Over half of Oregon gone from shooters/hunters?

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PNW Sam
That is stupid, but most hunting land in Oregon isn't BLM. The majority is one of the following:

1) State land categorized as either "Oregon Board of Forestry Lands", "Division of State Land Admin. by Dept. of Forestry", or State Forests, which are usually one of the previous two.

2) National forest (including Wilderness areas).

3) Private timber companies that have open gates, or allow hunting behind their closed gates eg, Weyerhaeuser, Starker, Forest Capital, , Hampton, etc etc etc. Sometimes these companies will be "checkerboarded" with BLM land though.

However, just because BLM drafted some new regulations that they may or may not actually want to implement, doesn't mean that those new regulations will happen. It would take a lot for that to happen.

Also, coming from the standpoint of someone who uses public land to target practice, I can see where these people that want those new regulations are coming from. I don't believe it's as much an issue of the shooting itself, but more of an issue with the problems associated with it, like discarded ammo boxes, brass, targets, and other trash that 10% of people don't clean up when they are done. It's the bad practices of the minority that give the majority the bad name in some people's eyes. All of the private timberland around Valsetz is closed to target shooting now because people completely abused the privilege and trashed it.

Also, another note, what I said about distribution of land is coming from my experience of the northern half of the coast range and the cascades. I'm not totally sure about the rest of the state, but I'm pretty sure that what I said generally holds true across the board. I'll look in to it and see if I can find real numbers.
 
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PNW Sam
Alright I've dug up a few quick things.

53% of Oregon is Federal land. Out of 61m total acres in Oregon, the US Forest Service manages 15.6m acres, and BLM manages 15.7m acres. That means 23 percent of Oregon is managed by the BLM.

Of all the land BLM manages in Oregon, 83% is leased for livestock grazing. There is over 14m acres of arid rangeland in Oregon and Washington combined, but 2/3 of livestock grazing permits are in Oregon. Assuming that the correlation between total arid rangeland and grazing permits sold is linear, approximately 10m acres of BLM land is Oregon is arid rangeland. That means that about 65% of BLM land in Oregon is arid rangeland.

That leaves BLM with 11% of the remaining land (or 9% of the total land overall) in the state of Oregon that isn't arid rangeland.

So long story short, spread out all over the state, not very much hunting land is actually BLM. Pretty interesting really when you look at how everything is distributed throughout Oregon.
 
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Denduran87
Federal land is not exempt from the possible changes, BLM is just another one they are talking about if i'm reading it correctly. My take is BLM, and federal lands could have changes in it.
 
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PNW Sam
Ahh. Well they are already ruining NF land. They closed the majority of gravel roads on NF land around Detroit because of supposed "budget problems", but they didn't post any signs, any gates, and you can be fined around 200 bucks if you drive on them. They "closed" pretty much any road that isn't heavily used.
 
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skunk
You ask what the problem is...its a few '$%67 believing they can tell everyone what to do. They would love it if everyone lived in a city, walked or biked, and worshiped them. I'll not label them, but I bet you know who.
 
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Markcanby
skunk said:
You ask what the problem is...its a few '$%67 believing they can tell everyone what to do. They would love it if everyone lived in a city, walked or biked, and worshiped them. I'll not label them, but I bet you know who.

I guess I would be on of the '$%67 so you dont need to label me. I dont like the idea of closing these areas to "shooting" Sorry but I didn't read anywhere that there going to be any change to hunting. I do however understand there reasoning. Drive up to the Molalla River blasting site on any weekend an you will understand also. Maybe if people were responsible, respected others an cleaned up after themselves this wouldnt happen we all no that will never happen.

So I support closing down target shooting on public. Everyone can go to a range and pay for someone else to clean up, Take care of safety an noise.

By the I own 6 rifles 3 shotguns an 2 pistols an make all my own ammo!
I have a 89 suburban with 35" an worship no one.
 
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GDBrown
The problem of disrespect is general throughout the western US with Utah being one of the worst state when it comes to trashing public lands. When I lived there in the 70's and early 80's you could not drive a back road anywhere in the state without seeing all the road signs shot full of holes.
As all of you know the river banks in Oregon are going the same direction! Sad but true, if we as sportsmen and women don't step in and do something about it the riverbanks will be next to become OFF limits as far as access goes.

I was in Utah this last September and did find a great County run firing range that was one of the best I've ever seen with areas for long range rifle, short range rifle, target pistol and combat pistol areas. All were very clean and the signs were fresh and clean! How things change in some areas. It was maintained by the county and patrolled daily by sheriff officers.

I've also seen some ranges like that is central Oregon as well.

GD
 
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mastercaster
One day they will knock on our door to collect our guns by then I will be high in the hills locked and loaded . Leaving a filthy mess in the woods is BS whatever activity created the mess . This is just another attempt at gun control . lessening the areas to shoot = less gun owners = a goverment who respects the people they govern even less then they do now . Why are we continually told no funding for this no funding for that . Our wild places our not being patrolled in a state that in my opinion has ridiculous fees for tags and licenses where do those fees as well as our state and fed taxes end up ? In twelve years of hunting the same area I have saw state police or game wardens a total of four times . Also that small percentage of land that would be affected if this did happen means a lot to some people . I killed my buck last year on blm land right close to where my grandfather hunted and camped for years . One of the last places I hunted with my father and I hunted it this year I guess you could say its kind of a special percent for me . MC
 
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Markcanby
mastercaster said:
Also that small percentage of land that would be affected if this did happen means a lot to some people . I killed my buck last year on blm land right close to where my grandfather hunted and camped for years . One of the last places I hunted with my father and I hunted it this year I guess you could say its kind of a special percent for me . MC

Once again it say nothing about hunting. Its about the mess an disturbance of target shooting in uncontrolled areas. Its about having public lands worth going hunting,fishing,hiking ,ect. But I guess if some people just see it as the government after there guns not saving our public lands from broken bottles an casings.
 
