Lot 47

Come out early on a spring morning, before the heat sets in, when the caliche still holds the cool of the night. Fog lifts off the bottom. You'll hear a bird or two and not much else. Walk the middle of this 31.91-acre tract on the Alamo Ranch, Hill Country ranch land for sale in Edwards County, Texas, and you'll find the creek bed cutting the property nearly in half, running north to south for a good stretch through the heart of the place.

That draw is the spine of the tract. It carries roughly 1,270 ft top to bottom, and a second channel joins it, feeding in from the east and bending toward the southern line. A third, shorter fold gathers toward the south end. After a rain these bottoms do their job and move the water. The last time I stood in the main channel there was water sitting in it. What a creek does through a wet spell and what it does in August are two different things, so plan to see it in more than one season, and we'll be glad to meet you out there in either.

Down in the south, a trail crosses the creek bed. That's your natural crossing, the spot where you get from one bank to the other without a fight. It tells you where a road wants to go if you ever build one.

The terrain climbs a fair bit as you move off the bottom, rising near 79 ft between the low creek line and the higher edges, from roughly 2,137 up to 2,216 ft. That gives you a bench or two above the water where a person might set a camp, dry-footed and looking over the draw. Most of the tract is open, with only a scatter of scrub through it, so the ground reads easy and the deer have room to move at first and last light. Whitetail and axis both range this ranch, along with elk, aoudad, and the birds that work the bottoms.

Getting onto the tract is simple. The new ranch trail touches two sides, so you've got more than one way in without crossing a neighbor. The back is fenced. Electric is available in this stretch of the ranch, though I'd have you confirm the particulars with us before you plan a hookup. These are surveyed tracts with light restrictions and no commercial hunting, so the country stays quiet and the neighbors stay ranchers.

Owner financing is on the table here, with as little as 5% down, which is how a lot of folks step into their first piece of Texas. Bring boots you don't mind getting muddy in the bottom, and pick a morning after a rain if you can. We'll show you the ford, walk the creek line with you, and let you decide where your camp ought to sit.