Lot 27

About 850 ft of dirt ranch road is already cut in here, coming off the north end and bending out to the east. That one detail changes the math. You can drive into the heart of this 14.96-acre tract at 44 Ranch South the same week you close, back a trailer in and set up a camp, instead of losing a season chopping a lane in from the fence line. Tract 27 is ranch land for sale in Duval County, out in the Freer and San Diego stretch of the state, and that dirt lane may be the most useful thing on the place.

Step off it and the chaparral shuts over you. It stands chest to head high in most spots, olive and dusty gray under the heat, prickly pear pushing up beneath it and sandy red dirt showing where the shade thins. Whitetail bed in scrub exactly like this, and they'll use a cleared lane at dawn and again at last shooting time. Bird life holds to the edges of it.

The land leans, but barely. There's roughly 17 ft of difference from the high end to the low, and you feel it in your legs before you see it in the horizon. Where the lane tops out you can look over the canopy a long way, flat skyline, big stacked clouds in August, the far reach of the ranch shimmering at midday. Late in the evening it's a different place entirely.

• About 850 ft of existing dirt ranch road, entering at the north end and exiting to the east
• 14.96 surveyed acres at 44 Ranch South
• Gentle rise of about 17 ft from the low end to the high
• Owner financing with as little as 5% down

This is old ranching land. The rails reached this part of the state in 1879, a narrow gauge line up from the coast that opened the port of Corpus Christi to ranchers here and built the towns as it pushed on toward Laredo. Cattle, then oil, then hunting leases. The scrub that makes the acreage hard to walk is the same scrub that keeps game on it, and that has been true since long before anyone thought to sell it in tracts this size.

Tract 27 is surveyed, and access to the ranch is deeded rather than a handshake with a neighbor. Restrictions stay minimal, written to keep commercial operations out rather than to dictate what you do with your acres, and we'll hand you the full set to read before you sign a thing. We carry the note ourselves, with as little as 5% down. If you want to talk about the tax valuation, or what it takes to get water or power to a place out here, ask us straight and we'll tell you what we know and what you'll need to confirm for yourself.

Wear boots you don't mind ruining and long sleeves. Bring gloves. November or February is the time to see it, when the heat lets up and tracks show clean in the sand. Meet us at the north end and we'll drive the lane to where it comes out on the east, then walk the rest of it with you.