Blake Hortenstine

Hortenstine Ranch Company is pleased to announce the addition of three new agents to its ranch real estate team of talented and diverse rural land experts. Each of these men has an innate understanding of the value of rural real estate and a deep appreciation for the land, as well as strong business experience. Avid outdoorsmen, they are well equipped to recognize and promote the recreational and investment attributes of unique rural properties throughout Texas and Oklahoma. Mark Rose is an accomplished real estate investor, business entrepreneur, and rancher. Over the last 25 years, Mark has bought and sold more than 20 properties as personal investments. He especially enjoys improving raw property to create prime recreational and hunting retreats. Along with his business partner and Dallas native Paul Tomaso, Mark founded Living Earth, a mulch and soil company, in Dallas in 1990, and over the next 24 years, grew the business to 34 locations with 270 employees in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Nashville, and Knoxville. At Living Earth, Mark oversaw dozens of real estate transactions on behalf of the company. He also served for 14 years on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's Municipal Solid Waste and Resource Recovery Council where he gained valuable experience working with environmental regulations. He was raised in Austin where he spent much of his free time hunting and fishing with his older brother. Mark is an active life member of the Dallas Safari Club, the State Fair of Texas Youth Livestock Committee, the Houston Safari Club, and the National Rifle Association, and is a lifetime associate member of the Boone and Crockett Club. He also is vice chairman of the Double Oak Planning and Zoning Commission, which serves the town of Double Oak in Denton, County where he currently resides with his wife Peggy of 31 years. Mark is the proud father of two daughters. When not volunteering, he enjoys family time at his ranch in northwestern Jack County. Chance Turner comes to Hortenstine Ranch Company with a wide range of business and ranch real estate experience. A graduate of Texas Tech University with a degree in finance and business economics, Turner spent a decade building and operating a Dallas healthcare services company as its chief operating officer, which ultimately led to a successful exit of the business. As a ranch owner himself, Turner appreciates the benefits of land stewardship and the rewards of hard work. Turner is well suited to help buyers and sellers with ranch and recreational properties. A sixth-generation Texan, Turner was born in Abilene and raised in Texarkana and is equally at home under the wide-open West Texas sky or in the thick Piney Woods of East Texas. His commitment to go above and beyond for each client dovetails seamlessly with Hortenstine's emphasis on creating an unparalleled customer experience. Chance lives with his wife and their two sons in Dallas while spending as much time as possible at their ranch near Athens. Chris Wengierski joined Hortenstine after graduating from the University of Oklahoma in Norman with a degree in entrepreneurship and venture management. He is licensed in Oklahoma and Texas and brings to the table far more ranch real estate experience than his youth would suggest. Chris interned for Hortenstine Ranch Company for three summers while he was in college, assisting on several large and complex projects where he proved his worth as an integral part of the team and developed a reputation as a problem solver with a never-quit attitude. Chris was raised in Dallas where he graduated from Jesuit College Preparatory School. While in college, Chris developed a passion for the outdoors, spending many mornings and weekends hunting ducks and geese in the wheat fields and sloughs of the Central Flyway and bowhunting whitetail deer in the Arbuckle Mountains. Chris combines his knowledge of wildlife habitat management with business skills and real estate experience to help clients evaluate opportunities and maximize their property's potential. In his free time, Chris enjoys hunting, fishing, and simply being outdoors with friends and family.

