Public land locked by private land question

DareDevilDave

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Theirs some prime public land that is land locked but according to onx map a section of power lines goes right down the section lines and to the edge of the public land. My question is and I'll ask game and fish can a person walk down power line section and hunt the public land??

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Open section says owned by power company
 
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Obi-Wan

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Theirs some prime public land that is land locked but according to onx map a section of power lines goes right down the section lines and to the edge of the public land. My question is and I'll ask game and fish can a person walk down power line section and hunt the public land??

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Open section says owned by power company

dont know about power lines but you can walk down the section line
 


eyexer

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unless the section line has been officially closed by the county you can walk down the section line
 

WormWiggler

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how does one determine if a section line has been officially closed by the county?
 

Allen

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how does one determine if a section line has been officially closed by the county?


That's the shitter, you have to actually either: 1, trust the adjacent landowners to not be fibbing you on the status, or 2. You need to contact the county roads dept. I believe they are supposed to be in the know.

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p.s. back on point here. The power line companies put those power poles/towers in using an easement. That doesn't make it public domain.
 

eyexer

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Yep just get with the county and ask if any of those section lines have been closed. I believe you could easily get a list of all section lines closed in the whole county by just asking.
 


Achucker

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Or you could just ask the landowner of adjoining property if you can access it through his land with walking access only. Have a route planned so he is aware of your intentions
 

Retired Educator

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Don't know which county you are in but in the county where I live very few section lines are closed. As I understand it, it's much more difficult to open a section line once closed. For this reason the commissioners are hesitant to close those lines. Because of that it should be very easy to get a list of section lines closed in most counties.

With that I would talk to the adjacent landowner(s) for permission. If it is denied you do have the evidence to remind them that section lines are open for travel. Much easier to start on a good note with landowners than have an adversarial position. Who knows, you might receive permission to hunt all the land.
 

NDSportsman

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There's very little land that's "landlocked" in ND thanks to our section lines. There's more then likely several access routes to the land in question. Remember even if both sides of a section line are posted you can walk or even drive down that section line to access land beyond. There also does not need to be a road or trail to drive down a section line either. Even if there is crop covering the section line, if it has not been closed by the township you have the right to drive down it. I know several landowners that love to try to stop people accessing certain land by farming section lines.
 

eyexer

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There's very little land that's "landlocked" in ND thanks to our section lines. There's more then likely several access routes to the land in question. Remember even if both sides of a section line are posted you can walk or even drive down that section line to access land beyond. There also does not need to be a road or trail to drive down a section line either. Even if there is crop covering the section line, if it has not been closed by the township you have the right to drive down it. I know several landowners that love to try to stop people accessing certain land by farming section lines.
if you plant crop on a section line you should be prosecuted
 


KDM

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There's very little land that's "landlocked" in ND thanks to our section lines. There's more then likely several access routes to the land in question. Remember even if both sides of a section line are posted you can walk or even drive down that section line to access land beyond. There also does not need to be a road or trail to drive down a section line either. Even if there is crop covering the section line, if it has not been closed by the township you have the right to drive down it. I know several landowners that love to try to stop people accessing certain land by farming section lines.

Yep! Cleaned the bumper with corn more than once getting back to a chunk of public land, but that was the ONLY time I had an issue, it was with a single individual, I was younger, more confrontational, and it got pretty sporting. Looking back on it, I was pretty stupid to do what I did even though I was in the right. Just be DAMN SURE you know where you are and the section line is open and then decide if it's really worth it to wreck a guys crops!! As to the unfortunate situation with me, I did ask for permission from the adjacent landowner to access a chunk of public land through his yard as I didn't want to wreck any crops and was "energetically" chewed out for being a hunter, threatened with LE intervention, and the whole 9 yards for my trouble. Before proceeding I made a trip to the court house and made sure of things and then went hunting. About 30 minutes after driving down the crop, I met the local sherrif. We chatted about why I was there, I presented my evidence to him in the field with the state statute numbers concerning section lines, the maps from the county court house, and my personal testimony about the verbal exchange between myself and the landowner. Once legality was established, I also informed the sherrif that I intended on continuing to hunt this section of land for years to come and to be ready for additional phone calls from this landowner. The sheriff and I shook hands and I had no problems after that, but I still had to drive down the crops every year when I wanted to hunt. I don't even think that guy is alive anymore. Now I wouldn't even think of doing that again, I'd just find someplace else to hunt. Good Luck!!
 

duckman1302

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Great information from KDM but also remember that an individual can also try and have a section line legally closed. To make sure you are covered you must check that it is still open every year. Just because it still looks like it should be an open section line does not mean that it is...unfortunately.
 

Flatrock

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Take a look at this:

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/aglawandmanagement/appliedaglaw/reference/sectionlines

Should help out.
[/FONT]
 

WormWiggler

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Great story KDM, my experiences have not had such great outcomes, probably my lack of preparation for confrontation and debate skills. I hunt a lot less because of the issues with land barons. Hope to change that but relaxation by hunting seems very tempered due to today's confrontational, all about me society.
 

1bigfokker

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All should watch the public notices and county commission agenda in their respective counties for section line closings. It only takes one person to say no to the closing to stop it. You just need to say it's public land and it should remain public. Some day you might want to walk or drive down that section line. I have testified at two closings using these arguments and those section lines are open today. Both instances they were being closed for personal gain. Be vigilant if you are serious about this.
 


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