gates torn down, locks cut off...

[Wooden Arrow]

i'm seeing way too much of this here in east TN. i've found several locks cut and gates pulled open on Cherokee Nat'l Forest the past few years. i'm also seeing folks unloading ATVs & camping gear, ready to drive back in. also too many places where roads have been cut through woods around gates. around Laurel Fork (Cherry Flats) near Pond Mt. Wilderness area, and off of 421 headed to Shady Valley mostly. was hunting up on Iron Mt. once and had a guy come cruising down a logging road in a station wagon, a good mile off of the blacktop. he told us he "had a key" to the gate. WTF???

 

[J.A.F.O.]

I got a license check from our local USFS officer coming out of N.Cherokee last year up in Unicoi county. He was an awesome guy. Anyway,told him about guys opening the gate and being up in the woods about 1.75-2 miles. He wasn't too surprised and began to tell me about the problem they have with houndsmen nationwide and especially here in the south. Evidently they pass a skeleton key around to all of the hound clubs and just go onto forest service land whenever they want under the guise of "chasing" their dogs. Didn't really surprise me.