Wes Ferguson, Contributor at Texas Monthly

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.

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Bob Hansler on his land, near Runge, on November 14, 2021.

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.

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Chronic Wasting Disease affect deer in Texas

Critters|

December 7, 2021

Texas Intensifies Its Fight Against “Zombie Deer Disease”

But many breeders say the new regulations go too far.

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Hunting & Fishing|

November 13, 2021

Duck Duck Duck: Where to Hunt Three Popular Breeds in Texas

Ready to commit murder most fowl?

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Charlie Alvis and his hawk, Calypso, in Brownwood on September 19, 2021.

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.

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Illustration of the ivory-billed woodpecker.

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.

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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.

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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.

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7:26

Hunting & Fishing|

April 26, 2021

A Day at Ox Ranch: Exotic Hunting & Breeding

Ranch CEO Jason Molitor always loved hunting. Now he runs an 18,000-acre operation with more than 60 species on offer.

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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.

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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.

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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

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Recipes|

January 20, 2021

Wild Boar Picadillo

Jesse Griffiths goes hog wild to reinvent a favorite childhood meal.

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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.

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Illustration of a crested caracara flying over a map of Texas.

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.

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A family camps at Low Gear Farmstead, in Menard.

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.

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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.

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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.

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Brewer perched on the top deck of his home.

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.

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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.

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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.

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Arial shot of lower pecos river, centered between two cliffs.

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.

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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.

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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.

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Close-up of a feral hog sticking its snout through a wire fence.

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.

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illustration of three festival queens eating tamales in the piney woods

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.

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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.

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A whitetail doe at Lake o’ the Pines, where does and antlerless bucks can be hunted with bows or guns through mid-January.

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.

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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.

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The twelve most dangerous animals in Texas.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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People dressed up to celebrate Juneteenth.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Sports|

October 26, 2017

Texas High School Students Are Moving Away From Football

Friday night, lights out.

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October 19, 2017

A North Texas Poultry Empire, Immortalized in Fiberglass

Getting a head in Pittsburg.

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The Culture|

August 23, 2017

Inside the World-famous Toilet Seat Art Museum

It’s time to go or get off the pot.

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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?

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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.

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Deer running across the Blanco River in the Texas hill country.

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.

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