In my view it should not be possible to block access to public lands. If it requires seizing a right of way by eminent domain, so be it.

Terminating the outfitter sponsored tags is a good idea in general. Or, alternatively, allow any resident to buy a tag at the resident license fee and sell it to anyone they darned well please to sell it to. Nolan Osborn has it right. Since when did the state become the guarantor of a client base? Are they going to do that for every business?

Things have improved a little, Clay. The sale of hunting leases is not a big deal here, yet, in my experience. And some ranchers will let you use their roads for a small road use fee (on the order of $20) which, considering they grade the roads and run off vandals, strikes me as a reasonable request.

Access to the game has been an issue since Robin Hood and LittleJohn. Back in the day the deer belonged to the king and it would be your life to hunt one. Nowadays those who would return us to feudalism also attempt to keep the deer for themselves, by implementing a two tier society. Everything for the rich, less than nothing for everybody else. I say again, no man can own land, the land can own you, but the land will be here long after we are gone, any notion of "ownership" is delusion. Stewardship, yes we can have that, but does a corpse own it's own grave?
I object to every little move our culture makes that grinds us towards a two tiered society of haves and have nots. Truth be told, the wild lands are the last refuge of the dispossessed and have been since Robin Hood.
Good luck with the referendum, may Montana remain free.

I remember back in the 60's and 70's hunting with Dad out in Arizona. Even today BLM Land gates are illegally locked by Outfitters and other individuals making it there own private hunting preserve. For Citizen’s Initiative Taking Aim At Montana Outfitters and what I have witnessed, I'm all for it!

kk66, as I understand it, it's not about granting access to private land. It's about preventing private landowners from blocking access to public lands merely by closing roads that pass through private lands. That's why I think using eminent domain to establish a public right of way is a reasonable "last resort."

If there are issues of damage to private land by people using the road, those can be dealt with. In AZ, the open minded ranchers grant access to public land via their roads, but they request payment of an access fee (because they tend to be the ones to maintain the roads and because, regrettably, some yahoos will mess up fences and the like).

I think everbody should read the article - the intitiave says nothing about additional access to private lands - it only addresses the licenses not access to or across private land.

The promotor of the intiative is "upset that outfitters lease private land and lock out the general public" and keeps talking about "access to public wildlife" not public lands but that is just him talking about why he started this iniative - not what it will actually do. The comments section of the article raises some good points - if this causes fewer people to hunt on the private lands there will likely be more hunters on the public lands.

For what its worth, the NRA has come out against this:

http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=5349

Wups that was Kephart.

Does anyone know how much red tape it is for Law Enforcement to cut a lock that has been illegally placed on a BLM or any other State or Federally owned gate

The way I read it, the initiative would restrict the ability of private landowners to work with outfitters to lease their property for hunts. The only thing referred to as "public" is the wildlife. It gives me the impression that Idaho residents want the ability to hunt what they consider to be "public" wildlife on private property without the property owner being able to restrict them. Can someone closer to the situation clarify? If this passes, will a private landowner be able to lease his land to hunters he chooses to work with and limit access to the public in general?

Rob,
I fully understand that landowners do not have to allow access to public lands here in MT or anywhere else. What I have a problem with is allocating guaranteed tags to nonresident hunters as long as they book a hunt. Would you see more access if this practice were to stop, probably. I say that because you would see more people entering their property into Block Management. With Block Management the landowner dictates the terms of usage. They could allow as many people as they want to on their property, and get paid for it by the state. However you see landowners not enrolling in Block Management because they are already leased out to guides.
Also Rob I have found places to hunt here in Montana. They have been few and far between, but they are still there. I do go door to door and cordially ask landowners if they will access. Usually the answer is "already leased up" or "my family can't even hunt out there." This is truly a sad situation if a mans extended family can't even hunt on his land.
A lot of times I'm not even looking to hunt on a persons property. I just want to walk through to the national forest. You can't even do that up here.
In closing you are correct about one aspect of your "Montana Sucks." I tell everyone back home they have no idea how good they have it.

While this is and isn't about access to public land through private land (which sucks), the heart of this matter is outfitters/private interests leasing land. Most of these ranches that are leased wouldn't allow public access anyway. There is a long and sordid history in Montana of public use abusing private land. Gates left open, shooting of barns and signs, driving off road - but these problems aren't unique to Montana.
That being said, if someone came to me and offered me $10k to lease my place, only bringing a select few to hunt it, and I no longer had to deal with John Q public every weekend of the 5 week season, I'd be on that like stink on a monkey.
In Montana, we have over 8 million acres enrolled in Block Management alone. That counts for nothing of national forest, BLM, school sections, state lands, WMA's, etc.. Are they all good hunting? NO. Is all private land good hunting? NO.
Can you still get out and knock on doors and get good access, offering to exchange a little labor or a bottle of bourbon for access? Absolutely. But it takes time and effort, and is NOT done on opening morning.
THEMASTERDAN - If you couldn't find a place to hunt in Montana, you didn't look very hard.
As I tell everyone from out of state - Montana sucks, now go home and tell your friends.

newwest.net is the website.Very anti-hunting/trapping it seems from the posts there.