His Nevada ranch was the scene a year ago of a showdown over grazing rights with federal agents, who stood down after he was backed by a gun-toting 'citizen militia' from across the US. Today he's yet to pay any fees and says: 'We might be the freest place on earth'

There were no helicopters overhead, no gunmen in the hills, no scuffles or threats, just miles of quiet desert scrub dotted with the occasional cow. Cliven Bundy smiled. "Well, we definitely won."

A year ago, his Nevada ranch crackled with tension as federal agents squared off against a so-called citizen militia, which rallied from across the US to defend Bundy, as members saw it, from government tyranny.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wanted to seize his cows over $1.2m in unpaid fees for grazing on federal land over two decades. Bundy rejected the agency's authority, making him a rightwing folk hero and triggering the fraught face-off.