Thanks. That is what i am doing now. I wish i could them to bring Antler Max!! I appreciate the response.

Welcome to Young County. They charge me tax on a covered porch on our trailer house. Your place sounds a lot like ours, we could be neighbors. We’re just west in f Newcastle.

Focus on duck hunting being that close to Ft Worth. The second focus would be spring turkey.
Another option is ask the friends and family that do come hunt to bring protein and corn to help offset those expenses. The rundown house invite the volunteer fire department to use it for training. Ask the chief what the value is to his team and use it as a donation and tax write off.

No offense intended and welcome to the forum, but 250 acres is not a Ranch.

We've been over this before. And, although I agree, I also believe a man can call what he's paid cash money for anything thing he wants. Pretty sure the nice folks that bought my old place call that 134 acres a "ranch".

Agreed.

An old cowboy corrected me on this about 35 years ago exact conversation, 250 acres is not a ranch.

We shoot 10+ deer mostly does off of 300 acres every year and would love to kill more, but they get pretty gun shy after we wack that many. Duval Co south texas brush land, not even in the hillcountry etc.

My kids call our place The Moo Cow Property. Now so do I, they are cute as hell and like the land they are mine. Ill call what is mine what i want.

Have a buddy that sells a few hunts. He basically advertises by word of mouth that he has a couple bucks to sell of x size for Y-dollars. Pretty much the hunters go kill the deer and pay, no kill no pay.

They charge something like 1000-1200 a deer. Honestly for the quality of deer they have i think they could charge more. Dont think it would cover your expenses but would sure help. They also only try to do hunts 2-3 weekends a year so it doesnt become a job.

if the feed bill is killing you, then reduce your feeding

deer don't need protein and you can't hunt 3 blinds at same time

If you have to find supplemental revenue so that you can hunt on your
own property then you can't afford it

On generating revenue - run hog hunts, charge $125 a day & provide a
place to stay. You can run hog hunts almost year round. If you can
get $250 a week, that's $1000/month; $10,000/year average

How do you run the weekly hog hunts? Turn em loose with the combo and address? If you want to be there (i would) its like a job.

In lieu of protein pellets switch to cotton seed feeders. Will save a lot from not having to feed other animals, and in general we have saved a ton. Fix up the other house and VRBO to non hunters. Lots of people in the City are looking to get away especially right now. They will just need some things to do while there, walking trails, fire pit, corn hole, hammocks, pond to fish in, etc. If you want to run hunts, that is a different operation. I have people from the City out to our place on some weekends and many barely leave the porch and 1 acre around the house. They just like the fresh air and getting away.

Last thought, provide a few RV hookups for campers. So many people camping these days all the state parks are booked so they are looking for a place to go to just get out. Inks Lake For Example is popular but if you don't book several months in advance you likely will not get a spot.

It doesn't matter how you do it. There will be problems. Learn from them. What I do now works the best for me. I make enough to pay my feed bills. I am retired so the labor means squat. I have some very good folks that come every year and I have no problems with them. I trust them with the place while they are here. Think about what you want and try it. That is the only way you will get to what you want.

I have heard idjits speak before, but seldom see them put it in writing.

Where is that written?

Yeah, who made that rule, and for that matter, what is the rule? My place is not big, but we have cattle, tanks, and hay. What should i call it? Property...ranch property...acreage...? Never mind, i own it and will call it what i like.

Guess it was an old Cowboy way.

Agreed, again..call it what you want.

I live in DFW in a ranchette house.

A friend of mine bought a 160 acre place. The former owner used to lease hundreds of thousands of acres to raise cattle. He fattened them up and then worked them at his home place. New owner has a similar use. Four separate pastures and a set up that is "out of this world" - working pens that open up to the hydraulic squeeze shoot, barns, vet station, office and more. Telling the ex-PRCA cowboy that his place is not a ranch would be akin to labeling Melania a dog.

No offense taken but I own my ranch outright. I wrote a check for it. I call it whatever I want to call it.

It doesn't matter what you call it because it's your land!
Back on topic though, be careful on how many deer you take off your land because depending on what the neighbors are doing on theirs you can overhunt the deer even on hill country land.
In my 60 years of hunting in both the hill country where I started and south Texas, I've seen places that were shot out, and it doesn't take long for a less than a handful of hunters to do the deed.
I've hunted on places that we brought back in a few years only to see it happen all over again with some trigger happy neighbors.
Those deer you are hunting on your 200+ acre "ranch" are the same deer your neighbor is hunting as well, and I'm guessing you don't have much say on what the neighbor does!.....Deer can travel a long ways during their daily routine.
A deer can jump into that 250 acres on a dead run and run all the way across it into the next ranch and barely be out of breath!

As a land owner I sometimes used the terms interchangeably

But there are differences:


a ranch is more about animal care - herding cattle , sheep, maintaining optimal grazing and water for the animals

a farm is more about planting , sedentary livestock (pig pens, goat pens .... )


READ HERE: https://www.land.com/buying/difference-between-farm-and-ranch/


I have heard of old timers saying 1 section, 640 acres, square mile is a ranch
But that's just opinions

to me, a ranch is anything outside of city limits or where you can get Ag Exempt status
Good enough for most

Agreed, and one of the reasons I don't complain about being in an AR county - especially as a small property owner. At least the AR restrictions allow some form of herd management. I am fortunate though, most of my neighbors have become friends and we have similar attitudes about harvesting and pressure. If anything, we should all be taking more does out of the population that we have for the past several years.

I own 133 acres South of Bowie. Bought it about 35 to 40 years ago for $325 per acre. Worth over 10 times that now. I don't live there but have a white trash trailer house, shipping container, 4 wheelers, 2 tractors and tractor shades and a well. It is what most would call junk land, All trees, rocks. Very few flat spots and 3 ponds/tanks with fish. We just call it Bowie. Properly termed, it would be called recreational property. But its mine. Taught a lot of kids to hunt and fish there.

Bottom line is that unless you want to farm or raise cattle, try to find non productive property.

High Taxes? Yep, unless you can get an AG exemption or a wildlife exemption. Wildlife exemption has to come from a grazing exemption so, at first, lease out the grass with a written contract that you can show the County Tax people. Give that several years, change to Wildlife and get rid of the cows. Best bet is a neighbor with cows. Make DAMN sure you have a written contract to show the County Tax people. Don't try to cheat. They sometimes jump fences and look for manure on the ground. Without an exemption, taxes can kill you.