Texas Hunting Forum

Buying Land. Where?

Posted By: MikeD77

Buying Land. Where? - 06/26/20 10:25 PM

Hello to all, I am beginning the search to possibly acquire a piece of land primarily for hunting (hopefully not to retreat to if things keep going the way they are). I am in New Braunfels and have pretty deep roots, so I can't imagine straying too far. Being in this area gives me a pretty broad and diverse selection of areas from hill country to south Texas brush and even coastal plains. I don't have millions to spend (probably closer to $350k) and here's what I'm finding so far in my price range...
-Western Hill Country (Rocksprings, Sonora, etc) : Pretty large parcels of land. 100-200 acres. Many have cabins, maybe rain catchment, electric. Rocky as can be and likely not good for much other than hunting.
-Brush Country (Duval Co, Zapata Co) : smaller tracts (50-75 acres). Chance for "muy grande" buck. Easier to work if we ever needed to grow anything. I worry a little at the fact that Freer has been shot out through the years.
-Coastal Plains (Bee County, Live Oak Co., Goliad area) : like brush country, smaller tracs, but fertile land. Fairly diverse and abundant wildlife. Close to coast for fishing.

With these very diverse areas in mind I'd love to hear some opinions on hunting and general enjoyment of these lands. In other words, what would you chose? Any thoughts or experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Posted By: Creekrunner

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/26/20 10:33 PM

welcome This is a great place to get all kinds of information.

A realtor told me many, many years ago - if you can get more than 2 hours away from San Antonio or Austin, you can get TRIPLE the amount of land for the same amount of money. I would go west, or northwest, if I were you. As far as you can stand the drive. In other words, with the rocks you mentioned, goat country. But the farther northwest you can go, the more it levels out and has fewer rocks.

Good luck on your "hunt". It's a great thing to be able to do. Well done!
Posted By: Stub

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/26/20 10:38 PM

welcome

What Creek said up
Posted By: MikeD77

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/26/20 11:19 PM

Originally Posted by Creekrunner
welcome This is a great place to get all kinds of information.

A realtor told me many, many years ago - if you can get more than 2 hours away from San Antonio or Austin, you can get TRIPLE the amount of land for the same amount of money. I would go west, or northwest, if I were you. As far as you can stand the drive. In other words, with the rocks you mentioned, goat country. But the farther northwest you can go, the more it levels out and has fewer rocks.

Good luck on your "hunt". It's a great thing to be able to do. Well done!

Thanks! When you say “northwest” are we talking Junction/Sonora/Ozona or San Angelo/El Dorado? I’m familiar with the former, but haven’t spent much time much north.
Posted By: ntxtrapper

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/26/20 11:22 PM

https://www.landsoftexas.com/Texas/all-land/250000-350000/
Posted By: skinnerback

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/26/20 11:23 PM

I used to hunt Bee, Goliad, Refugio, Aransas, San Patricio, & Victoria Counties and if I could buy a nice piece of ground there I would.
As much as I like those Counties, I’ve always been a brush country boy though. I’ve hunted Duval, Jim Wells, Jim Hogg, Zapata, & Starr Counties all of my life and have been on the same place in Duval for the last 25 yrs or so.

I’d personally head South, but probably wouldn’t pass on a good property in any of the others lol. Tuff choice, there’s good and bad places in all of them. There’s still plenty of good deer near Freer if you’re lucky enough to find a place. Just gotta find what you’re looking for.

I will say this, if you’re planning on building a high fence in the brush country, depending on where you’re at sooner or later you are probably going to get your fence cut by illegals and drug smugglers. Just comes with the territory.
Posted By: MikeD77

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/26/20 11:25 PM


Yes sir, that has been one of my go-to sites. I’d like to eventually get a broker/realtor, but trying to narrow down region.
Posted By: Creekrunner

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/27/20 12:08 AM

You gotta spend some windshield time and see what just feels right for you. Life's too short to deal with many illegals or scum of the earth smugglers.
Posted By: WRBCGuru

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/27/20 12:23 AM

I was raised in and still live in Live Oak County. Some of the best dove hunting in Texas. Every day I'll have at least 12-15 deer at my back yard feeder that I watch while sitting and sipping a cold
one under the shade of a Live Oak tree that 3 grown men couldn't reach around. In the last few years my turkey population has gone nuts. I'm a one hour drive to the coast and some of the best
saltwater fishing available and 20 min to Choke Canyon Lake for bass, catfish and awesome duck hunting. I'm also a real estate Broker/wildlife biologist specializing in Buyer representation ( in the
event you need someone to guide you through the pitfalls of land buying.) Good luck on your quest
Posted By: MikeD77

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/27/20 12:27 AM


Originally Posted by Creekrunner
You gotta spend some windshield time and see what just feels right for you. Life's too short to deal with many illegals or scum of the earth smugglers.


