The 4,264± deeded acre A Lazy A Ranch has been thoughtfully managed for trophy big game hunting and cattle grazing for decades. With big southwestern views, the A Lazy A encompasses a contiguous block of deeded acreage along with an additional 2,590± acres of adjacent state and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. The ranch benefits from a prime location within New Mexico’s Game Unit 12 and provides one with the opportunity to acquire an attractive property with a rich cultural history, trophy elk hunting, quality pasture, and numerous water resources. Practical building improvements, along with established hunting and cattle infrastructure, ensure one will be able to step into ownership here with ease.
The ranch’s terrain is diverse but generally comprised of small mesas and draws that transition to rolling hills, ridges and broad pastures as the property runs north to south. Dramatic cliff faces and rock formations, including Cerro Blanco Peak ring the viewshed to the north, providing an exemplary southwestern backdrop. Views to the south are long and stretch across flat-topped mesas and buttes.
The upper elevations at the northern end of the property top out at 7,100 feet and are more densely treed with pinion, juniper and oak. Hogeye Mountain is the ranch’s landmark. The slopes of this ancient, dormant volcano rise from the northeastern corner of the ranch up and onto adjacent state lands where the elevation reaches 7,290 feet. An easy hike to the top of Hogeye provides one with an incredible glassing point and incredible views of the ranch and surrounding area. Two established food plots are also located in the northern half of the property and have been strategically located in key areas.
Long treed ridges interspersed with draws and open pastures comprise the southern reaches of the ranch. The broad open pastures and ridges are gentle but provide ideal feed and cover for both cattle and wildlife. Elevations in the southern half of the property range from 6,738 to 7,000 feet.
Multiple water sources, including a spring, drinkers and dirt tanks are located throughout the ranch. The headquarters, including the ranch house and shop, are located along the western border at a point that is roughly halfway into the property as it runs north to south. Unencumbered by conservation easements, the ranch provides outstanding wildlife habitat from top to bottom. The A Lazy A sits behind locked gates, and a series of private roads provide ownership with easy internal access.
The A Lazy A represents the opportunity to acquire an attractive cattle and trophy big game hunting ranch characterized by quality habitat, strong wildlife populations and established water resources. These lands have benefited from years of calculated management practices, and one can immediately step into ownership confident in the knowledge that the requisite natural resources and infrastructure are already in place.
The A Lazy A straddles the Catron and Cibola County line in western New Mexico. The ranch is accessed via county road from paved highway with the front gate less than 20 miles north of the community of Quemado. The turnoff onto county road is roughly 67 paved miles south of Interstate 40 and the town of Grants. It is a three-hour drive to the north and east from the ranch to Albuquerque and commercial air service at the Albuquerque International Sunport. Alpine, Arizona, is a one-hour and 40-minute drive to the south and east. Quemado, with basic supplies and fuel, is a 30-minute drive from the ranch gate. Grants has a full range of amenities and services and is a 90-minute drive. Private aircraft can utilize municipal airports in Gallup or Grants, New Mexico, as well as Springerville, Arizona. Each of these airports is a 90-minute drive from the ranch.
Western New Mexico is an area known for its striking landscape, rich natural resources, as well as large ranches and vast swathes of tribal and public lands. Though the area provides limitless recreational opportunities, it sees very little use relative to other areas in the western US. Indeed, it is a place where one can still explore and hike or bike a trail and be free from crowding.
This is a region with a rich cultural history that reaches back to the Anasazi people and those who came after them. Signs of ancient cultures are found throughout the area in the form of archeological sites, including petroglyphs and stone dwellings. Projectile points, flint chips and countless pottery shards are also scattered over these lands. Spanish conquistadores traveled through here prior to settlement by their ancestors and later arriving homesteaders. The ruins of these settlements and homesteads can also be found.
The A Lazy A has back-door access to thousands of acres of adjacent state and BLM lands and shares a boundary with the Great Western Ranch – formerly known as the Hubbell Ranch, one of the largest and most notable ranches in western New Mexico. Other neighbors include other old-line hunting and cattle ranches.
The ranch is also within easy striking distance of thousands of acres of public lands with striking geological formations and access points, including the nearby El Malpais National Monument. This monument provides visitors with access to a dramatic landscape comprised of beautiful cliff faces and ancient black lava flows and lava tubes.
