Location: Val Verde

UNDER CONTRACT

Location

The highly improved 4M Ranch is a world unto itself with an incredible suite of world class improvements including a 5,000 ft paved runway, crushed rock roads, headquarters complex, and set out miles away on a limestone perch sits a truly remarkable 10,000± sq/ft home with infinity pool peering down at the 4 miles of Lower Pecos River frontage below.   Stunning, complete, and perfect are words that come to mind.  Located 16 miles north of Langtry on county-maintained Pandale Road, the ranch includes a scenic, wild segment of the Lower Pecos River and its spring fed gin-clear waters. 4M Ranch is a turnkey paradise.

4M Ranch was home to the Pecos Culture of hunter/gatherers dating back 4,000 years, who left a legacy of extensive rock art over 8,000 square miles. The area was also known for pioneers of the late 1800’s such as Judge Roy Bean at Langtry, and his “law West of the Pecos”, as well as Lieutenant John Bullis, commander of the Seminole Indian Scouts fighting in the Pecos River skirmishes in 1870.  Today the Pecos River is a ranch and recreation neighborhood with a wilderness multi-night world-class canoe and kayak experience to enjoy.  Crossing through high canyon walls in a series of rapids and pools with world-class clear-water fishing; one of the most unique float trips in North America.

Acreage

10,955± acres in Val Verde County

Description

4M Ranch has a Conservation Easement on 90% of the property with the ability to divide the ranch into five tracts with five large building envelopes.  This is part of a regional conservation effort to help maintain the wild character and spring flow of this important river stretch.  4M Ranch has completed the tasteful construction and creation of one of the finest improved live-water properties in Texas. The Lower Pecos River is fed by a series of springs starting south of I-10, the largest Caroline Spring being located on the 19,500 ac Independence Creek Preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy 50 miles upstream.  This protected outflow of the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer changes the river into a spring-fed reach with water quality reveling the Devils River to the east although here it is much more private!

Improvements are divided into several areas:

Headquarter Complex, Main Lodge and Guest House, River Frontage, and the Ranch Deer Hunting Amenities

Main Lodge and Guest House

Past the headquarters complex three miles along a flat ridge on a beautiful winding road is the stunning Main House and Guest House.  The site, out on a limestone knife point towering over the river canyon 400 feet below, takes your breath away. Electricity all the way from the headquarters to this homesite is buried protecting the landscape views.   The heating and cooling at the main house are a geothermal system.

Main House

• 10,000± sq/ft rock custom home with impeccable landscaping and interior finishes.
• Large master with 2 bathrooms, one containing glass shower with a stunning river view.
• Four guest suites all with large private full baths, views, and separate outside entrances.
• Upstairs bunkroom with 4 queen bunks, two full baths, and a laundry room
• Electric large window coverings.
• Entryway with artwork display and stairway to second floor.
• Bar area with pass through windows to outside patios, ice maker, glass chiller and two drink/wine coolers.
• Kitchen with many amenities including large custom island with bar stools for 10, double sink, Kitchen-aid dishwasher, Wolf 6 burner gas stove, Woodstone Pizza Oven, Custom Walk-in Fridge, pantry with subzero wine cooler and Thermador two oven range as well as a commercial Hobart dishwasher. Kitchen also has pass through windows to patio.
• The entire house is controlled remotely via iPad or mobile phone using a Savant Home Automation System including; security, audio-visual, cooling, heating, and lighting.
• Game Room has surround sound entertainment center, fireplace, large view windows, shuffleboard and sliding doors to outside private patio overlooking a canyon which feeds into the Pecos River.
• Massive dining room table next to ceiling to floor entry window.
• Custom Chestnut antique large plank wooden floors.
• Two car garage with storage closets.
• Large utility room with washer dryer and half bath.
• Office with custom desk set into window nook with river views.
• Huge outdoor covered porches around back of house with a variety sitting areas, dining areas, bars, all with steps down to multi-level limestone patios surrounding pool and fire pit.
• Custom infinity pool/hot spa bordered by custom stonework providing stunning unobstructed views of Pecos River below.
• Pool lounge and several hidden sitting areas on outside walkway looking out into one of a kind river and canyon views.
• Separate cantilevered wine and cigar building with glass doors and outside porch looking into the confluence of Goat Canyon and the Pecos River.
• Landscaping lights and security system with cameras.
• Front entrance patio.
• Buried electricity with backup generator wired into system.
• Crushed rock winding entrance road form working headquarters out to the main house and guest house.

Guest House

• Two large bedrooms each with two queen beds and full baths as well as pull out sofas.
• Great room with bar, attached kitchen and side utility room with ice maker.
• Wall size sliding doors opens onto large, covered porch with view of river canyon.
• Cantilevered covered shooting porch and skeet range with seven remote controlled throwers contained in all-weather housings and a rifle range toward the river with multiple targets reaching out to 800 feet.

