National forest access roads

[Gobble!]

As others have mentioned I would contact a local warden. Better to have their approval beforehand in the event you try this and get stopped by a landowner who feels they own something they don't.

[SCGobbler]

If you look on something like onX Hunt app, you will see that the roads are not included on the land.  If a landowner only has access to a piece of National Forest Land, typically there will be an easement either implied or the landowner may be compensated to allow the easement.

Definitely check with the ranger station of the NF you are looking at.

The only reason I know is that since December, I have been researching one of the National Forests in SC to hunt on this season.

Now... there is a piece of property I'm hunting on the National Forest that has a public access road that ends in a dead end on one of the sections of property.  There is a dirt road that leads onto the public land off of this road.  That dirt road is private land, and not part of the NF, does that make sense?  I have to drive another 8 miles and access it off of another road that leads to a Forest road get out and walk or ride a bike since there is a limit on motorized vehicles on some roads.

[GobbleNut]

Simply put, there are roads that are legally designated public roads that cross private land to get to public land beyond,...and then there are roads that look just the same on a map that are not legal public roads.  The private landowner through which those roads cross unfortunately has every legal right to close those roads to the public. 

On federal lands, the administering federal agency should be able to tell you whether a specific road is a legal, public road.  Same with state lands.  Just because a road that goes onto private land goes out the other side onto public land again in no way indicates whether that road is legal for the public to drive (or walk) or not.  Some are legal,...some are not.  It all boils down to whether a legal, documented easement for public access is on file or not. 

This has become a major problem in the western states.  Many roads that have traditionally been used by the public to access public lands are being closed by landowners because there is no legal easement for the road on file.  More and more, greedy, unscrupulous people are buying up properties with the specific intent of closing historic access routes to public lands to, in essence, create private playgrounds for themselves on public property. 

Unfortunately, in many cases, the public land management agency that is supposed to be looking out for the public interest is turning a blind eye to this practice.  Bottom line is there are tens of millions of acres of public lands that are owned by you and me that have essentially been privatized and to which you and I have absolutely no access.