Curious what the board's thoughts are on costs to own a 1,000 acre ranch that is 99% used for hunting purposes. What does a ranch manager cost, corn, food plots, protein (just for deer and maybe some axis), equipment, land maintenance, etc. I have a general idea, but any additional thoughts would be helpful.

As much as you can afford, and then more. You'll forever have a "to do" list that will be limited by time and money.

that is a wildly open ended question.

I can't even afford a 150 acre lease but still interested in an answer

We had just over that acreage in Texas for 29 years. Your question is like asking how long a piece of string is…..not being coy here. Just too many variables to give any kind of answer sir.
Depends a lot on the ground, improvements on it, and what extent you want to do with it and how.
It will cost you what you are able to put into it. It is a 24/7/365 expense of some kind. Your to do list never ends and neither does expenses.
Then you'll have taxes, insurance etc of course.
Wish I could tell you more but just can't.
WAG….Minimum of $50K a year plus ranch manager pay, taxes, insurance, utilities.

ranch manager - minimum - $45K and that's with you providing housing, truck, etc.

also, don't forget to apply for ag tax exemption.

Ill play...

Depending on the land its self to make the intial purchase your probably looking over 8 mil probably closer to double that.

Corn alone is going to run you a couple thousand a year. If you do protein add to that. Haw many feeders are you going to run on it, some of that will depend on the land type.

Food plots, cost of seed

Ranch manager i am sure has got to be pushing 40-60k/year

utilities 100-200 a month?

Tractor 10-15k on the low end

taxes will depend if its exewmpt of not, plus what sort of houe is on it.

Than add in repairs, materialis, paints, fencing, etc proabably 500-1000 a month?

Do you want to clear areas, thats going to cost extra and once cleared nothing stays cleared so its going to need to be maintained

My thought was it's at least $400k annually

10 years ago a guy that owned 9k acres near Catarina said he spent $250k per year

How was the salmon run down in that area this year?

agrams said:

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How was the salmon run down in that area this year?

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Bears wiped them out.

txags92 said:

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agrams said:

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How was the salmon run down in that area this year?

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Bears wiped them out.

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That's just what they tell the tourists, to keep the crowds out of the fishing holes.

I caught a really nice dorado there last week.

Unless you're planning on breeding deer to shoot, or have producing minerals, go ahead and plan on losing your ass every year.

Basically, everything Gunny said. Remember, it's always something. Plan for something being broken every time you're out there, and plan accordingly

Thank God I mostly choose fishing over hunting. My boat always needs something, but it is nowhere near these costs.

I know a couple people with similar setups. It's going to cost a lot but it's a range and determined by the land owner plus goals. If its a hobby and your just trying to keep the place up, then that's the low end but still going to cost something. If it's a serious hunting operation with protein feeders, guests quarters, lakes, premium stands, equipment, staff, etc then it's going to be big bucks. Then there's something in between.

It would be a whole lot easier/cheaper if you already had the land, tractors, lakes, and fences than starting from nothing. A lot like how no one starts a new giant farm or cattle ranch, you need to get it from grandpa.

I'd love to have my own but often times I doubt I have the time and definitely don't have the money to match my dreams. And don't have it coming through inheritsnce.

But have been blessed with opportunities to hang out on some 500-5000 acre places.

Depending on your location and services required, there are quite a few ranch managers that manage several smaller ranches. Filling/maintaining feeders, fences, water, basic upkeep,etc. that's going to be by far the cheapest management route unless you want to DIY

I think the cost is entirely dependent on what you actually want/need to do to make it the way you want it. Believe it or not, it is possible to have a 1,000 acre ranch and shoot quite a few nice deer every year for you and your close family without ever putting down any corn or protein from a feeder. If you manage the habitat properly, keep the deer numbers culled won adequately under MLDP, etc. you don't have to supplemental feed at all. The cost of maintaining fencing, blinds, roads, etc. won't really change either way, but those will always be there.

Now if you have no natural water and want to grow trophy deer to attract people wanting to buy hunts from you at a corporate level, then you are going to need a lot more effort, a manager, cozy blinds, and a monumental feed bill, etc.

