Anyone want to help me look for a hunting/recreational/investment property?

[Greybeard]

These properties are on the eastern side of the WMA, the mule deer hunting is better on the west side.

You are correct, however I've seen a lot of mulies in the fields on private land east of the WMA near the road leading up to it, and mulies around the office which is also on the east side. The biggest whitetails are taken on the east side as well.

 

[npaden]

I seem to be good at finding places that people with way more money than me want. The 388 acres that hadn't been listed yet finally was officially for sale at $2,000 per acre and I was going to go look at it Thursday and the realtor just told me today that someone just offered way over asking price and the sellers had already accepted it.

Right now I'm leaning toward the 320 acre place that is an hour and 50 minute drive which is a little further than I would like but it seems to be the best whitetail place at least right now.

https://www.land.com/property/320-acres-in-cottle-county-texas/23418654/

It has a little CRP income which would more than offset any holding costs and is pretty much ready to go other than I might need to get some of the electric lines moved around a bit if I want to park my trailer up there.

The 213 acre place might be a little better overall property with a better pond and both mule deer and whitetail, but don't seem to quite have the trophy quality at least on the pictures they have listed. It is right at an hour and 30 minutes. It is quite a bit more per acre also.

https://www.land.com/property/213-acres-in-motley-county-texas/23404931/

The cheapest place per acre is the 381.5 acre place that is down south.

https://www.land.com/property/381.5-acres-in-scurry-county-texas/22521278/

It looks like it has plenty of whitetails, just not sure on the trophy quality. It has a pump jack and some storage tanks that are an eyesore but probably wouldn't affect the hunting any. It MIGHT have aoudad, but it would be very occasional if it did. No trail camera pictures of anything.

My sale got pushed back to October 31st so still looking. Thinking about making a low offer on the 320 acre place up in Cottle County and seeing if they will take it.

 

[npaden]

Well I think I'm done looking. We made an offer on the 320 acre place in Cottle County and after a little bit of back and forth came to a price that was a little more than I wanted to pay and a little less than they wanted so probably a fair deal all around. Realtor even took a 1% reduction in their commission to make it happen.

It's going to end up costing me $6,000ish to move from my 160 acre place in Fisher County to a 320 acre place in Cottle County with the high price I got for selling my existing place to the data center folks. I sold for $3,700 an acre and am buying for $1,875 an acre. The Cottle County place is getting about $3,000 a year in CRP and I was only getting $600 a year in CRP in Fisher County so I think that will more than cover the extra price over the 7 years left on the CRP contract so I can legitimately say that it was pretty much a straight across swap from a money perspective. Kind of nice getting to double the size of the property and have a step up in the quality of deer for essentially no money out of my pocket.

I think no doubt the quality of the whitetail deer in Cottle County is better than the ones in Fisher County although I've shot a 3 good bucks in the last 3 years in Fisher County. The neighbor in Cottle County shot a 183" whitetail last year so there is for sure potential. There are mule deer around in Cottle County as well (actually saw a doe and 2 fawns looking at it) so there is a chance that could happen vs. I've never had a mule deer on camera in 19 years in Fisher County.

The topography isn't as nice as what we had in Fisher county with a creek bed and some hills but it has 2 wells and rolls at least a little bit and has a ton of edge which seems to really work for whitetails. The 28,0000 acre Matador WMA is 1 mile west and it is kitty corner to a 50,000 acre ranch.

Only real negative is that it is 20 minutes further drive but my son said that would be worth it for a chance at better deer.

Close on the sale is set for 10/31/2025 and close on the purchase is set for 11/13/2025 so will be able to hunt the new place this year. Some decent bucks on camera at the new place so will be interesting to see how it hunts.

Pretty excited. Still never found the perfect place but I think this one is no doubt a really good whitetail hunting spot.