Suspect I've Found an Illegally Constructed Hunting Lodge on NFS Land...

[Sportsman]

Send the coordinates to DEA

 

[GotDraw?]

Why bother with USFS?
Call the DEA or police and get it over with.

A friend of mine was bow hunting sept 2018 and came upon a meth lab on USFS land. he took pics and gps coordinates to the USFS office and reported it. as of a few weeks ago the meth lab was still there.

 

[Mosby]

Most of the private ski resorts in PA were built on State Game Lands. Somehow no one noticed and they got the land for free. Also ironic, is that they sued the State in the 70's and got them to close down State owned ski resorts under anti-trust provisions(If I remember correctly).

When it came out that the resorts were built on State land several years ago, the state punted and basically said they can keep it. No charges, no payments...thank you tax payers and hunters. What are the chances that someone wasn't paid off to look the other way and no one knew it was State land? None IMO.

Wouldn't surprise me if connected people build homes on public land and the map changes after the fact. But I am getting cynical in my old age.

 

[2blade]

I and a friend of mine found a camp set up where the guy was clearly driving in in an area that was designated roadless according to the USFS map. I was able to get pics of the guy driving in and with his vehicle parked at the camp sight. I texted a pic to my friend and he called the local USFS office, sent them the pic as well. It took a couple weeks but they went in and happened to catch the guy in there. Told him he had that day to get out and don't ever come back or he would be prosecuted. I was back in there after this happened and he was indeed gone, looked like he left in a hurry.

 

[amp713]

My dad's family cabin sits on public national forest land with a fence around it because we have a federal lease..nothing illegal about it. We have no trespass signs as well as cameras and signs stating there are cameras because people try to break into it all the time. Sounds like this guy just took a halloween approach to it. Granted we are next to 2 other cabins and a few more are across the road so its pretty obvious ours isnt illegally built. Just saying the public land thing and a cabin on national forest is nothing to go off of.

 

[flyinsquirel]

....... Anything short of having a surveyor out there will not get you to be able to tell exact land boundaries any closer than + or - 20 feet or so. They will be even less accurate.....

Truth. Those of you thinking your Onx and your iPhone are getting you accuracy anywhere near 20' on a regular basis should read up on the accuracy of GIS data.

 

[flyinsquirel]

On my farm in Virginia the county's GIS map is wrong by 150-200' for most of the border, when compared to my surveyors' plat. You can't expect great accuracy from OnX or any other mapping program that depends on the county's GIS data.

If that "hunting lodge" is nowhere near a private property boundary then you should definitely be suspect.

Nailed it.

 

[alpinewanderer]

Hey guys, figured I'd let the conversation go until I had some updates and additional information for you guys. Here's where we're at:

Contacted the NFS field office that oversees the area where I encountered the unusual land situation. Spoke their front-of-house person and she did not see any record of their being an inholding in that area. She then referred me to their real-estate manager who just called me back this morning.

He also checked his maps and did not see an inholding at that location either. I mentioned to him that OnX didn't show there being something and that got his attention. He said that OnX is not perfect but for the area that he manages their coverage and accuracy has been very very good historically. Even if the inholding is legitimate, preventing people from accessing the road with a gate may violate some rules pertaining to how inholdings are regulated on federal lands, etc.

The area that I encountered this situation in is so remote that he hasn't been there personally but will be sending a delineation team in to investigate before the snows get too deep. It won't be in time for my rifle season so he recommended that I give the area some space until they are able to clarify the situation.

All in all they were very happy to hear from me. If you guys encounter dubious things out in the elk woods do your duty as a citizen and report it.

 

[KHNC]

Some poor folks may end up homeless at Christmas lol

 

[dtrkyman]

I hunt a lil 10 acre chunk in Illinois, onx has it marked basically one property over to the north, messages them twice on it and it’s still wrong!


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[Call.me.porter]

I found a camp hidden in an area that we hunt frequently. I noted the date and went back in on several occasions in the months following. Game was unusually scarce and the camp was never tore down or moved. I finally decided to let the local warden know, turns out that it was an illegal outfitter operation. I believe the lost their hunting privileges for some time, so I could only assume that they also had some pretty significant game violations to boot.

 

[El Gavilan]

We used to find unauthorized cabins on Kodiak NWR fairly often. It was amazing how they would get hit with strategic lightening strikes and burn to the ground. Cabin? What cabin?

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