Grateful Z Ranch

Land Description

General Description The Grateful Z Ranch is an unreproducible high-fence property situated at the end of a quiet county road in a secluded and private area. This ranch offers an impressive contemporary home and is fully capable of operating off-grid. It features a variety of recreational and social gathering locations including Sid's Place, Stone Lake House, and a professionally equipped skeet range. The property offers exceptional fishing and hunting opportunities, including trophy whitetail deer, axis, turkey, dove, ducks, and a wide variety of game fish. Spanning diverse terrain, the ranch includes 3 small lakes and 8 additional earthen stock tanks, as well as five wildlife food plots-each outfitted with blinds and feeders. A 6.5-Acre dove field, planted in native sunflowers, enhances seasonal hunting. The land showcases over 100 feet of elevation change, with Little Cedar Creek and its tributaries winding through the property.

Location Located just south of Caddo, Texas, the ranch sits at the end of County Road 129 between the towns of Strawn and Breckenridge in southeastern Stephens County. Breckenridge, just 15 minutes away, offers all necessary amenities, while the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex lies approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes to just over 2 hours east of the ranch.

Access An excellent internal road system consisting of both dirt and all-weather roads ensuring reliable access throughout the property year-round.

Water Grateful Z Ranch offers outstanding water resources, including 3 small lakes with fisheries 2 of them well established. New Lake was built in 2024.

- House Lake covers approximately 3.5 surface acres.

- Texas Lake spans around 6.5 surface acres and reaches 18.5 feet deep near the dam.

- New Lake is estimated to be approximately 6 acres when full.

All 3 lakes are fed by tributaries of Little Cedar Creek. House Lake and Texas Lake are in the south pasture and have docks with great fishing. New Lake is located in the north pasture, was designed to be a productive fishing lake, and has been stocked with bait fish.

Additionally, the property includes 8 stock tanks, notably the Catfish Tank and Walls Tank. A small wetland area, referred to as buffalo wallow, occasionally attracts ducks and geese and is situated in the northeast corner of the ranch near the barn and storage areas.

Terrain The property features over 115 feet of elevation change with lower elevations along Little Cedar Creek on the southwest boundary of the property and higher elevations on the northeast and south sides of the property. A major tributary of Little Cedar Creek runs through the southern portion of the property with high ridges above the valley below. This valley feeds the 2 established lakes, Texas and House Lakes. Tremendous views, deep soils in cultivated food plots, rocky ridgelines and rolling pastureland all make for the diverse terrain of the Grateful Z.

Vegetation Located in the Cross Timbers Region of Texas, the ranch supports a diverse mix of native trees, including live oaks, post oaks, cedar, mesquite, cedar elm, American elm, and hackberry. The understory includes greenbrier, elbowbush, skunkbush, and bumelia, with native grasses in healthy condition and suitable for grazing.

Main House Compound Designed by renowned Fort Worth architect Randy Gideon and completed in December 2017, this striking contemporary compound offers a seamless blend of architecture and landscape. Its design maximizes natural light and captures expansive views of the surrounding terrain. The compound consists of 6 detached buildings connected by covered porches, breezeways, and inviting outdoor sitting areas. Altogether, the buildings total 7,965 square feet, including 4,849 square feet of interior living space.

Four of the buildings house a total of 5 bedrooms and 5 full bathrooms. The layout comfortably accommodates up to 11 guests, with a thoughtful design that ensures privacy for both owners and visitors. The centrally located main building serves as the primary gathering space and features an open-concept design with a full kitchen, dining area, living room, and a half bathroom. The kitchen is outfitted with Thermador stainless steel appliances, 2 KitchenAid wine and beverage coolers, dual copper sinks, and a spacious 12' x 7' walk-in pantry. A native limestone wood-burning fireplace with stove insert anchors the living space. The stove insert is designed to circulate heat into the room during the winter months. An outdoor gas fire pit extends the entertaining area off the main deck. A Sonos wireless sound system runs throughout the compound.

The master suite, accessed via a walkway, includes a separate sitting area, a full bath, and a walk-in closet. Across the breezeway is a guest bedroom with an en suite bathroom. On the opposite side of the main building are 2 more structures connected by a breezeway. One features a bunkroom with built-in cabinetry and 3 single beds ideal for weekend guests the other houses a cozy living area, half bath, and laundry/utility room.

