National forest access roads

[sasquatch1]

While Hunting on national forest land we sometimes come across roads that are listed on their MVU maps but cut through other land ownerships, a lot of times it may even be totally going across other properties to only end up on forest land towards the end of the road. Now most times they are gated which is already countering it as being a motor vehicle use road, but my main question is are these roads legal forest land access roads? Can we at least walk down them and not be considered trespassing? I posted a picture of an example of what I'm talking about. Where it begins is a gate across the road and it is going through warehouser land that is leased for hunting.


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[sasquatch1]

This is the road, it's not national forest until the white area but the road is on their MVU map. It's gated so def can't drive down it but could walk


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[turkey_slayer]

Normally yes but I would contact someone to verify. I'm kinda in the same situation but the guys on private put up a gate to where I can't get to the national Forest bar even though I'm positive it's a right away. Can't get a hold of anyone in the wildlife offices to confirm. Go figure

[SD_smith]

In the Black Hills it is specifically stated by the state game and fish and the NF that there is tiny pieces of private all over, but if it's not posted no trespassing then consider as if it was NF property.

I've come across a few that have been posted, but those have all been near major roads. The ones that aren't you can hunt or walk all you want. Down in the South East I'd say they'd be a little more of a stickler when it comes to having open access to private lands even if they are within the NF boundaries. Just call the ranger station and ask.

[Brian Fahs]

We had this situation in the mountains of Virginia 30 years ago. We hunted same situation for 5 years without incident. The 5th year we killed several nice bucks in there and the locals did not like it. The next spring my buddy had a bad confrontation with a local while turkey hunting there. It got really bad and I felt unsafe camping there. I have not been back in 29 years. Still think of that spot a lot.

[sasquatch1]

Well the gate is where the road starts. Right at the gray/white split of the actual road. Not the land. You'd have to walk through the private "gray" to get to the nf which is the white block. I've already went just with the mindset of defending it with the maps and such. Getting ahold of someone that'd know seems impossible.




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[LaLongbeard]

Don't know what state your in  but usually depending on the state this situation would be an easement granted to the state by the timber company to access the National Forest for timber cutting, or public use. Same as the timber company using forest service roads to access small islands of private timber company land in big blocks of NF. Now the road being gated/locked can be a different matter. I've came across this in La several times were a hunting lease or private owner gated and locked the access road. The local game warden knew about it and did nothing. After a confrontation with one of the lease members the warden showed up and admitted I had a right to use the road because it was the only way to get to the public land. Most people would not go to that much trouble so the warden let them do it thinking most people would just except what the lease people told them.
I know out west this doesn't apply some places would require a helecopter to access and nobody cares.
If it were me I'd try to locate the local warden or forester for the timber company. I'd also use the road until I got the answer one way or the other, but making sure not to get on the leased land.
Should have also mentioned sometimes the road is private property and even the state cannot use it, but in these situations there's always been another way to access the land even though it might be a long walk, but these roads don't show up on the state land maps/ trails

[The Southpaw]

I hunt a lot of different pieces of state ground that are only accessed by driving through other properties. Typically, both sides of the road are posted every 20 yards, which is understandable.

[camotoe]

There are millions of acres of national forest blocked from access . Steve Renella did a show on it on his podcast . People will get helicopter rides in to access the lands . If it is gated I would find the owner first . Armed trespass could get u in a lot of trouble .


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[GobbleNut]

I'm not sure if it is standard across the U.S., but here the Forest Service puts out travel maps that indicate roads that are open for public use.  There are lots of roads that go across private land that are open to the public, but at the same time there are plenty of roads that go from public land onto private that are not. 

Assuming that every road that crosses private land, even if it eventually gets back onto public land, is open to the public is not a good idea.  Depending on the landowner, being on a private road on private land can either get you a stern talking-to, or land you in jail for trespassing. 

Check with the Forest Service (or other on-line sources) to obtain maps of the National Forests any time you are hunting one of them.  Here, there are both the official forest maps which you can buy, and the travel maps which are free.  At a minimum, when hunting National Forest lands, you should have one or the other,...or both.  In addition, in regions with Bureau of Land Management lands, the BLM puts out maps that often are even more detailed than the Forest Service maps and they show both FS and BLM lands on them. 

Anybody that is hunting federal lands like FS or BLM that does not take advantage of their maps is putting themselves at a big disadvantage in hunting those lands.

[sasquatch1]

I'm not sure if it is standard across the U.S., but here the Forest Service puts out travel maps that indicate roads that are open for public use.  There are lots of roads that go across private land that are open to the public, but at the same time there are plenty of roads that go from public land onto private that are not. 

Assuming that every road that crosses private land, even if it eventually gets back onto public land, is open to the public is not a good idea.  Depending on the landowner, being on a private road on private land can either get you a stern talking-to, or land you in jail for trespassing. 

Check with the Forest Service (or other on-line sources) to obtain maps of the National Forests any time you are hunting one of them.  Here, there are both the official forest maps which you can buy, and the travel maps which are free.  At a minimum, when hunting National Forest lands, you should have one or the other,...or both.  In addition, in regions with Bureau of Land Management lands, the BLM puts out maps that often are even more detailed than the Forest Service maps and they show both FS and BLM lands on them. 

Anybody that is hunting federal lands like FS or BLM that does not take advantage of their maps is putting themselves at a big disadvantage in hunting those lands.

That's how this post started, that pic IS from the forestry motor vehicle use map. The road being "white" is supposedly a mvu road. It just appears diff when you pull up to a gate.


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[GobbleNut]

I'm not sure if it is standard across the U.S., but here the Forest Service puts out travel maps that indicate roads that are open for public use.  There are lots of roads that go across private land that are open to the public, but at the same time there are plenty of roads that go from public land onto private that are not. 

Assuming that every road that crosses private land, even if it eventually gets back onto public land, is open to the public is not a good idea.  Depending on the landowner, being on a private road on private land can either get you a stern talking-to, or land you in jail for trespassing. 

Check with the Forest Service (or other on-line sources) to obtain maps of the National Forests any time you are hunting one of them.  Here, there are both the official forest maps which you can buy, and the travel maps which are free.  At a minimum, when hunting National Forest lands, you should have one or the other,...or both.  In addition, in regions with Bureau of Land Management lands, the BLM puts out maps that often are even more detailed than the Forest Service maps and they show both FS and BLM lands on them. 

Anybody that is hunting federal lands like FS or BLM that does not take advantage of their maps is putting themselves at a big disadvantage in hunting those lands.

That's how this post started, that pic IS from the forestry motor vehicle use map. The road being "white" is supposedly a mvu road. It just appears diff when you pull up to a gate.

The travel map should have a legend with a list of the roads that are open to the public and roads that are not.  ...At least that is how our maps are here....

[sasquatch1]

Only has road numbers for special seasonal roads. The other legend has a white road and says open to vehicle access

That road is white


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[sasquatch1]

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[GobbleNut]

I suppose that in case of doubt, contact the FS office in the area and find out for sure.  I've had to do that a time or two here because of a landowner claiming a road is not public when the FS map indicated it was.  I figure that if the official map says a road is public and the agency rep says it is public, then it probably public.  If the landowner wants to hassle me and go to court over it, we'll see who wins.

I've had to do that once before,...the landowner hasn't tried it since....   
...Some of us don't take kindly to landowners trying to keep us off of public land...