So I am about to start the process to find some land to buy. Trying to decide whether to buy in the hill country around the coleman area or up towards the panhandle. Looking for around 200 acres. There is a place bordering the Wagonner Ranch I want to look at. What say you?

Machinist, I was in the same boat about 5 years ago. I looked at East TX but heard too many unsubstantiated stories of poaching and a lack of respect for property owner landlines. Had a friend that hunts ranch in Commanche and knew there were a lot of metromess hunters that venture that direction. Therefore, I started looking NW of metromess. Long story short, I settled on western portion of Young county, Murray area to be exact. IMO, this is the closest area to the metromess, right at 2.0hrs, where you begin to have a shot at a B&C type buck at the right price per acre, generally in the $1,700-$2,400 range depending on improvements and/or sanity of property seller. Inside of 2 hours, you will definitely have nice B&C type bucks but at a much higher per acre average price, probably $2,500-$3,500, i.e., Wise county, Denton County, Jack County. At the same token, if you look farther west you can ceratinly find a little more property for a lower price but you obviously incur a longer trip each time you go out. For me, I picked up a little less than half of what you are looking at, for the lower end per acre of the range I mentioned, $1,700-$2,400. The property is mostly mesquite flats with a couple of oaks and I couldn't be happier. I have harvested coyotes, deer, turkey and could have taken a bobcat and have even seen a red fox on game camera. The higher end deer quality have been 130+.

If we hadn't bought a place in July I'd be all over this like stink on a skunks rump.
--->Stephens county

That Waggoner ranch is awesome. I don't think you could go wrong with that. The questions you need to think about. (A) Is it just for hunting? (B) Do you want things to do in the off season? That Waggoner place is chock full of trophy size deer. Just not a lot to do in the area after season closes.

Hard question to ask. Most bang for the buck always helps. i.e. I had a limit of 100k, but wanted 100 acres or as close as I could get. That meant I had to look on the outskirts of the hill country. It is all about the price per acre and what the budget can sustain and then subtract a little so you have wiggle room to afford to "make it your own" after you get it.

Nothing bites more than buying the land and then not having the cash to do with it what you want to do.

Me, I went with outside Rocksprings and could not be happier. I have all sorts of things to hunt year around and I have more land than I would have gotten closer to Austin.

R

I'm an ETX kind of person..but wouldn;t be opposed to going coastal to have a place to hunt and store boats.

Main purpose is for hunting, and then as an investment. I want to be able to go down for a weekend in the offseason just to hang out if I want. Also looking at Cottle county. There's a couple of nice places there also. That's about as far out as I want to get.

Machinist, Wilbarger or Cottle would have been about my max as well. You can get more acreage for your buck out that way. What I like about Young is the fact that I can easily do daytrips out there. Leave at 4AM be in the blind at 6:15 coming home after the evening hunt, 6PM and home by 8:30 or so. Makes it easier for the wife having a 7 and 10 year old. That lower end of the panhandle was a little more desolate than I was looking for. IMO, western Young and Throckmorton counties reminded me of South Texas where I grew up hunting. The only negative with Young is that it is AR county, whereas Throckmorton is not.

You guys that are purchasing property...help me out..on a persay 100,000$ land purchase how do the finances workout turnkey...how much down? How do you set up payments? Etc.. Help me out here.

The Savings and Loan that financed me capped it at 10 years, 6% at the time. I laid down as much as I could which I believe was 30% or so..

Ok so do you make monthly payments like a mortgage or at the end of the year?

Yes, my land note is exactly like a home mortgage. I have heard of annual balloon note structures but my understanding is those are generally for land flippers that have long standing relationships with the banks and usually reside in those areas.

Good info..I am wanting to learn more about this process so I can start putting some back for a piece of land of my own..any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

I highly encourage it. I have hunted South Texas low fence ranches for 35+ years with 150+ bucks and have had as much or more fun owning my 70 acres in Young county the past 4 years. Nothing like land ownership IMO. For me, the keys were to find a property type that was conducive for hunting and only hunting. Topography and surrounding properties are critical for that. You want sufficient but not excessive brushy cover IMO plus water source. Obviously, you want your surrounding properties to be the same. If you have the hunting experience, you will just know when you have seen a good prospective piece of property. Like a car, it will just feel and look right. Also, scout the place a little for deer sign. I took a look at my place right after a rainfall and I saw all kinds of deer tracks on the new fencelines and lots of deer scat plus a few scrapes. Most importantly, get with a reputable realtor to show you the "hunting properties". Be specific about what you are looking for otherwise you'll be shown lots of farms instead of hunting ranches. Also, be cognizant of distance from your house. IMO, I have seen lots of properties for sale simply for the fact that the place has become too much of a burden to travel to for the property owner. My place is 2 hours each way and that allows me to easily make day hunting trips which is nice.

I live out in west tx and the properties are really getting animal rich. I think I can find some decent opportunities out here within 1 hour... Not to mention that they are very price efficient.. I am just tired of leasing and feeling the burden of basically borrowing time on someone else's place. It would be nice to actually work for me and not someone else.

You won't hear any truer words about a land purchase.

Improvement costs add up quick.

Rustler what county/s do you own in and if I could ask what kind of improvements have you done to date?

In TX - Young, Denton, Presidio, Blanco.
Roads, well, well repair, in process of fencing, creek crossings, gates, cleaning out & building tanks, removal of oil field debris & equip, notifying O & G co's to bury exposed pipe, cutting & removing dead trees, trimming trees, brush removal, building 30x30 shop & 30x40 covered porch, mow, plow, disc, drill, drag, plant, watch it sprout then die.
Then there is the equipment and fuel costs.

I've got some work to do..

I bought 1 hour and 15 minutes from the house. I wish I was 45 minutes away. Land is work plain and simple. If you have money to pay someone to do it that is awesome. I have to do my own so there is always something to fix or improve. I could have bought a bigger place further away but I would not be there every week like I am now. Good luck

same with us but were 2 hours from home, sold 1100 acres in STX cause it was just to far of a drive to go a lot for us and the family is in Oklahoma so we bought between us and them. Wouldn't trade owning our place for leasing 10,000 acres in the golden triangle.

It'll depend on the lenders and a lot of times how much money you end up making them in the long haul. Sometimes if there's timber value you can buy on a 30/60/90 day signature loan (no different than a car, when you're trying to private sell current vehicle to go toward loan...it's raw land, not homesteaded, they can repo it) and cut timber, put that as your DP and finance out. PMTs for everything I've got are set up quarterly.

What county is the place bordering the Waggoner? I think Baylor is a 2 buck county and Foard is a 1 buck county. Not sure about Wilbarger. That would make a difference to me. Hard to go wrong in that area or Cottle either. Depending on where you are at in Cottle you can get into Mule Deer too.