I’ve hunted Frio Co the past 15 years, most illegals just pass through and don’t mess with much. Won’t be big enough to high fence, so no worries about that. Now, I may sing a different tune once my boys are old enough to hunt alone.
Posted By: MikeD77

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/27/20 12:29 AM

Originally Posted by WRBCGuru
I was raised in and still live in Live Oak County. Some of the best dove hunting in Texas. Every day I'll have at least 12-15 deer at my back yard feeder that I watch while sitting and sipping a cold
one under the shade of a Live Oak tree that 3 grown men couldn't reach around. In the last few years my turkey population has gone nuts. I'm a one hour drive to the coast and some of the best
saltwater fishing available and 20 min to Choke Canyon Lake for bass, catfish and awesome duck hunting. I'm also a real estate Broker/wildlife biologist specializing in Buyer representation ( in the
event you need someone to guide you through the pitfalls of land buying.) Good luck on your quest

You must be successful in sales because I’m sold lol
Posted By: WRBCGuru

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/27/20 01:02 AM

PM Sent
Posted By: txtrophy85

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/27/20 04:55 AM

I’ve brokered ranches In just about every area of the state except for the panhandle.

It’s gonna boil down to 3 things: Budget, Desired game and tolerance for driving distance. First one is gonna determine where the other two fit into place.

Personally, I have fallen in love with the Menard/Kimble/Eastern Sutton county areas the past few years. Good country at good prices with loads of game and still a reasonable distance from SA. Grew up in South Texas but if I was gonna buy tomorrow it would be in one of those 3 counties
Posted By: dogcatcher

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/27/20 05:08 AM

Wrong direction, but a decent amount of land for the dollar and a good location. https://www.landsoftexas.com/property/171-acres-in-Concho-County-Texas/7680461/

Right in the middle of this. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/New+Braunfels,+TX/31.2301404,-99.6508299/Millersview,+TX/@31.2346892,-99.6551361,2318m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m15!4m14!1m5!1m1!1s0x865c9beee3cc091d:0x59ed9c234a123567!2m2!1d-98.1244531!2d29.7030024!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x86577aec4e160523:0x887c4fc5c920c096!2m2!1d-99.7552824!2d31.411159!3e0?hl=en

the bad, too much cultivation and not enough pasture.
Posted By: Ag Hunter 78

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/27/20 05:35 AM

A huge factor wherever you end up is your neighbors. A 50 acre place with big neighbors that don't hunt much or at all would be better than 200 acres where the neighbors shoot anything with 4 legs.
Posted By: Sneaky

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/27/20 05:56 AM

Are you going to call it a ranch? If so, I ain’t helping.
Posted By: maximum

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/27/20 06:10 AM

JMHO- after I found what I wanted, the first place I'd
stop would be the county tax office to make sure there's
no past due taxes, and to get some idea of what the
annual taxes would be for what it is now and after I
did whatever improvements I wanted to make.
Also get some idea of what any utilities would cost
to bring in or if they're even available.

Good Luck
Posted By: snake oil

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/27/20 12:30 PM

Anywhere but Young County. grin
Posted By: Dave Scott

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/28/20 12:07 AM

I'm sort of thinking the same thing. If funds are limited(even if a good amount) then off hand I'd think the brush country might work better as far as numbers of deer. In the wide open spaces- like west of Del Rio- unless the land was broeken up real good- I'm not sure on deer densities. The brush country would get more rain if you also wanted to grown things.
Posted By: freerange

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/28/20 05:23 PM

You said this land would be "primarily for hunting." Buying land for investment reasons is usually a good idea and if you want just a place out of the city to get away and do some general outdoor recreation then you are still on course. Some people just like the concept of owning land and they enjoy all the time and effort and hard work that it takes to maintain it. However, if your goal is "primarily for hunting" then my suggestion would be to really make an important decision about what kind of hunting you are looking for. What kind of game and what quality and quantity are you looking for. You kind of half heartedly mentioned a "chance for muy grande" so you need to ask yourself how much of a chance you want at that. Considering a small property you are talking about buying you will be completely at the mercy of your neighbors to have much of a consistent chance at a large buck. Once again, maybe thats not your goal and just basic hunting/outdoor recreation is all you want so you would be fine. TxTrophys 3 things were very good advise for sure. Good luck.
Posted By: MikeD77

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/28/20 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by freerange
You said this land would be "primarily for hunting." Buying land for investment reasons is usually a good idea and if you want just a place out of the city to get away and do some general outdoor recreation then you are still on course. Some people just like the concept of owning land and they enjoy all the time and effort and hard work that it takes to maintain it. However, if your goal is "primarily for hunting" then my suggestion would be to really make an important decision about what kind of hunting you are looking for. What kind of game and what quality and quantity are you looking for. You kind of half heartedly mentioned a "chance for muy grande" so you need to ask yourself how much of a chance you want at that. Considering a small property you are talking about buying you will be completely at the mercy of your neighbors to have much of a consistent chance at a large buck. Once again, maybe thats not your goal and just basic hunting/outdoor recreation is all you want so you would be fine. TxTrophys 3 things were very good advise for sure. Good luck.


