Ellis Wildlife Habitat Management Area opens

BUFFALO — The Ellis family has welcomed hunters and anglers onto its remote mountain property off Hazleton Road for more than 50 years.

“Give the Ellises a holler and get written permission and enjoy the land” was how it always worked, said Brendan Ellis, one of three siblings who sold the Ellis Sheep Co. Ranch to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in November 2022.

Now, the 3835-acre parcel is known as the Ellis Wildlife Habitat Management Area. It’s open to the public and managed by Game and Fish for wildlife conservation and recreation.

The land southwest of Kaycee straddles Johnson and Washakie counties and sits adjacent to public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the Ed O. Taylor WHMA in southern Johnson County.

Hunters and anglers are the primary users of the Ellis WHMA that boasts a blue ribbon trout stream in the Middle Fork of the Powder River, meaning it is estimated to have more than 600 trout per mile, as well as Sullivan Creek and vast expanses of high mountain habitat for ungulates, black bear, mountain lions and grouse.

Other activities, including camping, hiking and trapping, are also permitted.

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