The Hog Blog

A while back I posted a response to an article about complaints that Cabela’s Trophy Properties (their real estate listing branch) was out to destroy public access to hunting lands, particularly in Montana.  The Montana Wildlife Federation (MWF) was leading the charge, centered around this claim:

”The MWF Executive Board finds that Cabela’s is trading on its trusted reputation as a merchant of sporting goods to engage in a real estate marketing activity that is calculated to subvert and destroy the very system of North American wildlife conservation that has provided Cabela’s with the hunter-and-angler markets that gave your company life in the first place.”

I feel now, as I did then, that this is a ridiculous complaint.  To blame a real estate listing agency for the loss of public hunting access is like blaming your corner gas station owner for global warming…  you just can’t get there from here. 

Regardless, Cabela’s appears to be taking the criticism to heart and trying to make a positive change. 

Tom Remington reported a couple of weeks ago that Cabela’s had offered a financial olive branch to the Montana Wildlife Federation in the form of an initial $50K check, with the promise of an additional $60K over the remainder of the year.  As I mentioned then, this was a pretty transparent effort that hit totally in the wrong place and for the wrong reasons. 

Cabela’s is not in the wrong here.  In my opinion, they don’t owe anyone anything.  Even so, as a business, they do take customers’ concerns to heart, and what I consider a misguided gesture was at least a good attempt to illustrate that they are listening.

Well, apparently Cabela’s recognized that the first attempt didn’t quite achieve their goals, so they’re coming back to the drawing board with a new approach.  As I just read in an article on the New West online magazine, Cabela’s Trophy Properties (CTP) will now be requiring their affiliated realtors to follow strict business practices regarding the listing and sale of properties.  Realtors who do not follow the new rules will lose their affiliation with CTP. 

The article didn’t specify what these specific practices were, but I’m led to assume that they will be focused on keeping outdoors properties out of the hands of developers and available to the core clientele of Cabela’s… sportsmen.  One example given was of a Montana property listing which was part of the Block Management program (allows public access to private land).  To sell the property, a condition of sale must be included which prohibits the buyer from taking the property out of the Block Management program.  This is a direct answer to the challenge posed by the MWF and other detractors.

Now I like this idea much better than simply throwing hush-money at the MWF, and I do think it shows that Cabela’s is willing to try to help stop the loss of open lands… but will it work as intended?

First of all, I wonder if such conditions of sale are even binding.  Can you do that, as a seller?  I don’t pretend to be a real estate lawyer, so I’ll have to trust that the folks at CTP know what they’re talking about.  I do like the idea, and would think the folks in Montana would be happy enough with this solution.

Of course, once the buyer owns the property, they can simply re-sell without the conditions.  I know enough about real estate developers to see a huge loophole when I see one.  But at least then the onus is off of Cabela’s… which is where it never should have been in the first place. 

I do hope this works out for Cabela’s… not so much because I want to see them grow into a super-wealthy, mega-corporation, but because it’s just not right for them to take the beating for something they have nothing to do with (and yes, that was a very convoluted sentence).  It’s just not right, and I really hate injustice. 

Oh, and thanks to the Outdoor Pressroom for posting the news release. 

Well, I’m heading back up to Coon Camp Springs for another weekend of sweat and fun.  Hopefully I’ll have an opportunity to talk to Dave Allen, President of the Coon Camp Springs organization about the project, and maybe give you folks a bit more of the story.  It’s a good one.

In the meantime, get out and enjoy the summer.  I just realized that August is peeking around the corner and fall is in the wings.  Summer’s almost over already, and I just got started! 

The rest of the country will be gearing up to hit the woods pretty soon, whether it’s upland birds, deer, or wild hogs.  And somewhere in Colorado, there’s a bull elk with my name on him…waiting for my September arrow.  The next month used to always be kinda like the day before Christmas to me. 

Anybody up near Susanville, CA this weekend is welcome to come on out and lend a hand.  Plenty to do and never enough of us to get it all done. 

