County Road 2619 ends at the gate of Dead End Ranch. Beyond the custom entrance, 752.09± acres of pine ridges and hardwood drainages near Alto, Texas, climb to a hilltop lodge completed in 2025 and set beneath big white oaks, with three cabins, an established high-fenced exotic herd, multiple springs, a 4.5-acre pond and roughly 3,600 feet of Larrison Creek. It is a private, finished East Texas hunting ranch that is ready to use the day it closes.

Summary

Offered at $9,995,000, Dead End Ranch pairs a finished lodge compound with a large, well-watered recreational landholding in southern Cherokee County. The lodge carries a commercial-grade kitchen, a full bar, paired indoor and outdoor stone fireplaces and a great room that opens through glass overhead doors onto a covered patio. The Main Cabin, Bunk House and Hunters Cabin sleep family, guests and staff a short walk away. Just over 600 acres are high-fenced and hold a free-ranging exotic herd led by axis and fallow deer, with free-range whitetail and hog hunting on the low-fenced balance. The ranch is offered turnkey: deer stands, feeders, most furnishings and the heavy equipment are available with the sale, subject to an agreed inventory.

The appeal is how little is left to do. The roads, fence, water, lodging and herd are in place, the compound has been mowed and limbed into a park beneath the canopy, and the county road stops at the gate with roughly 10,000 acres of institutional timberland on the southeast side. Evenings end on the patio with the outdoor fireplace lit and axis working the edge of the timber; mornings start at first light in the white-oak drainages. Dead End Ranch is a finished East Texas hunting property rather than a project, within three hours of both Dallas and Houston.

Land Characteristics

Dead End Ranch sits in the timber country of southern Cherokee County, where pine ridges, hardwood drainages and a long history of forest management shape the landscape. The ranch combines a managed pine resource, mature native hardwood corridors, live water and enough elevation change to give the land character without sacrificing usable ground.

Planted pine covers an estimated 70 to 80 percent of the property in two age classes: younger stands of roughly 12 to 15 years and older stands of roughly 30 to 40 years. The older stands carry merchantable sawtimber and the younger stands are growing into it, so the timber is both an amenity and a reserve.

The drainages were retained as streamside management zones and hold mature mixed hardwood and pine, including white oaks of exceptional size. These corridors protect water quality, give wildlife cover and travel lanes, and break the pine stands with shade and variety.

Elevations run from about 300 to 450 feet. The ridges and draws open long views down the drainages and give the interior road system real relief. Multiple springs feed the drainages, the pond covers roughly 4.5 acres at full pool, and roughly 3,600 feet of Larrison Creek forms the western boundary of the ranch.

Just over 600 acres lie inside the perimeter high fence. Approximately 126 acres in the southeastern corner are low-fenced and border roughly 10,000 acres of institutionally owned timberland, giving free-range deer and hog hunting with no residential neighbor on that side. A western strip along Larrison Creek also lies outside the high fence and is used for recreation and hog hunting.

The lodge and cabins occupy a hilltop under large, mature trees. More than 30 acres around the compound have been mowed and limbed, opening long views beneath the canopy while keeping the shade. Extensive asphalt paving, a putting green and covered outdoor living areas make the compound the center of the ranch.

Improvements

The lodge, completed in 2025, is built to a commercial standard with rustic and refined finishes. Stone pillars frame the covered front porch, and commercial glass entry doors open into a great room with stained concrete floors, high ceilings and a massive stone fireplace. Two walls of windows look into the timber, and two commercial-grade glass overhead doors roll up to join the great room to the oversized covered patio, where a matching fireplace on the outside of the same wall anchors a second gathering space.

The commercial-grade kitchen and full bar serve the great room and the patio alike, and separate men's and women's restrooms serve the lodge. Field measurements put the lodge building at approximately 7,297 square feet of heated and cooled area: approximately 4,476 square feet in the main lodge and approximately 2,821 square feet in the 40-by-70-foot shop wing. Covered porches, the patio and the carport add approximately 2,336 square feet, for approximately 9,633 square feet under roof.

The shop wing is a finished, climate-controlled drive-through shop with large overhead doors on the north and south sides. Along its east side are an office, a bedroom with a full bath and a second climate-controlled garage bay fitted out as a skinning room; a covered carport adjoins the south end.

Three cabins with matching all-steel exteriors stand a short walk from the lodge. The Main Cabin has two bedrooms and one bath in approximately 1,496 square feet with a covered porch and carport. The Bunk House has two bedrooms, a bunk room and two baths in approximately 1,018 square feet. The Hunters Cabin has three bedrooms and two baths in approximately 907 square feet behind a full-width covered porch. Together with the lodge bedroom they give the compound eight bedrooms plus the bunk room, so a full camp sleeps without crowding the great room.

A 36-by-60-foot equipment shed covers the ranch equipment. The internal road system, deer stands, feeders and food plots are in place and maintained, and the asphalt-paved compound keeps the lodge approach clean in any weather.

The combination of a new lodge, three cabins, finished shop space and a manicured hilltop setting is rare at any price in East Texas; here it comes with the land and the herd already in place.

Location

Dead End Ranch is at 1309 County Road 2619, Alto, Texas 75925, in southern Cherokee County. County maintenance of CR 2619 ends at the ranch, and the custom automatic gate stands at the dead end of the road; nothing passes by. The ranch is roughly 5 miles from Alto, 30 miles from Lufkin and from Nacogdoches, 60 miles from Tyler, 145 miles from Dallas and 150 miles from Houston by road. Private aircraft can use Cherokee County Airport at Jacksonville or Angelina County Airport at Lufkin; commercial service is at Tyler Pounds Regional, with DFW and Houston Intercontinental about two and a half to three hours away.

Wildlife/Local Attractions

The 600-plus high-fenced acres hold an established, free-ranging exotic herd. The reported inventory is approximately 350 axis deer, 100 fallow deer, 25 blackbuck, 15 oryx, a pair of gemsbok, 12 Père David's deer and a few Corsican rams and mouflon, along with roughly 50 whitetail deer. Exotics carry no closed season in Texas, so the ranch hunts year-round, and the mix of species keeps every month of the calendar productive. Game counts are reported by the seller and are approximate; the animals included in the sale are subject to the agreed inventory.

Outside the high fence, the 126-acre low-fenced corner against the timber company land and the Larrison Creek strip offer free-range whitetail and hog hunting. The pond holds bass, catfish and panfish, and waterfowl use the pond and the creek bottom in winter.

Between hunts, the putting green, the covered patio and the great room carry the day. Caddo Mounds State Historic Site on the El Camino Real de los Tejas is a few minutes west of Alto, and the Davy Crockett National Forest lies to the southwest for public hunting, camping and the Neches River.

Minerals, Easements, Utilities and Disclosures

The compound is served by electric, propane, on-site septic, internet and telephone, with a generator on site; buyers should verify service to each building. Estimated 2026 property taxes are approximately $16,300 across the five accounts, with 748 acres under 1-d-1 wildlife and timber valuation.

The ranch is offered surface only; the seller conveys no mineral interest, and existing reservations and easements are subject to the controlling title records. A portion of the northwest boundary along Larrison Creek lies within the FEMA 100-year floodplain.

Building areas are from exterior field measurements. Fenced acreage, elevations, timber age classes and coverage, pond size, creek frontage, surrounding timberland acreage and game counts are seller-reported or estimated and are approximate. The turnkey offering is subject to an agreed inventory and exclusions. All information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be verified by the buyer and the buyer's agent.