely park its capital in our capital safe-haven of a nation.

What I see as a far bigger danger over time for hunting, is NGOs, non-profits, and land trusts being set up intentionally to recruit money from aging Karens, dying elderly, and virtue-signaling billionaire divorcees, to buy up vast tracts of land and permanently, legally, forever lock them up away from any hunting of any kind.

I will, of course, buy land right next to those places and hunt the $h*t out of it - but anyone who has studied the creation and destruction of wealth, knows that very few insanely rich people are able to keep that money in their family beyond 3 generations. These immense landholdings being owned today are exceedingly unlikely to be owned by the same family in 75 years. But a bunch of them can be turned into permanent off-limits private land by being converted to a trust, with taxes paid out of that trust's endowment.

 

[HunterGatherer]

My sister lived north of Billings near that Wilkes 80k acre ranch is. They’ll sell you a tag for about $20k. The elk are kinda spread out on public prior to the hunt but that’s no problem because the ranch pushes them all onto their property with helicopters for ya. Pretty good hunt. They do the same thing in the spring so they can pick up $80-120k worth of elk sheds every year.

 

[RockAndSage]

My sister lived north of Billings near that Wilkes 80k acre ranch is. They’ll sell you a tag for about $20k. The elk are kinda spread out on public prior to the hunt but that’s no problem because the ranch pushes them all onto their property with helicopters for ya. Pretty good hunt. They do the same thing in the spring so they can pick up $80-120k worth of elk sheds every year.

With MT's property taxes about 2%, and a ranch that big, being worth at least $50 million.

Those elk sheds are paying for about 1 month's worth of their property taxes.

 

[Hunter26]

You and the op are all over the place. Whenever someone says something about how this is just a thread whining because people want cross private to access public...the response is, no this is about big landlock chunks by billionaires. If its 100,000 acres like the op is talking about, thats more than enough to justify a flight in with a good tag. Which is it?

Sorry you can’t keep up. I am not whining. I made a few points and one of them was that these are public lands and contrary to your beliefs I don’t agree that somebody should have to hire a pilot to access these lands where legal and I am of the belief that not all states allow you to access to hunt via a helicopter. I also don’t believe that the governments should step in and require them to allow access through their private land. However I am not opposed to calling out some of the giant swaths of public land that are landlocked via private land and try to apply pressure to get access.