I’d like for the states to take possession of all BLM/USFS/USPS land, but I can’t imagine either of my REPUBLICAN senators - John McCain and Jeff McFlake - supporting such a move. Goodness knows, they don’t give a rat’s rear for ANY of my opinions...
However, when wild horses and cattle are competing for the same forage, I come down on the side of the cattle.
I like my little BLM mustang, but he has gone thru at least 6 owners before me. His previous owner reached the point of either shipping him off to auction (probably for slaughter in Mexico, which is an obscene option) or giving him away. After several months of offering him for free to anyone, I took him.
He’s a very sensible little fellow on the trail. A horse who has lived wild knows that running in panic gets you killed, so he watches his footing. He stays within sight of the other two horses and takes care of himself (and thus his rider). If I was in the market for another horse, I’d consider a mustang in a heartbeat, but 3 horses combined with the price of hay in southern Arizona has me maxed out. That is the problem - feral horses breed a lot more than the land can support, so either someone removes them or they destroy the land and then starve. The ‘humane’ folks generally won’t back their good feelings up with money, hay, etc. With hay here running $17/100 lb bale, there aren’t many takers for horses.
Not speaking the federal government owning land in states issue, but it is hard for people (urbanized/suburbanized) to understand how big these animals get, how big their herds get since they are unchallenged for the most part.
There is only finite “food” where they live and the environment cannot support their populations. It is no different than dealing with deer, elk, moose. We have destroyed the natural order of things by killing off the natural predators, so their populations become too big for their range. They get diseased, become invasive, and can hurt people.