Using Wildlife Management to Keep Low Property Taxes in Llano County

Plenty of Hill Country ranches around Llano have quit running cattle but still pay the low ag tax rate. The way that works is a 1-d-1 wildlife management valuation: instead of grazing or farming, you manage the land for native wildlife and the appraised value stays where it was. Your taxes don't jump just because the cows are gone.

There's one hard rule going in. The land has to already carry an ag valuation. You can't take raw acreage and start straight on wildlife management. It's a conversion, not a cold start.

Qualifying means picking at least three practices off a list of seven and actually doing them. Supplemental feeding, predator control, and a yearly wildlife census are the common ones. You write up a management plan describing what you'll do, and that plan goes to the Llano County Appraisal District (the appraisal office, not Texas Parks and Wildlife). The deadline lands around the start of May, the same window as other ag applications.

If you're piecing a plan together, TPWD hands out free planning guides and keeps a wildlife biologist assigned to Llano County who can walk your land and tell you which practices actually fit it. That call is usually worth more than any form.