La Bandera Ranch

For nearly two decades, La Bandera Ranch has developed the reputation of being one of the most famed hunting destinations in Texas. This iconic ranch and the reputation that goes along with it has been earned over the years by the passion and dedicated efforts of the owner to develop and manage the land and the wildlife to the highest degree in order to offer clients and guests the hunting experience of a lifetime. From the superior and expansive first-class accommodations all the way to the distinguished whitetail, quail, and dove hunting experiences that the ranch has to offer, La Bandera Ranch stands above the rest. The ranch is being offered turn-key with extensive accessories, furnishings, and ranch vehicles conveying with the sale. With premium habitat, wildlife, water, improvements, and numerous income opportunities available, La Bandera Ranch offers exceptional and abundant highlights to the most discerning buyers, so call us today to set up your very own private showing.

Location/Access: La Bandera Ranch is located approximately 15 miles Southwest of Carrizo Springs, TX in Dimmit County, with paved FM 3252 leading directly to the ranch. The county road dead-ends at the stunning main ranch entrance gate, offering excellent seclusion and privacy, accessed in just over a 2-hour drive from downtown San Antonio. For those that prefer to fly directly into the ranch, the ranch also boasts a 5,000 ft paved and lighted runway with a 14,000 sq/ft aircraft hangar.

Land: The entire ranch has perimeter high fencing and FM3252 separates the ranch into two primary pastures of approximately 9,600 acres to the south and 8,400 acres to the north. The whole ranch possesses a gently rolling, classic South Texas landscape with good variations in elevation, creating stunning panoramic vistas from many different prominent places on the ranch. Being located in the heart of the famed habitat of the Golden Triangle of Texas, the abundance of quality native habitat the ranch has to offer mixed with the purposeful and intensive land management efforts of the owner has created a wildlife habitat paradise that one could argue is unmatched in the region. Significant investment was deployed to clear and maintain new lanes and senderos in a grid-pattern every 200 yards on the entire ranch and additionally every 100 yards in some of the best quail habitat which has more sandy soil. The ranch maintains an excellent internal road system and essentially the entire ranch can be navigated and utilized with relative ease. There are 6 irrigated pivot locations, all enclosed by high fencing supporting food plots and crops for whitetail management and excellent bird hunting opportunities. Botella Creek, San Lorenzo Creek, and numerous other wet weather creek bottoms and drainages are found on the ranch that provides a good variety of cover and mature native brush. Due to the operational nature of the ranch, the ranch operates full-time staff that continues to improve and manage the land on a daily basis for the highest quality wildlife habitat for deer, quail, dove, turkey and everything else in between. 

Water: La Bandera Ranch is very well watered with 6 irrigation wells that primarily serve the pivot locations (capabilities ranging from 400-900 gpm) and 24 water wells throughout the ranch in total. The ranch has a water system of troughs scattered throughout and there are approximately 40+ surface tanks and lakes, most supplemented from wells on the ranch. The largest couple of lakes are 15+/- acres in size built along San Lorenzo Creek that are unique in design with canal system features that deliver excellent fishing and waterfowl hunting opportunities. The availability of water on the ranch has been and should continue to be an exceptional asset to the ranch for both ranching operations and commercial water value.

Wildlife: You will find some of the most legendary hunting experiences in all of South Texas on La Bandera Ranch. From the whitetail, quail, dove, turkey, and more, the abundance and variety of wildlife appeals to nearly every type of outdoorsman and provides an overload of recreational hunting opportunities in every season. Habitat management practices and supplemental feeding programs are year-round, resulting in a high quality and volume of great whitetail and birds year after year. The ranch is on a MLDP 3 permit, allowing for the highest-level harvest management and buck to doe ratio with an extremely high harvest success rate for the clients, no matter what class of buck they are after. The video and pictures will attest to the quality of whitetail found on the ranch. The wide, tall, and chocolate antlered bucks typical of the ranch will make any hunter feverish as they walk out of the South Texas brush. The quail hunting and quail management on the ranch is a serious endeavor with abundant quail feeders dispersed throughout the various pastures and the quail guides attesting that they believe this ranch holds some of the finest native quail pastures and hunting opportunities that still exist. With the numerous irrigated pivot fields planted for birds in different locations throughout the ranch, the dove hunting is second to none and shooting your limit is the commonplace standard. The ranch is also home to a large population of Rio Grande turkeys and the lakes on the ranch play host to a variety of waterfowl in the winter months.

Improvements:

La Bandera Ranch boasts 5-star resort style accommodations capable of world-class entertainment, large scale commercial hunting operations, and full-time residency. There are three main lodges on the ranch, each offering their own size, experience, and unique appeal to accommodate nearly any client group or guest request. 

