Available Archives - Walker & Martin Ranch Sales

Soward’s Chavez Creek

Posted on: September 1st, 2023 by

695 pristine acres, heavily watered by live creek and feeder creek. High elevation with open meadows mixed among good timber. This is where Aspens Quake and Grouse have to hide from the abundant Elk. Hungry Trout take grasshoppers floating on topwater of smooth stream pools. This is heavenly, superb hunting! Have you heard of the Mundy Buck? So yes, beside the ELK, this is Big Mule Deer Country with Turkey and Black Bear too. Speaking to the wildlife factor, it is all here like no place I’ve ever been. Many of the meadows “seep” and feel sub-irrigated. NO CONSERVATION EASEMENT. NO COVENANTS OR RESTRICTIONS. Grazing is currently leased, as is hunting in some fashion. Details to follow. 10,500 feet elevation at the end of a pretty road behind several locked gates. In broker’s Suburban, it is about an hour, picnic-style-fun ride from blacktop. In broker’s Polaris Ranger, it is a good 20 minutes shorter. There are high, vast views back toward Heron Lake to the west from the access road. Some of the boundaries are fenced. A few other property owners apparently have legal passage across the main two-track road crossing the northeast side of the property. No public land here! This is large-parcel, private-landowner territory. This land lies northeast of the Mundy Ranch. Its northernmost point touches 30,000+ acres of Jicarilla Apache Land. Are you a solitary angler? Do you prefer to control your hunting grounds? Someone’s search ends here. Someone’s dreams come true.

Chupadera Ranch

Posted on: August 15th, 2023 by

Chupadera Ranch is 37,644 acres of grazing land characterized by gently rolling hills with pretty purple mountain views. Lying about 40 minutes east of Interstate 25, the ranch is 54% deeded acreage, 36% state lease, and 10% BLM lease all in Socorro County. Rated to carry 580 cow-calf pairs, it also boasts the attraction of quality hunting (GMU 18) for elk, deer, pronghorn, and Oryx. A cattleman leases the ranch grazing for approximately $10,000 a month. Further, a $35,665 annual lease with White Sands Missile Range for fly-over and evacuation provides additional payments if evacuation is called for. Co-listed with Robert Martin of Fay Ranches.

Currently, the ranch is conservatively stocked with 400 pairs. Moreover, the monsoon rains have been excellent this year, and the range is very healthy! There are five wells on the property, and water is distributed to a variety of drinkers. The drinkers attract wildlife, are thick with dove, hold coveys of quail, and anchor big-game-animal movement across the ranch. The owner has kept hunting to a minimum but can issue Landowner Tags for elk, deer, and Oryx at their discretion. Oryx are visually stunning, and good populations like this are rare. Free-ranging African Oryx in the United States are unique to New Mexico and can be hunted year-round. Additionally, the ranch receives four pronghorn (antelope) tags each year.

Mountain View Farm

Posted on: August 15th, 2023 by

Distant gentle mountains surround Las Nutrias – the little historic community whose southern edge just touches Mountain View Farm. Nestled in the Rio Grande Valley south of Albuquerque, this place along the river feels timeless. The architecture of the Las Nutrias San Ysidro Catholic Mission church, origin 1860, best represents the character of this charming place. The villages original name was La Vega de Las Nutrias meaning Meadow of the Beavers. The farm’s 320 acres are mainly cultivated ground, with water rights recognized as pre-1907, the oldest designation New Mexico’s State Engineer identifies. In the desert southwest, water is life, and this is the good stuff. Note: Seller Sold Some Water! The block of water associated with offering and the price change now reference 333 annual consumptive acre-feet! Co-listed with Robert Martin of Fay Ranches.

Location. Location. Location. This farm is 50 miles south of Albuquerque via Interstate 25, less than an hour from the Albuquerque Sunport. Moreover, friendly, growing Los Lunas lies between the farm and Albuquerque. To name a few employers, Los Lunas is home to a Facebook Data Center Campus, a Walmart Distribution Center, and a University Workforce Training Center. Then thirty miles south of the farm, you find the charming town of Socorro with its respected college, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and its 18-hole public golf course.

