Cowboy Heaven Consulting, LLC
6116 Walker Road
Bozeman, MT 59715
406-587-9563
1-877-613-0404
info@cowboyhvn.com

A lot of people are quite upset about the amount of private land that’s been leased by outfitters in that part of the state during recent years, and no longer accessible to the public. That’s certainly a thorny issue; one that I’ve got mixed emotions about. Naturally, I hate to see land closed off to the public as much as anybody, but I think issuing a blanket condemnation of all outfitters is a little simplistic. On a lot of ranches that have superior hunting, unless you were well connected you weren’t too likely to have access even before outfitter leasing became commonplace. Especially given the dismal state of the agricultural economy, if the ranchers see decent income potential from hunting, they’re likely to work at conserving or improving wildlife habitat on their places. The game doesn’t always stay on a particular ranch, and a little map study may reveal some excellent hunting opportunities on adjacent public land, or unleased private property.

Getting back on topic, though, even in eastern Montana a minimal amount of research will uncover more hunting opportunities than you could cover in several lifetimes. That’s what this article is about; how to go about finding a place to hunt, particularly on private land. A couple of the methods, such as utilizing the Block Management Program, are fairly obvious and will come as no big news to those familiar with Montana hunting. Even if you’re already familiar with some of this stuff, read on, though. We’ve recently become aware of a land ownership research tool that’s just too cool to believe, one that can put you in touch with the owners of nearly any property in the state.

First, though, a bit about the sequence I personally use when looking for somewhere to hunt. Call me introverted, something my wife will vehemently disagree with, but I hate asking for hunting permission from strangers, and most people I know feel the same way. Pulling up to a ranch house and asking permission out of the blue strikes me as borderline unacceptable behavior, and is certainly not the best way to gain access to that property. Nobody enjoys rejection, and I employ the "show up and ask" technique very infrequently.

So, the first thing I do is look for places where I don’t have to ask permission at all. Even in areas that are predominantly private property, you might be surprised at the amount of public land. In Montana, at least one section (a square mile, 640 acres), and often more, out of each township (36 sections) is State-owned land. The state land is leased by private individuals, usually area ranchers, for grazing or crop production, but if you have a State Lands Access Permit, available anywhere hunting and fishing licenses are sold, you can hunt there. There are some restrictions; camping is prohibited, for one. Regulations are explained in a booklet that comes with the permit, and I advise reading them. You can’t cross private property to reach State land, but the vast bulk is accessible via county roads, and I haven’t personally found much that was inaccessible. Usually, section #36 in each township is State owned, although there are exceptions. Obviously, you will need a map to locate these State parcels. One of the handiest, which also shows BLM and Forest Service lands, is the Montana Atlas and Gazetteer, available at http://www.delorme.com.

While the Gazetteer is a must, the maps are on a 1:250,000 scale and so lack enough detail for most serious hunting use; not only topographical detail but also section numbers, etc. So, the next step is to order BLM maps for the area in question. First, you’ll need the index, which along with the individual maps is available from the BLM State Office in Billings at 406-896-5000. With the index in hand, you can decide which of the 1:100,000 scale maps you want. These come in a few different configurations, the Surface Management Edition (SME) maps, the SME Minerals Edition, and the Recreational Access Guide (RAG) maps. The RAG maps are clearly the best, but they are only offered in a few areas; in the Missouri Breaks/Jordan area and around Billings. So, you’ll mostly be using the SME maps. These show the section numbers, topographical contours (usually on 100 or 200 foot intervals), and roads, which greatly facilitates finding your way to publicly accessible lands. Note; not all the roads shown on the SME maps are public, although if you compare with the DeLorme maps you can usually determine which ones are public roads. As a rule of thumb, it it’s graded or maintained it’s probably a public county road. In my experience, the BLM maps generally show more public land in an area than the DeLorme maps do, mainly because they show the Bankhead-Jones Land Use Lands, which are tracts that were unsuccessfully homesteaded in the early 1900’s, and forfeited back to the government.

Of course, the foregoing discussion pertains mostly to eastern Montana. If you’re hunting in the western part of the state, you’ll most likely be hunting Forest Service land, and will want the Travel Plan for the particular National Forest you’re hunting, and in most cases also the USGS 1:24,000 topographical maps. For Forest Service maps, contact the U.S. Forest Service Regional Office in Missoula at 406-329-3511. The USGS maps are available at many sporting good stores, or directly from USGS Map Sales in Denver, at 303-202-4700.

If you’re interested in finding sources for maps, (and if you’re a serious hunter you need to be), an excellent publication is the "Directory of Montana Maps" put out by the Montana Dept. of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, available from the Helena FWP headquarters at 406-444-2535. In addition to contact information for the aforementioned Federal agencies, it has phone numbers and addresses for each county Clerk and Recorder. Many counties have land ownership maps available, although I’d warn that in the more populated counties it’s difficult to keep these maps up to date.