The Southwest Lodge: The crown jewel of the ranch for hosting and entertaining is referred to as the Southwest Lodge, offering guests and clients the best of luxury accommodations, chef prepared dining experiences, and unrivaled, panoramic 30-mile sunset views into old Mexico. The lodge was uniquely built with Spanish and Mediterranean style influences possessing large amounts of outdoor living space, open breezeways, a stucco and stone exterior, clay roof tiles, and mesquite wood, Saltillo tile, and stamped concrete floors throughout. The main structure at the Southwest Lodge has an expansive entertainment and living interior space with vaulted ceilings and exposed timber beams, a full bar, billiards area, walk-in gun room, a gorgeous large dining room setup to serve and seat 40+/-, wine room, commercial kitchen, and 8 nicely appointed bedrooms, all with access directly from the veranda and pool area. The interior facing design of the resort style patio acts as a central gathering location for guests, having both covered and uncovered areas that are built around the natural landscape with a large outdoor kitchen and fireplace, all leading to the pool and elevated hot tub with cascading waterfalls that all overlooks the sunset views to the West…truly an idyllic setting.

The annex to the lodge is more well-known as the Trophy Room, which is a separate building at the Southwest Lodge that has an expansive floor and wall space to showcase trophy animals from all over the world, with 11 additional bedrooms accessed directly off the living space. Nearly a full acre of smooth concrete driveway surrounds the lodge and underneath the expansive porte-cochere, providing adequate covered and uncovered parking for vehicles. When guests and clients are not hunting and relaxing they have the ability to enjoy the first-class skeet and five-stand field located just outside the lodge back doors.

La Sombrilla Lodge: An excellent entertaining facility for hosting large groups with the feel of a great South Texas hunting headquarters, with some Old West style design. The lodge has 17 bedrooms in total, with the upstairs hosting 7 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and common area, and the downstairs hosting 10 bedrooms with accompanying bathrooms, all amongst an Old Western town layout surrounding the central sports bar, pavilion, and dining room. The bottom floor and the feature the lodge is most known for is a large built-in sports bar and open-air pavilion that can entertain a high volume of people (approx. 4,300 sqft), all complemented by an outdoor fire ring on pavers and seating for 20+ people surrounding it. The nicely appointed dining room is accessed directly off the central bar and pavilion, complete with commercial kitchen and built in restaurant style buffet.

Aside from the lodging at La Sombrilla, numerous structures round out the lodge area including deer and bird cleaning facilities, rifle range, guide quarters, dog kennels, and a crazy quail/box bird shooting ring. The deer cleaning facility has a well-lit parking and cleaning area on slab, and a double walk-in cooler complete with a built-in cable and winch system leading into it. The bird cleaning area also has a covered slab that is well lit and located adjacent to it.

Ponderosa Lodge: The Ponderosa Lodge is a two-story log cabin lodge with 10 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms and gets its namesake from the large exposed Ponderosa Pine logs used to construct the building. Being located at the main ranch entrance, the lodge serves primarily as the main ranch office headquarters and ranch merchandise shop, but is also complemented with a large kitchen, dining, and living area with vaulted ceilings solidifying the genuine impression of a mountain lodge.

           Other improvements include:

-Paved and lighted 5,000+/- ft runway and a 70 x 200 taxi-through hangar with adequate additional uncovered asphalt aircraft parking for multiple aircraft

-Mechanic Shop- 60’x 60’ metal building with roll-up doors and vehicle lift

-4 Pole Barns for Equipment and implement storage with approx. sizes of 30’x95’, 40’x100’, 40’x100’, and 40’x125’

-175 x 70 drive through pole barn with deer breeding office and deer pen access

-26 breeder deer pens, deer working facility, and 8 large quail flight pens

- Two other ranch foreman’s homes

Income: The ranch has historically shown its ability to provide an excellent return on investment through various income streams including the hunting business, water, surface damages, and oil and gas production. The hunting business has a long track record of an established and successful hunting operation with repeat clients. There are numerous oil and gas wells on the property, with the seller carefully restricting drilling to specific areas of the ranch so as not to disturb the hunting operations with sensible restrictive ingress/egress control for the operators. Substantial historical income has been produced from the minerals, surface damages, and water on the ranch. Detailed information is available to qualified buyers, inquire for details. Mineral rights are not included in the sale at the current listing price.

The information contained herein is deemed reliable but is not warranted or guaranteed by the Broker or Seller and should be independently verified. The Broker (Whitetail Properties) does not assume liability for typographical errors, misprints, nor for misinformation that may have been given us. All property is subject to change, withdrawal, or prior sale. Buyers' agent must be identified on first contact with the broker and must accompany the buyer on showings to receive full fee participation. Otherwise, the fee participation will be at the sole discretion of Whitetail Properties.