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chris61182
Just more "under the radar" actions Obama promised the Brady Campaign, just like helping the drug cartels smuggle thousands of weapons across the border all the while blaming the gun community for it.
 
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RunWithSasquatch
chris61182 said:
Just more "under the radar" actions Obama promised the Brady Campaign, just like helping the drug cartels smuggle thousands of weapons across the border all the while blaming the gun community for it.


Sounds like we need to start a paranoid conspiracy theory thread...
 
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chris61182
RunWithSasquatch said:
Sounds like we need to start a paranoid conspiracy theory thread...

You do realize that the gun smuggling is a real thing (DHS' Napolitano and DOJ's Holder under oath in hearings), right? There have been several House and Senate hearings on the matter, and the perennial anti-gunners are now using the government breaking the law as a jumping off point for talking about more gun control for us.

Along with the fact that there were regular press conferences back during the operations' execution where Holder, Clinton, or Obama were blaming the gun community for the violence in Mexico and insisting that we needed more gun control, right?

And that the President also promised the gun control organizations, "under the radar" actions, right?
 
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PNW Sam
Markcanby, it did say something about hunting. I do agree totally with what you have said thus far, but in the article it says:

"If the draft policy is finally approved, some public access to Bureau lands to hunters would also be limited, potentially reducing areas deer, elk, and bear hunters can use in the West." (Note, it says some, not all public access to hunting...)

Also, when you think about it, the same type of stuff that goes on that makes private companies close areas of their property to target shooting goes on in similar areas that the BLM controls, but the BLM land is generally unregulated when it comes to target shooting and they have nothing in place to my knowledge that would allow them to take any action against the real BS that some people do. The types of areas I'm talking about are close to cities, close to highways, and receive a lot of traffic of all types. It's not like 100% of BLM land has issues with people trashing it or conflicts with other recreational users, and they wouldn't close every acre they control just because of the small fraction that gets damaged. That would be like making an 8pm curfew for everyone in the state because parts of Portland have a gang problem.

Also, they don't have the means to enforce an across the board ban on shooting, and they know it. In a time of budget cuts, a new law that would cost a lot of money to enforce isn't going to make much ground, if any.
 
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RunWithSasquatch
I dont really want to get to involved with the drama. BUT I will add that I just read on another forum that the BLM is responding to the concern that has been voiced on the side of hunters, and will REDRAFT there plans.
 
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n8r1
I'm not arguing on either side of this issue, but I don't blame them for closing land.

Here's something I found last summer while driving on some private property that was previously open to the public. Some idiots decided it would be a good idea to take a couple TVs out there and shoot them up. What you don't see in the picture are dozens of shell casings, beer cans, and shattered glass scattered everywhere, along with a bunch of cigarette butts and other trash. Not long after this happened, the company constructed a gate and put up a sign saying that the area was now closed due to vandalism. You can still hike in, which I don't mind, but now several miles of riverfront access have been blocked off to cars. I don't blame them; if the land was mine and I found that, I would have closed it too.
 
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todd_brooks
I went mushroom hunting a few weeks ago, off the upper Clack. high in the hills. There was so much trash, you name it huge amounts of glass, plastic crap you get the idea. I don't think you could even clean it up if you wanted to short of having a bulldozer and covering all the stuff a small army couldn't pick up. My better half could have cried and on top of that she was all weirded out with all the gun shots near by. So I guess I'm with the others that don't see this as a shock. And I like to shoot myself. Totally agree with the fact that the river banks are the same way to. I pick up after terd heads everytime I go out. It get old but I don't see any way around it.
 
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mastercaster
If gunshots scare you being in the woods probably isn't the best place for you . There are plenty of places to pick shrooms that are already closed to shooting hunting . Also keep in mind if your picking chantrells the season has always been shared with hunting season . I hate trash and trashed areas see it all the time . I realy dont think anyone is understanding my point . If our taxes and fees were being used to fund things like odfw and oregon state police instead of lining the pockets of some rich politician we would have funding for increased patrols in our wild areas which would lead to decreased dumping and vandalism . MC
 
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Denduran87
So found this today...
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/11/17/shooters-heard-interior-will-not-ban-target-practice
Sound as if they are saying just land close to urban areas as a possibilty but they take this small victory how long till they push for more and more land shut off. I agree people need to pick up after them selves but not just shooters dump trash in the forest so why single them out. They just take more and more away from us slowing boiling us to death as they raise the heat.
 
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chris61182
Denduran87 said:
So found this today...
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/11/17/shooters-heard-interior-will-not-ban-target-practice
Sound as if they are saying just land close to urban areas as a possibilty but they take this small victory how long till they push for more and more land shut off. I agree people need to pick up after them selves but not just shooters dump trash in the forest so why single them out. They just take more and more away from us slowing boiling us to death as they raise the heat.

Yup, and if it were really about "scary noise" then they'd deregulate sound suppressors.
 

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