Lot 3

Motley County is where Texas changes its mind about being flat. The High Plains run out at the Caprock, and what lies below is a country of breaks and mesas and red dirt draws, with a great deal more sky than neighbors and the Matador still working cattle out there the way it has since a Dundee syndicate bought the outfit in 1882. Darden Canyon was cut from the middle of that country, 1,322 acres of it, and Tract 3 takes 62.09 acres for itself. Ranch land for sale in this part of Texas still looks like ranch land. Mesquite, cedar, cobble rock underfoot, and a horizon that goes soft blue a long way off.

Start with the front side. This tract runs along County Road 408 for roughly 1,360 ft on its northwest side, an unpaved county road of the sort that dries hard and fast after a rain. Better than a quarter mile of frontage gives you a real choice about where a drive comes in, instead of taking whatever gap the brush leaves you. That is worth more than it sounds on a place where the cover is continuous. Bring the plat when you come out and we'll stand on the corner with you, because the deed and the recorded survey are what govern access, not a track worn into the caliche.

Brush carries this tract from one line to the other. Mesquite through the flats, cedar coming up dark and dense in clumps, prickly pear and low scrub in between, with buffalo grass and sideoats filling the openings where the ground opens up. Deer live in cover like this. It is browse and bedding and screen all at once, and it is a good part of why the breaks in this corner of the county carry the reputation they do. In April the mesquite comes out that first hard yellow-green, and by September the grass has gone the color of a old saddle. There is enough of it that you can clear a camp pad, a shooting lane or two, and still have the place feel like nobody has touched it.

The ground climbs about 54 ft across the tract, from roughly 2,384 up to about 2,438 ft. That is not a mountain, but out here 54 ft moves you from the low brush into open, rockier high ground where the breeze finds you in July and where a camp or a cabin site would naturally want to sit. What you'll see from up there depends on what stands beyond the property line, so climb it and turn a full circle before you decide. Old ranch two-tracks braid across the place already, faint sandy trails that make it easy to get a truck or a side-by-side back into the far corners without cutting a thing.

This has been hunting country since the hide men came down from Dodge City and put up Tee Pee City in 1875, a trading post so rowdy the Matador told its own cowboys to stay away from it. The Matador headquarters at Ballard Springs is still about fifteen miles from here. The breaks today are known for mule deer and aoudad, with whitetail in the mix, and rough ground is exactly where that reputation gets earned. Quail work the brush edges. Evenings out here get quiet in a way that surprises people the first night they spend on the ground.

A few practical things worth knowing before you drive out:
- Roughly 1,360 ft of frontage on County Road 408 along the northwest side
- 62.09 surveyed acres, staked and platted before you buy, with deeded access
- Brush and scrub cover across the whole tract, mesquite and cedar
- About a 54 ft rise to high ground near 2,438 ft
- Owner financing available with as little as 5% down

A Cap Rock Telephone Cooperative marker stands along the ranch road warning of buried fiber, so call 811 before anybody puts a blade or an auger in the dirt out there. On service of any kind, water, power or internet, ask us and ask the providers directly rather than taking anybody's word for it. Restrictions here are light, written to keep the country looking like country. We'll go over them line by line with you, along with how the taxes currently sit on the tract.

Come in the fall if you can, late in the day, when the light comes in low across the mesquite and the deer start to move. Wear boots you don't mind scarring on the cobble, and bring a hat. We'll meet you on County Road 408, drive the two-tracks up to the high end of Tract 3, and lay the plat out on the hood so you can see exactly where your corners fall.