Sixteen mile creek confusion, help in bozeman area.

rlamm80

Member
Joined
May 23, 2008
Messages
19
Location
Bozeman, MT
I just recently moved to Bozeman MT. i have been out scouting for next years elk season. on the north end of the bridgers there is an area off Sixteen mile creek rd. one map i have shows it as all National Forest and so does every other online map including BLM and google earth. my national forest map shows it as all private. i drove up to the area to check for myself. when i got to where the maps say there is national forest there was a crude plywood sign that said it was all private. but the road was still ok to drive on. so it confuses me to why a farm/ranch would ok travle threw their property if there is no public land? and why all the newer maps, the NF map is printed in the 70's, would show its public land. and all the searching i did online shows that there is hiking trails and points of interest.

does anyone from the area know what is really going on here?

thanks robert
 
A lot of that land was sold and is now privately owned. The best thing to do is take your maps and mark exactly where you were. Then take them down to FWP to see if they have a BLM map for that land.

In MT, BLM is privately owned and each block has its own set of permissions.

If that does not work, you can go down to the county courthouse or us the Montana Cadestral Mapping program to find who owns it.

Welcome to the area!
 
thanks for the reply. i turned around at the "Jensen ranch", didnt want to trespass. ill go in tomorrow and ask. looks like really good elk country. ive seen quite a few elk on the west slope of the bridgers but seems like they all were crossing back and forth from the private to public.

thanks again

robert
 
I don't know how it works in Montana but here in Idaho you can go to the county seat at the court house depending on the county and pull up a map covering an area of interest. The maps here show the boundaries for BLM, National Forest, Wilderness and private property along with the private property owners names. These maps are upgraded on a regular basis by county officials.

With a map program on your computer and using the provided maps I can get corner coordinates of adjoining private and public property and enter into my GPS so there is no mistake as to where you are.
 
My hunting buddy has the mapping program for MT AND IT IS AMAZING, shows the titled land owners , state,forest service ,etc.
 
j man
I can assure you that BLM land is "not" privately owned. If it has been sold or traded,then for sure it is now in private ownership. The Federal Government owns the land (us) and it is managed in a multiple use concept for all users.
The road could be open because it is designated as a county road or the FS or BLM or State has an easement for public access, through it.
As already mentioned a trip to the Court House or local BLM or the FS office should clear it up. If the county plat maps have a v designation on those sections then its BLM managed land.
Another option that is encountered in all of the western states, is that the BLM own's a portion of the lands in the area and not along the roadway, the BLM parcels are then landlocked by the private land.
My last Idaho hunt (three weeks ago) took place in a similar area, The road entering the area is private on both sides and "some" of the private lands are posted no hunting some are not.
 
Interesting.... maybe that's the way it is in Washington but not here.

BLM - block land management.

When you go to our FWP, they have BLM maps with the landowners contact info, property boundaries, and rules (ie game they allow to be hunted, number of guns allowed, etc)

BLM in MT is without a doubt privately owned.
 
J-man,

You are confusing Block Management with BLM(Bureau of Land Management) which are definitely not the same! BLM is public in all states and falls under Dept of the Interior. Block Management is a cooperative program between private land owners and Montana FWP to provide the public with free hunting access to private land. For the 2011 hunting season, 1300 private land owners are currently enrolled in this program to provide access to 8.5 million acres in MT. You can get Block Management maps from your local FWP office or the MT FWP website.

Ben
 
J-man,

You are confusing Block Management with BLM(Bureau of Land Management) which are definitely not the same! BLM is public in all states and falls under Dept of the Interior. Block Management is a cooperative program between private land owners and Montana FWP to provide the public with free hunting access to private land. For the 2011 hunting season, 1300 private land owners are currently enrolled in this program to provide access to 8.5 million acres in MT. You can get Block Management maps from your local FWP office or the MT FWP website.

Ben

+1. BLM and BMA - win-win for hunters.
 
J-man.....
Go to the Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks site, click on hunting, look at the left side of page and go to Quick Access, then click on Block Management. This will have most if not all the info you need about the Block Management program in Montana.
Like elkoholic72 says, the BLM program is a federal program different than Montana Block Management.
 
Click on this link Montana Cadastral It will take you to the Montana GIS website. You can search the map of the entire state and it will have all of the information for everything parcel of land in the state including home lots in town. Everything this is on there from ownership to the owners address, taxes paid, assessed value, zoning, improvements, legal descriptions, etc. This is the most up to date information you can get. You can print out of map from there also.
 
J-man,

You are confusing Block Management with BLM(Bureau of Land Management) which are definitely not the same! BLM is public in all states and falls under Dept of the Interior. Block Management is a cooperative program between private land owners and Montana FWP to provide the public with free hunting access to private land. For the 2011 hunting season, 1300 private land owners are currently enrolled in this program to provide access to 8.5 million acres in MT. You can get Block Management maps from your local FWP office or the MT FWP website.

Ben

You are correct. I was using the wrong term. The instructions for the op still works.

Thanks for correcting me.
 
elkoholic72

Thanks for the backup apparently "I" am still wrong!

I publicly stated I was wrong and was thankful for being corrected.

Should I mail you an apology?

The great thing about these forums is that we can all learn from each others experience and knowledge.

Sometimes I'm right sometimes I'm wrong.

Either way, we all benefit from these discussions.

I publicly apologize for not seeing the light with your post and am grateful to have had my terminology corrected.

Everything I stated was about the wrong acronym.

The original advice I gave the op still stands and he will be able to get to the bottom of his map discrepancy.
 
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