Rudio Creek Ranch

6,120 Acres in Grant County, Oregon

Rudio Creek Ranch is home to natural abundance. Through its history, the family-owned property has been managed to create a balanced environment that supports plentiful, diverse wildlife and a productive cattle operation.

Located in eastern Oregon’s Grant County near Kimberly, Rudio Creek Ranch's landscape encompasses the region’s diverse beauty within 6,120 acres. The ranch also adjoins 8,200 acres of BLM land. Inside the ranch’s fences, the terrain ranges from rolling hills and dramatic mountains to flat mesas and pastureland lush with native grasses as well as cultivated alfalfa.

The native vegetation, which serves as food and habitat for wildlife as well as grazing for cattle, provides the foundation of the ranch’s natural abundance.

Grant County is a top destination for record-book Rocky Mountain elk and Rocky Mountain mule deer. In fact, the Oregon Record Book holds 71 entries for Rocky Mountain elk measuring over 305-inch Boone and Crockett with the largest scoring 401 1/8-inch and 221 entries for Rocky Mountain mule deer measuring over 160-inch Boone and Crockett with the largest scoring 281 1/8-inch, all taken from Grant County. Rudio Creek Ranch, which has both resident and transitory herds, holds five bull and five buck LOP tags in the Oregon Fish and Wildlife’s Northside Unit.

In addition to big game, sportsmen who enjoy pursuing upland game birds can hunt chukars, quail and pheasant on-site. Game cameras regularly capture black bears, bobcats and cougars as they prowl through the wilderness.

Plentiful water undergirds the abundance.

Year-round Rudio Creek, which meanders through the property for three-and-a-half miles, not only provides the ranch’s name, but spawning grounds for steelhead and spring chinook. In 2012, more than $1.4 million was invested to restore about two miles of the creek to benefit these two species. It is also loaded with trout.

During the restoration, the creek was re-established in the center of the floodplain to slow its flow and increase the channel’s complexity. Wood structures and spawning-size gravel were added to provide habitat and facilitate salmon reproduction. The bank was stabilized by planting native vegetation that also provides shade, wildlife food and helps protect water quality.

More opportunities can be found just north of the ranch in the John Day River’s North Fork where anglers can pit their skills against smallmouth bass in spring, summer and fall and test their mettle with steelhead from December through April.
A 17-acre reservoir stocked with bass, crappie and bluegill round out the fishing choices on the ranch and creates a waterfowl haven for geese and ducks. Gilmore Creek, which is seasonal, flows through the property. Numerous ponds and springs, many developed for wildlife and livestock water, dot the property.

Rudio Creek Ranch holds 200 acres of water rights that can be used to irrigate hay fields and pastures using wheel lines. On the ranch, a herd of grass-fed Black Angus not only provide an income stream by producing high-quality beef, but are grazed sustainably to enhance forage and naturally reduce fire risk by reducing fuel loads. Ranch infrastructure includes three barns including a 21-stall horse barn with 80’x80’ arena, office and tack room. The ranch is ideally appointed for horses as well as livestock.

Ranch living is as fine as life in the outdoors. Built in 2003, the six-bedroom, six-bath lodge home features an open kitchen and large living room showcasing a floor-to-ceiling custom rock fireplace, wood floors and expansive windows to frame the stunning views.

Other dwellings, suitable for guests or ranch employees, include a two-bedroom, two-bath manufactured home and a four-bedroom manufactured home; both are outfitted with decks and mudrooms. In addition, there is a three-bedroom, two-bath ranch house that was recently upgraded.

To see the balanced abundance that is the Rudio Creek Ranch, call Walt Ramage with NAI Cascade Land|Ranch at (541) 771-8260 or Andy Wilburn with Wilburn Ranch Brokerage at (541) 421-5300. The ranch is listed for $9.75 million.