The final building serves as a 3-car carport. Above it, accessible by stairs, are 2, en suite bedrooms with scenic views from a covered balcony walkway.

Adjacent to the kitchen of the main building, under the shade of mature live oaks, is a fully equipped outdoor cooking area enhanced by ambient tree lighting and decomposed granite paths. This space includes an EVO griddle top, a Big Green Egg ceramic grill and smoker, and a traditional charcoal grill. A nearby outdoor campfire area adds to the charm, and a walking path continues from the house to a dock overlooking the deep pond behind the home.

The Manager's Home The original home on the property, a 2,100-Square-Foot Elliot Solitaire manufactured home, now serves as the manager's residence. It includes 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and sits along House Lake with a fenced yard and shaded decks. A nearby metal building provides workshop space, and a pumphouse delivers clean, potable water through a reverse osmosis system. An in-ground storm shelter and solar system add to the infrastructure.

The Garden The current owners have created a world-class garden. This fenced, 3-tiered garden is a horticulturist's dream, featuring fruit trees and nineteen 24-inch high raised beds for herbs, flowers, and vegetables. All growing areas have been filled with premium organic compost and are ready to plant. There are large areas designed for crops such as pumpkins, squash, and corn as well as a horizontal drip irrigation system. Currently, the garden produces fresh strawberries and blackberries, as well as figs and grapes, just to name a few. This space is as beautiful as it is productive.

Sid's Place Named after a popular hangout in Montana, Sid's Place is a refurbished early-American-style wood cabin with a metal roof, evoking the charm of an old Texas western. The interior features 1950S Rancho-style furnishings, a flat-screen TV, a wood-burning stone fireplace, and card table. The front porch is shaded by a large live oak motte, adorned with strands of decorative lighting. Adjacent to the porch is a horseshoe pit and a large fire pit, ideal for evening entertainment. The campfire area, ringed by large natural stones, is the perfect spot for storytelling under the stars.

Stone Lake House The Stone Lake House is a second refurbished early-American-style stone structure, located in the heart of the Grateful Z Ranch, right on the banks of the largest lake, Texas Lake. This rustic building with a covered sitting porch is primarily used for hunting and fishing gear storage, as well as trap and skeet equipment. A roll-up glass door opens to a large brick smoker, massive stone tables and a fire pit perfect for evening entertainment.

Trap & Skeet Range Near Stone Lake House and Texas Lake is a fully operational trap and skeet range, with a high house/low house, trap house and 8 shooting stations arranged in a half circle. Six top-of-the-line, solar-powered Lincoln throwers with remote controls are all in excellent condition. A metal-roofed, open-air shed provides shade on hot summer days.

Barn & Game Cleaning Area Located in the northeast area of the ranch, this area is a fully enclosed storage/work room adjacent to a covered space for storing equipment and supplies and includes a walk-in cooler and deer hanger. There are 2 sea containers for feed storage and an old set of pens with squeeze chute for working cattle.

Personal Property The Grateful Z Ranch is being sold as a turn-key property, and includes - All major high-quality furniture, appliances, artwork, linens, rugs, dishes, and silverware

- Furnishings in both the guest home and Sid's Place

- Kubota Pro 60 commercial zero-turn mowers 2 -Can-Am Hd10 Defender 5-seater UTV 1 -Can-Am HD8 Defender 2-seater UTV 1 -All hunting stands and wildlife feeders

-Axis and whitetail deer

- Browning Pp65t Gun Safe Platinum Plus series

- All trap and skeet equipment

Utilities

Electric The current owners have installed a solar power system that supplies electricity to both the main compound and the manager's home. The main compound is equipped with multiple Tesla Powerwall 3 batteries and solar panels for energy storage and generation. The manager's house is similarly outfitted with an Enphase battery system and solar panels. Supplementary electricity is supplied by Comanche Electric Cooperative. For natural aesthetics, power lines to the main compound are buried for 200 yards, ensuring no utility poles obstruct the landscape.

Water The main compound is supported by a 6,000-Gallon steel, water holding tank. Water is pumped from a deep stock tank located behind the compound. Water goes through a state-of-the-art filtration system as well as reverse osmosis before being distributed throughout the home. Water pressure is great with two DuraMac water pumps and a Pentair Pentek Intellidrive Constant Pressure Controller. There is also a Pentair Ultraviolet Water Purification System ensuring the water remains clean and safe for household use.

