My sympathies on your cop problems--you get what you pay for, and small towns don't pay much for their cops--

As to your thought about the vast private land expanses in the West--well, they aren't as big as they used to be--you can be in the most desolate, remote, inhospitable, and unappealing spot imaginable, and suddenly find yourself surrounded by ATVs, bicyclists, motorcycles, RVs, and everyone on a cell phone--I can assure you, it don't take much of that kind of noise to disrupt the vast silence--