It really totally depends on the place itself. When we bought our place in the hill country it had not a single improvement. No electricity, no fencing on three sides, no wells and full of cedar trees. But, I bought it right, (well, me and Capitol Farm Credit) and had a budget for immediate improvements. We poor boy'd it for quite a while and any work I could do myself I did.
Then came equipment needed, tractors, bush hog, Track loader etc. Then wells and windmills etc etc.
My plan was to live on the place in two or three years so I worked toward those goals.
Fencing and wells and getting electricity was the initial largest cost.
You can certainly buy the land and do absolutely nothing and enjoy it. But the nickel and dime small stuff adds up quick.
Without setting foot on the place and looking at it and knowing the budget of you OP, and your goals/wants, it's really hard to give you a real figure of projected cost.
However, I hope you are able to get it. Nothing like owning your own land…..just point your nose into the wind, go full throttle, and go like hell and get it!
God ain't making no more of it.

As much or as little as you want it to. Some of the best hunting properties are largely untouched. A lot of things people spend money on are for themselves, not the animals. The deer dont care how fancy the front gate is.

As a ranch owner, if you go in to it assuming that everything that breaks will cost you $500 you might make the maintenance budget balance at year end. Depending on if the ranch manager and wife/family live on site, the location and setup, utilities will likely run you double or even triple what your current house runs you, I have a ranch in south Texas and the AC's run 85% of the time. Tractors/vehicles maintenance and fuel are a larger cost than what you would imagine. Feed costs will depend on how you decide to feed but plan on $30-80K. Manager and additional labor will run $75k minimum, unless you plan to help or do a lot of the work yourself. This is the trade off you have to walk in expecting, either you pay someone to mow the grass, fill feeders, maintain water sources, shred, plant food plots, paint, replace light bulbs, fix gates and fences, do general household maintenance, service vehicles, etc or you end up doing it every time you visit. Paying for a manager buys you freedom to enjoy the property, otherwise your visitors will mostly be enjoying the property because every time you go to it there will be work to do.

ETA: A lot of what I listed as work is fun when you do it 2 or 3 times a year with a bunch of guys at the deer lease. It's a whole lot less fun when you go down on a Friday after work and need to do it all before you head back home on Sunday 2 or 3 times a month.

This so much. My wife was a born and raised ranch girl and had the ability to run our ranch to an extent. No way I had the money for a ranch manager so I basically was the live in maintenance man and wildlife manager. With my Aggie education, thankfully I didn't have to pay for a biologist.
I traveled for work and was gone a lot. When I was home at the ranch I was working my butt off fixing things and doing projects that I could not afford to have other people do.
I didn't get to enjoy it a whole lot in the 29 years of ownership but got self satisfaction in accomplishing what I did with my own two hands and seeing what I accomplished and built from basically nothing.
If you're well off and wealthy enough to have a manager and laborers to do your work that is fantastic. If not, you better be ok with working your butt off to have it and realize you are probably going to work more than play.
That's how it was for me and I was ok with that.
Now we have the ranch in the Ozarks and I'm kinda doing the same thing again. But I'm ok with it cause I like it here! Albeit still working a lot!

While technically not a ranch by OP standards, my wife and I bought 100 acres in South Texas four years ago as strictly a recreational property. No livestock but time and money is invested to maintain our wildlife valuation and be a good steward of the land.

Then there are the other costs, some of which we have paid someone to do since I'm still working full time and can't dedicate weekdays to perform. So far some of these include:

Roof replacement on ranch house.
Well pump replacement.
Digging up and replacing leaky poly pipe.
HVAC unit rebuild.
Replace exterior frames around windows that were rotting out.

Then there are the other things that take time and money that you'll end up doing yourself, such as pulling the wheels off the UTVs and taking them into town to get the tires replaced, changing the oil on said UTVs, and figuring out why they aren't running. Same goes for the riding lawnmower. Since our well water is salty, the 20 gallon water heater will need replaced soon. An old blind blew over, replaced it. Hogs were bathing in the water tub and broke the float switch, replaced tub with one with higher walls. The siding on the 10x12 shed is rotting off, so that'll need replaced along with several studs. The deer will eat 300 lbs. of cottonseed in two weeks, which means more money. The hydraulic seals on the front end loader of the tractor are toast and need to be replaced.

Then there was the time that a rat got under the hood of my daily driver pickup one weekend and chewed stuff to the tune of $2,400.

