Land-locked BLM question (CO)

[mtnmayhem]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-25-10 AT 08:15PM (MST)[p]Hey all, I was wondering about accessing land-locked BLM land near my home in Colorado. To my understanding, waterways such as rivers and creeks are open to public such as kayakers so long as while passing through private land you did not touch the banks of the river (not sure about the river bed itself however). If I were to start walking up the creek on public land, through the private land, and exited the same creek once it entered the BLM land, would I have trespassed? It only goes through private land for about 75 feet so it is very close. If this is a BS tactic let me know, it's not going through any homeowners property or ranch or anything. I don't want to break any laws so your input is valuable to me and no state officials will return my calls. Thanks!

 

[Ticks N Tines]

Usually if a tract of public land is surrounded by a bunch of private land, the land owner will try and trade for it. For example, maybe the land owner has about 50 acres of sage brush hills on the outside of his land. He would probably try and trade that land for the piece located in the middle of his land.
There are many cases of this within the CWMU program in Utah. Not sure how things work in Colorado, but I would assume they are pretty similar.

 

[gb22]

Here in Idaho, that would be legal. Sounds like a good idea to me.


Within the shadows, go quietly.

 

[HiMtnHntr]

I'm relatively certain that is not legal in CO.

 

[BPKHunter]

>Usually if a tract of public
>land is surrounded by a
>bunch of private land, the
>land owner will try and
>trade for it. For example,
>maybe the land owner has
>about 50 acres of sage
>brush hills on the outside
>of his land. He would
>probably try and trade that
>land for the piece located
>in the middle of his
>land.
> There are many cases of
>this within the CWMU program
>in Utah. Not sure how
>things work in Colorado, but
>I would assume they are
>pretty similar.

That's not his question!!

You can use waterways for public access, but they need to be "Navigatable". Not sure I spelled that right. Basically a season creek that you can't put a boat in, does not count. The rule says that you can't own up to the high water mark.

It is amazing to me the difference in access rights from state to state, especially the corner jumping issue, which is big in Wyoming. I love how the landowners who often own a small piece and then have "grazing rights" on much larger pieces that border their places try and act like they own the public land. We had a landowner in SE Idaho who was clearly posting Forest Service land he had grazing rights to, but didn't own. I carry maps and GPS with me just so I can be prepared for these often aggressive ranch owners or worse their ranch hands. Of course I don't want to fight, but I just hate being bullied.

 

[ColoradoOak]

If you can float it in a boat, it's legal in CO. If you touch the bottom of the stream, you're trespassing by law.

 

[txhunter58]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-25-10 AT 08:47PM (MST)[p]If it was a navigable river, you could legally take a boat. However, the landowners in Colorado OWN the riverbed. They don't own the water, but do own the ground under it. Had that question answered for me by a DOW office last year. So floating is OK as long as you don't walk on the riverbed. That question was asked about a river, so I don't know for sure about creeks.

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

 

[rumproast]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-25-10 AT 09:15PM (MST)[p]Hey, mayhem--
Might want to ask the GameGuys if the high-water mark for the year is your access boundary.
Is here in Wyo.

Rump

Oops--sorry, 58, you answered it.

 

[mtnmayhem]

I think you guys are right about not touching the river bed, getting a raft on this creek would be possible during peak runoff but not now. Thanks for the knowledge though, better than chancing it and getting a ticket.

Now, does anyone know why forest land can't be blocked but BLM can? I'm sure that's already been answered in another thread but I don't feel like looking.

 

[Castnshoot]

First ask for permission from the land owner.

If that don't work call the local sheriff before floating the
creek. He is the one who is going to show up if the land owner calls on you.

Also check the county records, there my be an access easement that is not noticable to you, or advertised by the land owner.

If your research does show that you can float the creek, or there is an easement, I would still call the local sheriff before trying to access the land locked property.

 

[WapitiBob]

If the private is enrolled in the Ranching for Wildlife program, the LO can petition the game dept to have the landlocked PUBLIC land included in his RFW allotment. You would then be unable to hunt that public land regardless of how you got there. You can walk on it but not hunt it.

 

[ForkWest]

You would be totally legal in Idaho and Montana. So long as you enter from public and exit on public.

You would have been legal in Utah for the past two years. Unfortunately that just changed this year. Now similar to Colorado and many other wester states, the river bed is private property. The water running across the private land is public, but don't touch the bottom!

 

[WapitiBob]

Randy posted up his MT Elk hunt over at Onyourownadventures.com
He choppered into some landlocked BLM land for his Elk hunt.

 

[Outdoors]

Re MT...MT F&G told me choppering in or skydiving in to a hunting area was not legal. I asked in conjunction with unlimited sheep hunts but the explanation I got was not limited to hunting sheep. Aircraft of any sort can not drop you off for your hunt since that would fall under using aricraft to assist in the hunt which is illegal.

 

[RELH]

If I remember right, Wyoming has a law that if you use a helicopter to fly in to a landlock public area, you can not hunt for a period of 72 hours after flying.
Outfitters had landlocked the public center area of Elk Mountain and hunters was flying in to keep from trespassing on the private ground that the outfitters had tied up.
The talk I heard from locals was that the outfitters pushed for a law to stop this and the 72 hour rule was passed.

You can still fly in to areas like Elk Mountain, but have to wait around 3 days before you can hunt based on what one of the ranchers told me that had sold his hunting rights to a outfitter in order to pay his property taxes.

Do not take this as the final word, as this was about 6-8 years ago and I did not research it as I had no intention of flying in to a hunting spot.

RELH