bingo!
DA: That�s right. What happened is that in 1999 or 2000 Bob was diagnosed with terminal cancer. When he found out, he approached the Elk Foundation and talked to us about finding a conservation buyer for the property. Long story short, that didn�t happen. Bob died before a buyer was found, and the land was gifted to the RMEF in 2002 with some very restrictive conditions. One of the biggest is that if the land was ever sold, it could only be sold to a conservation buyer, with a conservation easement in place.
I don't know, and may be wrong, but I remember when they first picked up the ranch, that Bob was basically on his death bed and the family was approached about selling it for what was considered a huge price at the last minute, but he wanted it to go to RMEF, and said no deal. Perhaps it was not a "conservation" minded party that wanted to buy it, but, rather, a developer or something like that....I don't know....just hate how it went down with RMEF.
Also had no idea that the place had exceeded its carrying capacity...my buddy went there, spent 17 grand for a hunt and never saw anyting but a couple of spikes and a raghorn, with only one person taking a bull,and it was a 300-class 6x6.