Headquarters Complex

The Headquarters complex is the working hub of the ranch and contains a variety of quality improvements a short distance off the Pandale Road accessed through a private electric high fence gate on a crushed rock road.  These improvements include:

• Forman’s house with outdoor porch, covered large vegetable garden and landscaping.
• Ranch workers house with outdoor porch and landscaping.
• Overflow large house for ranch guests with large covered porch.
• Electric pump water well with indigenous rock tank swimming pool and deck.
• Dog Kennel and game bird aviary.
• Large metal barn and equipment shop with state-of-the-art deer cleaning facilities and walk-in cooler. Large overhead doors for easy access into shop.
• The barn has two second story exterior efficiency apartments with lower queen, upper twin bunk and full kitchens. Below the efficiency apartments is a two-bedroom, full kitchen/den bunkroom for extra hunters or pilots visiting the ranch.
• The north and south of the barn are covered and have a concrete foundation to accommodate vehicles, tractors, hunting trucks and various equipment.
• Paved 5,000 x 80 foot paved airstrip (48TE) with runway 18 and 36 oriented in a north-south direction with high fence for deer protection.
• Covered drive-through airplane or jet steel shade structure on taxiway.

River Frontage

The river frontage on 4M Ranch is one-of-a-kind on the Lower Pecos which generally is shrouded with huge limestone bluffs and cliffs.  Here there is an all-weather road that gently falls off the hill at the main house to the river’s edge.  With over a mile of Pecos River accessible by vehicle to water’s edge you can literally drive within the flat limestone riverbed where you can easily load and offload canoes and kayaks.  River features include:

• 4 miles of Lower Pecos River frontage.
• Crushed rock river access road with river cattle guard to keep wild horses from rest of ranch.
• 1-mile vehicle water’s edge access.
• Over a mile of mowed broad river bottom meadow.
• Several natural springs and spring runs into river through meadow.
• Planted fruit and native trees along meadow and springs.
• Dirt tank with supplemented well water for year-round use.
• Easy access into mouth of Goat Canyon where you can hike to hanging fern springs and miles of tributary canyon bottoms.
• Incredible swimming areas with shallow runs and deeper natural pools.
• Large yellow limestone bluffs on opposite riverbanks capture light for incredible sunrise and sunset colors.

Deer Hunting Amenities

The remaining ranch has over 30 miles of easy-access crushed rock roads with culverts that give access to a diversity of habitats for hunting.

Improvements here include:

• 23 elevated deer blinds with 23 protein and 23 corn feeders.
• 16 water troughs and 40 bird waterers fed by a poly pipe system from six high-capacity solar wells and elevated storage.
• Introduced Whitetail deer genetics and enhanced breeding bucks and does in 2000 and have been intensely breeding deer for release on the ranch.
• Three year-round water surface tanks fed by well water.
• Over five plowed food plots for dove and deer feed.
• Six whitetail breeding pens with water and shade structures.
• High fence large trap next to pens for breeding deer.
• 1,758 ac Mule deer high fenced pasture with three breeding pens. Whitetail deer were removed in 2011/12 with the last Mule Deer Triple T in the State to 4M Ranch in 2013.
• The “Promontory” is the highest point on the ranch in the mule deer pasture with a rock patio/wind break/sundowner pavilion with firepit, stone picnic table and cooking grill.
• Stockpiled crushed rock for future road repairs.
• High security fence along three sides of ranch excluding river.

Habitat

The ranch is situated at the convergence of three biologically distinct eco-regions in Texas; the Texas Hill Country to the east, the Chihuahuan Desert to the west, and the subtropical Tamaulipan Brushland to the south, creating one of the most unique wildlife habitats in the state.  From ocotillo and sotol, to oak and juniper woodlands, to persimmon and ceniza, the ranch represents a crossroads of diverse habitats.  The property’s browse and grasslands are in excellent condition as the ranch has focused on its wildlife resources with today’s recreation uses of hunting, fishing, canoeing and enjoyment of the scenic beauty.  Native grasses, forbs, browse, brush, cacti and trees not only provide excellent habitat for game species such as mule deer, quail, dove, turkey, mountain lion, aoudad, bobcat and fox but also for non-game species such as bear, Texas horned lizard, neotropical songbirds, Texas tortoise, Rio Grande beaver and native fish   species.

This hunting and recreation ranch enjoys more than 4 miles of crystal-clear spring-fed Pecos River frontage, which provides some of the best recreation water in the country. Elevations are between 1,300 and 2,000 feet with numerous steep carved limestone canyons some with 200-foot sheer faces.

