As I've mentioned, I'm a lefty and don't really mind if society gives people a hand in limited times of need.  Of course many people will take advantage of things (e.g., 'bleeding the beast') so in order to make the best use of limited resources, we do need to check up on people who are on the Government dole.  Else we end up with single women claiming more dependents than they have and folks like Cliven Bundy claiming special rights and needs.

In looking at things, it seems that a trust entity associated with the late David and Bodel (nee Jensen) own the land shown here.

This outlay does seem to include several independent areas which have been variously described as Bundy's place.  It also seems to include some of the land that the milita wackos and other riffraff are allowed to wander about.  Noteworthy is that it also includes the highly impressive manor complex which has been completely missing from any analysis in either the mainstream or the 'guerrilla' media.

If one is going to raise melons, one need have melon fields to do so.  The area describe in the map does seem to include a contiguous series of cultivated lands which is about the only likely land in the immediate area for large scale agricultural production.

The one sticking point is that it closer to 2500 arces.  Not 150 or 160.  Nor is it consistent with the 80 acres describing in shorthand one of the trust holdings property.  It's also a bit inconsistent with the $60k or so appraised value...it's almost like Bundy might have a family member in the appraiser's office or something.

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Google Earth goes back to 1994 and shows that at that time the manor complex was already well developed (it had it's tennis court installed, for instance.)  This was a the time when Cliven was going bust from his mismanagement of the ranching side of the equation.

It is said that although the ranch was obtained by David Bundy shortly after WWII, he didn't start to dink around with cattle until the 50's.  Then he stopped for a number of year.

I'll hypothesis:

 - David focused no building up the farming end of things, and was pretty proficient at it.  Bundy melons are reputed to be the best in the state, and the estate is a work of art (ya, I am jealous!)

 - Cliven had heard stories of the families ranching days in Bundyville (the ghost-town in AZ) growing up.  Doubtless the stories included the glory days when his family amassed the wealth needed to dominate the area, but the part about where they mis-managed it into the uninhabitable wasteland that it is today were not so widely relayed.  In other words, Cliven always dreamed of ranching and didn't like farming.

 - When David Bundy kicked the bucket and Cliven took over he proceeded to embark on his foolhardy Mexican cattle drive and it nearly broke the whole thing.  Even BLM subsidies were not enough to save him and only by turning into a blatant thief was he able to continue (and indeed apparently thrive.)

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Lastly I'll point out some amusing and noteworthy hypocritical behavior here:

 - The Bundy clan is all about defending their rights and loves them some 2nd amendment powers to do so.  Funny we never seem to see them armed among the bristling militia clowns (or actors+dupes.)

 - Nobody has every claimed that Bundy doesn't pay his Federal taxes, and I've heard claims that he does.  Granted, his property is valued on par with a double-wide trailer in my area so the taxes probably are not that high, but it's a matter of principle.  Right?  

 - Mormon women, and particularly those under FLDS rule, are distinctly second-class citizens.  In fact they are more akin to personal property and breeding stock of the male head of the family than they are to human peers.  Cliven and his family may or may not be polygamous fundies but there is little doubt that his immediate fore-family were.  Given this it is funny that it is from his maternal side that Cliven is trying to lay claim to a fair chunk of the state of Nevada.  Or at least that's the claim he lays out for public consumption.

 - edits: minor.