Arrow Creek Wildlife & Hunting Ranch

1930 E ARROW CREEK ROAD, BALLANTINE, MONTANA

A SLICE OF HEAVEN VERY CLOSE TO BILLINGS

For Sale By: Trevor Bogunovich—-Fenton Enterprises Real Estate

Here is an opportunity to own a rare and extremely unique, self-sustaining, off-the-grid, 418-acre, deeded ranch with over ¾ of a mile of year-round Arrow Creek running through the middle. This creates an unbelievable oasis for large numbers of whitetail and mule deer as well as unheard of numbers of pheasants, sharp tail grouse, and waterfowl. The current owner has spent the last 20 years tirelessly creating and building a functioning ecosystem to promote the healthy habitat for wildlife while still operating the ranch for cattle and hay production and as an advanced bird breeding facility. This ranch offers a little bit of everything from gorgeous, lush, creek bottoms full of native berry bushes and mature trees to rolling grass and sage hills with improved food plots throughout. Property also borders a landlocked state section for even more recreation fun. All within 17 minutes of Billings, Montana via I94 and located only 1 mile off the pavement.

To the north of this property is the beautiful Yellowstone River valley which is one of the richest farming areas in the northwest United States. To the east and south are some larger farming and ranching operations that add to the privacy and seclusion of this property. These operations provide a large area of super wildlife habitat.

Improvements

This ranch is beautifully improved with a 2650 sq/ft, architecturally designed, custom-built, passive solar, 3 bed 2 bath home with 2 car attached garage. This home is extremely well insulated and is set up on a state-of-the-art solar and wind system. This system creates more power than the property utilizes and even has an advanced solar water heating system (propane backup) that heats the home with in-floor heating and a beautiful wood stove as back up. The power grid system is on the property if you elected to hook up to it; but with this system, why would you want to? This home was positioned perfectly for angles to deflect heat in the summer and soak up the sun in the winter. The home is tastefully finished with a beautiful master bed and bath and high-end kitchen appliances and granite counter tops. The home also has a beautiful living room with amazing views of your hay meadows and creek bottom from the large floor to ceiling windows. The home also has a cozy screened porch that leads out to your beautifully landscaped private backyard that extends right down to the creek.

The kitchen, dining room, and living area provide a lot of open space for entertaining larger crowds. This area is also designed with large windows plus direct access to the sun room, patio, and the professionally landscaped yard.

The master bedroom is very spacious and has a lot of natural light. The master bath is a great size with a large tub and natural light in the area. There is also a very nice walk-in shower that is very handy for older people.

The upstairs provides expanded space for additional living plus two more bedrooms and a nice bathroom with a shower.

Other Support Buildings

A 30’ x 40’ metal shop building fully insulated. A 10’ x 20’ heated office plus a 10’ x 10’ power supply room. There is a very nice, new 16’ x 38’ building built on the side of the garage to house birds.

Additional Bird Breeding Buildings

• Falcon breeding building: 20’ x32’ fully insulated with 3 rooms for bird chambers.
• 32’ x 50’ barn with insulated roof—set up as a bird breeding facility. Could be converted for livestock.
• Pigeon/chicken 12’ x 24’ two-room building with 12’ x 24’ fenced pen.
• 16’ x 32’ open faced metal building.

Abundant Water Supply

This ranch has amazing water features starting with over 3/4 of a mile — on both sides— of beautiful Arrow Creek which meanders through the ranch meadows. There are numerous springs throughout the creek bottom that feed the creek and ponds. The creek flows a very nice stream on a year-round basis.

There are 2 high producing water wells that produce 30+ gallons each. One well is recorded with the Montana DNRC. There are also water rights out of Arrow Creek that are recorded, and all water rights will transfer with the sale of the land.

With this beautiful, wide creek bottom and the water flowing the full length of the property there is great growth of trees, shrubs, and wild fruit trees which provides a habitat for wildlife. There is also a 2500 gallon, buried cistern on site for specific water types that a person might want to use.

Arrow Creek Wildlife

Pheasants and Wild Turkeys

The Arrow Creek Wildlife and Hunting Refuge has been managed over 27 years to improve the wildlife habitat. The habitat is excellent at this time, and as a result there are tremendous numbers of animals and birds. The creek bottom, with live water the length of the property, and the hills, with feed plots strategically located throughout the ranch, provide ideal sources of feed, cover, and protection. There is a very large scope of wildlife on the property to view and to hunt. Many are resident while others migrate on and off the property. The list of wildlife is extensive: mule deer, white tail deer, pronghorn antelope, bobcat, fox, mountain lion, bear, coyote, coon, and more animals. The birds: pheasants, partridge, wild turkey, ducks, sharp tail grouse, bald eagles, hawks, sand hill cranes, great blue herons, plus the incredible songbird population along the creek. All of this so close to Billings, Montana.

Very large herds of Pronghorn Antelope and Mule Deer.