The manager's home operates on a similar filtration and reverse osmosis system and is equipped with a new 2,500-Gallon water storage tank. The owners report no issues with water availability anywhere on the ranch.

Wireless Internet High-speed internet is provided via Starlink, and it performs well at both the headquarters and the manager's home. An alarm system is also in place, offering enhanced security for the property.

Wildlife Deer, turkey, hogs, dove, quail, ducks, and a variety of other wildlife are plentiful on the ranch with excellent viewing and hunting opportunities. Herds of deer are estimated to be 25 axis and 120 to 130 white tail deer, including several trophy-class bucks. Lakes and stock tanks attract waterfowl during the fall and winter months, making for great duck hunting. Spring turkey hunting is excellent as well as dove hunting over the sunflower field in September.

Deer Herd The whitetail deer herd on the southern 437.44-Acre high-fenced pasture is estimated at 120 to 130 deer, with a buck-to-doe ratio of approximately 1 2. Trophy-class bucks are in the 180 B&C class with the potential for 200 B&C class bucks. The ranch was high-fenced in 2011 and the herd was started with 3 breeder bucks from Turner Farms and 20 bred does, later adding 6 more bred does. In 2024, the northern 672.71-Acre pasture Knox Pasture was enclosed with high fence to further enhance wildlife management efforts. The entire ranch is high-fenced and enrolled in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Managed Lands Program MLD. For the 2024-2025 season, the ranch was issued 8 buck permits and 14 doe permits. The ranch is still under direct supervision of the original wildlife manager.

Hunting Improvements -Ranch King hunting blinds 4 -Ranch King 500 corn feeders ground level 6 -Texas Hunter fish feeder on Texas Lake 1 -1500 All Season protein feeders 3 -1000 All Season protein feeders 2 -Wildlife food plots 6 Fencing The ranch features ~6.5 miles of well-constructed high game fencing along its perimeter. There are two separately high-fenced pastures, the north pasture is 672.71 acres, and the south pasture is 437.44 acres. High game fencing is in excellent condition. In addition, there are several low-fenced cross fences and 4 fenced food plots. The main compound and manager's home are fenced, and all protein/alfalfa/corn feed stations are fenced.

Wildlife Food Plots Six food plots were planted specifically to attract and supplement wildlife 5 of them are planted with small grains for the fall and winter months. Sizes are 10.5 acres, 9.7 acres, 7.5 acres, 3.4 acres, and 2.7 acres, and 4 of these are fenced. The property also includes a 6.5-Acre dove field currently planted in native sunflowers.

Feed Program The ranch maintains a year-round protein feeding program. Alfalfa is fed in troughs next to the free-choice protein feeders. Corn is also fed during the hunting season to attract wildlife. The amount of feed distributed and consumed varies depending on the feeder location and range conditions. Each feeder is equipped with a blind and a fenced corn/protein feed station. Feed is always available when the animals need it.

Grazing The current ranch manager grazes a small number of cattle to ensure against over grazing.

Easements There is an overhead transmission line easement crossing the western portion of the property not very far from the west fence. It is not noticeable from most of the ranch and not seen as having a significant impact on the quality of the ranch. There is believed to be a roadway easement to access the northwest corner of the property, but this easement is not used.

Minerals The owner is not thought to possess any mineral rights. No active oil and gas production exists on the southern portion of the ranch. The north pasture has a few old, abandoned wells that have not been operational in years.

School District Breckenridge Isd

Property Taxes The property is agriculturally exempt and taxes are estimated to be $11,949.11 annually.

Broker & Commission Disclosure Buyer's Agent/ Broker must be identified upon first contact with Listing Broker/ Listing Agent and Buyer's Agent/ Broker must be present at the initial property tour in order to participate in the real estate commission. Commission splits will be at the sole discretion of Listing Broker.

Broker Comments This is an exceptional, multi-purpose ranch, featuring impressive, fully furnished living quarters and unique amenities ideal for entertaining. The ranch is equipped to operate completely off-grid, offering both sustainability and self-sufficiency. Turn-key and ready to enjoy from day one.

Price $13,250,000

Contact Blake Hortenstine Broker/ Partner

Fauntleroy Broker Associate

information is deemed reliable, but is not warranted by Hortenstine Ranch Company, Llc. All information is subject to change without prior notice.