Jinglebob said:
If they are lookin' for outside help, it's probably not on the up and up and probably the greenies tryin' to get somebody kicked off a peice of ground. Ask Ranchy about that kind of stuff or get some back issues of Range magazine.
You can find a lot of those stories of the BLM strongarm tactics that JB is talking about with a google search. Here's just one example out of Nevada a few years ago:
Sale of confiscated cattle stifled by protesters
Story by Don Bowman
When the Bureau of Land Management confiscated 62 head of cattle belonging to Colvin Livestock Inc., and transported them to Fallon Livestock Auction in Fallon, Nev., controversy erupted.
Seizing cattle had historically been a fairly easy accomplishment for the federal agencies and was done with a minimum of publicity; the information was ordinarily disseminated through news releases. But this time was different.
A cadre of protesters, many whom were not ranchers, have raised so much dust and dissension that the issue has received national coverage.
Rancher Ben Colvin had been contacted early in the morning of July 26, and at that time he said that he thought he had laid down a paper trail that would validate his claim to a prior right for the grazing, thereby forestalling any of the agency's planned gathers.
Colvin believes that the ranges were vested claims established by his predecessors. He said that the grazing permits were agreements that allowed the BLM to manage the land, and he quit signing those when the agency began to squeeze him into a smaller and smaller operation.
Colvin said that he refused to sign any permits since 1995. At that time, he said the BLM told him he had to take his cattle off the range for two months of the year, when he and those before him had used the range year-round since settlement times.
Not only that, Colvin said that there were at least 750 head of wild horses going to be left to eat the feed anyway. He said that the range only had about 150 head of wild burros and horses on it when the Wild Horse and Burro Act was made into law.
Colvin said that wild horse herd had expanded to 1,300 head of horses at one time, and even with the wild horse gathers which took place up to the year 1995, the horses were never reduced to the levels mandated by the act.
On that early July morning, Colvin said that he believed the BLM could not legally impound his cattle. In fact, Colvin said that the sheriffs of both Esmeralda and Nye counties said that they would not allow confiscation to take place.
Brad Hines, BLM range specialist, said that the agency had the authority under federal regulations to impound and sell cattle.
Further, he said that
the U.S. Attorney had written a letter to county authorities saying, "please be advised that the BLM has authority to impound cattle without a court order."
Hines, talking about Colvin's claim to a prior right, said that "obviously we don't subscribe to his legal opinion."
Hines also said that Colvin had been given plenty of time to cure the problem, since he had been warned several times of the possibility of an impoundment, especially during the past two months.
Colvin appealed one decision through the administrative courts and lost, Hines said. Then, when the agency sent him another decision, Colvin did not appeal.
Hines said the rancher notified them that he did not believe the BLM had the authority to manage his allotment.
As for the sheriffs stopping the impoundments, Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett advised the Nye County Sheriff to forgo any interference with the gathers. He said that he didn't want any of the deputies to be charged with interfering with a federal official.
Beckett said that the courts were the place to decide the issues. When the agency began gathering cattle in Esmeralda County the following day, July 27, that county sheriff was in a statewide sheriffs' meeting in Ely, Nev.
Juanita Colvin, Ben's wife, said that there were four car loads of armed people. "Why did they need to do that? Ben was not armed. He was not going out there and start a shoot-out," she had earlier said.
Gabbs rancher Jackie Holmgren said that "Ben does not go looking for a fight. He is just too nice a guy. " Others around her agreed that Colvin, a former county commissioner, was one of the nicest people they knew.
Hines said that he did not know how many BLM rangers were present. He said that precaution had to be taken when situations like this come up. "When the BLM goes in and seizes private property, it is often confrontational. Even county sheriffs have arrested people."
The Nevada Brand Department, who inspected the cattle when they were loaded onto the truck to be shipped to Fallon, did not issue a standard inspection to a sales yard. The inspection was for transportation to a feedlot.
Written across the certificate was the following: "BLM permit for transportation only, not proof of ownership."
Jim Connelley, supervisor of the Nevada Department of Agriculture's Brand Department, said that "I find this whole situation difficult to deal with." He said that the brand department has the authority to issue a transportation permit through the Agisters lean process.
Connelley said that he did not relish working on these issues. "I find this whole thing of federal agencies confiscating livestock abhorrent. I am looking forward to the culmination of the Hage case so some of these issues will be resolved."
MacKinnon said that the Colvins would have five days to redeem the cattle after they were notified and then the cattle would be sold. He said that the bill for past trespasses, gathering and administrative costs was $70,272, as of July 27. If the bill was not paid, a sale would follow.
Connelley said that the brand department would positively not allow the cattle to be sold without a court order.
Protesters showed up at the Fallon Livestock Auction on July 31, carrying signs saying that "BLM stole the cattle, save our stock, cattle rustling is a hanging offense, and we're staying til the cows come home."
They stayed all day, then took their picket line to the Churchill County Courthouse the following day.
During this time ranchers Ben Colvin, Cliven Bundy, and Cliff Gardner were lobbying the sheriffs of Nye, Esmeralda and Churchill Counties to get the cattle released. The district attorneys of those counties advised the sheriffs to stand aside.
