A year ago, they almost sold the ground out from under us. And the people who tried still aren’t done.
In the summer of 2025, a line buried in a massive federal budget bill would have forced the sale of millions of acres of public land — the same BLM and national forest country where most of us learned to hunt. It got stripped out at the last second. But heading into 2026, if you think the fight is over, you haven’t been paying attention.
What actually happened
Utah Senator Mike Lee attached an amendment to the budget reconciliation megabill that would have mandated the sale of 2 to 3 million acres of federal public land. At one point, the pool of “eligible” acres ballooned past 250 million — a chunk of the West the size of several states — across BLM and Forest Service ground.
The pitch was that selling this land would help pay for tax cuts and create room for housing. The reality is simpler: once public land is sold, it’s gone. You don’t get it back. No do-over, no buy-back, no “we’ll trade you better ground later.”
In late June 2025, the Senate parliamentarian ruled the sell-off provision violated the chamber’s Byrd Rule, meaning it would need 60 votes to survive. It didn’t have them. Within days, Lee pulled the provision from the bill entirely — but he openly promised to try again. A win, for now.
Why this hits hunters harder than anyone
Here’s the thing the suits in D.C. never seem to understand: public land is the backbone of American hunting. We’ve got roughly 640 million acres of federal land in this country, and a huge share of it is open to anyone with a tag and a pair of boots.
That’s not true anywhere else in the world. In most countries, if you don’t own land or know someone rich who does, you don’t hunt. Period. Our public-land system is the reason a working guy from Colorado can chase elk in the same timber as a CEO. Sell it off, and we hand that birthright to whoever writes the biggest check — usually to lock a gate behind it.
It’s also where a lot of new hunters get their start. Our DIY Colorado elk and mule deer hunts exist because that public country is still open. Take the ground away and the on-ramp disappears with it.
The hunting world fought back — and it worked
The reason this got stopped isn’t luck. It’s because hunters, anglers, and conservation groups raised absolute hell. Backcountry Hunters & Anglers lit up the phone lines. Outfits across the political spectrum — including plenty of folks who usually agree with the bill’s sponsors — drew a hard line on this one.
That’s the lesson worth remembering: on public land, hunters still have the numbers to win. When we move together, politicians notice. When we stay quiet, they sell.
What you should actually do
Don’t let the “we won” headlines lull you to sleep. The same idea keeps coming back in new packaging, and there are already efforts to make these provisions permanently off-limits in budget bills.
Three simple moves:
- Know who represents you. A two-minute call to a Senate office carries more weight than a thousand angry posts.
- Join a group with teeth. BHA, RMEF, and others do the unglamorous work of watching these bills line by line.
- Use the ground. Go hunt it. Take a kid. The land we use is the land we’ll fight for — and the freezer fills up either way. (If you want recipes for that elk, our Wild Game Cookbook has you covered.)
We’ll always run guided trips — that’s our business, and our backcountry wilderness elk hunts take you deep into some of the best public country in Colorado. But guided or DIY, none of it works if the land gets sold. This is bigger than any one outfitter.
The mountains we hunt belong to all of us. Let’s keep it that way.
Got a hunt you want to plan on this country while it’s still ours? Browse our hunts or reach out to the team — we’ll help you put boots on the ground.
Hunting is not a hobby. It’s an obsession.
