Who We Are

We are a very close knit, Christian, working family of many generations on this ranch. All of us are involved in ranching operations including cattle work and the hunting operation. V7 ranch is a registered corporation in New Mexico as Sub Chapter S. With the exception of the grandchildren at present, the rest are share holders. John had a Bachelor of Science in Range Science from New Mexico State University. His knowledge has been very valuable to the grandchildren who spent many hours with him. He was a fantastic teacher and the family is fortunate to have been able to learn under him.

We Own the Land – We Take Care of It

The V7 Ranch is privately owned with over 34,000 acres. It is a combination of prime grazing and hunting land with lush grasslands and towering mountains, streams and rolling hills.

The reason our hunting success rate can be maintained is that we, the land owner, strictly control access to the hunting areas. You will not have any competition from other hunters. You will not see trucks or 4 wheelers. The cattle are moved to other parts of the ranch during hunting seasons. The fair chase spot and stalk method is used when hunting. Our grazing techniques and game management through hunting harvests, predator control and time of year of the hunts are all designed to help the wildlife feel comfortable.

Cattle grazing is done on a high intensity, short duration and rest rotation system. The country hunted for elk has been grazed for four months during the winter. Once the cattle are moved, the pasture is rested for new growth during the growing season.

Contrary to popular beliefs, we are the original conservationists seeing that we are trained a lifetime to take the best possible care of the land and animals we have been entrusted with. Our livelihoods & the future of our children depends upon that!

Ranch History

You will find ruts from the old Santa Fe Trail throughout parts of the ranch. V7 Ranch was also the home of the Clifton House, a prominent stage stop, during the mid 1800’s.

This ranch was put together by two brothers from Texas named Tom and Mathias Stockton around 1860. Mathias’ grandson Alvin had no family of his own. He wrote a professor at NMSU wanting a graduating senior from the ag college to maybe work up into the business. At the time this ranch was 9,000 deeded acres and a 340 cow outfit. John replied to the letter and was hired. It worked out so well that within a year he was earning shares in the corporation.

From 1969 to 1992 Alvin and John built this ranch from 9000 deeded acres and 340 cows to 16,000 deeded acres and 500 cows.  Since Alvin’s death, the family has increased the ranch to 3 times the original size in 1969.

The first fall John was here it became apparent that he needed to limit access to the property by the public. So he formed a hunting club and that was the first step to game management. This worked well all through the 70’s, however, over that decade the game numbers began to thrive and the local outfitters all began to compete for our business, so we farmed the hunting out to a local we knew and trusted. This arrangement lasted through the 80’s right up to 1995 at which point we entered a five year agreement with our neighbor to our south–the NRA Whittington Center–in which we grazed their property and they ran hunts on our land.  In the year of 2000 the V7 took over the commercial hunts, slowly increasing client numbers & adding on to the hunting lodge. Improvements are an ongoing priority for the V7 crew.

Where We’re Going

Our grandfathers and fathers made sacrifices to build this operation so that so that the children & grandchildren could come back to the ranch after college if they want that option. The generations that have been able to do that are truly grateful and want their children to have that same opportunity. This hunting operation is an integral part of the business weighing in at 30% of our gross annual income.

We have diversified even more by incorporating Guest Ranch activities while we work our cattle. We are a working ranch of 34,500 deeded acres and 1,000 total animal units. That puts us in the upper 1% of cattle operations in the US.