Wildlife

The combination of river, canyons, topography, browse, and habitat creates a wildlife-rich environment for both the hunter and wildlife watcher.  From the enhanced whitetail and mule deer population, Rio Grande turkey, dove, quail, mountain lion, and aoudad to neotropical songbirds, osprey, beaver, butterflies, fox, rabbits, and ringtail cat, the upland and riparian diversity of wildlife is unequaled.  This ranch has a special significance in the large deer harvested each year and through its carefully implemented MLD Program with TPWD the size and numbers are flourishing and second to none in this region of Texas.  Deer harvested on the ranch over the past three years have included several bucks that have scored in excess of 240 and one over 300.

The river itself is an important body of water for the region with its native fish and fauna, as well as game fish like small and large mouth bass, black bass, and catfish.  From fly fishing in the shoals and riffles, to bottom fishing the clear deep holes, this ranch is an angler’s dream.

Water

The Lower Pecos River, much like the nearby Devils River, is supported by area springs as outflow from the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer and located in one the most intact river environments in Texas offering unique streamside habitat such as willow, live oak, hackberry, mesquite, river cane, and many riparian plants, including a wide diversity of flowers and blooming cacti.

Much of the Lower Pecos is hidden behind dense stands of river cane, but not this property.  You can walk for miles along the river frontage with hundreds of swimming holes and areas perfect for canoeing, fishing, or just lying on the smooth rocks next to its shallows.  It is recreation at its best.  The Lower Pecos River area is all private land with limited access for launching canoes, creating a wilderness quality usually found only in our country’s largest National Parks.

Along with the 4 miles of river frontage there are four solar powered and two electric wells serving 16 water toughs and 40 small ground tanks for birds as well as three supplemented surface tanks.  Tinajas in the deep canyons are abundant and a series of springs within Goat Canyon and along the Pecos provide year-round natural water.

Photo & Video credits: Laurence Parent, Raleigh Photos & Waterform.space

SOLD

Location

Pecos Canyon Ranch is a world unto itself, located 6 miles north of Langtry on county-maintained Pandale Road and fronting on some of the most scenic wild segments of the Lower Pecos River and its spring fed gin-clear waters. Harkell Canyon (“Jacal” by locals) meanders from its mouth at the Pecos to the north end of the ranch, carving the massive limestone landscape into some of the most spectacular canyonlands in Texas. The ranch is 60 miles from Del Rio on US 90 and 60 miles from Ozona on I-10. The ranch is also a two-night wilderness canoe trip downstream from the Pandale Crossing, through high canyon walls and world-class clear water fishing; one of the most amazing float trips in North America.

Pecos Canyon Ranch was home to the Pecos Culture of hunter/gatherers dating back 4,000 years, who left a legacy of extensive rock art over 8,000 square miles. The area was also known for pioneers of the late 1800’s such as Judge Roy Bean at Langtry, and his “law west of the Pecos”, as well as Lieutenant John Bullis, commander of the Seminole Indian Scouts, fighting in the Pecos River skirmishes in 1870.

Description

The Pecos Canyon Ranch’s 8,459+/- acres are dominated by the river and the canyonlands that drain into it. It is really two ranches, split by the county road, with excellent new fences and entrance gates for privacy and security. The western 1/3 has the old headquarters ruins with two wells and lots of Juniper cover with rolling hills and dense vegetation along Harkell Canyon, perfect for mule deer and Blue Quail hunting. The eastern 2/3rds is dominated by huge slick-rock canyons, high Ceniza mesas, and 1.5 miles of the Lower Pecos River. There are two wells on this side with several water troughs, one serving the main dwelling, which is a modern manufactured home with custom BBQ deck, elevated steel viewing platform, and a fire ring on the canyon edge, all looking at the limestone bluffs and river gorge views.

The ranch is situated at the convergence of three biologically distinct eco-regions in Texas; the Texas Hill Country to the east, the Chihuahuan Desert to the west, and the subtropical Tamaulipan Brushland to the south, creating one of the most unique wildlife habitats in the state. This working ranch enjoys more than 1.5 miles of crystal clear spring-fed Pecos River frontage, which provides some of the best recreation water in the country. Elevations are between 1,300 and 1,800 feet with numerous steep carved limestone canyons some with 200 foot sheer faces.

Habitat

Tamaulipan brushland, hill country and Chihuahuan Desert habitats are all part of the Pecos Canyon Ranch. From Ocotillo and Sotol, to oak and Juniper woodlands, to Persimmon and Ceniza, the ranch represents a crossroads of diverse habitats. The property’s browse and grasslands are in excellent condition as the ranch has evolved from a well-managed historic sheep ranch into today’s recreation uses: hunting, fishing, canoeing and enjoyment of the scenic beauty. Native grasses, forbs, browse, brush, cacti and trees not only provide excellent habitat for game species such as mule deer, quail, and dove, but also for non-game species such as Texas horned lizard, neotropical songbirds, Texas tortoise, Rio Grande beaver and native fish species.