This region of New Mexico is semiarid with annual precipitation averages in the range of 12-20 inches per year. The majority of rainfall occurs during the summer monsoon season, which runs from July through September. The landscape greens up significantly in the late summer, while late fall and spring are typically the drier seasons. Winters are generally mild with total annual average snow accumulations being just over 20 inches. The elevation ensures more mild temperatures, with daytime summer highs averaging between 75 and 85 degrees. Winter temperatures average daytime high temperatures in the 30–40-degree range with occasional lows into the teens and twenties.
Some of the outstanding photography herein was provided by Gabriel T. Rodgers of GTR Photo (Contact information is available upon request.)
Improvements include a modest but highly functional headquarters comprised of the ranch house, bunkhouse, and shop. The two-bedroom and one-bath home is well-suited for visits to the ranch or as a ranch manager’s residence. The ranch has power in addition to a recently installed solar array next to the home that ensures the ranch will be energy efficient for years to come. A bunkhouse with a shower sits immediately behind the home and provides extra sleeping room for family or hunters. The shop is a 40-by-50-foot metal building with power and drive-through bays.
Unlike other properties requiring a substantial investment in the development of water resources, the A Lazy A has modern infrastructure in place. Subsurface water rights entitle the landowner to a total of 8.68± acre-feet of water annually for livestock and domestic use. Three individual wells provide this water. The newest well is run off solar panels and has a production rate of around 5,000 gallons per day. Water from the wells is piped to storage tanks and drinkers throughout the ranch. Storage facilities and watering sites are significant for a property of this size and include three 10,000-gallon open steel tanks, four 5,000-gallon storage tanks and seven 750-gallon drinkers. The Hogeye Spring serves as a natural watering hole along with assorted dirt tanks that collect rainwater.
All of Seller’s appurtenant mineral rights will convey to the extent they exist.
Property taxes for Cibola and Catron counties totaled $325.33 in 2022.
Situated Ideally located within Catron and Cibola Counties and New Mexico Game Management Unit (GMU) 12, the ranch’s primary recreational activity is big game hunting. GMU 12 and Catron and Cibola Counties are proven and storied grounds for trophy elk, mule deer, and pronghorn hunting. Serious hunters need only turn to the Boone and Crockett records and New Mexico State records to review the number of elk, mule deer, and pronghorn entries from Catron and Cibola counties that have been and continue to be entered into the book.
The A Lazy A and its neighbors in GMU 12 have long been managed for mature and trophy quality game. Elk, mule deer and pronghorn can be found on the ranch throughout the year, and numerous mature bull elk have been taken on it. Current ownership considers the ranch a sanctuary for mule deer and pronghorn. Though it harbors healthy populations and trophy-caliber bucks of both species, mule deer have not been hunted here for over eight years, and no pronghorn hunts have been allowed in nearly ten years. Careful management practices also include the removal of cattle from the property in July. This off date coincides with the beginning of the summer monsoon season and permits the regrowth of grasses and forbs to occur into the September archery season. An abundance of feed and water in an undisturbed environment ensures that wildlife utilize the ranch throughout the hunting seasons.
Hunting rights are currently leased to an outfitter with the state-issued landowner elk vouchers also assigned to that outfitter. This relationship currently generates $20,000 in annual hunting revenue. The State of New Mexico typically allocates three bull elk and four cow elk landowner tags to the ranch per year. The bull elk tags are purchased by the outfitter and the cow tags are utilized by the owners. Private-land-only mule deer and pronghorn licenses can be purchased on an over-the-counter basis by landowners and those allowed to hunt the ranch.
Additional recreation considerations include hiking, mountain biking and OHV riding both on the A Lazy A and surrounding public lands.
Long operated as a cattle ranch, the A Lazy A is perimeter fenced and cross-fenced with a centrally located set of working pens. Each pasture has its own water sources and can be easily accessed by internal roads. In addition to strong native grasses, there are two food plots located in the northern half of the property. The ranch’s carrying capacity has been rated at around 82± AUs plus bulls and horses. Grazing has been and continues to be leased out to a neighboring operator. Under the current lease program, cattle are turned out in late December and removed from the property in July for the purpose of capturing regrowth associated with the summer monsoon season. Grasses in this region include blue gramma, dropseed, Indian rice, little bluestem, wheatgrass and needle grass. This grazing practice not only provides a critical period of rest for the pastures, it also ensures wildlife will have undisturbed access to all of the ranch’s resources.
