Ellis County is old cotton and cattle country on the Blackland Prairie, and its north end is growing fast. South and east, toward Ennis, Italy and the Trinity bottoms, owners holding land for the long run often move it from ag to wildlife.
Last reviewed October 2026. Your appraisal district has the final say, so confirm the details with them.
We walk your Ellis County property, look at what the deer and other wildlife are using and what they lack, and write a plan around that. The plan names the practices, where they go and when, and who does each job.
We prepare your plan and help you file it with Ellis Appraisal District. After that we can help with the yearly practices and prepare the annual report from your records.
Most of the county is open Blackland clay, farmed for generations, with timber along Waxahachie Creek, Chambers Creek and the Trinity River bottoms on the east side. Bardwell Lake sits south of Ennis.
On open prairie ground, wildlife follows cover. The best plans here put back what farming removed: grass, brushy edges and timber strips along the creeks, plus water where the property lacks it.
Returning field corners and edges to native grass and brush is habitat control and makes open ground usable for wildlife.
Protecting timber along creeks and the river bottoms keeps travel routes for deer and cover for birds.
Pond work or a wildlife water source on dry upland tracts.
Repeated counts of deer, birds or other wildlife, recorded each year.
Every property is different. These are starting points, and the plan for your land comes from walking it.
Ellis County is in the Blackland Prairie appraisal region. For a tract made smaller since January 1 of the year before, the district sets a minimum within TPWD's range of 12.5 to 16.7 acres. A tract that has not been reduced has no minimum.
Applications and plans go to Ellis Appraisal District in Waxahachie by April 30.
District website: Ellis Appraisal District.
CHECK IT YOURSELF
LVG Wildlife Solutions prepares wildlife management plans and supporting records. We are not attorneys or tax advisors, and nothing on this page is legal or tax advice.
Plug in your acres and land value. The estimator uses Ellis County's typical 2025 rural tax rate and the productivity value its appraisal district reports, then shows a rough yearly range and every figure it used.
Remember what it measures: the difference between full market-value taxes and an ag or wildlife valuation. If your land already has an ag valuation, a wildlife plan is how you keep that difference, not add to it.
See what goes into a wildlife management plan or ask us about your property.
Yes, if it is appraised for agriculture now. Plenty of former crop ground qualifies once it is managed for native wildlife under a written plan, with three practices carried out each year.
No minimum unless the tract was reduced since January 1 of the prior year. For a reduced tract, the minimum falls within TPWD's Blackland Prairie range of 12.5 to 16.7 acres. Ask Ellis Appraisal District for its figure.
The appraisal district, not Texas Parks and Wildlife. The plan uses the TPWD form and follows TPWD's guidelines for the region, but it is filed with and reviewed by Ellis Appraisal District.
More questions and answers · How the Texas wildlife exemption works
Maps, practices, a year-by-year calendar, cost estimates, and the forms ready to file.
Read moreTHE FIRST STEPWe walk your Ellis County property, find what it's short of, and tell you straight what would help most.
Read moreTHE PROCESSFrom the first call to the site visit, the plan, filing help and every year after.
Read moreSERVICESAssessments, plans, annual reports and habitat work, in the order your land needs them.
Read moreWHY USWhitetail and habitat specialists who walk every property and stay with you after the plan.
Read moreGET STARTEDTell us the county, the acreage and your goals. Plans are quoted to the property.
Get in touchTell us the acreage, how it's used now and what you want from it. We'll tell you plainly what would help most and what it would take.