They can't buy what is not for sale. Look at the sellers, not the buyers.
Sellers have every right to take the top dollar. Most of them likely need it.
Thanks to your prompt I did some checking and found the scuttlebutt I’ve been hearing is kind of half-a$$ed.
http://www.cabelastrophyproperties.com/about
You’ll see at the link that what it appears they are doing is getting into the realty business. The guys I have talked to are probably seeing a Cabelas sign go up; next thing is somebody wealthy purchases the ranch, posts it up tight—and Cabelas gets blamed.
As you may know, big ranches in Montana and elsewhere are being snapped up by the superwealthy, which is their perogative (hell I would do it if I had the millions) and they’re often disinclined to let locals hunt or fish.
Hard to blame them. There are liability issues (I have to sign release forms at the bigshot ranch where I am allowed to hunt) and there is also the value of the wild game: outsiders and longtime resident ranchers can often make more money from fee-paying hunters than they can from running livestock.
Again, you caused me to look deeper into this and I appreciate it.