The Texas Hill Country Nature Photography Alliance is a group of ranchers offering up their beloved ranches to guests for the purposes of nature photography and tourism. Most of the ranches have several established photography sites with food and water to attract wildlife, with one or more professionally established photo blinds carefully situated for optimal photographic opportunities. Many also offer overnight accommodations, allowing guests the chance to enjoy magnificent hill country scenery, and special encounters with critters, in privacy.
Participating Ranches
(click on the ranch name to visit its website.)
Annandale Ranch
Today fourth, fifth and sixth generation family members own and manage the 10,000-acre Annandale Ranch, located in Uvalde County, just south of Concan, Texas. Five miles of the Frio River and many caves that reach into the underground cavern system comprising the Edwards Aquifer make Annandale Ranch particularly vital to the region's ecological balance. The Frio Bat Cave, surrounded by the ranch, is the second largest bat population in the state and offers a unique ecosystem of its own.
Elevating land stewardship to paramount importance, the family has placed much of Annandale Ranch under a conservation easement, selling development rights on a large portion of the property to The Nature Conservancy, the Edwards Aquifer Authority and the San Antonio Water System. This Purchase of Development Rights agreement allows continued ranching and eco-tourism while preventing subdivision and commercial development. The family's vision includes educating people about the value of land and wildlife preservation. Call 830.988.2202, or email photobat127@yahoo.com for reservations.
Welcome! Block Creek Natural Area consists of two adjoining ranches, The Laurels Ranch and Turkey Hollow, and is comprised of almost 400 acres near Fredericks-burg, Texas. Book an Adventure at Block Creek Natural Area to photograph, relax and avail yourself of the many other exciting things the Texas Hill Country has to offer!
Los Madrones is a little slice of hill country heaven, located about 25 miles west of Austin. The 400-acre property features limestone bluffs, Little Bee Creek, open pastures and hilltop vistas that stretch past the Colorado River. The ranch owners converted the property to wildlife conservation in 2000, and have managed it since then to improve habitat for turkey, quail and other species.
Red Creek Nature Ranch consists of 1,000 acres located north of Junction. The ranch spreads over a three-mile stretch of juniper covered hills and valleys of canyons at altitudes varying from 1,600 to 2,050 feet. The ranch is dominated by more than two miles of the meandering stream bed of Red Creek with its intermittent surface flow of spring waters.
Stowers Ranch, in the Texas Hill Country, provides unsurpassed outdoor recreation throughout the year. Hunting for whitetail and exotic bucks and wild turkey gobblers is the primary activity, but bird watching, game viewing, nature photography, and hiking are also available. This 11,250 acre ranch is located at the headwaters of the north fork of the Guadalupe River, approximately 13 miles west of Hunt, Kerr County, Texas. On the north side it is adjacent to the Kerr Wildlife Management Area.
The ranch was founded by G.A. Stowers in 1904 as a cattle ranch, game management area and hunting preserve. It is now owned and operated by Mr. Stowers's grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A deer-proof perimeter fence, in place for over 98 years, and enlightened pasture, cattle, and wildlife management practices have led to the development of a healthy whitetail deer population with exceptional antler development and a broad diversity of plant and animal life.
Hill Country beauty, peace and quiet found here!
Clockwise, from left: Frog, Red Creek Nature Ranch, © Kathy Illg. Waterfall, Little Bee Creek, Los Madrones, © Michael A. Murphy. Rattlesnake, Stowers Ranch, © Wolfgang Kaehler.
