South Texas Ranches and Parks

Even though I'm up in the DFW area. I know there are quite a few ranches and parks in southern texas for wildlife. Ranging from Alligators, Owl's up to larger boar's. Does anyone have any experience with any of the private ranches? Or even the state parks for some good wildlife photo's.
Snakes, Owls, Gators, Wild Boar, Just about anything that is not that common up by me.

Thanks
Garry

Natural Bridge Caverns has a Wildlife ranch too north of San Antonio.

mondayshift wrote in post #17048328
Natural Bridge Caverns has a Wildlife ranch too north of San Antonio.

Thank you. I'll add that to my growing google search.

How are the natural bridge caverns?? any experience?

Gaarryy wrote in post #17048384
Thank you. I'll add that to my growing google search.

How are the natural bridge caverns?? any experience?

been awhile, but i thought the caverns and the wildlife ranch were good, it might even be better now because i think they've done more improvements.

Gaarryy wrote in post #17048326
Even though I'm up in the DFW area. I know there are quite a few ranches and parks in southern texas for wildlife. Ranging from Alligators, Owl's up to larger boar's. Does anyone have any experience with any of the private ranches? Or even the state parks for some good wildlife photo's.
Snakes, Owls, Gators, Wild Boar, Just about anything that is not that common up by me.

Thanks
Garry

Garry,

The bad part right now is the heat, so I can't say that now is the best times for any of these places, but I know in the Winter, Spring, and Fall, these places will have plenty of things for you to keep busy shooting.

Up close to you is LLELA, that is Lake Lewisville Learning Area, that is a good place for you to try, and it's really close to you.
It costs $5.00 to get in, and it's only open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (right now, I hear it's going to open 7 days though) and it's worth every penny too. There is at least two alligators there, if you know where to look. There are quite a few owls too, and in the Winter there is quite a few Osprey too. I have seen deer there, there's a lot of Armadillos. I've seen Coyotes, and I know there is Bobcats, but I have not personally seen any.
If you do go, EARLY is better! For one, now it's cooler, but most of the wildlife is out more, but there, since this is a Learning Center, mainly for kids, there could be CROWDS there, as in Boy Scouts, or whatever, I personally have not seen this due to I always try to go on a Friday morning, or at least on a Sunday morning.
For maps on this, either search Google for LLELA, or you can go to my Flickr page and there is some maps of that, and other places too.
With you living probably within a couple of miles away, you probably already know about it, but I know a person that lives about a mile from it, and she had no idea this was even there.
(Also, Ray Roberts Lake North of you has plenty to shoot too, just do some searches on that, you should be able to get some results)

Also in my maps on Flickr, there is a place called, Richland-Chambers Wildlife Management Area, (RCWMA), that is a such a good place that you will probably not believe it. I know a guy that went a couple of weeks ago and saw three Red Foxes, and I know there are deer there, and also Coyotes too. The birds though is the main reason reason I go, and right now there is thousands and thousands of nesting birds, or, there were a couple of weeks ago. This place is good year round too, but, they do allow deer hunting and duck hunting too, so it's closed for that during the seasons. You also have to have a Permit to enter, you can get those anywhere they sell fishing and hunting licenses, it's a temporary permit that allows you to be on a WMA. It expires at the end of August, so you'll need to renew it very soon.
If you want to see some shots of birds that are there, go to these people's Flickr sites, there's some shots and you can also read (a little) about the place too in the comments.
https://www.flickr.com​/photos/judylindo/
https://www.flickr.com​/photos/shufisher/
https://www.flickr.com​/photos/116494713@N07/ (Mine for maps and images of other places near you)

There is a North and South Unit here, I have only been to the North Unit, although, the South has a completely different type of landscape, it's mostly trees and fields, and has some interesting places to go too.
You don't even have to get out of your vehicle to do any of this either, you can, but there's roads that leads to it all.
The Google Maps images are not correct, so don't go by that, it has a LOT of water there, on Google, it doesn't show it, but the construction you can see in it is where they are building the giant ponds. This is a water conservation area for Ft. Worth.

Below RCWMA is a place called, Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area, GEWMA, that place is supposed to be very good for wildlife also, I just have not been there yet, but all I have read is really good. Read online about it, it is a really good place.

One of my favorite places to go is a place called, "Village Creek Drying Beds", VCDB, it has all of the birds one would want, including owls, hawks, ducks, and all sorts of others, I've even seen an Eagle there.
It also has Bobcats too, I've seen three at one time, (my Flickr shots show them) Coyotes, and many hogs too. Right now though, this place that usually has a lot of water is almost bone dry. This Fall would be a better time, if there is water there, it attracts a LOT of wildlife, one wouldn't think that it would being in the City Limits. This is a favorite of a LOT of photographers, I have heard that when the birds are there (when there's water) people used to come from as far as Canada to spend time there. (Birders, not so much as photographers)
Right now though, it's closed to the public, during last week's storm that came through, it downed as power line that they are supposed to fix, and haven't yet, that I know of.
The hours the gates are open are from 'around' 7:30am to 4:30pm, or close to sunset, it all depends on when they want to close, I think.

There's also Hagerman up Northeast of you at the bottom of Texoma Lake, I have not been there, but there is a LOT of wildlife there in the cooler months, especially geese and water birds in the Winter, but there are mammals too, all kinds.

