Weird one: Reporting a lost horse?

[OYE]

"Interesting... I just talked to a coworker with horses and a lot of local horse experience. She said that, in that area, free-ranging of even pampered domestic horses is common, and they run around in the hills, eat, do whatever horses do, and return home."

That is incorrect information. Cattle can be grazed in the areas on the BLM in Idaho in the wild horse range but not domestic horses. If you are not in the wild horse range then
it's a different story.
In case you didn't notice there are many cross fences and cattle guards in this end of Owyhee county to divide up the grazing range. The wild horses are not free to roam
whereever they want to go. If someone did lose a horse here it would be a simple matter
to go find it. This would be considered a remote area for a person from Boise no doubt.
It's far from it. There are Chukar hunters covering the same areas two or three times
a day on the weekends and the better areas covered once a day during the week. Plus
the area gets combed by horse back riders and 4 wheelers every weekend all summer.
How wild do you expect a wild horse to be. Remote, hardly.

 

[ArmedBear]

No, I don't consider that particular area to be remote, in the sense that nobody ever goes there.

"Remote" was just a characterization of much of Owyhee County's beauty: most of it is not designated "wilderness", but it's really easy to get away from other people and hear yourself think, there. Yeah, it's been grazed a lot over the past 100 years, but it hasn't been paved. The word is also used to describe the place, geographically, in the context of the United States.

Note that Boise is also the most remote major city in the US, in that it's the farthest from any other such city. That doesn't mean it's not paved downtown. Still, the fact that people even think of Boise, pop. 200,000, as "the big city" is telling in itself, especially to the people on the thread from Illinois or Texas.

 

[OYE]

"Note that Boise is also the most remote major city in the US, in that it's the farthest from any other such city. That doesn't mean it's not paved downtown. "

We would certainly agree to that. "Remote" might not be the best discription, though, "alien" might be more apt.

 

[CoRoMo]

I thought that the Thorofare Valley was the most remote area in all the lower 48. I've been told that a million times anyway. Regarding its size and accessibility I think.

Not to hijack or anything.

 

[Art Eatman]

Another area that would assay pretty high for remote is in SW Texas. Look at a map: South of I-10 below Sierra Blanca and west of US 90 as it turns south from Van Horn. There ain't nuthin' there. And a heckuva lot of the terrain is way too mean for ATVs. Horseback or shank's mare. There's a sometimes-graded county road from Lobo Flats down to the Rio, but anything else is jeep-trail ranch roads at best--and few of them.

There was a 17,600-acre ranch for sale down in that country, back during the peak of the real estate boom. $35 an acre, asking price...

 

[OYE]

Sounds like more of a candidate than Owyhee Co., Idaho. There are some areas in Central Idaho that are 35 miles from the nearest road that might make the short list.
A brother commented on a visit about the sign on a Forest Service Road in the Elk Summit area. It says " No shooting next 1 mile, Guard Station." He said he knew that he wasn't in Indiana anymore when he saw that sign.

 

[ArmedBear]

Boise isn't all that alien to other cities. It has pockets of other cities all around it...

The North End wants to be Portland and most of its residents would just as soon be there. Meridian wants to be the nastiest flatland California suburb with endless subdivisions, concrete and strip malls of chain stores. They even imported traffic. I guess come people can't be comfortable without it. Eagle wished it were Scottsdale, I think, but gave up right about when the real estate boom imploded...

But then, there are other parts of town that feel kind of like Idaho.

 

[ArmedBear]

WRT Owyhee County being remote, Marsing isn't, but that big area in the SW corner of the state would qualify as being out there, not to mention 35 miles from the nearest road, if you don't count a jeep trail as a road.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...3926,-116.39328&spn=0.75726,2.110748&t=h&z=10

WRT "No Shooting" signs, hell, we have some like that in Boise. I'm surprised to see a 1 mile safety zone out in the NF.

 

[OYE]

"Marsing isn't, but that big area in the SW corner of the state would qualify as being out there, not to mention 35 miles from the nearest road, if you don't count a jeep trail as a road."


I do.

 

[Roughneck08]

Yeah I sure was suprised when I first went to Boise just in July. For a States capital it sure is small lol! I sure enjoyed Idaho though beautiful country up in McCall getting to see moose in marshes.

 

[CoRoMo]

I do.

Me too. I like the spots where you can only get in with hooves, feet, or small aircraft. Where no Jeeps, ATVs or mountain bikes succeed. Frank Church is something I've always wanted to hike. Heck, most of Idaho, western Montana, and NW Wyoming call to me. But, I piddle around in some of the tiniest wilderness areas here, comparatively speaking.

 

[oneounceload]

If Fish and Game (DOW, or whatever they are called in Idaho) doesn't respond, I would look for one of the wild horse rescue groups - we had them in northern NV - they take them in like a ny other animal rescue group and try to find the owner or at least a good home for him

 

[ArmedBear]

CoRoMo, for better or worse, the reason you can't get into the Frank Church Federal Wolf Petting Zoo and Bush Pilot Employment Enhancement Area with a wheeled vehicle is that you'll be arrested. "Wilderness area" is a legal designation. Wilderness may well be worth preserving in that way, but it's about whether you're allowed to, not whether it's possible.

I've been to some remote spots, where my Jeep sure wouldn't take me, but it was damned easy by canoe, if you have enough time and don't bore easily. I'm not sure if that's more or less remote than some other place, because a canoe has no wheels.

Anyway, to someone who is used to being 50 miles from the nearest town, and considers a jeep trail to be a road, I suppose SW Owyhee County isn't remote, since it's not on the moon. It's all relative.

To anyone without such stringent requirements for remoteness, it's worth seeing the place.

 

[OYE]

"Me too. I like the spots where you can only get in with hooves, feet, or small aircraft. Where no Jeeps, ATVs or mountain bikes succeed. Frank Church is something I've always wanted to hike. Heck, most of Idaho, western Montana, and NW Wyoming call to me. But, I piddle around in some of the tiniest wilderness areas here, comparatively speaking"


Loaded the trailer, heading out in a couple of hours with the stock for the Frank Church. Hope to be back by Nov. 1st. We'll leave this remote Owyhee Wilderness to the 4 wheelers and motorscooters and the mountain men, for a while at least. Hope this horse thing is all settled by then. Guess BLM still has about 35,000 of the broomtails in the Midwest holding pens. Do they really need another one ? Cheers

 

[Shadow 7D]

Craigslist and feed stores, basically call around to where people exercise/feed horses and post something online, if it's wanted, someone will be looking hard.

Also, I remember alot of stories where the horse found its way back to it's barn when it was lost, don't know how true it is, but they aren't stupid animals.

 

[Art Eatman]

And it's about time to close this particular barn door...