Wildlife

The combination of river, canyons, topography, browse, and habitat creates a wildlife-rich environment for both the hunter and wildlife watcher. From the abundant whitetail deer, Rio Grande turkey, dove, quail, and feral goats to neotropical songbirds, osprey, beaver, butterflies, fox, rabbits, and ringtail cat, the upland and riparian diversity of wildlife is unequaled.

The river itself is an important body of water for the region with its native fish fauna, as well as game fish like small mouth bass, black bass, and catfish. From fly fishing in the shoals and riffles, to bottom fishing the clear deep holes, this ranch is an angler’s dream.

Water

The Lower Pecos River, much like the nearby Devils River, is supported by area springs as well as outflow from the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer and is located in one of the most intact river environments in Texas offering unique streamside habitat such as willow, live oak, hackberry, mesquite, river cane, and many riparian plants, including a wide diversity of flowers and blooming cacti.

The river is accessed by roads at northern and southern points where you can get very close to the river’s banks and, in-between, a natural walkway of bedded limestone, creating shallows, fluted channels, pools, lakes, riffles, and falls. Much of the Lower Pecos is hidden behind dense stands of river cane, but not this property. You can walk almost the entire river frontage with hundreds of swimming holes and areas perfect for canoeing, fishing, or just lying on the smooth rocks next to its shallows. It is recreation at its best. The Lower Pecos River area is all private land with limited access for launching canoes, creating a wilderness quality usually found only in our country’s largest National Parks.

There are four wells on the ranch, all working, supplying concrete storage tanks, as well as various water troughs for wildlife and livestock.

Location

South Cauthorn Ranch is located between Ozona and Comstock on Highway 163 near the old town of Juno. Along more than a mile of highway frontage, the main entrance is found directly across from the historic Mayfield’s Country Store that used to supply local ranchers.

Acreage

2,082 +/- Acres in Val Verde County.

Description

High grassy mesas with distant views, deep wooded canyons and wide winding valleys combine on South Cauthorn Ranch to create endless opportunities for recreation and adventure. The old historic Cauthorn Headquarters located at the back of a private secluded canyon on the ranch once remodeled will create a dream property.

South Cauthorn Ranch and the surrounding landscape are part of the Devil’s River Basin, a biologically diverse and significant watershed surrounding the most pristine river in the state. This area is situated at the convergence of three biologically distinct eco-regions in Texas, the Texas Hill Country to the east, the Chihuahuan Desert to the west, and the subtropical Tamaulipan Brushland to the south, creating one of the most unique wildlife habitats in the state.

The ranch and some of its larger surrounding neighbors are protected by conservation easements held by The Nature Conservancy that preserve the natural beauty and wildlife of this rare landscape while allowing recreation and limited development.

A short drive south to Baker’s Crossing on the Devil’s River makes the ranch an excellent access point for recreation on the river. The gin clear cool waters of the river make for extraordinary kayaking, fishing, camping and swimming, all the way downriver to the Devil’s River State Natural Area.

Habitat and Wildlife

Tamaulipan Brushland, Hill Country, and Chihuahuan Desert habitats are all part of the South Cauthorn Ranch. From Ocatillo and Sotol, to Live Oak and Juniper woodlands, to Black Brush and Guajllio, the Ranch represents a crossroads of diverse habitats.  With use of the land converted from historic uses of sheep grazing to recreational enjoyment, the property’s browse and grasslands are in remarkable condition.  Native grasses, forbs, browse, brush, cacti and trees not only provide excellent habitat for game species such as Whitetail Deer, Aoudad, turkey, quail, and dove but also for non-game species such as Texas horned lizard, neo-tropical songbirds, Texas tortoise, Montezuma quail, and Monarch butterflies.

The Ranch’s Whitetail deer population has been extensively managed to create a high-quality balanced herd, and along with trophy Aoudad, create a world-class hunting opportunity amongst remarkable terrain. The property also boasts great bird hunting with extensive turkey populations, blue and Bobwhite Quail and Mourning Dove.

Improvements and Water

The old headquarters on the ranch is no longer in use, but making repairs to the main house and swimming pool would result in a great quiet compound nestled in the back of a canyon. Several barns and outbuildings, a carport, and a set of pens are also located at the headquarters. There is a dirt airstrip located alongside the main road up to the house.

Groundwater under the ranch is relatively shallow and of excellent quality. Two submersible wells provide water to rock storage tanks and a series of troughs around the ranch.