When I say “primarily for hunting” it’s that with all the turmoil in the world I can’t rule out a place to homestead if sh*t really hit the fan. We recently adopted 3 kids on top of our current 3, so there’s no plans to make the land someplace sustainable, but it sure would be nice to have if it was absolutely necessary (this is why I have some concerns about rocky western hill country). I’ve bought enough houses and boats in my life to know there’s never a perfect place that checks every box. I grew up hunting south Texas, so I love the land, but I also know the challenges smaller tracs can have with all the high fencing.
Posted By: Hudbone

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/28/20 06:50 PM

Then go where there is opportunity for deer and where pigs are prevalent. Look between NB and the coast.
Posted By: VernonTXHunt

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/29/20 08:41 PM

Im in north texas and we have land going for under 1000 an acre to around 2000 on the high side. If you are interested let me know!
Posted By: Dalroo

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/29/20 09:28 PM

We did a similar search, but starting within 3 hours of Fort Worth, and we plan to eventually live on our place once we retire. Ended up in far south Brown County and found several available properties in the $2500/acre range - some more, some less depending on size and improvements. We could not be happier with our place - lots of animals, good grazing, still some pasture, water, etc.

From NB, maybe go up toward Brady/San Saba area. Mason? Still within a comfortable driving distance, and good deals to be found.
Posted By: Pitchfork Predator

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/29/20 09:30 PM

Black Hills of South Dakota up
Posted By: MikeD77

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/29/20 11:54 PM

Originally Posted by Dalroo
We did a similar search, but starting within 3 hours of Fort Worth, and we plan to eventually live on our place once we retire. Ended up in far south Brown County and found several available properties in the $2500/acre range - some more, some less depending on size and improvements. We could not be happier with our place - lots of animals, good grazing, still some pasture, water, etc.

From NB, maybe go up toward Brady/San Saba area. Mason? Still within a comfortable driving distance, and good deals to be found.

I have seen some good deals in those counties and it looks like pretty country. I’m just completely unfamiliar with the area and the game it offers ( 95% of the hunting I’ve done has been in south Texas). That Brownwood/San Saba area is about at the 3 hr range for us too.
Posted By: Dalroo

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 06/30/20 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by MikeD77
Originally Posted by Dalroo
We did a similar search, but starting within 3 hours of Fort Worth, and we plan to eventually live on our place once we retire. Ended up in far south Brown County and found several available properties in the $2500/acre range - some more, some less depending on size and improvements. We could not be happier with our place - lots of animals, good grazing, still some pasture, water, etc.

From NB, maybe go up toward Brady/San Saba area. Mason? Still within a comfortable driving distance, and good deals to be found.

I have seen some good deals in those counties and it looks like pretty country. I’m just completely unfamiliar with the area and the game it offers ( 95% of the hunting I’ve done has been in south Texas). That Brownwood/San Saba area is about at the 3 hr range for us too.


Can only speak to my immediate area - we have a large deer population and I am overrun with does - sometimes seeing as many as 15 or 20 a sit. Brown County is an AR county, and it seems the buck population is improving, but still probably not the consistent rack size of other parts of Texas. The shooters I see are mostly 8 points, but occasionally see larger bucks. Lots of hogs to shoot, but I am fortunate in that we are not overrun on my place. I've trapped 4 boars over the past 6 months, but don't see huge sounders with any frequency. Good dove and turkey hunting in the area, and will occasionally catch the renegade Axis on camera, but I've never seen one while hunting my place.

3 hours was kind of my break distance. Fortunately, if traffic out of the city cooperates, we are two hours and forty minutes out, so if needed, sometimes I will make a day trip down, but it makes for a long day.
Posted By: TXNDN

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 07/04/20 03:46 PM

I found my "dream" property 8 miles South of Junction(Kimble County)in August 2018. 50 acres, 800 sq ft cabin, big porch, metal barn, cedar storage bldg., 3 good stands w 5 working feeders, 240K. Electricity and water. My neighbors are 1,000 acres, 300, 100 and 18 acres. My 18 acre neighbor is full time and does dozer work. Nice to have him so close! The amount of whitetail we see is incredible! Close to 20 a hunt on several occasions. Not any wallhanger bucks but enough mature 8's if that what a hunter wants. We killed 2 Axis in our first year and we harvested 7 last hunting season and Spring this year. Four of those were very nice bucks that were just below or just above 30" main beam. All 4 are being mounted by very happy hunters! The one bonus of this property we didn't plan on is the South Llano River being so close. There are 4 public river crossings within 5 miles of my property. The river fun(tubing, kayaking, swimming) has already given us many hours of great family memories. Truly makes this a year round destination. My girls(18 and 25)are not really into hunting anymore but love to bring their BF's and friends to the "Ranch" and tube the river. A river nearby may be a bonus for you as well. I would not recommend a suddivided ranch. Cody Plumley in Junction is my realtor(and friend now). Highly recommend him. Good luck in the search!!
Posted By: MikeD77

