KurtR
WKR
I don’t think any of the land was formerly public. When was the last public land transfer to private? I know Utah wants the BLM land in that state converted, but I’m not aware of any that ‘has’ been converted.
These big land owning families are buying up small family ranches. Sometimes they buy hundreds at a time. When “hundreds” of small pieces of property that were previously owned by just as many individuals, access for hunting was easier. Those individuals all allowed family and friends to access their property. Now, all those people who previously had access are excluded.
The days of being able to knock on a door and ask permission to hunt or cross some acreage are coming to an end.
As and anecdotal example, my grandfather had permission from a rancher to hunt BLM and Forest land by access through a small family ranch here in SoCal. The rancher was friendly and allowed a bunch of people access through his canyon dirt road. That 300 acre ranch is now owned by a big trust and nobody is allowed access. There are no trailheads, roads or reasonable ways around the canyon access through the old ranch. I hunted there as a kid and saw dozens of other hunters there over the years, no more...
hundreds at a time? Nobody has been making it on a 300 acre ranch for many many years. Even the guys with small operations with a few hundred cattle are running way more than that. There are 640 acres in a section and farming a section is not that big.