The Ranch That Hid a T. Rex

Jul 6, 2026 | Hall and Hall

Lush green pasture with gently rolling hills with ravines and clouds

Gary “Gus” Licking had been finding teeth and small bone fragments on his South Dakota ranch for years. He had a feeling there was more buried beneath the surface. In 2021, he invited Thomas Heitkamp and his team from Theropoda Expeditions to start digging. He pointed them to a specific spot on the 6,537±-acre property and told them to start there. That is exactly where they found Gus.

What Heitkamp’s team uncovered over the next three years was one of the most significant paleontological discoveries in recent history. A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, 38± feet long and 12.5± feet tall, comprising 183 fossil bone elements and representing roughly 82 percent of the animal’s known skeletal structure. Among only a handful of T. rex specimens ever recovered, Gus ranks as one of the largest and most complete. The fossil was named in honor of Gary Licking, who passed away one year into the excavation and never saw the finished skeleton.

Gus is now headlining Sotheby’s Natural History auction in New York on July 14, 2026, with a pre-sale estimate of $20 million to $30 million, the highest ever placed on a dinosaur offered at auction.

The Ranch Was Already on the Market

While excavation was underway, the ZX Ranch was listed for sale with Hall and Hall. Mark Johnson, farm, ranch and land Broker and Hall and Hall Partner, represented the property. The ranch sold for nearly $6 million dollars.

The listing noted what many in the area already knew: the site sits atop the Hell Creek Formation, one of the most fossil-rich geological deposits in the world, and world-class specimens had already been found on the ranch. A full T. rex skull had been documented on the property. What no one yet knew was the full scale of what was still being uncovered.

It is not every day that a ranch sale and a major paleontological discovery happen on the same property at the same time. The ZX Ranch managed both.

Lush green pasture with blue sky and white clouds

What the Ranch Offered

The ZX Ranch is the kind of South Dakota property that stands on its own merits as a cattle operation. Located ten miles west of Buffalo along State Highway 20, the 6,537± total acres include 6,417± deeded acres and 120± BLM lease acres. The ranch sits atop the Hell Creek Aquifer, with numerous groundwater wells, seeping springs, and several stock dams. Hard grass country, wooded draws for natural winter protection, and varied topography from rolling grassland to badland bluffs and outcroppings. Historically rated for 350 cows year-round, with dryland hay ground and strong potential for a summer stocker program.

Trophy mule deer, antelope, upland birds, and exceptional views from the ridge tops rounded out a property that Hall and Hall’s listing described plainly: as good an example of a northwest South Dakota ranch as it gets.

Rolling green pasture with home and buildings

Harding County and the Hell Creek Formation

Harding County has long been known for two things: cattle and fossils. The Hell Creek Formation, which underlies much of the county, dates to the late Cretaceous period and has produced some of the most significant dinosaur discoveries in North American paleontological history. The formation’s mix of mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone preserves organic material in a way that few geological deposits do, and ranchers across the county have been finding teeth, bones, and partial skeletons on their land for generations.

Under South Dakota law, fossils found on private land belong to the landowner. That legal framework gives ranch properties in the Hell Creek region a dimension of value that does not appear on soil maps or in grazing capacity assessments.

A Story Still Being Written

Gus will be on public view at Sotheby’s New York galleries beginning July 1, 2026, ahead of the July 14 auction. His widow, Dana Licking, has said that knowing Gus was just one of the many pieces of history hidden in the land that she and Gary loved to share makes the discovery feel like a continuation of something, not just a conclusion.

“Working with Dana on the sale of her ranch was both a privilege and a fascinating learning experience, especially on the paleontology side. I never imagined I would one day represent a landowner selling a ranch that was home to a T Rex excavation! It certainly gave “ranch real estate” a whole new meaning. Because the excavation of “Gus” was still underway, we couldn’t advertise the T Rex discovery or the potential for additional fossils. Protecting the integrity of the excavation -and the incredible value it could ultimately bring-was the top priority. In the end, it was truly unique and memorable listing, and I’m grateful we were able to find an outstanding new owner for the ranch. Opportunities like this don’t come around very often.”(Mark Johnson)

Hall and Hall represents farms and ranches across South Dakota and the broader Northern Plains. Contact Mark Johnson to discuss properties currently available in the region.

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