This column is part of a regular weekly series highlighting the largest land sales recorded each week through the Lands of America Comparable Sales program. To learn more and participate in the program, or to subscribe, click here.
Congratulations to Sam Middleton with Chas S. Middleton & Son for his sale of 31,789-acre Ford Ranch in central Texas this week. This sale occurred on June 19, 2017, and was submitted through the Lands of America Comparable Sales program.
Ford Ranch lays claim to one of the largest free-ranging whitetails ever shot in Texas, the legendary ‘Brady Buck.’
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Originally purchased in the 1840s by the Ford family, the massive holding sits smack-dab in the center of the Lone Star State and has been under the same ownership since the early 1900s. This week’s sale is the first time the property has changed hands in over a century.
The terrain on the Ford Ranch varies from lower fertile bottomlands to gently sloping hills and upland areas. Elevations throughout the ranch range from approximately 1,900 feet in the lower bottomlands to 2,100 feet on the uplands. Its fertile mix of native grasses supports a ranching operation that has historically been in the range of 1,000 to 1,200 animal units. With open country transitioning to areas of moderate to fairly dense cover, the ranch also offers outstanding habitat for other wildlife.
Read More: All in the Family: Interview with Sam Middleton
Along with income from livestock, Ford Ranch is a well-established commercial-hunting venue, attracting dozens of hunters on select weekends throughout the year to hunt whitetail deer, turkey and quail, as well as free-ranging axis deer. The ranch generally takes in 16 to 18 deer hunters over five to six weekends during whitetail season, plus caters to turkey hunters and quail hunters. The ranch’s current longtime manager has stated that it is common for quail hunters to locate 15-20 coveys per day.
Ford Ranch lays claim to one of the largest free-ranging whitetails ever shot in Texas, the legendary “Brady Buck.” Killed in 1892, this one animal held the Boone & Crockett record for over a quarter-century and is the genetic forebear of the big bucks that today roam Ford Ranch and the surrounding areas of McCulloch, Menard and Concho counties.
View Sam Middleton’s other listings on Lands of America
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