In our conversation, Brian Cook reflects on how his work as a ranch broker gives him a rare, statewide view of Texas land—one shaped long before real estate by years of hands-on wildlife and ranch management. He shares what he’s learned from seeing properties across the state up close: how different regions operate, how buyers and landowners are changing, and what it takes to steward land well in a rapidly shifting Texas.

TXR: One of the things we talk about a lot at Texas Ranches is perspective—how people find land, what they notice, and how those experiences shape the way they care for it. Brian, your relationship to ranching started long before real estate. Can you share a bit about where you’re from and how you came into this work?

Brian Cook: I’m born and raised in Boerne. I grew up there and went to Texas A&M, where I graduated with a Wildlife and Fishery Sciences degree. My family has a ranch down in South Texas in Maverick County along the Rio Grande, so I grew up spending quite a bit of time down there—guiding hunts, doing wildlife management for the ranch, or really learning about wildlife management as I grew up with hands-on experience.

I worked on several other ranches throughout South Texas and the Hill Country, including in and around Boerne, and just really had a passion for wildlife management, ranch management. I love getting to see different places in the state. I knew I wanted to do something along these lines—getting to see different properties, how people operate their ranches, what works and what doesn’t.

That’s really where the drive for ranch real estate came from—finding a way to be out on land and make my office not an office, but in the car, driving to go see beautiful places all over the state.

TXR: You talk about wildlife management as both a practice and a way of seeing land. For people who may not be familiar with that term, what does it actually involve?

Brian Cook: There are different levels of it. In South Texas, a lot of it is whitetail management—trying to grow your whitetail to be as big as possible, whether that’s high-fenced or low-fenced. But it’s also creating habitat, managing the habitat, feeding protein, enhancing water features.

In the Hill Country, it’s similar, but the focus is more on exotics because whitetail don’t grow as well there. So it’s really just bringing out the best attributes of the land in order to allow your wildlife to flourish.

TXR: As cities expand and large tracts are broken up, what challenges are you seeing—for both landowners and wildlife?

Brian Cook: As properties get developed—turning a 100-acre ranch into ten 10-acre ranches—you see a lot more high fences go up. Instead of having one neighbor, now you have ten. That’s ten different people who all want to fill their tags.

There’s actually been a newer draw back toward low-fence properties, where people want something that takes more management and cooperation with neighbors. High fencing has positives and negatives—it really comes down to the landowner’s choice.

And then there’s water. Water shortages have become a real problem. When you’re looking at a ranch now, it’s not just ‘does it have a well?’ It’s how deep is it, how reliable is it, and in fifteen years is it still going to be pumping? Is it still going to be a resource not just for wildlife, but for the house and for people?

TXR: You work across the entire state, and Texas isn’t just big—it’s incredibly diverse. How do you think about the regions, culturally and physically?

Brian Cook: You really could break Texas down into five different states—or more. West Texas is beautiful desert country, with massive landholdings and incredible wildlife. The Hill Country has drastic topography changes, live water, springs, exotics—you never know what’s going to cross your land.

South Texas is open and brushy. You’re sitting in a blind looking down a sendero and deer just appear out of nowhere. Around College Station and toward the coast, you actually get rain. You still see cattle operations, rice farms, and incredible waterfowl habitat. And then Northeast Texas—the Piney Woods—it doesn’t even feel like Texas.

That’s honestly what I love most about this job. Every day looks different. I might be in South Texas one day, the Hill Country the next, then on a 30,000-acre ranch in West Texas with caves and cave drawings and arrowheads. There’s always something new—things most people never get to see driving down the road.

TXR: We spend a lot of time talking about who today’s ranch buyers are. Has that profile shifted over the last decade?

Brian Cook: It has changed. During COVID, there was a big push—people wanted land as a place to get away. But over time, you also see that people who didn’t grow up on land don’t always understand the work it takes to manage it.

At the same time, families who’ve owned land for fifty or a hundred years are seeing younger generations less interested in spending their time there. That’s led to a lot of historic properties being sold or broken up.

There’s also a new wave of landowners—people who maybe never had access before but have always been drawn to it. For many of them, it’s less a working ranch and more a place in the country. We still call it a ranch, but it’s really about gathering, recreation, and getting kids outside.

TXR: That idea of continuity—of keeping land intact across generations—comes up again and again in our conversations. How do you think about that balance, especially as someone whose profession involves selling land?

Brian Cook: I sell ranches for a living, but I also understand what a generational ranch is. My grandparents started buying pieces of our property in 1975. Now I’m the third generation, and my kids will be the fourth.

I want that property set up so they don’t ever have to sell. I really enjoy seeing land preserved and managed the right way so generations can enjoy it. That’s what it’s all about—taking your kids to hunt on the same property you grew up hunting on.

TXR: That sense of community—neighbors talking, sharing knowledge—that’s something we’re trying to reflect through Texas Ranches as well.

Brian Cook: Absolutely. Everybody knows everybody. Ranch managers get coffee at the same place every morning. You’re calling neighbors asking what they’re seeing on fawn crops, what protein they’re feeding, how they’re adapting.

That’s the niche you’re filling—being a resource that helps people connect. Making it feel more like a family again instead of everyone just being on their phones.