I took my grizzly outside of Bella Coola five years ago, and I went back with my hunting partner this spring when he got the draw. The Bella Coola valley is a beautiful place, too bad it does not have an economy.

Now, about the above topic: If I was Ellis and was offered 1.35 million I would have taken it too! I find it hard to believe that his territory was even close to that value.

One thing that is different in Canada than say the US or Europe, is the vast majority of land here belongs to the crown (public). This group can not stop resident hunters from hunting within their territory, and like you said, there is a "use it or loose it" policy in place by the government. They want the royalties from non residents so eventually those tags will be allocated to someone else. Hell, Ellis will probably get it back. In the mean time, I'm sure that the Ministry of Environment will increase the number of tags available to resident hunters in that area once the new owners no longer fill their quota. Now if only these groups would buy out the outfitters with sheep allocations...increasing my chances for a draw. I believe Stone Mountain Safaries is available for $4.5 million.

Raincoast will have their 15 minutes in the spotlight, then the story will disappear and be forgotten.