Great hunting within minutes of Billings, Montana.

THIS SHOWS THE TREMENDOUS PRODUCTION OF THE CREEK BOTTOM ALONG
ARROW CREEK. THIS MAKES A GOOD FEED BASE FOR A SMALL CATTLE OR HORSE OPERATION.

Energy System Details

Solar and Wind Power:

The electricity for the ranch is supplied by a combination of solar and wind power Since upgrading the system in 2021. Solar is the dominant energy source, and wind is used as a back-up emergency source. A Honda 7000W generator is also available for backup. Energy produced is stored in a 1750-amp hr battery bank designed for solar applications. This battery bank was replaced in 2021. The previous battery bank lasted 18 years and operated flawlessly. This system has been extremely reliable over the 27 years and has been maintained and upgraded to provide years of trouble-free service. This system produces far more energy than is used in a day Energy independence is a huge step in becoming sustainable. The owner has not had an electric bill in 27 years, which amounts to a savings of over $80,000 to date. Furthermore, a $170,000 property tax credit was applied to the property upon construction of the house in 2008.

Energy System Components:

• 5,000W solar array on pole mount installed 2021
• Added 1,000W split between two arrays installed in original build – 6.000W total
• Outback solar controller installed 2021 24 Volt system
• Morning Star Tristar solar controller for 1000W arrays installed in 2021
• Solan solar and wind connector box and distribution center
• Morning Star Tristar controller for the wind turbine I installed in 2021
• New wind turbine break instated 2021
• Trace 120V inverter installed in original build
• 1750-amp hr Decca solar application battery bank Lead acid batteries contained in an insulated box in the insulated power room in the shop with other solar and wind components
• Back-up Honda 7000W generator purchased in 2020 
• African 20 Wind Turbine 900 Watt on a 94-foot tower

Solar Hot Water/Radiant Floor Heating System:

Located in the heart of the home in a super-insulated room off the garage, this system provides domestic hot water throughout the year, even in the coldest weather, while providing warm comfortable heat throughout the home via radiant floor heating. This system heats all floors including the garage and is backed up by a state-of-the-art Triangle Tube on-demand propane boiler. New, high-grade Steibold stainless steel tanks were installed in 2022, and a full system check was performed in 2023. Combined with the passive solar home design, this system provides comfortable living in any weather, and reduces heating bills by 90%. This system has been extremely reliable over the years.

Passive Solar Home Design:

This 2008 home was designed by the owner using Passive Solar design concepts. The walls were designed using 2×6 framing and an added air space and foam board insulation layer. This adds a tremendous amount of insulation value. The walls and roof are super-insulated with polyurethane insulation, and the windows are made with sustainably produced wood with
special coatings for added efficiency. The interior design stresses “Thermal Mass’ concepts. The radiant system is enclosed in 2” of gypcrete, which is covered by Italian Tile on the first floor. Warm feet on a tile floor in the morning is heaven! A beautiful 5,000 lb. stone hearth, made from rocks and fossils found on the ranch surrounds the Quadra Fire wood stove, providing added thermal mass and a beautiful focus to the great room. Because of these features, NO AIR CONDITIONING IS NEEDED in this home, even when temperatures soar over 100 degrees.

This is the mechanical room for the home which shows the layout of the solar and wind power
that provides the entire power source for the home and outbuildings of the ranch. The home and attached two-car garage is entirely heated by an in-floor hot water heating system. The workmanship and engineering of this off-the-grid power system is installed with the highest
quality and most modern equipment available.

Operations

The farmstead of the property is currently being operated as a falcon and homing pigeon breeding facility. The rest of the ranch is being mildly grazed with cattle and putting up high quality wheat grass/alfalfa hay. This ranch would work very well as a small cattle or horse ranch with its own hay base.

Acreage

418 Deeded acres

• 18 acre separate building site with power close, hay meadows, and creek frontage
• 100 acres creek bottoms
• 300 acres rolling grass hills that also border 640 acres state section for additional acreage access

Location

One of the most amazing parts of this ranch is the LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!! This property is located an easy 17 miles from Billings, the largest city in Montana and the shopping and medical hub of Wyoming and Montana. The property is located only 1 mile off the interstate on a good county road for guaranteed year-round access. The property is also within a few miles of an exceptionally good Huntley Project school system with outstanding academics and sports programs. In my professional opinion there is no other property that offers this much, with close proximity to Billings, currently on the market today. These smaller ranch operations with this much wildlife and live water are getting harder and harder to find.

Purchase Price

PRICED TO SELL AT: $2,350,000

CALL TREVOR 406-208-2280

Fenton Enterprises
WARD FENTON, BROKER 406-698-6183
TREVOR BOGUNOVICH 406-208-2280

NOTE: Information contained herein has been obtained from sources deemed reliable but cannot be guaranteed. Prospective buyers are advised to verify all information to their own satisfaction.