MThuntr
Well-known member
Anyone hear anything lately?
Last edited:
Wilks brothers true colors are shining through.....
- Thread starter wingman1
- Start date
bigskyblueman
Member
I spoke with the BLM last Thursday and they are still in the process of documenting what occurred and looking at ways to resolve it. They indicated much time and resources have been devoted in this effort. The dozer work left a weed problem. More news should be forthcoming in a couple weeks.
bigskyblueman
Member
Re: Bullwhacker ; the public refrain that no deal is preferable to a bad deal has not gone unnoticed by the BLM. More public meetings are also in the mix.
Last edited:
double_a85
Member
Thanks for the update bigskyblueman.
Y'all are so quiet. What's the scoop? Surely someone knows.
http://www.montanaotg.com/blog-nati...-talks-yield-new-wilks-land-exchange-proposal
http://www.montanaotg.com/blog-nati...-talks-yield-new-wilks-land-exchange-proposal
Nameless Range
Well-known member
NOTHING should even be considered from these bastards until their alleged fencing violations are resolved. Sheesh
First I had heard or seen of it. Did not know it was even out there for consideration. I would be more interested in opinions of guys who live nearby and/or those who hunt the Durfees all the time, rather than my own opinions on this.
Personally, not impressed; better stated, unimpressed. At least from how I've read it over the last hour. Maybe I am missing some big gem that makes it irresistible to the public. Maybe the proposed public hunting will be worded to last for as long as the public is without ownership of lands relinquished, but I doubt it.
Below is the only idea that seems to be a sweetened feature. Cows/bulls? Annual renewal, term certain, perpetual easement? What is "managed" hunting? That part would need a lot of clarification, guarantees, and perpetual easements to make it worth much to the public.
Given there is already money and commitment to fix the Bullwhacker Access issue, to offer that land is almost negligible benefit to the public. We will get that Bullwhacker access, sooner or later. The wildlife values of the deeded lands controlling the Bullwhacker are pretty minimal, compared to other lands. The value those lands have is merely access to our own lands, a solution to which can already be had without trading a single acre.
When one thinks about how we can easily solve the Bullwhacker deal, you can then look at this to see they want us to trade the Durfees for some additional access west of the Red Hill road, much of which is already accessible with some effort. Plus, some easements to lands on the east side of the Red Hill road. That is really what the trade values are from the public perspective.
Trade the amazing Durfee elk hunting (even though they have serious mucked it up on the north side) for some additional access along Red Hill Road.
If a client came to my CPA firm with an offer like that being proposed to the public, I would ask them why they even wasted my time considering it. Maybe I am missing something, but this is not much different than what was proposed a year ago.
Let's solve the Bullwhacker access issue, and THEN have a discussion about the Durfees. In the time it takes to solve the Bullwhacker access, the Durfees only get more valuable. Looking at it with Bullwhacker solved makes it much easier to see what the true values are that have been proposed.
I'm in no big hurry to bend over and kiss the ground of people who have put a boot in our collective eye when they pitched a fit that we didn't accept their last lopsided proposal. This is pretty much the same thing.
Maybe some people have been involved and this is some big collaborative effort. Like I said, this is the first I've seen of the new idea.
The folks proposing this trade, who also proposed other very lopsided trades, are in a much bigger hurry than the public. That puts us in a great position. Puts us in the command position.
> First rule of negotiation. Let the other guy's excitement and impatience cause him to blink. (Check!)
> Second rule; be ready to walk away if you are not in an urgency to sell. I'm in no hurry. None of the other hunters I know are in a hurry. I'll walk tomorrow, if this is the best they are willing to offer. (Check!)
> Third rule; care, but don't care too much. I really don't care if the Durfee issue gets solved. Seems as though they care, a lot. (Check!)
> Second rule; be ready to walk away if you are not in an urgency to sell. I'm in no hurry. None of the other hunters I know are in a hurry. I'll walk tomorrow, if this is the best they are willing to offer. (Check!)
> Third rule; care, but don't care too much. I really don't care if the Durfee issue gets solved. Seems as though they care, a lot. (Check!)
If this is not accepted, what they going to do this summer, build a higher fence? Dig a deeper berm into the hill side along the north boundary? Drive some more bulldozers around on the BLM lands? Encroach even further on the north BLM boundary near the gap that funnels all the elk from the north side?
I suggest we all go fishing and turn off our phones for a couple more years. In the interim, we press the BLM to solve the Bullwhacker access. Once that's done, maybe, just maybe, it is worth our time to listen to an offer on the Durfees.
