Sporting ranch sells for $12.5M

An 8,150-acre ranch east of Salina, known as a breeding ground for the Fishlake National Forest elk herd, has been sold to a California businessman for $12.5 million. Mirr Ranch Group, a Denver company that brokers "legacy ranches and fine sporting properties" across the West and in the Patagonia area of South America, announced it had sold the ranch late last fall for its owner, Fishlake Wildlife Reserve. "This sale is a great example of how demand for extraordinary sporting properties remains strong in spite of current economic conditions," said Jeff Hubbard, listing broker for the property about 18 miles east of Salina on the southern Wasatch Plateau. David Kavanagh, a vice president with Fishlake Wildlife Reserve, identified the buyer as Bob Thomas, a businessman who also owns ranch properties in California and Colorado. Hubbard described Thomas as "a hunting enthusiast who recognized how special the property is." The ranch is part of the 13,200-acre Johnson Mountain Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit. These nonprofit business organizations, whose creation was authorized by the Legislature in 1996, are hunting areas consisting largely of private lands dedicated to the management of big-game animals...read more