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. 

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