Just ask Blake and he'll tell you.  Time sure does fly when you're BUSY and having fun!  Blake Hortenstine, founder of Hortenstine Ranch Company in April of 2003, never could have imagined in his wildest dream that the business would grow to what it is today. From a one man show cold calling land owners from a single room office to now regularly closing over $100 million in sales volume each year, the journey has been incredible to say the least. Blake Hortenstine Wildlife & Fisheries Background Blake grew up in Dallas, Texas and enjoyed hunting and fishing even as a child.  In his teenage years, he assisted a wildlife manager on a Shackelford County ranch and it was here that he decided to develop his love of wildlife and fisheries management into a career.  After graduating from Highland Park High School, he attended Texas A&M University earning a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Management.  Upon college graduation, Blake was hired as a hunting guide for Dresser Industries’ Mota Bonita hunting operation in south Texas. His next move was managing wildlife on the King Ranch in Brooks County where he also guided business executives on quail, deer, hog and turkey hunts. Blake then moved back to North Texas to pursue a career in real estate.  While building his real estate career, Blake became the game manager of a low fenced 14,000 acre hunting operation and wildlife management program in the eastern Rolling Plains west of Albany, Texas as well as an 11,000 acre property north of Breckenridge, Texas in Stephens County.  After 15 years of serving these two ranches, Blake resigned in 2013 to practice ranch real estate full time. Hortenstine Ranch Company Beginnings While managing ranches, Blake started his real estate career with Henry S. Miller Commercial Farm & Ranch Division where he focused on rural and recreational property sales from 1998-2003. During this time he grew tired of wearing a suit and tie to show ranches each day. As a result, in April of 2003, Blake decided to launch Hortenstine Ranch Company, LLC and has been wearing boots and jeans (or occasionally flips flops) ever since.  But if you know Blake, that's no surprise.  He's not in to frills but his knowledge of land and wildlife is second to none. He started Hortenstine Ranch Company by out hustling his competition. Any free time he had was spent at the local tax office gathering the name of land owners and cold calling. To this day, the strategy at Hortenstine Ranch Company is simply HARD WORK. 2011 proved to be a big year for Hortenstine Ranch Company and a turning point in the business as Blake formed a partnership with Cash McWhorter.  Like Blake, Cash's love for the outdoor lifestyle started way back as a child as he hunted and fished while growing up in east Texas. Cash is a graduate of Baylor University and started his career at Colliers International, the third largest global real estate firm. For ten years he worked in corporate real estate, representing numerous local businesses and fortune 500 companies. In June 2010, Cash left Colliers International to start Ranch Capital Group, a fund formed to purchase recreational ranches as an investment vehicle, all located within two hours of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. During that time, Cash was able to design and build multiple water features, enact several controlled burns of more than 700 acres, restore native grasses with land clearing and brush eradication practices, develop and enhance more than 260 acres of wetlands, work with NRCS on a number of projects, drill water wells and install irrigation piping to wetlands, establish wetland management programs, plant food plots, and construct new fences, roads, and homes. It is in this line of business that Cash crossed paths with Blake and the rest is history. Blake and Cash continue to successfully run the business and together they have grown the team to include Jack Fauntleroy, Wright Monning, Bret Polk, Casey Berley, Brandon Rutledge, and Stephen Schwartz.  Hortenstine Ranch Company as been named America's Best Brokerages by The Land Report from 2011-2017. Click to view full biography's of each associate:  About Us A Word from Hortenstine Ranch Company Partner Cash McWhorter "It is not often that you find a career doing what you love alongside a truly exceptional group of men and women and for that I am humbled. I would first give credit to God for leading me down the path of life that brought Blake and I together. Second to Blake for trusting me to be his business partner and allow me to help grow the business. Third to my wife for her understanding of our long but fun work days away from home (so fun that many days she accuses me of calling it work but thinks we really are playing). Fourth to Wright, Casey, Stephen, Jack, Bret, and Brandon for all their friendship and hard work that makes this a truly special company to be a part of. Finally to our clients that trust us with such a special moment in life. Seeing the excitement, joy, family memories, life dreams all coming true when we find the right ranch makes all the leg work well worth it. We have been honored to represent an amazing group of clients. We look forward to the next 15 years."   Happy 15th Anniversary Hortenstine Ranch Company!

History helps us understand change and how the society we live in came to be.   Many of us feel the almost poetic appeal of the past and have a passionate interest in finding out what really did happen long ago.  In fact, almost all the major tourist attractions in the world relate to the appeal of the past. Through understanding the history of a place we are able to gain an incredible perspective which in return, enhances our lives. The Texas Historical Commission (THC) is Texas' agency for historic preservation. "Real places telling real stories" is their motto.  The commission works hard daily to authentically communicate such stories of historical significant in an effort to enhance the well-being of individuals and communities. Click here to read more about the Texas Historical Commission. Two of these important historical markers erected by the Texas Historical Commission can be found along Highway 380 near the gates of Comanche Crest Ranch.  The 10,298 acre Comanche Crest Ranch presents one of the best large acreage, cattle and recreational ranches in the Rolling Plains.  The historical markers displayed near the ranch share events that happened in this area over 150 years ago!  A time where Comanche Indians roamed the land and how explorers reached out and started sharing culture. The other dates back to 1841 and the story of Thomas Lambshead, the first colonist to venture this far west. Pictured below is Texas Historical Commission Marker 1 which commemorates a friendly meeting in 1849 between the men of Captain Randolph Marcy and Comanche Chief Senaco: “In 1849, U.S. Army Captain Randolph B. Marcy was charged with establishing an overland road from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Santa Fe, New Mexico for emigrants seeking gold in California. On October 20, a party of Comanches approached Marcy and his men while they were crossing through Throckmorton County on a southerly return route. Other Native Americans arrived and greeted the trailblazing party. Among those present was Senaco, a high ranking Comanche chief. Marcy and he spoke, and Senaco and others camped with the soldiers before the groups departed on their separate ways. Marcy and Senaco would meet again near here in 1854, while Marcy was on another expedition.” (2009) Texas Historical Commission Marker 2 explains how the earliest settlers of the area where able to buy land and settle in what is now a thriving Throckmorton County:   “In 1841, the Republic of Texas granted William S. Peters and others an empresario grant in north central Texas, including most of what is now Throckmorton County. The colony's western boundary was three miles east of the current Haskell County borderline. Thomas Lambshead was the only settler to venture this far west in the colony. By 1844, the Texas Emigration & Land Company (T.E. & L.) began to manage colony settlement. However, few settled the land and Peters Colony ended in failure. Still, it proved vital for Throckmorton County settlement. The T.E. & L. owned much of the county land and divided it amongst shareholders, many of whom were speculators who sold property to county's earliest settlers.” (2009) The old saying is true.  Everything IS bigger in Texas, even the history! Contact us today to tour Comanche Crest Ranch and see why this land was, is, and will always be a natural treasure in the Lone Star State. Experience the vastness and wonder of Comanche Crest Ranch and the surrounding Texas Historical Commission sites.