Looking at possible investing in a small tract of land outside of Rocksprings in Edwards county. Any input on hunting around Rocksprings would be helpful. The land is sold in small tracts and I have concerns about it being overhunted but of course the realtor claims differently....

what area? we have a small place out by the airport and it is fun to go out there and shoot hogs and hopefully catch one of the axis we see on the game cams some day. there are bucks but few and far between. Most of the time they never see 3 years old where we are at. I only hunt it during bow season and thanksgiving. Because during rifle season it sounds like WW3. But does should be no problem on most of those places and they need to be thinned out anyways. but from Febuary to September we are out there as much as possible.

A few miles northwest off Hwy 55

ok so out towards like indian hills or something like that. We looked out there but it was a lot of canyons and such where we looked at and we wanted more flat ground. My buddy has 100 something acres up that way and he has some good deer on his place. I'm not sure exactly where it is north of 55 though.

If it is a Ranchette type set up with many small tracts butting up to each other don't buy it for the purpose of hunting or your going to be disappointed. There will be lots of pressure and hard feelings when its all said and done.

X2 on the hunting pressure. I think I know the area you are talking about. It is high fenced on one side now and the landowner on the other side is talking about high fencing his side. Gonna be extreme pressure if you are wanting to hunt it.

There is land for sale where we are at just south of Junction off Hwy-83.

It is in Paint Creek II just about a mile or so just north of Jackson Ranch. If you drive north on HWY-83, it is 12.5 miles from Garvens store.

Which realtor?

Any idea on the acreage on the land south of Junction???

I only ask because I have recently purchased property in Northern Edwards and dealt with a few realtors. I think is going to be spotty on game. Its all going to depend on how long ago the ranch was split up and tract size / pressure.

For example if the ranch was just split up last year into a subdivision with small tracts, the hunting will be good / decent for a few years. If it was split 5 years ago in small tracts with pressure, the hunting will be terrible. There are lots of small tracts on the market in Edwards. Most, not all, are probably because the hunting pressure has taken its toll on the deer population and the owners want out. Ask the realtors how long ago the subdivisions were built when / if you go back to look.

i would hesitate to buy in one of those ranch subdivison places.

most are not all that great.

RUN FOREST RUUUUUN!!!!!

RUN WHERE??? ... and take my life savings 7 digit money just to purchase a 300 acre ranch so-as I can call it my own & can kill a buck come november?? And if ANY of you's going to tell me the longterm stability & unreliability of unknown ranchers/landowners being on a lease is the way to go, you are nuts! The forumn is loaded with hunters who have lost their lease.

If a guy can only afford to shell out $100k to OWN a property, no matter what size, shape, or form, - GO FOR IT! It's going to be your own little piece of heaven to enjoy, recreate on, and if it produces hunting opportunities -- AMEN!
We all know, hunting all comes down to location, location, location, & a bit of luck. I hunt & own land in several states and canada and would much rather have that magic 5 acre spot than a 500 acre dead sea. My acreage in Edwards happens to be loaded with creatures, big & small. I would put my gamecam pics up against any big ranchs'. So for any of you to shun a new guy who's only looking for his dream happens to be off base. Ansd01, you go ahead do your homework and purchase whatever you fits your needs.

i think he's trying to avoid gettng hung with the dead sea.

there were alot of places in the late 90's to mid 2000's that were being chopped up, sold, shot up, then being sold again.

you won't know exactly what your looking at till you look at it, but by and large, be cautious. Edwards county is a big county and like anywhere else, there are good parts and bad parts.

professionally, If i were advising a client i would focus on smaller tracts outside of subdivisions first.

Im not shunning anyone for having there own property and I agree with ya sillyhorses.

All I meant in my earlier post was that smaller tracts are more likely to be over-pressured, especially over a longer period of time. I did not say all were. I know yours isn't.

To the OP: I would never purchase any property without doing research about the area or at least talking to the neighbors.

Use your gut and don't listen to a word a realtor says in regards to the game. His only concern is the commission, once you've bought it, he could care less if you don't see a deer the entire time you own it.

If there are a bunch of tiny tracts all bunched up, it's going to be overhunted. Period.

I owned some property south of there near Camp Wood. I had a real problem with poaching. I was finding rotten hides, fresh gut piles, and dumped trash almost every time I walked the place. I called the game warden a couple of times and couldn't get him to show up and have a look.
There were a lot of small deer, very few antlered bucks. Never saw anything bigger than a fork horn. Typical for broken up hill country properties.
I also hunted Devils Sinkhole WMA. Lots of deer, nothing big though. It was a fun bowhunt though. I have never had more shot opportunities during one hunt.
The whole place was covered with loose limestone about the size of a platter. You wouldn't believe the racket I made trying to walk to my stand in the dark!

I was in Edwards county this past weekend, SW Edwards, 45 miles SW of Rocksprings, in a subdivision with TONS of game. Most places were at least 100 acres or more. This particular ranch is 370 acres. Every species imagineable comes through at different times. Personally, I own one of those "Shot-out" small places north of Leakey, it backs up to a 12,000 acre low fenced ranch near the north prong of the Frio. I always kill something when I hunt there. Oh yeah, it's a whopping 12 acre place. Lots to do in the off season around those parts, actually there is no off season, there's always game besides WT to hunt.

Erath,

Look at your sig.

Op needs to take that into account when making a purchase

Nice.

I own the ranch he is talking about (Earathkid) and he is right, there are tons of game out there, BUT.. I looked high and low and asked the right questions to get that spot.

Pressure is unreal out there in small areas, so ya gotta do your homework.

Rule #1 - If there is a high fence around.. RUN

Rule #2 - If there is a high fence around.. RUN MORE..

heh

You get the idea.

To make the most of a small place, you can't be near a high fence, period. The only way you can get game and keep game on a small place is to be low fence, or have more time and money than God, and then you would not need a small place.

Next, get to know your neighbors. I looked at the tax roll in Edwards and called and/or mailed people in the area to ask questions and get real pictures.

Don't see tall grass in the pictures? Assume they have cattle.

Have cattle? Assume it is a grazing lease that allows you to have your AG exemption and you WILL be over-grazed.

This means that the pressure is not only with hunters, but for food with cattle. The lack of buffalo grass affects the turkeys. The hogs affect turkey as well as deer. The cows eat everything, and add in a dorought and it gets worse.

Pictures do not have photos? That is because they are old. If a realtor cannot produce good quality photos that you can correlate to areas you are walking, the photos are not of the land you are on, very common out there.

If the realtors cannot produce photos with date stamps.. i.e. trail cam photos, then that is because they have not seen those animals in a couple years.

I ticked off a realtor once with that one.. I asked him where the high fence was. He asked, "what high fence?" the one that got installed 2 years ago. He asked how I knew about it? I said because the photos were all 2 years old, so something stopped the Axis and deer from being there.

He hung up.

Do your homework. Ask questions. Look at the pictures and compare them to other listings to see if they were copied.

There are GOOD 'smaller' tracts out there for sale, but you have to know what to look for to keep from buying someone else's dry well.

Russ

Great information Russ.