Oil lease roads

[Npike4040]

Should draw a fairly good antelope tag with my wife this year but the unit is completely checkerboarded. However there are oil lease roads going throughout to almost every block of public. Are these roads generally open to public or private roads? Who would be best to contact to find out absolutely? Thanks and good luck this year!

 

[Kurts86]

The county road and bridge department will know the public right of ways and have a map.

Generally these are not public even though they can be better maintained than county roads.

 

[TSAMP]

According to my extensive research watching the hit series Landman on Amazon prime. You need permission.

 

[huntsd]

According to my extensive research watching the hit series Landman on Amazon prime. You need permission.

hahahaah not advisable to land a private plane filled with drugs on one of these roads

 

[wyosteve]

Yes, virtually all oil field roads are private and only for the oil company traffic. They typically pay a surface damage payment for the right to cross the private land.

 

[TaperPin]

Luckily, you can usually get around areas of oil patch on the many two track roads. I take any county information on what roads are open with a dash of salt - if the guy leasing grazing rights for an area also outfits for trophy antelope it’s not unheard of for them to baracade lightly used country roads and lock horns with anyone who doesn’t like it. By the time a legal process could work its way to forcing the issue, the season is over, road is opened up, and nothing happens to them. I’m ok driving past them and not slowing down if they are ever broke down on the side of the road.

 

[BCSojourner]

Best contact will be the local Bureau of Land Management Field Office in the area that you are hunting, assuming you are trying to access BLM public lands. The BLM manages the oil and gas program and oversees road access for oil and gas companies on the leases. Many of these roads may remain accessible to the public unless there is a lot of activity where user conflicts may occur (i.e., user safety concerns with mixed traffic) or there are lease access restrictions on the roads. Either way, the BLM will have the information regarding rights-of-ways (ROW) related to private and public land access in these areas.

 

[TaperPin]

What we do is drive the oil patch roads until they have a sign that says it’s no longer a public road - every one I’ve seen in Wyoming is very direct and clear when you aren’t wanted. Then we pull out the map and figure a work around if need be. I can think of 6 roads that pass through an oil patch area, but the main branch is open to the public and only the side roads aren’t passable.

If you’ve never driven in the oil patch definitely hug the shoulder going around corners and over rises and be prepared to get as far over as need be - the guys that drive it every day will be doing Baja 1000 speeds in 8’ wide trucks.