Executive Hunting Ranch For Sale, An Absolute Sportsman's Paradise In The Texas Panhandle

Persimmon Creek Ranch is truly amazing. It’s a true Oasis, running along the South Canadian River bottoms for nearly 9 miles. Located in a very unique area, it’s a well-known destination for its scenery and wildlife. The area is home to Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area and Lake Marvin, part of Black Kettle National Grasslands. As you drive down Lake Marvin Road from Canadian, it resembles a Drive through a State Park. If you’re familiar with the area, you already know how beautiful the aesthetics are. And you’ve likely watched the deer and turkey along the meadows and hillsides. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more “Wildlife-Rich” location in any state.

On February 26th, 2024, the Panhandle was hit by the Smokehouse Creek fire which blind-sided this region. The fire raced eastward for over 100 miles in just 2 days. More than 1.2 million acres were burned in what ended-up being the largest Wildfire in Texas History. Persimmon Creek Ranch was one of many ranches lying in the fire’s path.

Looking at it today, it’s hard to imagine what the ranch looked like just last February. Now, nearly 6 months have passed, and it’s amazing to see how resilient that country is. It’s amazing how quickly the ranchland bounces back. And it’s amazing to see all of the wildlife that found a way to survive and have continued to thrive. The ranch’s long River meadows, blackened just months ago, are now grown-up in high native grasses, like Switch grass, Big Bluestem, and Indian grass. The Plum thickets and Chinaberry groves are already filling-in with new growth. Throughout the River bottom, there’s already 5-6ft. saplings of Cottonwood, Elm, and Willow. The bottomland cover is already back. And, it’s thick and wooly.

The ranch supports a wide variety of wildlife, predominantly deer, turkey, quail, and waterfowl. Probably the most impressive attribute the ranch has to offer is the sheer number of deer that live here. There’s cover from end to end, offering excellent habitat for an extremely dense deer herd. And the trophy quality is unreal. The ranch has produced bucks, both Whitetail and Mule Deer, well into the 200’s. Plus, it has regularly produced 160-180 class deer for decades. Imagine the potential if a protein-feeding regiment was added to the ranch. With a proper feeding plan, 7-10% in additional antler-growth is easily obtainable.

Another Must for the deer hunter is implementation of cropland. The ranch has expansive bottoms of open fields. These fields are flat and secluded. They are considered sub-irrigated, with the water-table only a few feet below the ground level. In the past, they have been utilized for hay production. But imagine if they were converted to crop fields with wheat, milo, or alfalfa. Or a combo of all three. The number of deer that would utilize the crop fields would be well into the hundreds, pulling deer for many miles around. A buyer could legitimately watch 300-400 deer file onto those fields on a cold Fall evening.

The bottomland meadows border numerous wetland-pockets of standing water. Some are open sloughs and ponds, some are areas of flooded-timber. When you combine the river with all the wetlands, ponds, marshes, and sloughs, you have the perfect mix of roosting and loafing habitat for waterfowl. Nearby, Lake Marvin and Lake Kiowa border the ranch, and they support a lot of waterfowl. So, the Ducks and Geese are already here in big numbers. If a buyer were to plant a grain crop such as milo in conjunction with wheat and alfalfa, the ranch would rival the very best of Texas’ waterfowl properties. All the components are here.

The Texas Panhandle is well-known for its amazing flocks of Rio Grande Turkeys, and has been for decades. The ancestors of these Panhandle Rio’s were trapped along the Canadian river, then transplanted to re-establish turkey populations in many areas. This includes most Oklahoma’s Western counties. These Rio flocks are still flourishing today. The ranch has great turkey habitat and century old Roost-sites. It’s easy to imagine a group of gobblers flying down on a river meadow, then showing-off on a quiet spring morning.

The northern portion of the ranch is predominantly sandhills, including a long winding dry-creek bottom. These areas have scattered Sage-brush, Plum thickets, Shinnery, and Skunk-brush. All great quail-habitat. On a good Quail year, the dog-work and wing-shooting is amazing. Hemphill county has been a destination location for bird-hunters from all over the US..

The river bottom has a unique saturated water table that typically lies 5’-6’ below the surface. This allows an owner to strategically dig water-holes for wildlife. And if an owner is motivated enough, they could dig a large pond or lake. Nearby ranch owners, up and down the river, have created some impressive bodies of water. The water level in these types of ponds will fluctuate with the water-table. They are much more drought resistant when compared to run-off ponds.

Headquarters is located on the western half of the ranch. There’s a beautiful, new, 2,900 sq/ft home here; 4BD, 3BTH. It has great access, in a convenient location, and will have deer and turkey in the yard basically every day. Just imagine drinking coffee on the front-porch as a buck chases a doe through the yard in the Fall. Or in the Springtime, as a group of strutting-gobblers follow hens down the drive-way as they go scratch in the hay left in the pens. Also located at Headquarters, is an enclosed barn and a hay barn. There’s a nice set of working pens with a tub and two squeeze-chutes. There’s horse pens with a lean-to. There’s even a roping arena here. The ground stays worked-up and ready to go.

The Cattleman hasn’t been forgotten here. The ranch has been utilized as a working cattle operation for many decades. It has great grass, fence, and water. There are numerous pastures individually fenced, providing a variety of options for seasonal cattle rotations. The Headquarters area is well designed with stout working pens, water, equipment storage, and fenced divisions.

There are large, sub-irrigated river meadows that support extremely dense native grasses. In the past they’ve been predominantly used for hay production, but could easily be transitioned into the grazing rotation if preferred.

The Sellers plan to retain Deep / Commercial water rights, however they are negotiable for an additional price. When you combine everything this ranch provides; variety of Wildlife, River, Cover, Ponds, Marshes, Scenery, Headquarters, Home-Site, Grazing Potential, and Hayfields, you have the perfect Ranch. It would be hard to find a more universal Property anywhere. It has so many high-end attributes.

Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions, or to view this beautiful place!