According to reporting from the Fort Worth Business Journal, CoStar News and DTN, the historic Turkey Track Ranch in the Texas Panhandle has returned to the market for $180 million after being pulled from sale following the devastating 2024 Smokehouse Creek Fire. The 77,721-acre property has since undergone extensive restoration, including the rebuilding of roughly 65 miles of fencing and the return of its cattle operation. The ranch, which stretches from the Caprock to the Canadian River, is being marketed by Dallas-based Icon Global. The current offering includes a 25% mineral stake and places the property among the largest ranches currently available for sale in Texas.
A ranch shaped by water, cattle and history
Turkey Track is far more than a vast stretch of open range. About 26 miles of the Canadian River run through the property, while eight major creek basins, natural springs and 64 water wells provide resources for livestock and wildlife. Five irrigation pivots cover about 838 acres, and the ranch sits above the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the most important groundwater systems in the Great Plains.The property also contains cropland, grazing land and infrastructure supporting a large cattle operation. Its combination of agricultural production, water resources, wildlife habitat and mineral interests is a major part of the ranch’s appeal to prospective buyers.Its history stretches back to the late 19th century. The Turkey Track brand dates to 1878, while W.T. Coble acquired the original headquarters in 1916. The property has remained associated with the Coble and Whittenburg families for more than a century.The ranch also encompasses land connected to the 1864 and 1874 battles of Adobe Walls, important episodes in the history of the Texas Panhandle and the wider conflict between Indigenous peoples, settlers and the U.S. military.
The wildfire changed the sale
Turkey Track was already being marketed before disaster struck. The property had first gone on the market in 2021 for $200 million and was later offered at $180 million. Sale negotiations were underway in 2024 when the Smokehouse Creek Fire swept across the region.The fire began on February 26, 2024, after a utility pole failed and power lines fell near the ranch’s boundary, according to findings cited by Texas officials and Xcel Energy filings. The resulting fire complex ultimately burned roughly 1.05 million acres across the Texas Panhandle and into Oklahoma, making it the largest wildfire recorded in Texas.Around 46,000 acres of Turkey Track’s rangeland were affected, representing roughly 60% of the property. The ranch was subsequently taken off the market while the owners focused on recovery. The wider disaster killed three people, destroyed hundreds of structures and resulted in the deaths of thousands of cattle. Texas later sued Southwestern Public Service, an Xcel Energy subsidiary, alleging that poorly maintained infrastructure caused the fire.
Back on the market
Nearly three years after the fire, the ranch’s owners have decided the property is ready for another attempt at a sale. Native vegetation and pastures have returned, wildlife has rebounded and cattle operations have resumed. The restoration also included approximately 65 miles of new fencing across the sprawling property.The asking price is once again $180 million, putting the ranch’s current value at roughly $2,300 per acre. For a buyer, the offering combines scale, agricultural production, water, mineral interests and a history that is unusually concentrated in a single property. Turkey Track is now being presented not simply as land that survived one of Texas’ most destructive wildfires, but as a working ranch that has emerged from the disaster ready for its next chapter.A Texas ranch spanning nearly 77,000 acres is back on the market for $180 million after the 2024 Smokehouse Creek Fire scorched more than half its land; the property has since undergone a major recovery