Was at a buddies ranch in Uvalde this past weekend that the Briscoes just bought. I think we will end up leasing it back from Briscoe but it got me looking into their "kingdom" some more. Just incredible amounts of land they own. Ive been on one of their catarina ranches a few times and it never ceases to amaze the amount of country they have.

Side note: We talked with a Briscoe heir this weekend to go over the ranch for a while and he couldn't have been a nicer guy. Had a great conversation.

Leigh? Grew up with both he and DB. Chip and his family are some of the nicest most humble people you'll ever meet.

Yes, Leigh is who we met. Seemed like a stand up guy.

I was on a pad on their ranch near carrizo springs. was 25minute drive in the ranch on a fast road, passing about 6 active fracking pads.... stupid amounts of $$ coming out of the ground.

was on one of their ranches years ago near Uvalde. We got a notice that they were going to chain the entire place and turn it into pasture, so that lease ended.

agrams said:

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I was on a pad on their ranch near carrizo springs. was 25minute drive in the ranch on a fast road, passing about 6 active fracking pads.... stupid amounts of $$ coming out of the ground.

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Former employer bought an Exxon lease down in the Valley. SantaFe Ranch. 20 miles from the highway to our first location I went to. 25 mph, strictly enforced, at least the first 9 miles of ranch road were paved. Absolutely crazy how big some of those ranches are.

seeing 6 pump jacks as big as I've ever seen, shoulder to shoulder going full bore was like watching $$ flow out of the ground.

Briscoe Ranches is still a very generous supporter of the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. Also, i believe that First State Bank of Uvalde (Chip Briscoe, Chairman of the Board) still buys the Grand Champion Steer every year at the Uvalde County Jr. Livestock Show in addition to purchasing many other kid's animals. Good folks.

I hung around with one of the Briscoe boys at a party in San Marcos waaay back in the day.
Shot the bull about hunting for an hour or so drinking keg beer. Super nice guy.

I heard they got somewhere around a billion dollars (give or take a hundred million) for oil leases on their ranches in South Texas.
That's not even the money they'll get for oil royalties.... which will be more than that eventually.

I understand that their primary interest is in water.

If memory serves, Grandpa Dolph was Guv of TX at one time I think.

A bit of a rino if I remember correctly, or maybe he was a bluedog dem.

Anyway, probably on the top 100 private landowners in the country list that has been posted here before.

Dolph was Democratic guv in the '70s when the Democratic Party was a very different party. All parties evolve I guess. He was self-described "moderate-conservative Democrat". Today that would be a DINO.

DB is a professor at A&M San Antonio and Leigh is helping hold down the fort in Uvalde. My mom still sees them occasionally at church in Carrizo. Good dudes despite being baylor bears. Went to my first and only A&M game in Waco with them. An Aggie loss in 2004. Talk about a shatty night.

The Briscoes are good people. I worked on a ranch that bordered one of their places many years ago. They gathered once a year and I was told that they considered a 50% gather to be good. They had so many cattle that many were inbred and crazy, and never saw the pens.. They would get onto our place from time to time. Some of those full grown cows wouldn't weigh 500 pounds but would still try like hell to hook your horse out from under you.

We bought 225 thin pairs they sold at Willard Jordan's in San Saba one wet year for us and dry year for them. I've never seen cattle that wild in the truck before we turned them out. When they hit the bottom of that chute they were at top speed.

Rumor has it the ranch house at the Catarina gate is haunted. Chip would drive the roads in an old beater truck and look for people speeding. I saw some huge deer on that place on the way in and out.

Worked for a company that had stuff right on the river. They'd drive from Carrizo to the river every other day or so. 3 hours through Briscoe Ranch and 3 hours back.

When I was a kid we had a family lease on Briscoe land between brackettville and uvalde for 1 season.

Had to cross the Nueces like 7 times or so. Is the Las Vegas number 2 still in business? Biggest hole in the wall Mexican restaurant I've ever seen this side of the border.

The Lost Hondo said:

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Dolph was Democratic guv in the '70s when the Democratic Party was a very different party. All parties evolve I guess. He was self-described "moderate-conservative Democrat". Today that would be a DINO.

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Yep, aka a Bluedog.... In the mold of the Ag-subsidy Sow's Teet of all time, Charlie Stenholm.

Buddy of mine is on one of their leases - I've hunted with them and the ranch house is the finest "hunting cabin" I've ever visited. Nothing but nice things to say about the Briscoe's, but the speed limit drives them nuts

Those guys say you'd never know they were so rich. I think the number they said was $1M a day coming out of their wells.

My dad almost went to work for Gov Dolph in Austin - politics were indeed very different back then.

I just joined a Briscoe deer lease and ran into Chip Briscoe last fall. He was driving an old Ford pickup. Very friendly and completely unassuming. You wouldn't know him from an old ranch hand. Interesting considering he's supposedly the largest individual landholder in Texas. He's second largest overall (to King Ranch).

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Is the Las Vegas number 2 still in business? Biggest hole in the wall Mexican restaurant I've ever seen this side of the border.

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Las Vegas #2 & #1 have been out of business for a while. One of them was off of US 83 on the north side of town and one was on Evans St./FM 1435 between 83 S and US 90. Either one, you have described them properly.

He has more than King Ranch.

I was introduced to Dolph at the only restaurant in Crystal City back in the early 90s and you would think he was just an ordinary rancher. He wore dirty khakis and a sweat-stained Stetson. You wouldn't know he was a former governor.

Super curious - was the Santa Fe Ranch u are referring to owned by the East family and near Rachal?

Been hunting a Briscoe ranch in South Texas for quite some time now. FIL has hunted it for over 25 years. Great folks, hard workers, easy to deal with, and very humble.

That is the same one that I wrote about. That is the West Prong of the Nueces. I fixed the water gap between the places many times.

I was in a Midstream companies office a few years back near Dilley and they had an asset map up with the names of the ranches posted.

There were two separate ranches that had SIGNIFICANT midstream (taking oil/gas out) activity on them... one was 80k+ and the other 40k+ acres. Both owned by Briscoes.

They also own 10k+ near where I hunt in Concan. Unreal, the amount of money they make/made on those mineral rights alone.

FriscoAggieFan said:

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Super curious - was the Santa Fe Ranch u are referring to owned by the East family and near Rachal?

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Yes. Originally part of the King Ranch but lost at some point back in the day to a divorce. Where King Ranch is on 77, we accessed this ranch off 281, at least for the main oil field entrance. Crazy to enter a ranch in one county to access a well in another county!