Lot 26

The ground here doesn't lie flat and it doesn't fall off a cliff either. It climbs. From the low end to the high, this tract picks up about 57 ft, running roughly 2,378 up to 2,435 ft, and that rise is the whole character of the 28.43 acres. You feel it under the truck before you see it. Walk the eastern side toward the high shoulder and the cedar breaks open out ahead of you, ridge after low ridge shading off into the haze, and that is what most people remember a week after they leave: standing on the upper end of this tract at Darden Canyon, looking a long way across country that nobody has crowded. Ranch land for sale in Motley County comes in a lot of shapes. This one has some lift to it.

The cover is redberry and juniper, dark green and thick in places, scattered singles in others, with mesquite and sand sage filling in the flats and the sandy red soil showing between. That mix matters. Thick cedar on the slopes gives game a place to lay up out of the wind and the sun, and the open sandy pockets between the motts are where you'd set a feeder or clear a small pad without much dozer work. There's grass out there too, thin and pale in April, greener after the September rains come through. The soil is that iron-red Permian dirt the whole country below the Caprock is built on, and it cuts easy.

A graded ranch road works this part of the ranch, red as a brick and wide enough for a stock trailer, winding up out of the low ground and bending east across the rise. It's a genuine improvement, not a two-track somebody wore in. We'll show you exactly where it runs in relation to this tract's corners and how you'd come in, and the deed and recorded plat govern access on every tract we sell, so you'll see that in writing before you sign anything. Off the graded road, older ranch trails thread through the cedar. Good for getting around quiet.

This is the heart of old Matador country. The Scottish syndicate out of Dundee bought the original spread in 1882 and built it into 861,000 acres of grass below the Caprock, headquartered at Ballard Springs, and the Matador is still running cattle out here today. Hide men out of Dodge City put up Tee Pee City in this same corner of the county in 1875, and the Matador eventually declared the place off limits to its own hands, which tells you something about it. The breaks have carried a hunting reputation ever since, mule deer and aoudad through the rough country, whitetail in the mix. Rough ground is where that reputation gets earned, and this tract has the roll and the cover that go with it.

Every tract at Darden Canyon is surveyed before you buy, with deeded access rather than a handshake, and the restrictions are light enough that you can run cattle, build a camp, or just leave it alone for the wildlife. Ask us about the ag and wildlife valuation on this ranch and how it carries forward. Owner financing is available with as little as 5% down, and the terms are laid out plainly on this page so there's nothing to decode.

• 28.43 surveyed acres in Motley County
• About 57 ft of elevation change across the tract
• Graded ranch road access on the place
• Heavy cedar cover with open sandy pockets
• Mule deer, aoudad and whitetail country
• Owner financing with as little as 5% down

Come in the fall if you can. Late September, when the afternoon light goes long across the cedar and the country cools off enough to walk the high end without sweating through your shirt. Wear boots you don't mind scuffing on caliche and bring water. We'll take you up to the high shoulder, show you where the ranch road ties in, and walk the corners with the survey in hand.