When It Comes to Gulf Fish, Don’t Fear the Sheeper
Move over, speckled trout and redfish. The misunderstood, toothy sheepshead is a tasty—and sustainable—catch.
Hunting & Fishing
February 10, 2022
Big Money Is on the Line at Catfish Competitions Across Texas
Lucrative tournaments built around these river monsters are booming.
Travel & Outdoors
December 8, 2021
The Man Who Can Survive Almost Anything
Survivalist expert Bob Hansler found YouTube fame by testing his skills in the Texas wilderness. His biggest challenge was yet to come.
Critters
December 7, 2021
Texas Intensifies Its Fight Against “Zombie Deer Disease”
But many breeders say the new regulations go too far.
Hunting & Fishing
November 13, 2021
Duck Duck Duck: Where to Hunt Three Popular Breeds in Texas
Ready to commit murder most fowl?
Hunting & Fishing
October 15, 2021
Eat, Prey, Love: A Day with the Squirrel Hawkers of East Texas
The ancient art of falconry is alive and well.
Critters
October 1, 2021
Goodbye to a Ghost: East Texas’s Ivory-billed Woodpecker Is Now Officially Extinct
So is a little fish that swam along the San Marcos River.
True Crime
September 9, 2021
Who Shot Walker Daugherty?
A shoot-out at a Big Bend ranch captured the nation’s attention: first as an alleged ambush by undocumented migrants, then as a fear-mongering hoax. The real story is much more mysterious.
Hunting & Fishing
July 16, 2021
For Crowd-Free Fly-fishing, Go East . . . to East Texas, That Is
The Hill Country offers fast-flowing streams and some nice bass. But for solitude and diversity of species, the creeks and bayous east of I-45 can’t be beat.
Hunting & Fishing
April 26, 2021
Hunting Exotics at Ox Ranch
Ranch CEO Jason Molitor always loved hunting. Now he runs an 18,000-acre operation with more than 60 species on offer.
Critters
February 28, 2021
Axis Deer Had Overrun the Hill Country. The Winter Storm Devastated Them.
Exotic species brought to Texas from Africa and Asia fared poorly in freezing temperatures.
Hunting & Fishing
January 21, 2021
In Search of the Chachalaca, the Least-Hunted Game Bird in Texas
With its distinctive, raucous call, the chachalaca is often heard in South Texas—but good luck spotting one.
Hunting & Fishing
January 20, 2021
Where to Hunt, or Photograph, Exotic Animals in Texas
From the Big Bend to East Texas, the Panhandle to the Rio Grande Valley, Texas ranches have been transformed in recent decades by the proliferation of exotic game animals, many of them rare and endangered in their native habitats. With the rise of “Texotics” has come an army of
Recipes
January 20, 2021
Recipe: Wild Boar Picadillo
Jesse Griffiths goes hog wild to reinvent a favorite childhood meal.
Wildlife
January 20, 2021
How Texas Hunting Went Exotic
Sprawling ranches. Rare animals. Rich folks with guns. Welcome to the state’s booming business of stalking wildlife from around the globe.
Critters
November 20, 2020
Meet the Carrion-Craving Falcon That’s Taking Over Texas
Crested caracaras used to range no farther north than Texas’s southern tip, but now they’re expanding across the state—perhaps because of climate change and habitat loss.
Where To Stay Now
August 19, 2020
Airbnb for the Outdoor Set
Affordable private places to pitch your tent when public parks aren’t an option.
Texas History
July 22, 2020
Meet the Unruly Clan That Once Ruled the Hill Country
Living hard and free, cedar choppers clashed with respectable townsfolk in the mid-20th century.
Travel & Outdoors
June 24, 2020
The Surprising Story of How Salt Has Helped Shape Texas
From the Estelline spring in the Panhandle and the foot of the Guadalupe Mountains to the hypersaline lakes in the Rio Grande Valley, the common mineral is all around us.
Style & Design
May 20, 2020
For Years, an East Texas Carpenter Has Been Building a Gothic Contraption of Decks and Spikes in a Historic Square
Not everyone in San Augustine is on board for local artist Gary Brewer's perplexing project, which is three stories high and counting.
Texas History
April 16, 2020
Strong as Grass: A Year After a Devastating Tornado, the Caddo Nation Rebuilds in East Texas
In the aftermath of tragedy, members of the Caddo Nation are drawing on their culture and traditions to help restore Caddo Mounds State Historic Site.
Hunting & Fishing
April 15, 2020
How a Battle Between Recreational and Commercial Fishermen Spawned a Conservation Movement
The Redfish Wars changed Texas fishing. A fight over flounder could be next.
Hunting & Fishing
April 15, 2020
The Great Texas Fishing Safari
Texas offers some of the most-diverse fishing in the country—from stalking monster sharks on Padre Island to fly-fishing from a kayak on the remote Pecos River. And for three months, I got to try it all.
Hunting & Fishing
April 15, 2020
Kayak Fishing 101: What You’ll Need
Here are four essential items to get off dry land and into a kayak.
