When i lived in montana, great falls was the largest city with 106,000 population and then anaconda closed the black eagle smelter and the population sank to about 83,000 in 5 years, making billings the largest city ... even today bozeman only has 45,000 population making it very small by metropolitan standards ... i'm sure there were land owners that protected their holdings by force if necessary ... i knew many big land owners, one had a ranch that encompassed the better part of 3 counties east of the highwood mountains and others didn't want strangers on their land unless invited ... i was never refused permission to go on an owners land because i observed their rules and conditions ... rule number one was close all fences behind you, notify the owner of poachers or problems like cattle roaming ranges .. rule number 2 was leave the range in better condition than you found it, meaning burying trash that others carelessly left behind ... rule number 3, if you were hunting, share some of your game with the rancher and his family and you will always be invited back .... i find the series yellowstone hyped up to make an interesting story where there is none .... the scene that ruined it all for me was when rip shot the grizzly with a 30-30 winchester at close range ...its just unrealistic and that popgun wouldn't stop a charging animal like a mature grizzly without having serious damage done to the shooter ... i've been with grizzlies close up enough to smell them and it still rattles me ... i think the worst over the top performance was given by kelly reilly ...