CRANE -- Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward, backed up by two other sheriffs, met face-to-face Thursday with protest leader Ammon Bundy to try to bring a peaceful end to a weeklong occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

"I'm here to offer safe escort out," the sheriff told Bundy. "Go back and kick it around with your folks."

The sheriff initially said he planned to call Bundy on Friday to see what he and his group decided.

But later Bundy told reporters that the protesters won't leave until federal land in the county is turned over to residents to manage on their own.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward and Ammon Bundy - Burns militia showdown 68 Gallery: Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward and Ammon Bundy - Burns militia showdown

"Until we can see that there is a great momentum and the people can get doing that themselves, then we will remain," he said. "That could be a week, that could be a year."

After hearing that, the sheriff said there would be no call, but he wouldn't say what his next step would be.

The parley between Bundy and the sheriff lasted between five and 10 minutes and took place in the open, at the intersection of a state highway and the back route to the refuge. It was another in a series of twists and turns the past week that have drawn national and international attention to this sparsely populated high desert country.

Bundy and about 20 other militants took over the headquarters compound of the refuge on Saturday and additional protesters have been arriving in the past day. Bundy, a member of a Nevada ranching family, has said repeatedly that the occupation was to protest the imprisonment of two Harney County ranchers and to demand that the federal government give over ownership of federal land to local control.

Ward was encouraged to reach out directly to the militants at a town hall meeting Wednesday night in Burns that drew an estimated 400 people. Several speakers urged the sheriff to do just what he did Thursday, and several ranchers had volunteered to join him if needed to end the occupation.

Ward was accompanied to the remote location by Sheriffs Brian Wolfe of Malheur County and Andy Long of Tillamook County as well three rigs carrying heavily armed law enforcement officers.

Ward met Bundy on the side of Lava Bed Road, a handful of media surrounding the men. Bundy was accompanied by Ryan Payne, a self-styled militiaman from Montana.

Ward explained he was there to resolve the standoff. He said he didn't want anyone to get hurt.

"We need to find a peaceful resolution and get you guys out of here," he said.

Bundy, wearing his trademark cowboy hat, told Ward, "We mean no harm to anybody."

Bundy went into his oft-repeated comments about why the militants had arrived to take over the refuge.

"We're here for the people of Harney County," he said. "We're here because people were being ignored." He said citizens have complained over and over about federal land-use issues.

"Yet, sheriff, you would not address those concerns," Bundy said. "We're getting ignored again."

Ward replied, "I didn't come here to argue."

In his most pointed comment at the roadside session, Ward calmly advised Bundy that "at some point, this is all going to have to be resolved."

Payne tried to engage Ward in a discussion over a list of grievances that the Bundy group has made about a criminal prosecution of two local ranchers, of management of federal lands and about abuses of the Constitution.

"You have an obligation as a public servant to address these issues," he said. Ward said that wasn't the purpose of their meeting.

The men shook hands, Bundy and Payne returning to the small convoy that brought them to the scene on a gravel road roughly 20 miles east of the refuge. It was apparent Bundy brought a security detail with him.

Ward climbed into a sheriff's rig and headed off over back roads to a town hall meeting in the small community of Diamond. He met about 50 citizens there to talk about the refuge occupation and hear their concerns.

On the way, he assessed the meeting in an exclusive interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive.

He said the community meeting the night before in Burns convinced him to reach out to Bundy.

"They saw a strong showing from the people of Harney County that they wanted them to go home," Ward said. Arrangements for the meeting were negotiated by phone -- with Ward promising no protester appearing at the meeting would be arrested. Ward said the militants weren't asked to come unarmed.

The short huddle happened in one of the most remote spots in Oregon, not far from where Highway 78 intersects with Lava Bed Road. This is largely flat terrain - sage country that hosts few people and sustains thousands of cattle. There has probably been no more unlikely place for the work of ending a confrontation that has turned life upside down in Harney County.

Law enforcement officials deliberately picked a location with an open expanse. They rejected any plan to meet the militants at the refuge, mindful of a tall watch tower that is manned round the clock by the protesters.

Ward said he has tried every tactic he knows to end the occupation.

"I want to give them every opportunity to leave peacefully," he said. He sensed Bundy and the others weren't interested.

"I don't feel like they think they're getting enough attention yet," Ward said.

Ian Kullgren of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.

-- Les Zaitz