Michael and Susan Price met and spent their careers in Alaska, where they were both lawyers. But when it came time to retire, they wanted longer stretches of warm weather. “We loved Alaska,” said Susan, a California native, but “as you get older, snow is not your friend.

So in 2012 the Prices relocated to Michael’s native Texas, where they bought several parcels to create a roughly 900-acre ranch in Texas Hill Country. They raise Akaushi cattle from Japan on the property, as well as exotic deer and antelope. Now they are putting the property, known as 3 Creeks Ranch, on the market for $42.5 million. While the exotic animals are included in the listing price, the cattle are available at an additional cost if the buyer chooses. The ranch will be among the most expensive properties listed for sale in Texas Hill Country, according to Gary Dolch of Compass, who shares the listing with his wife and colleague, Michelle Dolch.

The property is located outside the small community of Luckenbach, which inspired the country song “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love).” The Prices restored and remodeled three 19th-century homes with the original limestone walls. The three-bedroom main house measures about 5,300 square feet, while the other two are used as guesthouses. The ranch also has a one-bedroom guest cottage, and the barn contains living quarters with two bedrooms.

The property has a sports court, 2 miles of creek and six ponds. The couple, who love to admire wildlife, bought red stag deer, fallow deer and blackbuck antelope from an exotic-animal dealer and built a roughly 120-acre pen to house the animals. “It’s like a viewing safari,” said Susan. “You take a Mule [four-wheeler] in there and just enjoy. The rest of the property is a natural habitat for whitetail deer, axis deer, turkeys, quail and doves, they said. While sipping coffee on their porch in the morning, they said, they often saw around 90 deer grazing, and even more in the evening.

The Prices declined to give their ages, saying: “We are young at heart.” They have one adult child and another in high school, and said they have many fond family memories on 3 Creeks Ranch, including watching the recent total solar eclipse. They said they are selling because they are relocating to Austin due to family commitments. Known for its rolling hills and green landscape, Texas Hill Country is west of Austin. The city of Fredericksburg, around 7 miles from the Prices’ ranch, is known for its vineyards and shopping. The most expensive home for sale in Fredericksburg sits on around 14 acres and is currently asking $14.995 million. Earlier this year, a roughly 1,500-acre ranch near Austin sold for $90 million.

CLICK HERE TO SEE 3 CREEKS RANCH

Original Article By: Libertina Brandt, WSJ