NEW: Sheehy Blocks Montanans from Hunting Access – Unless They’re Wealthy Tourists
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 6, 2024
CONTACT
rehm@mtdems.org
Sheehy’s ranch charged $12,500 for “luxury hunting excursions” that boasted “private access” to public lands, but locked out regular Montanans who couldn’t afford their fee
Helena, MT – New reporting from NBC News reveals Transplant Tim Sheehy refused to provide Montanans public access to his recently-purchased “prime elk-hunting” land – but was willing to charge rich tourists $12,500 for luxury hunting excursions that promised “private access to over 500,000 acres of National Forest.”
Sheehy’s ranch also refuses to participate in Montana’s popular Block Management Program, “a program run by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks that works with private landowners to provide free hunting access.” This refusal blocks everyday Montanans from hunting on Sheehy’s “prime elk-hunting country.”
Simultaneously, Sheehy’s calls to transfer public lands are facing renewed scrutiny.
Read more below.
NBC News: Democrats have beef with a Montana GOP Senate candidate’s cattle ranch
May 6th, 2024
Henry Gomez
They emphasize the dirt farm roots of the incumbent, Sen. Jon Tester. By contrast, they portray likely Republican challenger Tim Sheehy as a “rhinestone cowboy” who only dons a big hat when posing for pictures on social media.
More recently, Montana has seen a rush of deep-pocketed outsidersbuying up land. Democrats are trying to tie Sheehy to the trend — another outsider eager to capitalize on how the popular television series “Yellowstone” has romanticized Mountain West living.
Little Belt […] encompasses land once divided among three smaller ranches in prime elk-hunting country. It only allows private hunting on its grounds.
“Super wealthy folks are buying huge tracts of land and turning Montana and other Western states into a playground for the rich,”Noah Marion, political and state policy director for Wild Montana Action Fund.
“With Tim Sheehy in charge, we can kiss our public lands goodbye,” Montana Democratic Party executive director Sheila Hogan said. “When he sees Montana’s wild-open spaces, all he sees is a way to make a quick buck from wealthy vacationers and out-of-staters like him.”
The public lands debate transcends politics. In the University of Montana’s recent 2024 Voter Survey on Public Land, 47% of voters described “clean water, clean air, open spaces and public lands” as “very important” and “a primary factor” when deciding which candidates to support. Another 36% said these concerns are among several that will factor into their vote.
“There is a constituency here of outdoorsmen ... and they tend to be a little bit more blue-collar, they tend to be a little bit more conservative,” said Chuck Denowh, a lobbyist with close ties to top Montana Republicans and the executive director for United Property Owners of Montana, a right-leaning advocacy group. “So they’re kind of in that camp that would-be leaning Republican, but they can be influenced on these outdoors issues.”
“Outside of Tester, almost everyone else who represents us on the national stage or who even has run for statewide office recently is not a born and bred Montanan,” said Alex Leone, executive director of the Public Land Water Access Association, a nonpartisan advocacy group. “The people that moved here try to claim they have Montana values, but they don’t.”
Little Belt contracts with a private outfitter to offer paid hunting excursions. The ranch was also previously listed on LandTrust.com, a site that is to outdoors enthusiasts what Airbnb is to vacation planners.
In a state with deep homesteading roots where some still believe all land is public land, privatization is a flashpoint.
“Pay-hunting is kind of gross,” said Matt Rinella, a research ecologist and founder of Hunt Quietly, a group that opposes the “hyper-commercialization” of hunting and recreation. “I have ‘Trespassing Allowed’ signs on my property, just to give you a sense of how important this stuff is to me.”
Little Belt has advertised its proximity to public land as a selling point. A 2022 listing on LandTrust boasted of “private access to over 500,000 acres of National Forest.” The listing promised a “premier destination for hunters or folks just seeking a taste of the hard work, commitment and care that characterizes life on the ranch” and “all the comforts of a first-class vacation.”
At one point in 2022, Little Belt offered LandTrust’s “most spendy package currently available in Montana” — “a 5-day, 5-person archery hunt … which runs $12,500,” according to the Montana Free Press.
Little Belt also does not participate in Block Management, a programrun by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks that works with private landowners to provide free hunting access. The ranch does not allow the public to hunt on its private property.
“In general, no,” [Greg] Putnam said. “Like, if somebody knocked on the door and didn’t go through that outfitter that we have that exclusive agreement with, then we typically don’t.”
A swath of private property surrounding or bordering public land can be an inconvenience for hunters who might have to walk or drive farther to access a public spot.
“People who can’t pay $12,000 a head are losing access to these special places,” said Marion, of the Wild Montana Action Fund. “And they’re left with fewer places to go and fewer animals to hunt on public lands.”
Sheehy’s role promoting the ranch has also drawn scrutiny, particularly the social media posts that chronicle Little Belt’s work and feature the candidate neatly attired in ranchwear. One Facebook post from 2021shows Sheehy clad in a cowboy hat while holding a Coors Banquet, the official beer of the “Yellowstone” TV series, which tells the story of a fictional ranch-owning family in Montana.
Democrats also have circulated a Vanity Fair article that described Sheehy as the latest Montana politician “to contrive a cowboy aesthetic” and have ridiculed the ranch’s heavily hashtagged presence — #yellowstone, #cowboys — on social media.
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