My adopted home state is on fire…well, not all of it, but it seems that way.  You’d think that I, and the national news media, would be pretty much used to this annual state of affairs.  But I’m not, and to see the headlines it’s pretty obvious the media isn’t tired of it either. 

I don’t want to make light of it, but really… is this news?

Actually, it looks like this is going to be another pretty tough year all across the West.  It’s only July, and the smoke is already getting thick.  There are serious fires in CA, ID, UT, CO, and MT. 

For those of you in CA, the California Department of Forestry (CDF) has an excellent site with maps, impacted areas, and updates.  You can view it here:  http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current.  There’s also an excellent blogspot for fire discussion online at http://calfire.blogspot.com/.

We’re keeping an eye on things at Coon Camp Springs, and our fingers are crossed that we don’t end up with one of these things there this year.  I know it would probably be a good thing in the long run, but we’ve done an awful lot of work up there that just doesn’t need a fire right now.

Pretty silly sounding question, considering that outdoors-folk have pretty much built Cabelas from a mom-and-pop garage shop to a household name among the outdoors set.  I mean, without hunters and fishermen, where would that company be?

Well, the Montana Wildlife Federation apparently thinks Cabelas is working to block sportsmen’s access to the outdoors.  How?  By selling real estate.

Yeah, it seems a little spurious to me too, but the MWF is taking it all very seriously.  Here’s a quote from a letter sent from MWF to Cabelas, as quoted in the Billings Gazette:

… ”The MWF Executive Board finds that Cabela’s is trading on its trusted reputation as a merchant of sporting goods to engage in a real estate marketing activity that is calculated to subvert and destroy the very system of North American wildlife conservation that has provided Cabela’s with the hunter-and-angler markets that gave your company life in the first place.”

Did I get that right,  “…calculated to subvert and destroy?” 

I don’t get it. 

As far as I can tell, there’s nothing subversive about Cabelas adding a real-estate arm to their business.  In fact, it makes danged good business sense to me.  I’ve often thought it would be pretty cool if folks looking to buy some hunting and fishing property had a real estate company that specialized in the kinds of places we’re looking for. 

If you’ve ever tried to talk to a “regular” real estate agent regarding the migration paths of mule deer or even something as standard as whether or not you have year-round water in the creek, you might have seen the advantage of finding a company  that specializes in this kind of thing. 

In my limited experience with Cabelas Trophy Properties, here in CA, I had the opportunity to look into a couple of ranches that were in good hog and deer hunting areas.  The agent (CTP tries to use local agents who are familiar with the area and the outdoors) was knowledgeable and honest about the property.  The only fault I’d find, if any, is that the properties listed by CTP seemed to run a good bit higher than similar properties listed by local agencies.  But hey, that’s business.  If you don’t want to pay their price, shop around.  Better deals can be found, and that will drive the market.

That’s also the biggest catch to this whole thing by the MWF.  It’s not like Cabelas has invented a new game here.  Anybody can do a search of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and find properties available for sale…including big hunting properties and ranches.  Why are they going after Cabelas?  Is it some misguided impression of corporate responsibility? 

The basic idea, of course, is that Cabelas is selling the land that had previously been included in Montana’s awesome “Block Management” program.  This program paid farmers and large land owners to keep some of their property available for hunters and fishermen.  The fear is that new owners may choose to pull out of the block management agreements and close those properties back off. 

This is a realistic enough threat.  It happens in Montana.  It happens everywhere.  Private interests buy up property that used to be open to access, then close off that access.   It’s nothing new.  It sucks, sometimes, when the property that gets closed directly affects you or me, but; that’s the cost of doing business in a free, capitalist, country.  Property is a commodity, and with ownership comes rights. 

Cabelas didn’t invent this, and I question the suggestion that they are intentionally listing this real estate in an effort to proliferate these closures.  They’re simply getting into a hot market… which is exactly what a corporation is supposed to do. 

Anyway, I guess my question is, why should Cabelas NOT take advantage of a huge market share to expand into real estate?  How far should “corporate responsibility” be mandated? 

I’d love to hear some more feedback on this.   Check out the article (linked here again, for your convenience), and let me know what you think.