Legendary Oilman T. Boone Pickens is ready to sell his treasured Mesa Vista Ranch, which is half the size of San Francisco, to the right buyer for $250 million. 

Photo courtesy of Mesa Vista Ranch

According to the Dallas Morning News, “the right buyer” doesn’t mean just anyone with $250 million to spend. Pickens wants a buyer who shares his passion for conservation — a value that’s at the core of his most prized possession.

At 89, Pickens bought the first 2,926 acres 46 years ago when the only structure on the property was a small corrugated-metal livestock feed house where he added a heater to stay warm while quail hunting. 

Today, the nearly 65,000-acre spread in the Texas Panhandle — where Pickens has cut business deals, hosted hunting trips, and entertained celebrities and dignitaries — is a lushly manicured showplace.

Photo courtesy of Mesa Vista Ranch

A lodge compound, which accommodates 52 guests, contains a two-story pub, 30-seat theater room, a lighted tennis court, skeet/trap range, and a small golf course with nine tee boxes and two fairways and greens.

For hunting convenience, the dog kennel is nearby where “a dog’s life” for Pickens’ 40 bird dogs means a full-time staff and on-site veterinary clinic. 

In a separate section of the ranch, “Boone’s Lake House” is Pickens private retreat that’s surrounded by man-made ponds, lakes, aqueducts, and waterfalls. Aside from 3,800 square feet of patios and porches, the house includes 11,500 square feet of living space and an ornate iron door that was once the entrance to Bing Crosby’s Hollywood mansion. 

Photo courtesy of Mesa Vista Ranch

Other ranch features range from a small chapel alongside a creek to a FAA-approved airport with a lighted runway, tarmac, and hangar. And everything except Pickens’ hanging artwork is included in the sale. 

“This is turnkey,” Lubbock real estate broker Sam Middleton, owner of Chas. S. Middleton and Son, told the News. “The furnishings, the equipment, the rolling stock — tractors, pickups, machinery, water trucks — the hunting vehicles, the bird dogs. It’s walk in and take over.” 

“There’s probably a couple of million dollars of bronze statues scattered all around the grounds that stay with the ranch,” he added.