Utah has a higher percent of land owned by the feds than Alaska.
63 (33,000,000 acres) vs 60 (222,000,000 acres).

In WI the feds own only 5%. 1,800,000 acres.

TX for as large a state as it is has less than 2% owned by the feds. just over 3,000,000 acres.

I total understand Utah's wanting to get the land away from the feds.
I would support Utah getting the land from the feds, keeping the best of it for parks, etc and selling off the rest.

How can you even hunt, trap or fish in WI with so little federal land?

I have said for years that public land, as we enjoy it today, will go by the wayside. Our Great grandkids, or possibly even our Grandkids, will see the day when the public lands will be made available for private ownership to appease the masses. My county is around 65% public ground. It is a luxury laid out for anyone with the ability to use it. I am hoping that day never comes, but I honestly know better......the powers-that-be, in the future, will find a way to destroy our vast public land holdings and do it while telling us it is for our own good, yet the monies will be made by special interest entities. Just like it always has been. Nothing new here to see.

I didn't realize that Texas is considered "large"

Well, we can trap on public lands here. Too many roads now on the forest - they need to close some down so folks are not driving all over the place. Makes the hunting much better without roads all over the place.
Hunting- it's great on public lands in Wyoming, they even allow hunting in one National Park and Federal wildlife refuges.
Yes we have to pay $20 for 4 cords of firewood we are allowed to cut, just go price some cut wood locally and see if that is expensive or not.
Cattle graze all over the forest too, many folks think way too many at that.

Where are these things happening? Sounds like states' issues not the feds.

Corpse of Engineers ain't no better! I've lost several chunks of Gov land to privateers!

I don’t understand how anyone who enjoys trapping, hunting, and fishing could possibly support a land transfer that will almost certainly result in the land being sold off and privatized?

Boil it down, that’s less opportunity for outdoorsmen and women. As opportunity diminishes, so does interest and participation in these activities. Especially as a trapper, where numbers are already dwindling and our rights to enjoy trapping are constantly being attacked, I would expect everybody to be up in arms.

I used to work for a Federal land management agency, and I agree they’ve got a whacky approach at times. But I’ve never ever considered more land for me to enjoy as a bad thing. And I darn sure don’t have an issue with some roads being closed. That’s less pressure on an area and that always results in better hunting, fishing, trapping.

Not gonna lie, I’m astounded some of you guys don’t take issue with this. This is simply an act of greed that will lead to further destruction of the activities we love.

Its almost gone now

Wytex, I love WY. Have trapped your state a bunch. Look at other states with gobs of BLM and Forrest. Yes it is states doing it. Will happen in WY too. I would have laughed at and derided anyone who told me what the future in CO would be.

Musk says we can support a much bigger population of humans. I think he is right. Does not mean its a good thing. It is inevitable that WY will fill up with people too. Urbanization is the enemy. Huge population growth is causing it.

Its going to happen.

The only thing hindering a mass exodus to MT ID and WY is winter. In UT its the religious cult.

Trump said he’s going to sell off fed land to the highest bid by developers to develop 10-15 new cities.

Hunting would only improve if we sold off that little federal land. Same could be said about the state land. I have yet to see a government agency take care of the land better than private party

Were homesteaders developers?

Merry Christmas and may God bless you Brother Clifton.

Not WI but, I've done a lifetime of hunting, fishing & trapping. Started in the 1950's and still doing it. To the best of my knowledge, i have never hunted, fished or trapped on federal land except for one year on a military base in OK. Only privately owned land for the past 15 years. I only do Maine now:

Key points about federal land in Maine:
Percentage: 1.06%
Acreage: Approximately 209,735 acres
Ranking: Maine ranks 43rd in the nation for federal land ownership

Did lots of PA back in the day, no federal.
The federal government owns 2.2% of Pennsylvania's land, or 622,160 acres out of the state's total of 28.8 million acres. The U.S. Forest Service owns the majority of federal land in Pennsylvania

Only if you have lots of money to either buy the land or pay the people who do buy it for access. Privatization will make it just like Europe, where hunting is only available for the priviliged few. . . or poachers, which is a respected pastime there simply because there is no legal way for the common man to have access to hunting.

Big difference between East & West when it comes to H, T & F on private land. I've been doing it for more than sixty years in the east. All on state- or privately-owned land. I have never asked for permission. Still doing more than 60 days a year, all on private land, and I do not need to ask for permission.

Hunting wouldn’t improve for anybody when they lost access and the land became developed. Do you hunt in a cul de sac or a strip mall?

Your experience and access is different from a LOT of people who share the same passions as you. You know what’s great about federal lands? You could go to hundreds of millions of acres, more acreage than the entire state you live in, without having to ask anybody permission.

Do you have a quote?