Three recent ranch sales in Wyoming attracted buyers looking for land for a variety of reasons: a working cattle ranch, investment purposes, scenic views and recreational amenities including hunting and fishing.

Northeast Wyoming

An out-of-state businessman and his son purchased the 16,928-acre Fence Creek Ranch on the Wyoming-Montana border near Leiter, Wyo.

The ranch was listed for $10.6 million, or $626 per deeded acre (the selling price was confidential).

BIG COUNTRY: The recently sold 16,928-acre Fence Creek Ranch will continue to be operated as a working cattle ranch.

“A number of brokers told us the listing price was too high, but the ranch sold very close to that and it also sold very quickly,” says John Chase, who co-owns Chase Brothers Properties with his brother, Galen. “Both the sellers and buyers were very happy.”

The transaction included about 10,000 acres of U.S. Bureau of Land Management and State of Montana lease lands.

Chase says the ranch, which has excellent stock water developments, is rated at about 650 animal units year-round and has a low annual cost of production (less than $200 per cow).

Additional features include a new home, barn and set of corrals, along with outstanding big game hunting.

Chase says the father and son used Section 1031 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code to exchange their Texas ranch for the Fence Creek property. The son and his wife moved to Wyoming and are running the ranch as a cow-calf operation.

The seller was a Wyoming businessman who purchased the property in 2005 for investment purposes. “He and his brother lived on the ranch and made many improvements before deciding to sell,” Chase says.

Southeast Wyoming

The 1,100-acre Indian Creek Ranch located 45 miles southwest of Douglas was sold by one partnership to another for its recreation and investment purposes. The asking price was $2.9 million, or $2,636 per deeded acre (the selling price was not disclosed). 

Three creeks pass through the ranch, which also features two developed ponds stocked with trout. The property is in the scenic, but isolated, Laramie Range.

The listing brokerage was Western Land Sales, which was recently sold by long-time broker and founder J.R. Kvenild to his associate, Roy Ready.

North-central Wyoming

Arizona residents purchased the 294-acre Ernst Paintrock Creek Ranch between Manderson and Hyattville, in part, for its hunting and fishing amenities.

The asking price was $990,000, or $3,367 per deeded acre (the selling price was confidential).

The transaction included a Bureau of Land Management grazing lease of 733 animal unit months.

About 150 of the deeded acres are under irrigation, and the buyers are leasing the ranch to a local ag producer for grazing and hay production, says Hall and Hall ranch broker Mike Fraley.

Improvements include a 1,600-square-foot home.

The sellers, Ed and Jeanne Ernst from Minnesota, lived on the ranch seasonally and leased it out for ag production. They are retired and are liquidating some assets, Fraley says.