Montana ranchers bar hunting to protest public land buy

HUNTING — About 30 Montana farmers and rangers say they won’t allow public  hunting on their land in protest of the state’s purchase of a ranch along the Milk River.

Last month, the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission OK’d the purchase of 2,992 acres of the Milk River Ranch from Aageson Grain and Cattle for $4.7 million. The agency says the land has great wildlife values, 10 miles of river shoreline, huge areas of intact native prairie and is an important wildlife corridor.

But the landowners have a lot of gripes, from the price paid to simple anger over the government owning land.

See the latest from the Great Falls Tribune .