Cobb Charolais Ranch, Inc.
P.O. Box 348
Augusta, Montana 59410 USA
John & Cheryl Mike & Sarah
406-562-3670 406-562-3694
1. The Cobb Ranch will charge an access fee for hunting after the first week of general hunting season.
2. The fee is $1500 USD per hunter for 5 days on the Cobb Ranch (described below) for access to private land unless other arrangements have been made. All public land, whether Forest Service, state or BLM, is freely accessible, and there is no charge to hunt on those lands. The exception is for any hunter obtaining his/her license through Montana’s Landowner Preference Program, which stipulates that those hunts must take place on our deeded land ONLY--no state or BLM lease or Forest Service lands. $750 is a nonrefundable payment made within 10 days after you receive notification of hunting license and permits to hunt in Montana. The remainder is payable before you enter to hunt on the ranch.Payments are made out to the entity ‘Cobb Charolais Ranch, Inc.’
3.Theaccess fee for the Cobb Ranch is for allprivate lands north of the Benchmark road which encompass the Cobb Ranch. No public lands leased by the Cobb Ranchcan becharged for any access fees. Total acreage of the ranch is approximately 20,000 acres; 15,000 of it is deeded.
4. The fee is to hunt all legal deer and cow elk, and bull elk where legal, on the north side of the county road.Bull elk may not currently be huntedin HD 425, which includesmost all of the ranch north of the county road,due toFWP regulations. There is some legal hunting of bull elk on Cobb private land in the districts adjacent to HD 425.
5. The ranch reserves the right toallow a limited number of doe only permits to hunt in specified areas near Mike Cobb's home and near the northeasterncorner of the ranch, near the Sun River Game Range. The ownersof the "Colony" may also be allowed to hunt up to atotal of6 does only around their buildings and adjacent pasture only.
6. There will be no bucks hunted on the Cobb Ranchfor the entire hunting season, except by those who have paid an access fee. There will be no elk killed after the first week, except by those who have paid an access fee.
7. Nobear, mountain lion, or mountain sheep may be hunted. There is no exception to this. If wolf hunting is permitted in the future, then wolves may be hunted under Montana regulations.
8. Vehicles maybe used only on existing roads, and no off-road use with any vehicles or ATVs.You may not use a vehicle or ATV to retrieve animals off the road without permission of the landowners.That permission will be granted rarely.
9. There will be use by the owners of the ranch for use to move or take care of cattle during the season, as well as any related activities to agricultural use of the land. Therewill still be a logger on the ranch near Roost Hill. The elk and other wildlifedo not appear to be bothered by his presence or his work.
10. You are encouraged to go in groups, basically for safety purposes. All hunters must give us a copy of their hunting licenses to hunt in Montana.
11.You may camp on the ranch near the "Colony" but no open burning campfires unless there is snow cover that covers all the ground within 200 feet of the campfire.Please do not litter and endeavor to keep the site in its beautiful and natural condition.
12. The access fee is for hunters who have a hunting license. If afriend is brought who does not have a license, s/he must be made known to the owners of the Cobb Ranch and under no circumstances may that person carry any weapon or gun either loaded or unloaded, especially while out with other hunters.
13. If you access through Lower Ranch where Mike Cobb'shome is located,do not go through his corrals before 7 a.m., and only come out once that same way during the day, unless other arrangements have been made. There will be a few times during the season when the corrals will be in use. This may delay the use ofaccess through the corrals, so make arrangements with Mike ahead of time so you do not have to wait.
14.The Cobb Ranch assumesno liability for any death, injury or damage to anyone or to their equipment or vehicles while they are on the ranch. A hunter on the ranch died from the cold. Another died of a heart attack. We have found hunters with hypothermia who had gotten lost in the dark, trying to dress and pack out game shot at sunset, with snowfall and temperatures at -5 F. The weather can quickly turn to -20-30 below F with whiteouts from snow and wind. It is a dangerous place, and hunters must take precautions. At times the local wolf pack visits the ranch, they are dangerous, unpredictable and have stalked hunters; mountain lions have done the same. There are also bears on the ranch, including grizzly bears. We have no known record of any grizzly bear attacking anyone on the ranch, but they are here, and are unpredictably dangerous. We recommend that you carry GPS locators with you or on your vehicles AND that other hunters or persons know how to locate you on the GPS locators. Cell phone coverage here is spotty at best and totally unreliable. For our own safety, we call Search and Rescue in the events of people not showing up to their camps on time. It takes a Lewis & Clark Co. team approximately 3 hours to make it here from Helena, perhaps longer in bad weather. If there is any search and rescue by county, state, Fed or local officials and they charge for the search and rescue operation, the hunter will be responsible for the costs. This is not a safe place.
15. There will be an employee on the ranch that will give directions if requested as well as hand out maps. His job, besides working on the ranch, is also to keep out trespassers and is not in any manner or way an outfitter or guide. He can give directions; explainwhere boundaries are, as well as any rules and regulations that may affect your hunt. His other purpose is to keeptrespassers off the ranch. Again, he is not to guide,retrieve, or dress out any animals for the hunters. It islegally important for everyone to understand his specific job duties. Maps will be provided for the roads on the ranch.
16. Violations of the rules given above may lead to being removed from the ranch with no refund granted.
17. Many of you havehunted on the ranch before, so if you wish to hunt please go through Dave Pieper for a date and to book a hunt. He is not an outfitter or guide, but only a booking agentto set up hunting dates and explain the rules for hunting on the Cobb Ranch. His phone number is 360-538-0850.
Many thanks to you and sincerely,
John Cobb,
P. O. Box 388
Augusta, Montana 59410
406-562-3670
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