Hunting & Fishing
April 15, 2020
How Fishing in Texas Got So Good—and Kind of Weird
The state has spent more than a century building up a world-class fishery, with some unintended consequences.
Critters
December 30, 2019
Feral Hogs Are Invading Yankeeland. Northern Friends, Here’s What You Need to Know.
Tips from Texans who trap, kill, and study wild pigs.
Texas History
November 27, 2019
The Lost Texans of the Louisiana Pines
A visit to the Zwolle Tamale Fiesta and Los Adaes, where our state’s Spanish colonial roots live on just across the Sabine River.
Texas History
October 30, 2019
A Final Toast to the Quirkiest Little Dive Bar in the Piney Woods
Ray Gene, proprietor of Longview’s singular It’ll Do Tavern, passed away last weekend.
Hunting & Fishing
October 28, 2019
A Procrastinator’s Guide to Free (or Cheap) Public Hunts in Texas
Deer season is almost upon us, but don’t fret if you don’t have a lease. Here are four public places that welcome hunters.
Critters
October 24, 2019
Can the Bobwhite Quail Be Saved?
Once widely hunted in Texas, the beloved game birds have been dwindling in number in recent decades. But a West Texas hunter and professor believes he’s found a way to save them.
Critters
October 17, 2019
The 12 Most Dangerous Critters in Texas
These creatures—some creepy crawlers, some fearsome beasts, some microscopic threats—can and will kill you, maybe.
Arts & Entertainment
October 14, 2019
When ‘Angels in America’ Came to East Texas
Twenty years ago my hometown made national headlines when the local college staged an internationally acclaimed play about gay men and the AIDS crisis. The people I grew up with are still feeling the aftershocks.
Travel & Outdoors
September 18, 2019
Rich With History, Brownsville Steps Into the Future
A revitalized downtown and a new network of hiking, biking, and paddling trails add to the appeal of this border town by the beach.
Art
September 12, 2019
The Texas Roadside Photographer Who Finds Beauty in the Banal
Trent Lesikar’s ongoing ‘The Shape of Texas’ series teases out connections between the state’s different eras.
Travel & Outdoors
August 20, 2019
Exploring the Cosmos at Space Center Houston and Beyond
Fifty years after humans first walked on the moon, you too can play astronaut for a day.
Critters
August 13, 2019
Zebra Mussels Are Infesting Texas Lakes. There’s Only One Way to Stop Them.
The invasive species hitches rides on contaminated boats from one body of water to the next.
Music
July 30, 2019
The Texas Gulf Coast Gets a Rock Orchestra Soundtrack
Austin rockers Montopolis will premiere The Living Coast—an audiovisual homage to the Texas Gulf Coast—on August 2 in Austin.
Texas History
June 19, 2019
Why This Mexican Village Celebrates Juneteenth
Descendants of slaves who escaped across the southern border observe Texas’s emancipation holiday with their own unique traditions.
Politics & Policy
June 10, 2019
Texas Parks Are Broke. But There’s Good News: Voters Can Rescue Them.
A constitutional amendment on the ballot in November aims to shore up funding for Texas’s system of state parks and historic sites.
Travel & Outdoors
April 18, 2018
Traveling 130 Miles Along the Northeast Texas Trail
Former train corridors pave the way for exploration and quietude through seven counties in this rural part of the state.
Travel & Outdoors
February 21, 2018
Star Search: A Night Guide for Urban Texans
Where to find wide-open skies—or a big telescope—if you live in the big city or in the eastern half of the state.
Travel & Outdoors
January 23, 2018
Alone at the Top of Texas
With the state’s four highest peaks, Guadalupe Mountains National Park offers incredible vistas and rewarding trails, which you just might have mostly to yourself.
Sports
October 26, 2017
Texas High School Students Are Moving Away From Football
Friday night, lights out.
October 19, 2017
A North Texas Poultry Empire, Immortalized in Fiberglass
Getting a head in Pittsburg.
The Culture
August 23, 2017
Inside the World-famous Toilet Seat Art Museum
It’s time to go or get off the pot.
June 26, 2017
Saving the Cabinet Oak
Lyndon B. Johnson conducted the nation's affairs under the Cabinet Oak. But is the three-hundred-year-old tree a goner?
Film & TV
April 19, 2017
Gone Fishin’; Fishin’ Gone
A new documentary follows the lives of the 94 bayou folk, retirees, and reputed outlaws in the village of Uncertain.
Books
December 21, 2016
Let the River Run
Wes Ferguson has paddled and walked all 87 miles of one of the Hill Country’s most prized waterways. In this exclusive excerpt from The Blanco River, he uncovers a few of its natural secrets.
Entomology
June 22, 2016
Meet the Beetle
How long it will take the dreaded emerald ash borers to fully establish themselves in Texas? And how many native ash trees will they decimate?
The Culture
April 20, 2016
Wimberley Storm Warning
A year ago, the Blanco River overran its banks and devastated Hays County—just as a handful of government officials had predicted decades ago.