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 King Land & Water, a conservation-focused ranch and farm brokerage based in Fort Davis and Austin, Texas, for this week’s sale of 13,468-acre Coyanosa Draw Ranch in West Texas’ Pecos County. Along with being the largest sale recorded through the Lands of America Comparable Sales program in the past seven days, it was also the week’s most expensive sale ($6.7 million).
View property listing on Lands of America
Coyanosa Draw Ranch occupies a broad valley framed by a series of limestone hills and wooded draws, including its eponymous Coyanosa Draw. With elevations ranging from 3,100 to 3,500 feet, the ranch supports a mix of vegetation typical of the mid-Chihuahuan Desert region such as century plants, Spanish dagger, yucca and trees including creosote, mesquite, hackberry and soap berry. Native grasslands provide excellent forage for livestock as well as habitat for mule deer and native birds and mammals.
Sitting atop a large freshwater aquifer, Coyanosa Draw Ranch offers plentiful water sources that are carefully distributed through a network of storage tanks and troughs. The ranch is also home to an existing network of oil and gas wells, for which some leases and royalties will convey, offering an additional opportunity to develop the ranch’s irrigated cropland component.
Deep in the heart of West Texas, Pecos County is at the frontier of what one might consider the true Wild West, a land of massive cattle ranches, centuries-long cowboy culture and sweeping high-desert panoramas. The ranch itself is quite accessible from nearby Fort Stockton, plus via a series of internal roads, but offers ample opportunities to escape and roam.
Mule deer and elk are the primary game animals, with blue quail and dove offering other feathered quarry. Coyotes, javelina, bobcats and badgers are also present. Birders will appreciate the abundance of raptors including golden eagles and hawks, plus the seasonal appearance of migratory birds like orioles, hummingbirds, warblers and flycatchers.
View all of King Land & Water’s land listings on Lands of America
In Case You Missed It: Read our 2014 interview with King Land & Water’s James and Tammy King, where they discuss the importance of land conservation, their experiences selling land in Texas and their thoughts about the future of the land and real-estate business.
Land buyers can access Lands of America’s comprehensive database of historic sales information by purchasing a LandsInsight account ($199/year), while platinum and basic sellers receive complimentary access through the Land.com Network’s Property Control Center. Click here for more information about participating in the Comparable Sales program.