Man, I can't believe the ignorance of some people. Things are done differant in differant parts of the country, but as far as I know landowner rights are landowner rights. Land taxes are done according to the value of the land. If you have a house and developed land it is taxed at a higher rate than dirt and mesquite. Trust me western ranchers pay more than their fair share. The state land they lease goes to help the state government and the school systems. Most of the ranching families here in NM that I know are solid people, would help anyone and are outwardly generous with allowing people to trespass on their property. The trend I am seeing over the last 15 years is the old families are selling out, due to high taxes, increased costs, low cattle prices and weather conditions. People from back east with money who always wanted to play cowboy tend to be the ones to buy their property. First thing that happens is gates are locked, even to public land and it turns into a battle to get them open again. Nobody gets to utilize the land or even access through the land. These modern day cowboys could care less if they are profitable because for many of them it is a tax deduction from their other revenue streams. So if you want to see continued loss of access then by all means let’s make it harder for the small rancher to make a living. Yes out west 7000 acres is a very small rancher. For people living back east they raise cows by how many cows per acre, out here it is more how many acres/cow.
drscott
drscott