Film: Elk hunters and ranchers on public lands can be good neighbors. Here’s how

If you think politics is divisive, just listen to how Westerners describe moose.

They are “terrorists,” says Sy Gilliland. Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association President Gilliland told the digital news service WyoFile earlier this year that overpopulations of grass-eating elk were “destroying” Wyoming’s traditional ranches. Earlier this month, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission approved a plan to use hunter funds compensate farmers for forage eaten by elk.

Hunters are eager to help control elk overpopulation, but some ranchers reject the free help, citing carelessness and entitlementsloppy hunters‘ as a reason to deny them access to their pastures.

Hunters, meanwhile, complain that a new generation of “hobby ranchers” are more interested in raising elk than cattle on their estates in the West, and that outfitters are commercializing what is a perceived birthright of Western hunters: free access to elk. Other hunters suggest that since the grazing rates many ranchers pay to run their livestock on public land are below market prices, these “welfare ranchers” should be forced to grant public hunting access.

Meanwhile, a coalition of landowners sued Montana’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department last year, demanding that the agency cull up to 50,000 elk on private lands. That lawsuit was dismissed in July by a judge who ruled that landowners do not have “absolute freedom” to kill public elk.

The friction caused by the uneven distribution of elk is not limited to Montana and Wyoming. It has opened rifts between landowners and hunters across the West, including in the West New Mexico where critics of a landowner tag program claim the state is “privatizing its elk herd.”

While there are few solutions in sight that will move elk to public lands and reduce problematic elk populations on working farms, there are some simple ways to reduce the temperature caused by conflict. A short film produced by a coalition of conservation groups suggests that simply listening to moderate voices on both sides of the divide can lead to sustainable solutions.

That’s the theme of “Good Neighbor: Elk Management in Montana,” in which both ranchers and hunters describe their mutual affection for elk, as well as sources of increasing conflict over elk distribution and access. The film was produced by onX Hunt, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Outdoor livingand One Montana. (As Outdoor Life’s hunting and conservation editor, I also happened to write and narrate the 16-minute film.)

Read next: Should Idaho Restrict Hi-Tech Hunting Gear? State officials want to know

The film’s release coincides not only with this month’s elk hunting season, but also with the Nov. 5 general election. The 2025 Montana Legislature is expected to consider bills that could change landowner preference rules, boost hunting access to private lands and create a forage compensation fund similar to the one established in Wyoming.