Mills County put its burn ban back on the books Oct. 12, and Texas A&M Forest Service data still showed it active on Nov. 7, the same morning North Zone white-tailed deer season opened around Goldthwaite. Lee, Lee & Puckitt (LLP Ranchland) is a San Angelo-based ranch Broker serving Mills County landowners, and we pulled the burn status, deer rules and regional land figures that matter this week.
Burn Ban Status Around Goldthwaite
The Goldthwaite Eagle reported that commissioners reinstated a countywide burn ban on Oct. 12, 2026, after a brief lift earlier that month. BurnBanTexas, drawing on Texas A&M Forest Service feeds updated Nov. 7 at 5:00 AM CST, listed the ban as still in effect, about 26 days into the order. Neighboring Brown, Comanche, Lampasas and San Saba counties had no ban that morning, while Hamilton County did.
A county burn ban is a Class C misdemeanor under Texas Local Government Code Section 352.081, with a fine of up to $500. Orders change when conditions change, so confirm with Mills County before lighting a pile, campfire or pasture burn.
Deer and Turkey Dates in Mills County
Mills County sits in TPWD’s North Zone. Archery ran Oct. 3 through Nov. 6. General white-tailed season runs Nov. 7, 2026, through Jan. 3, 2027. The bag is five deer, no more than two bucks, all seasons combined. Mills County also carries antler restrictions: a hunter may take two legal bucks, but only one may have an inside spread of 13 inches or more. A legal buck has at least one unbranched antler or an inside spread of 13 inches or more.
Fall turkey in the North Zone runs the same Nov. 7 through Jan. 3 window, with a bag of four gobblers or bearded hens and mandatory harvest reporting. Quail season statewide runs Nov. 1 through Feb. 28. There is no mule deer season in Mills County.
What Hill Country Land Data Shows
Texas A&M’s Texas Real Estate Research Center places Mills County in its Austin-Waco-Hill Country region. In second quarter 2026 that region averaged $8,040 an acre, up 8.63 percent from a year earlier and a regional record, with 1,062 sales, a typical tract of 199 acres and $425.16 million in dollar volume. Those are regional averages, not an appraisal of any one ranch near Goldthwaite.
Water, minerals, access and improvements still drive what a buyer will pay more than a regional mean.
History: Cattle, Sheep and Cotton on the Mills County Frontier
According to the Handbook of Texas entry on Mills County by William R. Hunt and John Leffler, the county was named for John T. Mills and carved in 1887 from Brown, Comanche, Hamilton and Lampasas counties, with Goldthwaite as the seat. Dick Jenkins is listed as the first permanent settler in 1852. By 1890 the county held 680 farms and ranches on 142,299 acres, nearly 25,000 cattle and about 23,000 sheep, with cotton on roughly 7,000 acres. Ranching came first, then a cotton boom, then more sheep, goats for mohair and poultry, with Goldthwaite serving as a livestock center. That mix of cattle, sheep and small-farm land still shapes how buyers look at Mills County tracts today.
Talk With a Mills County Ranch Broker
For a conversation about selling, buying or valuing land in Mills County, call Lee, Lee & Puckitt at 325.655.6989 or visit llpranchland.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a burn ban in Mills County? Yes. Commissioners reinstated a countywide ban on Oct. 12, 2026, and Texas A&M Forest Service data still showed it active on Nov. 7. Confirm with the county before any outdoor burning.
Who is a ranch Broker in Mills County? Lee, Lee & Puckitt, based in San Angelo, has represented ranch buyers and sellers across Texas since 1962 and works Mills County and the surrounding Hill Country and Central Texas ranch country.
Where can I find land for sale in Mills County? Start with our current listings at llpranchland.com, then call 325.655.6989 and tell us acreage, water and minerals you want. Our Brokers can also line up recent sales for comparison.
How do I choose the best ranch Broker in Mills County? Look for closed rural sales near the county, working knowledge of water, minerals and hunting leases, and appraisals or Broker’s Price Opinions built from local comparable sales.
About Lee, Lee & Puckitt
Lee, Lee & Puckitt has served Texas since 1962. The firm was founded in Bronte and has operated from San Angelo since 1977. Our Brokers and Agents handle ranch sales, appraisals and Broker’s Price Opinions, and we stand up for landowners.
Sources
- Goldthwaite Eagle, “Burn Ban Reinstated,” Oct. 12, 2026: https://www.goldthwaiteeagle.com/2026/10/12/burn-ban-lifted/
- Texas A&M Forest Service burn ban data via BurnBanTexas, Mills County, Nov. 7, 2026: https://burnbantexas.com/county/mills
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Outdoor Annual, Mills County regulations, 2026 to 2027: https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/regs/counties/mills
- Texas Real Estate Research Center, Texas Rural Land Markets, Second Quarter 2026: https://trerc.tamu.edu/reports/texas-rural-land-markets-second-quarter-2026/
- Handbook of Texas, “Mills County,” William R. Hunt and John Leffler: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/mills-county
- Related: West Texas and Hill Country listings, Land appraisals, Hamilton County Ranch News: Burn Ban Returns for 90 Days as Regional Land Prices Hit a Record, Brown County Ranch News: Lake Brownwood Sits 89 Percent Full as the Burn Ban Stays Off and Deer Season Opens
Photo: Aualliso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mills_County_Courthouse_September_2020.jpg). Cropped.
