La Arena Ranch - Willacy County, Raymondville, TX
La Arena Ranch - Willacy County, Raymondville, TX
The La Arena Ranch is a rare property in an area of South Texas where few ranches come up for sale. Great old-growth brush and fine sandy soils create excellent habitats for quail and deer; in addition, the ranch is covered up with free-ranging nilgai antelope. It is only minutes from Raymondville and a short drive to Port Mansfield and the excellent fishing in the Laguna Madre. This ranch also shares a significant amount of fence line with the King Ranch, which is well-known for excellent quail hunting.
Key Attributes
Location
The property is just over 5 miles northwest of Raymondville. It is at the dead end of County Road 3700 West. This road is not paved but only one mile from paved FM 1761.
Topography, Rangeland & Habitat
The ranch is a mix of native grasslands and old-growth brush. The soils are made up of the Nueces, Sauz and Sarita fine sands, and the land is generally level. There is some natural motting on the ranch, and several quail lanes have been created. Soils are deep and the mesquite and elm trees are large and mature. The native brush species are also tall with deep soils.
Wildlife
The ranch has abundant white-tailed deer, turkey, quail, nilgai and dove.
All neighbors are low-fenced and both nilgai and white-tailed deer are free-range across the ranch. Both species are abundant on the property and have had no hunting pressure for many years on the ranch. We have seen some impressive mature deer on our visits and nilgai are abundant.
The ranch is located well within the “sand sheet” of South Texas known for its superior quail production and hunting. The fine sandy soils and abundant water resources create a fantastic base for great quail populations on the property.
In addition, dove hunting is fantastic in the area with many farms in the nearby area. Both white-winged and mourning dove hunting on this property is excellent.
Improvements
There is an excellent road system on the property from its past oil & gas activity. There is no current production on the property, but the old caliche roads still exist and are well maintained. The property has good fencing on the boundary plus interior fences that create five separate pastures. There is a nice set of cattle pens centrally located on the ranch.
Water
Surface water on this ranch includes several small ponds, and it is common in the area to have playas that will fill with water during wet periods. When it happens it does create amazing waterfowl habitat.
Groundwater here is excellent and high-volume wells can be drilled here. The ranch sits over the Gulf Coast Aquifer and most wells are 700’ – 800’ deep. There are five water wells on the property. One is a solar well and the other four are windmills. All have overflow that feeds into wildlife water features.
Minerals
Some minerals are available at an acceptable offer. There is no production on the ranch.
