Well I went and looked at the land today. It is really a nice piece of property and looks really "deery", but I didn't see any tracks or scrapes or any other sign but the neighbor to the north had a deer stand facing toward the area I had marked as the "safe haven".

Here is a picture from on top of the hill looking toward the north to the area I had originally planned on using as a safe haven.



Here's the pond looking toward the west:



It is hard to get a feel for the size of the trees on the property from those pictures but here is a picture of our full size pickup parked on the other side of the hill:



The trees get larger as you look to the left in this picture and get even larger on the left side of the hill.

I really liked the property even though I didn't see any deer sign I think there surely would be deer in the area. I looked at another piece of property and I'm sure there are deer on it, but it is just flat with fields on both sides and heavy brush in the middle and just doesn't have any character. I think I would want to be able to enjoy the land for other purposes instead of just deer and I really think the 160 acre piece should at least have deer passing through the creek bottoms.

Italked to the realtor and he is going to talk to the seller on exactly how frequently he sees deer on the property and whether he has hunted the property with regularity or not.

Depending on the results of that conversation I will probably go ahead and make an offer on the land.

Just thought I would update the thread.

FWIW, Nathan

My neighbor sold a piece of property that I used to hunt. The people who bought it then sold it a few years later. They only bought it to make a profit. They hired an auction company to sell it and they made fliers to give people. I almost fell on the ground laughing when I read: " lots of good hunting and fishing, deer and turkeys abound." First there were a few deer and turkeys there, but they definitely did not abound! And, secondly the river along the property was a three hundred yard long riffle about 2.5 feet deep whereI had not caught a single fish in over twenty years of fishing there. So, hearing what you have described on your posts I would find a better place! You yourself have given two accounts of both you and the neighbor not seeing much there. Good luck!

Buy the place if you like it .You will not regret it !
There would not be a deer stand there if there were no deer. If something better comes along you can sell this one and move up!
Buying land is one of the best investments you will ever make.

It really looks like poor habitat to me, but that is probably a function of the cattle grazing and the drought. Eliminating the cattle grazing...or at least deferring it for a year or 2 will greatly improve things, especially since we have started to get some rain down south here. If you buy it, you will have a lot of work to do on it. I'd offer a couple hundred dollars per acre less than what they have quoted you and see if they bite on it. I really do not think there is as much competition for that land as they are leading you to believe...just trying to get you to impulse buy.

Well, I went ahead and made an offer for the land today. I decided I would let them make the decision for me. I offered just a little less than they are asking but they wanted to keep all the remaining mineral rights and I said that I wanted 1/2 of their mineral rights (they have 1/3 so that would give me 1/6th).

If they take it I think I can make something out of the place, if they don't I'll keep looking.

What minerals would be mined in the area?

Dan O.

Oil and Natural Gas would be the only real possibility. More than likely thereisn't anything there, but owning some of the mineral rights would make things a biteasier if they decided to start drilling for oil on the place and scared whatever wildlife there is away.

The guy accepted my offer so now I guess it is time to pull the trigger. I realize that it might take some work to get the place hopping with deer, but they did confirm that they found a large 8 pointer dead of natural causes on the place last May and saw another large 8 pointer this fall on the property. I'm sure if I get a management plan in place and get some desireable forbs going that I can get some deer to hang out on the property. I'm also excited about the pond, with some rain I will get it stocked back up with some fish and maybe in a few years it will be a good fishing spot for my 1 month old boy!

I really want to thank everyone for the advice. Obviously, I'm pretty happy with the propertyif I made an offer on it. The land looks a bit bare, but it is in January after a really bad drought this summer. (remember the wildfire stories in Texas and Okalhoma this summer). It is hard to put things in perspective for many who are used to lush green grass, rolling hills,and thick timber, but this piece of property has hills, trees and water and that is a big deal in West Texas! It might not look like good habitat to many of you, but it looks like great habitat compared to much of the land around here.

The tenant has a grazing lease through September 14, 2007 on the property so whatever improvements I do need to be compatible with that. I am going to look into either getting him to reduce the number of cows he is running on the place or possibly have him pull them off completely for a couple years. I'll be meeting with a guy from Texas Parks and Wildlife as soon as we close on the land and for sure will take whatever advice he has on the property. I want to keep the tenant happy because they own the land to the east and will end up being my neighbors and hopefully they will help keep an eye on the place even if they end up pulling their cows off it for a few years. Also I would like to be able to hunt their property as well if the deer are moving back and forth.

I'm sure I will be pestering everyone with new questions as we get farther down the road in the process.

Thanks again. Nathan

Great job you and your son will never regret it!

My experience has been that you need an area that has natural boundaries so that the deer know as soon as they cross that line they are safe.

An isolated wood or some distinguishing feature that sets it apart from the surronding woods/land


My sanctury is all of about 10 acres of heavily wooded area. The deer know it is safe