On Aug. 1, Colvin along with about 20 supporters, met with Esmeralda District Attorney Patty Cafferata as she passed through Silver Springs, Nev., in the evening.
Cafferata told the group that the Nevada Attorney General's Office had called her and threatened her with sanctions if she opposed the confiscation.
"Wayne Howle told me that I would be sanctioned if I went to court," Cafferata said. She said that sanctioning would be fines of thousands of dollars, and a black mark on her record that would last forever.
When Cafferata was asked if she thought the call was intimidating, she nodded. She said, "I don't want to be a hero."
Assistant Attorney General Wayne Howle disputed Cafferata's assertion. &quo;I did call her to offer her case law. We talked about the BLM's authority. I described the state of the law."
Howle said that the Nevada Attorney General had no role in sanctions - that those were proceedings done by the courts.
On Aug. 6 newspaper headlines said that the cattle would be sold the following day at Fallon Livestock Auction. Fallon Livestock owner Gary Snow said that he would not sell the cattle unless he saw a court order telling him to do so.
He was getting immense pressure from protesters and friends of Colvin to quit cooperating with the BLM. Snow said that he had not foreseen the storm of controversy when he agreed to hold the cattle and sell them for the BLM. "I kinda got trapped in here."
Further, Snow said that "I haven't heard a word from any bona fide rancher complaining about me selling the cows."
Snow also has supporters who say that Snow has always been good to deal with and did what he said he would do. They sympathize with Snow and say he has been put in an awkward position.
The following day the protesters lined up along the road going into Fallon Livestock Auction's regularly scheduled Tuesday sale, only this time supporters came from as far away as Cedar City and Moab, Utah.
By now, another 78 head of cattle belonging to another rancher, Jack Vogt of Esmeralda County, were scheduled to be auctioned off.
Just before sale time, it was rumored that both herds, the Colvins and the Vogts, were going on the auction block.
The protesters on the picket line expressed their anger when they heard of the possibility that Snow sidestepped the issue by turning his yard over to the BLM.
Rancher Ben Colvin hurried to get an injunction to stop the sale of his cattle, only to find out that he needed to post a bond for the feed and yardage.
Colvin procured the bond and Churchill County Sheriff Bill Lowry arrived just a few minutes before Colvin's cattle were to go on the auction block.
The Colvin cattle were put back into the holding pens, and the Vogt cattle were brought into the ring.
The Vogt cattle were in the process of being sold when the impoundment took place. The BLM said that 49 head belonged to rancher Julian Smith, and the remainder belonged to Vogt.
Since Snow had refused to sell the cattle, he turned the auction over to Brad Hines, BLM range specialist, who announced that his agency was in charge of the auction and that Fallon Livestock was not conducting the sale.
Supporters of Colvin and Vogt had come in off the picket lines and proceeded to boo Hines.
Connelley announced that the brand inspection on the cattle would not guarantee clear title. He said later, "by virtue of the federal attorney and the Nevada Attorney General, the BLM is fully authorized to sign as agent...We can only go so far, then we have to follow their (the Nevada Attorney General's) directions."
The brand department's stand, promising to demand for a court order before the cattle would be sold, was rendered useless under the Nevada Attorney General's instruction.
Hines announced there would be a minimum bid acceptable and turned the microphone over to the auctioneer, who proceeded to ask for bids.
Supporters of Colvin and Vogt yelled, "Don't buy 'em. Don't buy 'em."
No bids came from buyers who had previously been enthusiastically competing for cattle offered that day. And so it went until every pen lot of the Vogt cattle had passed through the ring. The whole bunch of cattle were a "no sale."
Hines said that "since the cattle did not sell, we are looking at options...The regs say we can offer them for public sale or dispose of them...The bad part is because they did not sell, holding costs continue to accrue."
He said that the cattle's condition was diminishing and that they should have been sold. Hines said that disposing of the stock did not mean destroying the cattle. He said that they could be given to the prison or the school lunch program.
The cattle buyers say the reason they did not bid was because of two reasons: They did not believe the ranchers had due process, and they also believed it was time to express some dissatisfaction with the federal government.
Bidder Brian Masini said that he was not intimidated by the protesters, but "I wouldn't bid on them at any price...I just believe it's time to stop the federal government from being so intrusive in people's lives."
Colvin, who had arrived at the sale at the same time the injunction came in, was deluged by newspaper and television reporters. He said that everything was on hold until the hearing, scheduled for Aug. 21.
He said that he and his attorney, David Horton, did not know what the next move is going to be until they catch their breath and can make plans.
"I would have still been paying my grazing fees if the BLM had operated properly. I just could not just let them force me off and let the wild horses run rampant on my feed," Colvin said.
http://nevadarancher.com/news/2001/sep01a.htm
Man,if i had about a thousand $ (for gas) to get there,and i didnt take this colt starting job last week...I would so do my damndest to make it happen,theres nothing in this world i treasure more than catchin the wild stuff...I really wish i wouldnt have seen this post because now ill be dreaming about it....a hundred (or more im sure) head of the fightingest, wildest, horse killinest ,stock in all of california...Aw screw it,im un chanin the dogs and mountin up,how long ya think itll take to ride from San antone to califernia?..... :shock: