Cabela's Response...Maybe they're not 100% Evil

By Bill Schneider, 12-03-07
If you've been tuning into NewWest.Net lately, you know about the storm of controversy swirling around Cabela's Trophy Properties, a land brokering division of the leading retailer of hunting, fishing and camping gear that's opening a store in Billings next summer. My last two columns (here and here) have addressed this issue and more than 200 comments have been logged in by readers supporting or criticizing Cabela's involvement in the real estate biz.To date, Cabela's has maintained a media silence on the controversy raging on, but that ended this afternoon when I had the opportunity to sit down with Mike Callahan, Cabela's Senior Vice President. Callahan was in Helena to meet with the Montana Wildlife Federation (MWF) executive director Craig Sharpe and Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) director Jeff Hagner. After the meeting, I had my turn to sit down with Callahan and his corporate communications manager Joe Arterburn, and here's what they had to say.


"So, who would you rather have selling the land, us or them?" -- Mike Callahan, Cabela's
Callahan grew up hunting and fishing in Montana and now he's one of the five senior managers reporting to the CEO at Cabela's and manages government relations for the company. He also serves as chair of the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation. "No, we aren't getting out of the real estate business," Callahan said firmly. "We're more than half-pregnant with this, and we think it's a good business for us."Then he said, just as firmly, that some things would change going forward."We want to be a good influence on what's going on," Callahan insisted. "Hopefully, we can get in the position of being the white hat, not the black hat. It's part of Cabela's ethic to do the right things for conservation and our customers."Callahan and Arterburn admitted that they may have underestimated the situation in Montana and could have been better in communicating their concerns and conservation ethic."From now on, you'll see a different flavor on our website and in our trophy properties catalog," Callahan assured. "We discourage subdivision, and in the future you're likely to see some new policies in place with our affiliated brokers, and we don't expect this situation to happen again." By "this situation," he was referring to the Weaver Ranch, a large property in central Montana under block management (the state-sponsored public access program) that sold through Cabela's Trophy Properties and caused the MWF to take on the retailing giant. The New York buyer announced he would be subdividing, dropping block management, and make access public land inholdings (state and federal) difficult if not impossible."We've already had discussions with the brokers on this," he said, hinting that it might be going out in writing soon.I told Callahan I didn't think Cabela's good record in conservation is in question. The issue was that sportsman didn't really want one of their own doing land sales in Montana furthering the privatization of the wildlife resource--and now, since Cabela's has already stepped in it, they wanted some real responses, not generalities.And that's precisely what he did, giving me two excellent and concrete examples of what Cabela's can do to make the company's critics happy and make sure such controversy doesn't flare up again.First, let's all be clear on one point. Cabela's is already the 900-pound gorilla of amenity-based property sales, and brokers all over the country will consider cutting off a finger to get one of these license deals. That gives Cabela's a lot of power over its army of real estate agents--and Callahan said they were going to use it. Their affiliated brokers aren't in it for one land transaction, he points out. They have a long-term business to run. Now, according to Callahan, brokers might lose their licenses if they broker any more deals like the Weaver Ranch--and not just in Montana. Basically, Callahan explained that Cabela's now expects brokers to refuse to sell to somebody who will subdivide, close down access programs, and violate the principles of Cabela's conservation ethic.Second, Callahan said that Cabela's will no longer allow the listing of any property currently under state-sponsored access programs like block management unless the seller agrees to make the continuance of that public access program "a condition of the sale."Callahan is a friendly, soft-spoken type of guy, but I said to myself that I wouldn't want to be the next broker who did a deal he didn't like. I have no doubt that he'd pull out of a license agreement in a flash if one of his brokers violated the company's new directive and conservation ethic in the future.This is powerful stuff, folks. I doubt these brokers will risk their license with any single deal and will instead wait for a "conservation buyer." "So," Callahan asked, after detailing things due to change, "who would you rather have selling the land, us or them?" He wasn't asking me. He was addressing his question to all the hunters and anglers who doubt the company's ethics. By "them," he refers to the many, many thousands of real estate agents (3,800 just in Montana) who do not have a Cabela's Trophy Property license.Bill Orsello, MWF board member who was in the meeting, agrees. "I think Cabela's is chagrined about what happened."In an interview with NewWest.Net after the big meeting, Orsello elaborated: "We're as optimistic as we can be with any publicly held corporation. They don't want to diminish their brand. I detected a sense of remorse over this whole deal. It bothers them to be in this position."They look at this as a big miscue," Orsello said, "and they're interested in making amends, but only amends that fit within their business plan. They want to expand this opportunity and be the major player in amenity-based real estate sales in Montana."Callahan confirmed this to me. His company sees a lot of potential in land sales and has no interest in passing it up, noting that in addition to its customers, he's also responsible to stockholders. He added, though, that it irks him when people think Cabela's became a new company when it went public, noting the company has the same management team it had before being listed on the New York Stock Exchange.Craig Sharpe, MWF executive director, confirmed Orsello's impressions. "I was encouraged and pleased with the discussion. It was definitely forward progress."Sharpe said his group presented Cabela's with some general proposals on what they could do to get back to even in Montana and the next step will be for Cabela's to respond. Then, Sharpe notes, his board will decide what to do at the next meeting in mid-December.Which means this is hardly the end of this story. Cabela's is, for example, talking to MWF and the FWP about a major deal to promote public access for anglers and hunters in Montana. I pushed for details, but Callahan would only hint that it could be big and predicted we'd hear about it in two or three months--and like it. Stay tuned.