Time to go fishing.
sneakypete
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 19, 2014
- Messages
- 1,870
Fishing is a good thing! We'll said Randy!
shoots-straight
Well-known member
How about they put an easement on their lands to those land locked parcels? That would be a little more enticing to me.
MTbowhunter84
Member
I don't see any difference in what was tried before. It's like polishing a turd no matter how you try to make it look good it still stinks. I just don't like the fact that they think money will get you what you want. I like how things are right now and sometimes having to work a little harder in less accessible areas is well worth the work. I think big fin is on the right track with getting some issues fixed that can be fixed and then possibly talk later down the road.
roknHS
Member
Just read all 27 pages.....WOW, what a story. I take my hat off to you guys and gals for keeping the heat on this issue. Sounds like the burner needs to be kept hot for fear the Feds will once again lose their enthusiasm for finishing the investigation and giving appropriate penalties. Money and power grease the wheels of the Federal Bureaucracy. The Wilks could easily slime their way out of this fiasco with little more than a slap on the wrist.........or less.
After all your effort, it would be a travesty to see the Feds let them off the hook. This seems to be dragging out longer than need be for some reason don't you think?
After all your effort, it would be a travesty to see the Feds let them off the hook. This seems to be dragging out longer than need be for some reason don't you think?
teamhoyt
Well-known member
I Assume the blm is still dragging there feet on this mess? Any more info on the new proposal (screwing) the Wilkes are wanting to pull off?
double_a85
Member
It would be interesting to hear updates, if there are any. We are now almost a year into this. The BLM said they had to wait until Spring/Summer to finish... well Summer has been in full swing for awhile now, and still nothing.
I have been told that the huge encroachment on the north side has since been remedied, following hunting season, when it was an extreme impact to elk trying to reach public on the north property boundary. I have been told it was corrected in December. If so, it would not have been in place when the BLM went out to do their inspection this spring.
The BLM has photos, coords, and most everything they need to show the encroachment. Anyone who knew the elk patterns on the north boundary knew there was one critical place along that boundary. How they could stay +/- a few feet of the north boundary for miles, yet encroach so far in the one area the elk used to reach public, seems hard to submit as accidental.
I suspect not much will be done, if the landowners have since corrected this encroachment. If they have corrected it, then that is a good outcome. I can assure you they certainly messed up the hunting on the north end of the BLM lands for last rifle season. Which, I suspect was part of the "throw my sucker in the dirt" message that was intended to express displeasure with the way the public rejected their lopsided land exchange offer (if you want to call that an offer).
The BLM has photos, coords, and most everything they need to show the encroachment. Anyone who knew the elk patterns on the north boundary knew there was one critical place along that boundary. How they could stay +/- a few feet of the north boundary for miles, yet encroach so far in the one area the elk used to reach public, seems hard to submit as accidental.
I suspect not much will be done, if the landowners have since corrected this encroachment. If they have corrected it, then that is a good outcome. I can assure you they certainly messed up the hunting on the north end of the BLM lands for last rifle season. Which, I suspect was part of the "throw my sucker in the dirt" message that was intended to express displeasure with the way the public rejected their lopsided land exchange offer (if you want to call that an offer).
Pardon my french, but f' em.
RobG
Well-known member
You got any advice on how to f' a billionaire?
As I said before I feel we ought to go after the corruption in that BLM office for how they tried to f' us.You got any advice on how to f' a billionaire?
Strategize, organize, mobilize. We do it for 5 months every two years. Why not do it now?
There's an election season coming up. It's time to get involved with campaigns, do lit drops, canvas, etc. If sportsmen did this, we could eliminate a good number of their cronies at the county, state and federal level. And I don't just mean supporting dems. There are a lot of good republican candidates out there who refuse to buy in to this crap.
You want to save it? Fight back.
300stw
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2008
- Messages
- 843
of course it was remedied before BLM went out again, BLM don't want to document the "problems" out there stemming from the landowners, they really want to document any problems the sportsmen might have done..
somewhere in the process blm will say we are getting rid of property sportsmen continue to litter, ect. on and they don't have time to patrol, if its private blm can quit worrying about it,,,
if the blm were serious about the problems and the repairs it would of been done long ago,,,
something smells fishy
somewhere in the process blm will say we are getting rid of property sportsmen continue to litter, ect. on and they don't have time to patrol, if its private blm can quit worrying about it,,,
if the blm were serious about the problems and the repairs it would of been done long ago,,,
something smells fishy
Similar threads
