Ellis Wildlife Habitat Management Area opens

BUFFALO — The Ellis family has welcomed hunters and anglers onto its remote mountain property off Hazleton Road for more than 50 years.

“Give the Ellises a holler and get written permission and enjoy the land” was how it always worked, said Brendan Ellis, one of three siblings who sold the Ellis Sheep Co. Ranch to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in November 2022.

Now, the 3835-acre parcel is known as the Ellis Wildlife Habitat Management Area. It’s open to the public and managed by Game and Fish for wildlife conservation and recreation. 

The land southwest of Kaycee straddles Johnson and Washakie counties and sits adjacent to public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the Ed O. Taylor WHMA in southern Johnson County.

Hunters and anglers are the primary users of the Ellis WHMA that boasts a blue ribbon trout stream in the Middle Fork of the Powder River, meaning it is estimated to have more than 600 trout per mile, as well as Sullivan Creek and vast expanses of high mountain habitat for ungulates, black bear, mountain lions and grouse. 

Other activities, including camping, hiking and trapping, are also permitted.

Ellis said that when the family owned the property, it welcomed at least 30 hunting parties onto the property each year.

That’s why when the third-generation ranch was poised for sale because no one in the family was interested in taking over, the Ellises wanted it to go to an adjacent landowner or an entity that would manage it for public access.

“Our worst horror story would’ve been that some guy from Florida bought it and locked it all up with a ‘This is my sandbox and you can’t play in it’ attitude,” he said. 

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission purchased the land for $3.45 million after a unanimous vote during its meeting in November. 

“In doing that, we were able to work with the Ellis family, which was a great project for us. We haven’t acquired property like this in quite some time,” said Sean Bibbey, deputy chief of the Game and Fish services division. 

That purchase was funded in part by a legislature-backed increase in the cost of a conservation stamp to $21.50 from $12.50, 85% of which is allocated for purchasing access to private, federal and state lands that aren’t accessible to the public for hunting and fishing. 

So far, the agency doesn’t have a lot of usage data, according to Nathan Lindsey, the habitat and access coordinator for the Sheridan region. 

But when he’s been on site, he has been approached by people asking whether they can access the property.

The Game and Fish Department created two parking areas at the property’s entrance, mended fences and hung signage this year to open the land to public access, Bibbey said.

To give wintering wildlife an undisturbed habitat during its most trying months, the area is closed from Jan. 1 through May 14 and reopens on May 15. 

And recreationists can enter the property on foot or by horse but need to leave their vehicles behind from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31.

“I’ve talked with folks from Gillette to neighboring landowners excited about having a partial season [vehicle] closure to hold animals in there,” Lindsey said. “They said it used to be great hunting in the past, but with vehicles it hasn’t been as good.” 

In addition to recreational opportunities, the deal the Ellis family struck with Game and Fish included the stipulation that the agency continue to lease some land for livestock grazing. Ellis said that the same producers that grazed the land when it was privately owned are continuing to use it.

Lindsey said the Game and Fish Commission will review a grazing plan for the property at its November meeting, and producers will be able to submit a request for proposal to obtain the lease. 

The Ellis family raised sheep on the ranch, but Game and Fish will instead graze cattle.

“We had a lot of predator damage on sheep up there; they lost a lot of sheep every year,” Lindsey said. “We’re going to manage it for improved vegetation growth and still maintain adequate winter forage for elk, mule deer and pronghorn as well.” 

The agency is also open to public feedback on management of the wildlife and the land in the area’s first year.

Ellis doesn’t think the use of the land will change much in its shift from private to public.

“There’s been a pretty steady elk herd up there and the fishing is phenomenal,” he said. “Every time you cast a fly out there, you get a strike, and every time you get a strike, you get a chance to catch a fish.” 

During the sale, the family opted to hold on to 40 acres in the middle of the property with a spring and an old homesteading cabin. 

Ultimately, Ellis said, “it’s heart wrenching and sad to let [the property] go, but if it was going to happen, it couldn’t have happened in a better manner.”