I'm sure there is more that I'm forgetting.

I guess my point is that on top of the planned expenses there will be plenty of unplanned expenses plus those that don't necessarily come to mind when you're figuring out a budget. Even for a small place.

HumbleAg04 said:

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As much as you can afford, and then more. You'll forever have a "to do" list that will be limited by time and money.

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This is very true. My ranch is only 234 acres but there is always something that needs to be done and you don't know what it is until you get there half the time. I am more limited by time than anything. Luckily I like fixing most things myself so I never once entertained having someone manage things for me. I just get help when I need it. I'm on a wildlife exemption now so I'd guess about 20k a year with taxes (house), feed, fuel, etc. And there are always other expenses for the house that pop up like the new water softener that was put in today. I enjoy it more than ever though, especially with how crowded it's getting around my primary home.

Well said.

Ranches need to have some kind of self sustainability or you are just doing it wrong. If it is just a play toy, just go into it knowing it'll be a money pit. Otherwise, you'll manage it to the best of your ability to get as close to breaking even as you can. That may include the need to lease it for hunting income. I'll go further and say if you have no intention of capitalizing on hunting income, then it is essential to enter the livestock business which requires capital outlay as well. There are many ways to help a ranch break even and every now and then turn a profit. Everything is a trade off. For every income stream you shut off your enjoyment better be worth it cause the cash starts flowing red very quickly. Shutoff livestock because you don't want deer interference? Loss of an income stream. Refuse to capitalize on hunting in some manner? Loss of another income stream. List goes on.

I will say on 2000 acres in the hill country, we spend roughly $100 per acre annually on maintenance, improvement, and management activities. It has fluctuated from about $80 to $150 over the past decade. That includes the livestock expenses and overhead of fencing, deer blinds, and feeders. We lease the ranch for whitetail season only and the hunters pay all corn and supplemental feed costs as they choose. We set the rules on deer management. Our family can hunt when we want but we do not take advantage of it. We participate in NRCS programs and watch for other external funding opportunities. Between all those measures, we have been able to continuously improve the property and break even. Now, when the drought hits bad, and it will, get ready to shell out money for feed faster than you e ever thought possible. Kiss profits goodbye for that year and hope to double up next year.

All that said, I wouldn't trade ranching life for anything.

To start, your initial purchase price can vary wildly. To get 1000 acres in the Texas Panhandle, it'd be about $2 million. That much acreage in certain areas in the Hill Country, or a nice East Texas place, could run $5-$10 million.

A 600 lb corn feeder will go 3-4 months on a fill. Figure one ton per year per feeder, at $350-$400 per ton. Probably $3k-$4k to do 8-10 corn feeders each year. Protein is way more expensive, and if you do "free choice" (not timed) feeding, you can drop $10k-$20k per year on a place that size, easy.

You'll want a $50k-$75k tractor, and a $75k-$100k track loader. Figure $100k-$250k for a "barndominium", and that doesn't include your well, septic, or electrical service.

If the place is a perfect rectangle, that's 5 miles of fence. A mile of 5-strand barbed-wire fence is $15k-ish, these days. So…$75k for fencing, if the place doesn't have "good stuff".

I bought a section and a half (960 acres) in the Panhandle, 12 years ago. It was $700 an acre. Would run $2k an acre, now. Friends bought places in late 90's/early 2000's, for $250-$400 per acre. Point being, land DOES appreciate, steadily, so the investment of additional time/money CAN be worthwhile.

With that said, if you're not the kind of guy who likes to get hot/sweaty/dirty, or deal with constant issues, you might be better served by buying a nice lake house, with a nice dock and a good boat, and reduce your potential "workload". Use the savings to get a few deer lease "spots" for you and family, or simply do several paid hunts, per year.

I enjoy being out at my place, running some heavy equipment, taking care of trees I've planted, and fixing a few things. With that said, there's ALWAYS something that needs doing, even when I'm simply there for a "fun trip". Ok for a guy in his 40's/50's, but at some point, it can be too much "work", and not enough "fun".

Ultimately, the land was there before you got it, and it'll be there after you're gone. You can decide if you're building a "legacy" place, or simply buying a place to hunt a few years/"investment", to flip/sell after a while, and invest time/money accordingly…