Currently, irrigation water is delivered via Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) ditches, and a dairy, 5 miles away in Vequita, leases the farm for $80,000 a year. Planted in Sorghum Sudangrass, the crop is utilized by the dairy that is milking four-thousand cows. The dairy farmer told the broker that the farm’s water right is interesting to him because it could also be extracted from wells if desired, not just delivered from MRGCD ditches, which could be very advantageous. The seller is also looking into the process of restoring an old irrigation well on the farm.

Lying in New Mexico Game Unit 14, the farm is home to dove, quail, pheasant, and turkey. Waterfowl use the irrigation ditches and flyway heavily including ducks, geese, snow geese, and magnificent sandhill cranes. There is also an annual depredation elk hunt in the Rio Grande Bosque and the farm is awarded tags.

Socorro County living is comfortable thanks to a mild, dry (low humidity), high-elevation (4600 feet) climate. The county boasts the largest wildlife refuge in New Mexico, Sevilleta National, which is immediately south of the farm, and one of the top birding destinations in the country, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, which is just south of Socorro.

Rio Grande del Norte

Posted on: August 15th, 2023 by

Rio Grande Del Norte is 810 deeded acres containing 3/4 mile of the Rio Grande River. It is a gorgeous canyon setting with elevations at 7,750 dropping down to 7,400 at the river bottom. A private trailhead (shared) provides rare river access into the gorge. Wild yet accessible, the ranch offers unique fishing for large brown trout and northern pike. Deer, elk, and other wildlife traverse the property constantly. A great variety of waterfowl utilizes the river heavily. In 2016 when the owner of an adjoining 275 acres applied, they received one private lands rifle-hunt deer tag. Co-listed with Robert Martin of Fay Ranches.

The ranch abuts vast public lands on two sides. A large tract of BLM makes up the western boundary (across the river), then to the south, the 243,000 acre Rio Grande del Norte National Monument sprawls into New Mexico. Massive, stunning 360-degree views take in distant snow-capped mountains, and Ute Mountain rises in the southern foreground begging to be climbed. A historic gauging station with a cable car still hangs over this vital watershed. This is an exciting, charismatic live water environment that sings out the majestic nature of the Rio Grande – a river wildlife corridor that reaches 1,900 miles across three states! A solitary but easy-to-access location, the property is less than one hour from Taos, New Mexico, with gas and groceries available in nearby Costilla, New Mexico.

Costilla County is 95% privately owned. Land trusts and the BLM are very interested in expanding protected lands here. Large private river parcels are not common, so this one presents an opportunity for conservation. Currently, however, there are no conservation easements or restrictions. It is just a dramatic, private get-away where one can fish, explore, hunt, and hike to their hearts content. Bring your pop-up, Fifth Wheel, or rock-star bus. The county-maintained dirt roads are pretty good. There are also some off-grid homes in the immediate area.

Much is written about the Rio Grande Gorge, but in The Last Beautiful Days of Autumn, Milagro Beanfield War author John Nichols reflects, I experience a great lust to disappear into the Rio Grande Gorge, there to spend afternoons among basalt boulders, plying the low clear river for trout. Everything physical seems to come together, in my body and on the surrounding land. Each perfect day, I know, is going to be the last beautiful day of autumn.

Las Nutrias Farm

Posted on: August 14th, 2023 by

Distant gentle mountains surround Las Nutrias the little historic community whose southern edge just touches this farm. Nestled in the Rio Grande Valley south of Albuquerque, this place along the river feels timeless. The architecture of the Las Nutrias San Ysidro Catholic Mission church, origin 1860, best represents the character of this charming place. The villages original name was La Vega de Las Nutrias meaning Meadow of the Beavers. The farms 320 acres are mainly cultivated ground. The seller currently holds some pre-1907 water rights which they could sell along with the farm, or the buyer could lease irrigation water from the seller, other private water sources, or maybe the MRGCD. Co-listed with Robert Martin of Fay Ranches.

Currently, irrigation water is delivered via Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) ditches, and a dairy, 5 miles away in Veguita, leases the farm and water for $80,000 a year. Planted in Sorghum Sudangrass, the crop is utilized by this dairy that is milking four-thousand cows. The seller is also looking into the process of restoring an old irrigation well on the farm.

Socorro County living is comfortable thanks to a mild, dry (low humidity), high-elevation (4,600 feet) climate. The county boasts the largest wildlife refuge in New Mexico, Sevilleta National, which is immediately south of the farm, and one of the top birding destinations in the country, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, which is just south of Socorro.