PROPERTY DESCRIPTION:

The Elkhorn Ranch exemplifies all the qualities that make for a Class A hunting retreat. Located just two hours from the San Francisco Bay Area outside the one horse town of Yorkville in southern Mendocino County, the property is reached off the county road by a year-round rocked road that meanders through mountain meadows, oak and fir studded hills, arriving at a narrow canyon that opens up to the ranch's central valley to expose towering oaks with streams transversing across the valley floor.  Paralleling east and west of the main valley are three additional valley fingers in addition to a naturally formed mountain bowl that acts as a wildlife corridor between the heavy forest and open spring-dotted oak and pasture land. 

The ranch backs in to the 20,000+ acre Cooley Ranch and is bordered by large ranches on its other sides. This means you have contiguous, undeveloped acreage as neighbors, creating an almost surreal sanctuary where civilization can be cast off. It also means the ranch is teeming with wildlife - wild hogs, trophy deer, mountain and valley quail, wild turkey, bear, etc. This makes for an exceptional hunting retreat. There are few places out there that affords one this level of privacy and serenity so close to the Bay Area.

Rancheria Creek, a tributary of the Navarro River and a spawning river for steelhead trout, flows through the ranch. In addition, artesian springs can be found throughout the property. One of these springs has been horizontally bored, allowing for natural pressure to gravity flow the water to a storage tank. This spring produces high quality water 24 hr/day, requires no pumping, and can be used to feed the next owner's home on several possible building sites. The ranch's ridge tops yield some truly spectacular views and magic sunsets.

The ranch's interior is accessed through a basic network of roads that could be expanded though is adequate for more purposes. The ranch is usually transversed via jeep, horseback, ATV or simply by throwing a backpack on and hiking. 

In addition to recreational opportunities, there are other potential uses for the ranch. The ranch has historically be used as sheep pasture and then later as a cow/calf operation. Either of these purposes are still a possibility today, along with more specialized livestock operation. Southwestern exposure and the cooling currents of air from the nearby coast makes the site potentially ideal for Pinot Noir vineyards, orchards, wildlife food plots, etc. There are timber stands as well that could be managed for long-term sustainable harvesting or for a potential carbon credit bank.