Fort Davis, TX 79734(Jeff Davis County)

McInnis Ranch is a first class working cattle, hunting and recreation ranch that has been in the same family since the turn of the century. Located next to Sawtooth and Bear Mountain in the heart of the Davis Mountains the ranch is a Sky Island of the Chihuahuan Desert with elevations ranging from 4,588 feet to 6,590 feet. The views are stunning and overlook the most spectacular scenery in the entire Davis Mountains with close views of Sawtooth, Livermore, Brooks and Bear Mountain and distant views of the Sierra Viejas, Chinati, Capote and others. The ranch is 30% high mountains, 30% hills, and 30% rolling grasslands. The McInnis ranch has been a working cattle ranch for over a century and has been stocked at around 400 animal units yearlong as a conservative stocking rate to help promote the wildlife resources that are abundant on the ranch. The ranch has tremendous groundwater resources and with strategic placement of wells and the use of water pipelines and troughs the ranch is extremely well watered.

Habitat

This Scenic Loop ranch is dominated by mile-high grasslands of Cane Bluestem, Blue Gramma, and Sideoats Gramma with diverse native trees of Emory Oaks, Gray Oaks, Alligator Juniper, Desert Willow, Soapberry, and Mexican Walnut. Numerous large mountains, bluffs, and hills create excellent topography and the views of the mountains are nothing short of breathtaking. Excellent grasses and Chihuahuan Desert plants provide habitat for native wildlife animals and livestock. This is an excellent cross section of the various habitat types found in the higher elevation of west Texas from rock outcrops to montane woodlands, to oak savannahs, to rolling yucca grasslands. This one ranch represents well the diversity of wildlife habitat found in higher elevations of West Texas.

Wildlife

This ranch has some of the best all around hunting opportunities in the West Texas area as it combines the mountain habitats with the grassland habitats. Abundant mule deer, herds of pronghorn antelope, white-tail deer, mountain lion, and elk can all be found here. Smaller animal and bird species of the Davis Mountains and Marfa Grasslands include javalina, fox, ringtail cat, coyote, dove, montezuma quail and many large coveys of blue quail. There are great hunting opportunities throughout the ranch but also excellent recreation wildlife viewing and photography for its non game species.

The grassland and mountain setting of the McInnis Ranch and associated vegetation provide

ideal habitat for many species of raptures and migrating songbirds. From falcons, eagles, hawks, and warblers the trees and grassland combination provide one of the most diverse areas in the Chihuahuan Desert and home for all kinds of breeding and migratory birds.

Improvements

There is a custom designed two bedroom one bath bunkhouse with very nice large living and dining area that will accommodate owners, guest and even the working cowboys during fall roundups. There is an excellent network of roads that access most of the ranch and new central working pens for gathering, cutting, and separating cattle. Five and a half miles of new fencing was recently completed on the west and northwest section of the ranch. The south fence is less than ten years old and the remainder of the fences are in good condition. There are numerous building sites on both sides of the scenic loop with electricity available for a new headquarters or hunting lodge. The yearly rainfall on the ranch averages above 16 inches per year.

Water

There are five excellent wells on the ranch and a few small springs in the canyons. Two wells lie east of the highway and three west. An extensive pipeline system supplies over 25 working water troughs and numerous rock or concrete water storage tanks on the ranch. The big well and tank in HO Canyon on the East side of the highway gravity flows all the way to the west end of the ranch. Current generation of ownership has expanded the water system to include new wells, with solar pumps to provide an abundance of water for livestock and wildlife.