A Texas oil and gas executive and his wife have purchased the bulk of Val Kilmer's 5,328-acre Pecos River ranch.

The deed transfer filed Sept. 30 with the San Miguel County Clerk's Office indicates that Kilmer transferred the bulk of the property to Benjamin A. Strickling III and his wife, Roxann. There was no mortgage filed with the documents, according to San Miguel County Clerk Melanie Rivera.

"It's a very lengthy legal description," Rivera said. It included an agreement that Kilmer retain some of the property. "It looks like he kept 141 acres," Rivera said.

Ralph H. Scheuer, an attorney in Taos and Santa Fe who handled the agreement for Kilmer, declined to comment on whether the movie star — best known for his role as Batman and Jim Morrison in The Doors — would keep a home in Northern New Mexico.

The ranch was originally put on the market in 2009 for $33 million, but was reduced this year to $18.5 million, the eventual purchase price.

The property near San Ysidro has also been used as a bed and breakfast and included rental cabins along some of the best trout waters of the Pecos River. The lodging rate at the ranch was $200 a night for one of the six bedrooms, each with its own private bath and kitchen, plus $65 an hour for guided horseback trips, $50 an hour for guided bike trips or hikes and $100 an hour for Jeep tours, according to the website.

Sotheby's Real Estate in Santa Fe listed the property with agents Darlene Streit, Pam Sawyer and Bob Jacobs.

Marketing information for the property indicated that it included six miles of river frontage, a 640-acre grazing lease on state land and a seven-bedroom ranch house with 8 1/2 bathrooms. It was once owned by Greer Garson and her husband, Buddy Fogelson.

The buyer's agent in the transaction, Jim Overton, is also affiliated with Sotheby's. He could not be reached.

Sotheby's Vice President and Qualifying Broker Gregg Antonsen said the company is putting together a statement on the sale — but in the interest of privacy for the buyers, that was not ready for publication.

He did say that in a slow real estate market, the sale "is terrific for Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico."

Strickling and his family are associated with several natural resource companies in Texas and used his business address in Midland, Texas, in the property transfer. Among his affiliations are Patriot Resources, Midmar Gas, First Patriot Oil and Gas, Delaware Basin Resources as well as several land and cattle partnerships. His wife is affiliated with Roxstar Investments.

When Kilmer went before the San Miguel County Commission for permission to open three guesthouses on the ranch, one nearby resident appealed based on his comments reported in Rolling Stone about living in the "homicide capital of the Southwest" where 80 percent of the residents are drunk.

Kilmer apologized for his words, and the commission approved his zoning request.

The flap has caught the attention of everyone from the New Mexico chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has offered to defend Kilmer's First Amendment rights, to the California-based Committee on Chicano Rights and Gov. Bill Richardson, who is known for his diplomatic problem-solving skills.

"Val, he's got his rights," Richardson told The Associated Press in June 2010. "The First Amendment protects him to say anything he wants, but those comments he made a long time ago were not good comments. So I think there's a possibility of a gracious exit for both sides with the meeting coming up."

More recently, Kilmer has been a fixture around Santa Fe and has attended charity events and fundraisers — often eating at Tia Sophia's. He was named honorary chairman of the Santa Fe Film Festival last year.

When Fogelson died in 1987, the original 5,500-acre ranch, known as Forked Lightning, was willed to Garson and the remaining acreage to his son, according to The New Mexican archives. His son later divided his property, selling one parcel to Val Kilmer and the other to Jane Fonda. In 1991, in failing health, Garson sold her part of the ranch to The Conservation Fund, which then donated it to the National Park Service. Garson died in 1996.

Contact Bruce Krasnow at brucek@sfnewmexican.com.