Property Line Overlay for Google Earth

[Doostien]

You can't access a crown grazing lease if cattle are present. But they have to be off by 1st Nov IIRC. Forestry tenures should be ok unless there is a public safety concern eg they are falling trees.

This is absolutely untrue. Grazing leases are accessible only with permission year round. Whether cattle are present or not. Cattle also don't need to be off leases by the first of november. The date for that is set in the usage plan the rancher submits with his lease renewals.

What you are referring to are grazing leases in Alberta, which have a November cut off date and allow hunting without permission. Grazing leases in BC are different.

[Buckmeister]

Slinky Pickle made a tutorial video on the whole google earth and property line thing and beyond and posted it on here in the video and pictures section. Here is the direct link. Maybe it should be sticky'ed mods?

http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showth...-use-data-file

[Treed]

FYI. These layers are useful but are not always correct. Sucks, wish they were right. I have used them to do forestry and fire work only to find out that they are inaccurate (after checking during early planning with tenures, so no tresspassing or illegal cutting!). If you are in the middle of no where, they are probably okay. Where you are looking around a community or private property, they can be wrong. Justifying hunting in an area with them is probably okay if it says it's crown land, but I wouldn't go beyond that.

[tripleseven]

I think this is what you are looking for. http://www.frontcounterbc.gov.bc.ca/mapping/

wow. Than you, sir. This has provided me with critical information I was looking for. This site kicks ass much of the time.

[bandit]

This is absolutely untrue. Grazing leases are accessible only with permission year round. Whether cattle are present or not. Cattle also don't need to be off leases by the first of november. The date for that is set in the usage plan the rancher submits with his lease renewals.

What you are referring to are grazing leases in Alberta, which have a November cut off date and allow hunting without permission. Grazing leases in BC are different.

Wildlife Act section 39
"A person is not permitted to hunt on cultivated land or on Crown land which is subject to a grazing lease while the land is occupied by livestock"

Terms of leases may be region specific but the areas I hunt the livestock have to be off by a certain date.

[OKsean]

Here'sa summary of the email conversation I had with a frountcounter bc employee. Not much new info, but might help clear some things up. My words are in italics, rest is theirs :

I was under the impression that when a person holds a grazing lease, they must have their cattle off the land after a certain date and that after this date, the public is allowed to access the land.
This could be the case, but the only way to find out for sure is to take a look at the terms and conditions of the lease document. Grazing leases are issued under the Land Act. The minister may issue a lease of Crown land subject to the terms and reservations the minister considers advisable.
The lease holder is granted quiet enjoyment of the area (exclusive use). That flier you attached does say, “Permission to access leased areas may be granted by a leaseholder if …”.
Range officers would know more about the specifics of grazing leases in their areas: http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hra/contacts.htm

Additionally, I was under the impression that a person can access land with a grazing lease from an established road or trail eg. a forest service road.

Roads and trail get a bit tricky. If there is an established trail/road, which has a legal easement (info on easements below) over the lease area; then you go travel on that road/trail.
If there is nothing noted either on the lease document or there is no easement over it, then; public’s use of the road and/or trail ends with enclosed land. Enclosed land is land that is legally fenced or where signs are posted to indicate that no trespassing is allowed (this is very important).

This is how it works in a “nut shell”. In most cases, if there is an established forestry road and/or trail, then there should be an easement.
If there is some old non status road which falls within the lease area, then most likely, there is no easement.

To play it on the safe side, if you are planning on going over the lease area, you must contact the lease owner and get their consent.

[Doostien]

Wildlife Act section 39
"A person is not permitted to hunt on cultivated land or on Crown land which is subject to a grazing lease while the land is occupied by livestock"

Terms of leases may be region specific but the areas I hunt the livestock have to be off by a certain date.

Here's the actual wording of section 39
Agricultural and cleared land

39 (1) A person commits an offence if the person, without the consent of the owner, lessee or occupier of land,
(a) hunts over or traps in or on cultivated land, or
(b) hunts over Crown land that is subject to a grazing lease while the land is occupied by livestock.
(2) This section does not affect the Trespass Act.

See the bit about the trespass act? It explicitly says that section 39 does not affect the trespass act. The thing about cattle is for the protection of livestock it has nothing to do with access to a lease, the trespass act applies to leases 24/7 365. Grazing leases are one step down from fee-simple land, lease holders have absolute private property rights, with the exceptions made in their lease agreements. So hunting a lease with cattle on it will net you two tickets, one under section 39 of the wildlife act and one under the trespass act. Hunting without cattle present will net you a ticket under the trespass act.