Report Violations on Public Land!

[Nickofthewoods]

Last spring I encountered an SUV with an empty trailer at a seasonal gate closure. The road was muddy and it was very obvious that the owners had four-wheeled around the gate. I took pictures of the vehicle and trailer's plates, as well as the tracks leading from the trailer to where they went around the gate. I also took pictures of the OHV stickers on the two atv's which I later encountered parked on the side of the closed road as I was riding my bike (the owners were fly fishing based on all the cool stickers on their atv's, including a BHA sticker). That afternoon as soon as I got back into cell service I contacted the Forest Service who put me in touch with one of their Law Enforcement Officers who had me email the photos. He followed up with me and said that my photos were good enough for him to mail citations to the vehicle owners which I was very happy about. Fast forward a year and I took the dog and biked down the road yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were now some massive boulders in place to hopefully prevent people from doing this in the future.

The first picture is the ATV tracks from where they went around the gate last year. The second picture is from yesterday with the new boulders. I report stuff like this fairly often but rarely see results or follow up so it was nice to see that it was taken seriously both with the citations and the boulder barriers. Don't be afraid to report this kind of stuff!

 

[RuggedYogi]

Thanks for posting this. So many people take ATVs onto trails they’re not supposed to in my area. Really bothers me that people have so little respect for our public land.

 

[Baddog]

I don’t know the particulars of the area but that’s a nice looking road. Maybe the public road should be open so people can enjoy the area?

 

[Chad E]

I don’t know the particulars of the area but that’s a nice looking road. Maybe the public road should be open so people can enjoy the area?

The op mentioned seasonal closure on said nice looking road. I'm pretty sure "people" can very much enjoy the public road by walking...or biking like the OP. There are plenty enough open roads and trails for orv and motorized use that breaking the rules and driving around gates isn't justified.

 

[Wyobohunter]

I don’t know the particulars of the area but that’s a nice looking road. Maybe the public road should be open so people can enjoy the area?

In the area I hunt the roads close seasonally to preserve wildlife habitat and elk birthing areas. I have seen the same sort of ATV going around the gate evidence and spoke with a USFS employee I met while hunting back there. He asked me to do the same as the OP did. I will report every time. Just because an ATV or UTV can physically go somewhere doesn’t mean it can legally or should.

 

[cgasner1]

The seasonal closing also helps to protect the road to keep it looking nice


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[cnelk]

Back in 2005, I was hunting about 3-4 miles back in behind a closed gate.

About daylight, I came across a half of a bull elk laying just off to the side of the old logging road. Looked like someone killed it the evening before and brought it out to the road. It was a pretty nice 5x6 so I decided to take a couple pics.

About that time I heard a vehicle coming. I thought "WTH??!!"
I slid into the brush and watched this UTV come driving up to the elk.

Two guys stopped and got out at the elk. About then, I stepped out and asked some pretty stern questions.

Obviously they never expected someone to be there back on a closed road. They said they had permission to go around the gate.

I said 'Like hell you do'.... and turned and hiked down the draws back to the main gate, drove to a high spot and called the Forest Service with my old analog bag phone.

In about an hour I saw the FS drive by and head back in there. A couple hours later the FS stopped by my camp and gave me an update.

The 2 guys got ticketed for littering, cutting down saplings, driving around a gate and multiple other citations.

They were from Texas and we didnt see them for a couple years after.

 

[Rich M]

Glad you guys are out there saving the roads!

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Glad you guys are out there saving the roads!

Not sure if I detect sarcasm here, but it's about much more than the roads of course. The type of people that blatantly disregard a closed gate likely disregard other rules and laws. Their OHV stickers were expired and for the wrong State, and based on that I highly doubt they had fishing licenses.

 

[Billy Goat]

Back in 2005, I was hunting about 3-4 miles back in behind a closed gate.

About daylight, I came across a half of a bull elk laying just off to the side of the old logging road. Looked like someone killed it the evening before and brought it out to the road. It was a pretty nice 5x6 so I decided to take a couple pics.

About that time I heard a vehicle coming. I thought "WTH??!!"
I slid into the brush and watched this UTV come driving up to the elk.

Two guys stopped and got out at the elk. About then, I stepped out and asked some pretty stern questions.

Obviously they never expected someone to be there back on a closed road. They said they had permission to go around the gate.

I said 'Like hell you do'.... and turned and hiked down the draws back to the main gate, drove to a high spot and called the Forest Service with my old analog bag phone.

In about an hour I saw the FS drive by and head back in there. A couple hours later the FS stopped by my camp and gave me an update.

The 2 guys got ticketed for littering, cutting down saplings, driving around a gate and multiple other citations.

They were from Texas and we didnt see them for a couple years after.

Wait, in 2005 you still used a bag phone?

 

[cnelk]

Wait, in 2005 you still used a bag phone?

Yes sir. Analog cell service was discontinued in 2008

 

[406RoadToad]

I can’t believe there are critics on somebody reporting a blatant and harmful violation! If you don’t understand why a road is closed that doesn’t make it alright to break the law!

In my experience closed roads have improved hunting.

If you’re there to drive around or look at scenery I recommend Yellowstone NP. You’ll fit right in.

 

[QuackAttack]

Karens…

 

[Billy Goat]

Yes sir. Analog cell service was discontinued in 2008

Not the service, just the idea of a giant bag phone that gets me.

Then again, we still use cb's so I guess that's even more prehistoric.

 

[BigAntlerGetter]

Karens…

And here we either found the guy you called in, or is a guy that doesn’t care and breaks the laws…. Calling someone a Karen for being a steward of the land, following laws and trying to assist in preserving our natural assets is the most immature and lazy argument. I’m gonna make fun of you because I feel you were out of place. If you’re gonna bag on the guy come up with a legit argument on why you think what he did was wrong and why you think the guys breaking the law was fine. Oh and you can’t use the term “I pay for the public land so I’ll use it however I like” cause in all honesty you really don’t. And everyone that says “it’s my public land we own it we don’t need to be told how to manage it” are the exact people that made the reasons of why we need an agency to manage it, if you all had it it way there would be a road, and Starbucks leading to the end of every finger ridge, a road up every ravine, just so you could be sure to access every inch of “your public land”


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[Britt-dog]

That would be a full time job around here. Way to many self entitled, uneducated, lazy losers, to keep track of. Just look at some in this thread.

 

[wytx]

Karens…

Richard is that you ?

 

[Justin Crossley]

Keep the posts on track guys or this thread won't last long.

It is sad that people are willing to ignore rules and/or destroy our natural places. I believe it is a few bad apples in every user group that ruin things for everyone. Keep teaching the kids to leave things a little better than how they found them and we may have a chance to change the culture.

 

[hh76]

Wait, in 2005 you still used a bag phone?

We held on to ours until the service was no longer available. It was the only phone that worked at the cabin.

Years ago, as we were getting back to the truck after bird hunting, a utv came cruising down the gated trail. I stopped him and explained that he wasn't supposed to be there on his machine. He actually complained that it was too far to expect a person to walk.

 

[QuackAttack]

Keep the posts on track guys or this thread won't last long.

It is sad that people are willing to ignore rules and/or destroy our natural places. I believe it is a few bad apples in every user group that ruin things for everyone. Keep teaching the kids to leave things a little better than how they found them and we may have a chance to change the culture.

Stupid rules should be broken.

Public land exists to be used by the public and that includes places too far to walk. A road exists to facilitate this and closing the road denies the public something that they have a right to.

Civil disobedience is our birthright. The guy driving around a locked gate was right. The gate should be destroyed.