After I’ve checked out the public land hunting possibilities, the next step is to research the Block Management properties in the area. Block Management is a program administered by FWP that pays landowners to open their lands to public hunting. This is a tremendous program that has opened up nearly 8 million acres to public access, and provides some great hunting opportunities. It still requires some research, though, in most cases you can’t just show up and expect to hunt that day. It’s administered by the regional FWP headquarters, and you’ll need to contact the one for the area you’re interested in (obviously, you can contact them all if you desire). The numbers are:

• Region 1- Kalispell 406-752-5501
• Region 2- Missoula 406-542-5500
  
• Region 3- Bozeman 406-994-4042
  
• Region 4- Great Falls 406-454-5862
  
• Region 5- Billings 406-247-2940
  
• Region 6- Glasgow 406-228-3700
  
• Region 7- Miles City 406-232-0900

They’ll send you the Block Management Guide for the region, which lists all the enrolled properties. Then you need to contact the FWP office again and request maps and contact information for the places you’re interested in. In most cases, you’re limited to three sets of maps per request. Along with the maps, you’ll receive the rules pertaining to that ranch. These vary from place to place; some offer unlimited hunting with just a daily sign-in, while others restrict access to only a certain number of hunters or parties per day. Vehicle access also varies; most restrict vehicle use to established roads, but some are walk-in only. Personally, I look for larger places that are walk-in only, although we’ve also had good luck, particularly antelope hunting, on ranches that were open to vehicle use on established roads.

Between public and Block Management lands, you can find enough places to hunt to occupy yourself for a lifetime. But, as the saying goes, the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence, and maybe you’ve seen a huge buck that hangs out on private property that’s not enrolled in Block Management. That’s not too unusual; there are more people interested in enrolling their places in the program than there are funds available. As mentioned previously, a lot of good hunting ranches are leased by outfitters, but for reasons as diverse as the ranchers themselves, some people just don’t like the idea of leasing out the hunting rights on their place. For one, in most cases it means their own family can’t even hunt there anymore, which is a little hard to swallow for a lot of folks. So, just because a place isn’t in Block Management, don’t automatically assume you can’t hunt there.

The problem is finding out who owns a particular piece of ground. As previously mentioned, some counties have land ownership maps which they’ll send you, but a lot of counties don’t, and accuracy can be suspect unless the map has been recently updated. So, aside from just asking around (which is a good way to get lied to, as well as tip people off about your hunting intentions), about the only way to find out was to go to the Clerk and Recorder’s office in the County Courthouse, and spend some time poring over deeds. Needless to say, this is vastly inconvenient, even if you live in the area, and totally impractical if you don’t.

That has recently changed, though, and now you can research land ownership on-line anytime you choose, thanks to the Montana GIS (Geographic Information System) Cadastral Mapping Project. This is a public/private sector partnership to create, maintain, and disseminate a digital land ownership database of the entire state. It’s a work in progress, but a lot of the state is already entered, and with a few mouse clicks, you can find out who owns a particular parcel. The website can be used a number of different ways, but since you’re most likely looking for an unknown owner of a parcel, go to the "Maps" button and click on "parcels, by map". That takes you to a page with a map of the state, by county, in the upper left frame. Choose your county, click on it, and a map of the county, by township, appears in the lower left frame. At this point, I find it’s handy to have a regular paper map such as the BLM SME’s handy to refer to for township and section numbers. Once you’ve determined which township you’re looking for, click on it, and a larger map of it appears in the main frame. You can then choose a number of options, including what type of parcel info you want, as well as what features you want on the map, such as hydro (streams & lakes), roads, section numbers, hunting districts, and more. Choose your options, click on a particular section or parcel, and viola, a detailed map appears and a table under it lists not only the landowner but also everything else you could possibly want to know about the parcel, except where the big bucks hang out! Sound cool? It’s beyond cool, it’s completely amazing, and better yet, once completed it’ll always be up to date. When ownership of a parcel changes, as soon as it’s recorded at the Courthouse, the database will automatically be updated.

One thing you’ll find, though, is that a lot of landowners are businesses; corporations or LLC’s. It’s rare for them to be listed in the phone book as such, which presents a problem as far as contacting them to request permission for hunting access. The GIS lists a mailing address, but personally I think a phone call is far more effective. Fortunately, with another phone call you can find out who the people are behind a business name. Call the Business Services division of the Montana Secretary of State’s office, at 406-444-3665. All businesses registered in Montana are required to list their agents, officers (for a corporation), and members (for a LLC). That’s public information, and the folks at Business Services will pass it along to you, after which it’s usually a simple matter of an online phone number search to find out "who you’re gonna call". A couple of notes; the folks at the Business Services office handle a staggering number of calls requesting this information, reportedly 200-400 per day (I'd assume very few of those pertain to hunting access). Three employees handle all those calls, so if they sound a little harried give ‘em a break. This information should be available online in the not too distant future, to the immense relief of the three people fielding all the calls currently. When it is, we’ll pass along an update.  (You can now do a Business Entity Search online here.)  Also, use some common sense when calling ranchers to ask for hunting permission. Do it well in advance. I’ve found ranchers to be much more receptive in mid-summer than they are a week before the season opens. In my experience, during the lunch hour is a good time to call, preferably after about 12:30 when they’re hopefully through eating. A lot of ranch families eat their big meal at noon, and it’s generally a low-stress time of the day. If the answer is "no", or their place is leased to an outfitter, be gracious about it. Trust me, complaining will get you nowhere. It should go without saying, but be polite and humble. You’re asking for a favor, not demanding a God-given right, and arrogance or condescension doesn’t sit well with any ranchers that I know.

As you can see, a bit of preliminary research can yield big dividends in hunting success. The vast majority of hunters either won’t expend the effort, or don’t know how to go about it, and if you utilize these techniques to find hunting spots you’ll be way ahead of the game, so to speak. Then you can be like the buddy of mine who, upon returning from yet another day of world-class trophy mule deer hunting, offered the tongue-in-cheek comment "there’s just nowhere to hunt in this state!".