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 07/04/20 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by TXNDN
I found my "dream" property 8 miles South of Junction(Kimble County)in August 2018. 50 acres, 800 sq ft cabin, big porch, metal barn, cedar storage bldg., 3 good stands w 5 working feeders, 240K. Electricity and water. My neighbors are 1,000 acres, 300, 100 and 18 acres. My 18 acre neighbor is full time and does dozer work. Nice to have him so close! The amount of whitetail we see is incredible! Close to 20 a hunt on several occasions. Not any wallhanger bucks but enough mature 8's if that what a hunter wants. We killed 2 Axis in our first year and we harvested 7 last hunting season and Spring this year. Four of those were very nice bucks that were just below or just above 30" main beam. All 4 are being mounted by very happy hunters! The one bonus of this property we didn't plan on is the South Llano River being so close. There are 4 public river crossings within 5 miles of my property. The river fun(tubing, kayaking, swimming) has already given us many hours of great family memories. Truly makes this a year round destination. My girls(18 and 25)are not really into hunting anymore but love to bring their BF's and friends to the "Ranch" and tube the river. A river nearby may be a bonus for you as well. I would not recommend a suddivided ranch. Cody Plumley in Junction is my realtor(and friend now). Highly recommend him. Good luck in the search!!

Thanks for the info. I’ve wondered about these large ranches that are selling smaller tracs. Sounds good on the surface as many are/were exotic ranches, but I fear everyone buys 50 acres and think they just purchased to YO. I feel like a place could get shot out pretty fast that way.
Posted By: Creekrunner

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 07/04/20 04:28 PM

Can we hush up about this area now? grin
Posted By: jetdad

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 07/04/20 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by TXNDN
I found my "dream" property 8 miles South of Junction(Kimble County)in August 2018. 50 acres, 800 sq ft cabin, big porch, metal barn, cedar storage bldg., 3 good stands w 5 working feeders, 240K. Electricity and water. My neighbors are 1,000 acres, 300, 100 and 18 acres. My 18 acre neighbor is full time and does dozer work. Nice to have him so close! The amount of whitetail we see is incredible! Close to 20 a hunt on several occasions. Not any wallhanger bucks but enough mature 8's if that what a hunter wants. We killed 2 Axis in our first year and we harvested 7 last hunting season and Spring this year. Four of those were very nice bucks that were just below or just above 30" main beam. All 4 are being mounted by very happy hunters! The one bonus of this property we didn't plan on is the South Llano River being so close. There are 4 public river crossings within 5 miles of my property. The river fun(tubing, kayaking, swimming) has already given us many hours of great family memories. Truly makes this a year round destination. My girls(18 and 25)are not really into hunting anymore but love to bring their BF's and friends to the "Ranch" and tube the river. A river nearby may be a bonus for you as well. I would not recommend a suddivided ranch. Cody Plumley in Junction is my realtor(and friend now). Highly recommend him. Good luck in the search!!


Would love to find a place like that to retire on. Another 3-4 years and I'll begin my search.
Posted By: Dave Davidson

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 07/05/20 02:23 PM

I was where you are 35 or so years ago. I defined my objectives and drew a circle about how far I would travel from the Fort Worth area. East Texas was not considered because I would have to go through Dallas traffic to get there.Next was look for realtor web sites within that parameter. Then I started calling realtors. Most didn't take me seriously. In other words, they didn't have what I needed at that time and I never heard from any of them. Then I hit one in Bowie that had a POS that was all trees, rocks, and not really suitable for grazing or crops. It was 133 acres at, I believe, $350 per acre. Butt deep in deer, rattle snakes, turkeys, ticks, chiggers, poison oak and scorpions. Also, end of the road off a county road(seclusion). I bought it with the help of a Texas Veterans Land Loan and paid it off quite a few years ago. Had a road built and later a one acre tank for fishing.

Call realtors and realize that you can always change places that might not be perfect.
Posted By: ILUVBIGBUCKS

Re: Buying Land. Where? - 07/07/20 01:56 PM

There is 2 acres across the FM road from my gate. You can get it for the bargain price of just $80k!
SMDH

Seriously, I hope you find the place you are looking for but the reality is that anything you find/buy you are probably going to be thinking this is too damn expensive. The good thing is though in about 10 years you are going to be thinking "why in the hell didn't I buy more"!
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