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.
Wes Ferguson is a Senior Editor at Texas Monthly. An East Texas native, he’s the author of two books, The Blanco River and Running the River: Secrets of the Sabine.
Articles by Wes Ferguson
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…
Recipe: Wild Boar Picadillo
Jesse Griffiths goes hog wild to reinvent a favorite childhood meal.
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.
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.
Airbnb for the Outdoor Set
Affordable private places to pitch your tent when public parks aren’t an option.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Kayak Fishing 101: What You’ll Need
Here are four essential items to get off dry land and into a kayak.
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.
Feral Hogs Are Invading Yankeeland. Northern Friends, Here’s What You Need to Know.
Tips from Texans who trap, kill, and study wild pigs.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The 12 Most Dangerous Critters in Texas
These creatures—some creepy crawlers, some fearsome beasts, some microscopic threats—can and will kill you, maybe.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Gone Fishin’; Fishin’ Gone
A new documentary follows the lives of the 94 bayou folk, retirees, and reputed outlaws in the village of Uncertain.
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.
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?
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.