Video: Eastern Montana Land Considerations

Transcript for Eastern Montana Landowner

Speaker 1: Eastern Montana offers exceptional hunting opportunities, thanks to the variety of game species that inhabit the region. The expansive hunting grounds features less mountainous terrain, making it easier to pack out animals and providing better visibility for spotting your target. However, landowners who permit hunters to access their properties have some concerns that are unique in this area.

Perri Jacobs, Landowner in Block Management Program: Yeah, well, my husband and I ranch here 50 miles south of Malta. We’ve been participants in the Block Management Program now for several years. We have lots of wide open spaces. We have lots of variety of species. We have coyotes and prairie dogs and deer and mule deer (mostly mule deer), elk, antelope, so that’s what people appreciate when they come out here.

Speaker 1: Eastern Montana is notorious for its gumbo clay. Once the clay is hardened, it becomes extremely hard, almost like concrete. So, if the weather changes at the last minute, tie up those laces and leave minimum trace on these working lands.

Perri Jacobs: Yeah, well, we certainly have a different soil type up here. It’s this really heavy clay soil that when it gets wet, you really shouldn’t be traveling on it. I mean, you will get stuck. You will get stranded. You will create havoc on the roads, which is one of the frustrating parts about being in Block Management, is when people— I know they have planned well ahead to come out here from wherever for their one week of hunting, and they want to go hunting no matter what. And yet, if the roads are really bad, they’re just creating messes and frustrations for us.

If I have to drive my pickup and trailer full of cattle over a really rutted road, it’s wear and tear on the vehicle. It makes my job harder because it takes longer. I have to be more careful of my driving.

Speaker 1: Establishing open communication is crucial for fostering positive relationships with landowners and ensuring a successful time out in the field.

Perri Jacobs: Some hunters went through a gate and a wire broke on them, and that happens with the gate. They came to the house and said, “If you give us the wire, we’ll fix it.” So I fixed them up with supplies, and they went out and fixed the gate. You love those kind of hunters. They’re great to have around, and 99% of the hunters are that way, which is really appreciated. And that’s part of why we continue to be in Block Management, as most people are good and behave.

Speaker 1: In this region, most of these private landowners have homes on their property, where they raise their family and where they make their livelihood. So, when these landowners give you the courtesy to hunt on these lands, ensure you take pride in ownership, as if this property were your own.

Perri Jacobs: Just because there’s an abandoned building doesn't mean you need to use it for target practice or abandoned pieces of equipment, because you never know what we might be using it for. It may look abandoned to you, but it may have a purpose to us.

Be mindful this time when you come out in the fall of the year. Another thing that you’ll see happening a lot is, and it can happen anywhere in the region, people are, quote, “working” their cattle. They’re gathering them. They have them in a corral. They’re running them through a chute to do a variety of practices to them.

When you see those activities happening, it’s probably best if you can to just steer clear; give it a wide berth. And it’s just like, we’ve had people shoot at our corrals and things like that, and putting holes in them will at some point that weakens a board, and then we get to replace it on our dime, not yours. And you were the one who might have, quote, “vandalized” it.

Speaker 1: Rule of thumb: If you aren’t 100% sure if you have access, make sure to check with the landowner.

Perri Jacobs: Please, don’t hesitate to call or come by the house. Our landline is published in the phone book, so we welcome calls. We’d rather clear up confusion than have problems after there was confusion. And just be mindful that this is ours, and please respect it.