Also, go to YouTube and search for "Texas State Parks", you will see some pretty good videos made by the state, and others that just post their own. You will see that you are really surrounded by some really good places that you probably weren't aware of, I know that was the case for me when I first started looking.

This ought to get you started, I know when I first started looking, I thought because I was in the Dallas area I didn't have many choices, but if you spend some time looking, you are literally surrounded by areas that you can go.

You don't say what lenses you have, but in most cases, you will need a longer lens for any wildlife, not all of the time, but you will most of the time...

I hope this helps.

Randy

Wow Randy. Thank you not only for that great info. But the time it took to be so detailed and the links. I've been to the LLELA a couple times. Once they had bison a few year ago, but the others are great resources to check out. I've also been checking out the national wildlife refuges listings, along with the state parks. I'll definitely check out your listings, and if there is still a Gator at LLELA, I'll be looking for him/her.
With the summer heat I actually try to stay in the A/C &get ahead with work and was hoping when the cooler weather hits to take a couple 3 day weekend to southern texas, but you are saving me some gas money for sure.
Even though I already said it, I'll say it again. Thank you so much for that great listing of places. If we ever meet and you drink I'll buy the first one for ya.
Edit to add my longest is the 70-200 2.8. but I have the 2x extender that I use. If I know I'm going somewhere I'll rent something longer if needed.

Gaarryy wrote in post #17050953
Wow Randy. Thank you not only for that great info. But the time it took to be so detailed and the links. I've been to the LLELA a couple times. Once they had bison a few year ago, but the others are great resources to check out. I've also been checking out the national wildlife refuges listings, along with the state parks. I'll definitely check out your listings, and if there is still a Gator at LLELA, I'll be looking for him/her.
With the summer heat I actually try to stay in the A/C &get ahead with work and was hoping when the cooler weather hits to take a couple 3 day weekend to southern texas, but you are saving me some gas money for sure.
Even though I already said it, I'll say it again. Thank you so much for that great listing of places. If we ever meet and you drink I'll buy the first one for ya.
Edit to add my longest is the 70-200 2.8. but I have the 2x extender that I use. If I know I'm going somewhere I'll rent something longer if needed.

No problem Garry, I'm glad that is helpful.

There's also alligators at RCWMA too, on the Southwest side in a lake there, at least from what I have read, I have not tried to find them there... yet...

The alligators at LLELA (two of 'em) are at the beavers mound at the 'first' part of the first pond on the Bittern Trail, if that helps. I personally have not seen it, but I know one person (personally) that has shot it, and another that is the one that posted about it, his name is Denver. He said it was very hard to spot them due to their looking so much like a motionless log, but to be patient.
Here's the spot, I think, I can't really remember which spot of water the Beavers mound is, but it'll be on your left as you are walking on the boardwalk. You come across water on your left, and immediately on your left of that water should be a beavers mound, not a dam, but a mound. Look all around that area, and see what you find. They may have moved to another area, maybe to the larger waters at the end of the trail where the high blind is, or maybe somewhere else. The sightings were back in April or May of this year.

I use Youtube a lot for finding new spots to go, and in South Texas there are a LOT of places, the bad news is that the drought (or fire) has really taken its toll.

Since I'm not real sure what your goal is as far as your target, but anywhere in almost any park or area there should be wildlife. I am not sure if you were actually asking about place that has exotic mammals, or a place that has 'critters' that you can look at, shoot with your camera, or what. Usually though, using YouTube will eventually lead you to a place that you like, right up your alley.

A place that is not in Texas, but is not that far away is a place called, Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, it's up above Wichita Falls, Texas. It has Bison, Elk, Texas Longhorn, Deer, Coyotes, Prairie Dogs, lizards, (all kinds of cool ones) ducks, geese, eagles, birds, and, really beautiful scenery too. You do not need a permit to go here at all either. This is really my favorite place to go out of all of the places I go, but again, the fires and drought have taken its toll here also. I usually go there for a week and camp out, but not in this heat. At night I can hear the owls talking to each other, the coyotes howling, (many, many of them!) and the elk bugling, it takes a lot of my stress away when I hear that stuff. Winter's my favorite time to go there because there's nobody there hardly, I have had the entire campground to myself for a week, and it's a large place. The animals are more active then too, so that's a plus. Fall and Winter, and of course, Spring are also good, but in the Summer it can get well over 100 degrees, and with all of the granite there, you feel it. I made the mistake of going there for my first trip and while I had fun, I stayed in a motel, no way I was going to camp in that. That day was supposed to get to 114, according to a lady at a lake store.
I just drive up and down highway 49 (see map) and also take some of the roads that go to designated areas there to see what I am looking for. Driving has been the best for me though, especially for elk.

Oh yeah, if you have ever thought of doing any astrophotography, this is an ideal place due to its super clear skies at night. If I knew what I was doing, I'd get some really good ones, I got only 1 that was decent, out of at least 100... heheh

Anyway, if you have any questions, just PM me or ask here, I'll try and help if I can.

Randy

Thanks again Randy
Mostly I'm just looking for anything a little different, and with my work schedule lately I haven't been shooting much. I know that if I start looking at places to go, that will snap me out of this rut.
I usually go to Rocky Mountain National park to escape the August heat here, but won't be able to this year. But these local spots will be great. Sometimes I think I like planning things almost as much as taking the pictures

Thank You !!

Yeah, I know what you mean, planning's half the fun!

Randy

There's High Island near Galveston.

http://www.birdinghigh​island.com/about.htm

Thanks Joe