Texas Animals
UNBRANDED ANIMALS OF TEXAS

Animals in Texas

• More News of the Odd by Mike Cox 12-13-07
  Buggy horse, rabid dog, raccoons... from various 19th century Texas or Southwestern newspapers...
• Eagle Eyes of Texas by Johnny Stucco 12-5-07
  Series of photo essays
  
• Aliens Amongst Us by C. F. Eckhardt 10-21-07
  No, this is not about space aliens, illegal immigrants, or terrorists. It’s about some plants and animals that are entirely foreign to Texas—indeed, to the US...
• Feeding Frenzy by Peary-Perry
  It dawned on me that we feed cats, squirrels, raccoons, possums, deer, many birds and Lord only knows what else. Which gets me to thinking…
• Country cures tame pesky farm critters by Delbert Trew
  Most western people have heard that placing a lariat rope on the ground around your bedroll will keep snakes away...
• The Quadrangle - As you step inside the stone walls, you immediately discover the perfect place for families to gather. Inside the fortress deer, ducks, rabbits, and other small animals run free, as do the thousands of children who visit there every year.
• Muleshoe, Texas
  Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge - 20 miles south of Muleshoe on Hwy 214, you'll come to the oldest national wildlife refuge in Texas. Wintering spot for Sandhill Cranes. Prarie dogs live year-round. No hunting.

Horses

• Yalgo, the legendary horse by Clay Coppedge
  "Even when involved with outlawry and banditry, the horse is always blameless… In that blameless way of horses, Yalgo is linked to King Fisher's first foray into a life of crime."
• Last Cavalry Horse by Mike Cox
  "That cold winter morning, Dec.14, 1932, was a sad one for old-time horse soldiers and civilians alike at Fort D.A. Russell in Marfa -- they both realized they were witnessing the end of an era."
• Bold CSA Vet Thomas Evans Riddle, & Man o’ War by Mike Cox
  "Thomas Evans Riddle bet on a dead racehorse. He lost.
  The horse was Man o’ War..."
  
• Racing Parson by Mike Cox
  How a preacher held a horse race and build a church
• Find Two Willies and a Max In Hall of Fame, At Tracks by Bill Bradfield
  Texas ranches and stables have been closely linked with the sport of horse racing for generations. Just consider the string of great racehorses developed by the King Ranch alone... For another kind of horseracing royalty, however, turn to two men nicknamed Willie, and another man better known as Max at the tracks.
  
• Two Braids by Mike Cox
  More Texans owned horses than automobiles in 1910, but when the middle-aged man rode into Eagle Pass that summer, people noticed.
• That Old Steer by Archie P. McDonald, PhD
• Meant for Each Other by Maggie Van Ostrand
  Certain living things are meant for each other, whether it be a caballo and a canine, or a lady and a lake.
  
• Primadonna's Birthday
  Miniature horses and Monastery of Saint Claire
• First Horses by Delbert Trew 9-11-07

Cows / Cattle / Oxen

• The Texas Longhorn: Shaped By Nature by Clay Coppedge
• A Conversation With The Family... (of Longhorns) 3-3-08
• Bull in the Brush by Mike Cox 3-20-08
  If you’re tired and ready to hit the beach at South Padre, the 120-mile drive from Corpus Christi can seem like it’s going to take forever. But imagine walking that distance. And in a time before convenience stores, Dairy Queens or any other places to get water or something to eat. That is what it was like in the late winter of 1846 when Gen. Zachary Taylor started his Army on its march from Corpus Christi to Point Isabel (now Port Isabel) and the nearby Rio Grande...
• Suddenly Silly by Mike Cox 1-3-08
  Fuss over a Cow at Snow Hill...
• ‘Mysterious Cattle Deaths’ Not So Mysterious by C. F. Eckhardt
  In the news over the past several years there has been a rash of ‘mysterious’ deaths of livestock, most notably cattle. Apparently the animals have been sucked dry of blood, as a general rule the genitals have been cut out, apparently surgically, the eyes are usually gone, often the tongue is gone, and the rectum has been removed. These have been blamed on everything from UFOs to Satanic cults. Apparently, they are the result of neither.
• Disappearing Cows by Mike Cox
  "...But at night, especially when the moon bathed the landscape in a light far cooler than day, the energy level rose. Not only did the animals move, many believed that unrested souls flitted about. Strange things were said to happen..."
• Kaiser Cows - Bovine Saboteurs of WWI by Mike Cox
• "Don't Shoot the Bull" by N. Ray Maxie
  This is a post WWII story when I was about eight or nine years old and written here to the best of my memory...
• The "Killer" Cows by George Lester
• "A Field Guide to Cows" by John Pukie. A book review
  Fifty-two breeds are featured with their identifying characteristics, vital statistics and even cow demographics. Humor is abundant...
  
• A Cow Tale by Tonya Roberts
  Me and an old boy went down to Brady several years ago, to a cow sale. When we walked in, we were offered a mixed drink, free. Well, we ain't never been to an auction before where they served alcohol and thought that was a good idea....
• Belle the Cow AKA Doris of LaGrange
  Belle, sometime spokescow for Bluebell Creameries ...
• Life on the Trail by Murray Montgomery
  The cowboy legacy is very much alive in Texas ...
• Oxen 'Spares' needed pairs by Delbert Trew
  Many historical journals kept by travelers using wagon trains pulled by oxen describe the herds of extra oxen driven along for "spares."

• Buffalo slaughter had benefits by Delbert Trew
  Animals' remains provided needed items for early settlers
• Buffalo Man by Mike Cox
  Hollywood has seldom – if ever – portrayed buffalo hunters as civilized, erudite men. Screenwriters and producers of Westerns usually have their buffalo hunters play the role as coarse, scruffy men ready to drink or kill anything. But as the story of one time buffalo hunter John Cloud Jacobs demonstrates, reality is not always that simple. ...
• Last Buffalo by Mike Cox
  In the 1500s, when Spanish explorers first came to the Southwest, buffalo ranged over almost all of Texas. In 1850, the shaggy beasts still could be found in roughly half the state. Twenty years later, their range had decreased to the high plains even though hundreds of thousands of them still thundered across the landscape. Only a decade after that, in 1880, the buffalo remaining in Texas could fit into a very small circle on the map in the Panhandle.... more
• Buffalo Herds by Delbert Trew

• Fox in the Pickup Bed by C. F. Eckhardt
  When the Burnham brothers of Marble Falls first created the varmint call, back in the '50s, the devices were nowhere near as sophisticated as they are today...
• Coyotes’ Story by Stephen Osmon
  Coyotes’ Story of the Great Spirit, from "TUMBLEWEEDS' TALES: Ghost Towns and Town Ghosts"

• History's Most Successful Failure - US Army's Camel Corps by C. F. Eckhardt
• Camels by Mike Cox
  Funny how someone can get saddled with something another person ought to get the credit – or blame – for. Take Jefferson Davis...

• Roby's Voting Dog Cartoon by Roger T. Moore 11-13-07
• The Short Yet Semi-Happy Life of Zip the Dog by Mel Brown 10-15-07
  Ever since seeing an old movie long ago titled “The Biscuit Eater” I have been enamored of coon dogs. Something about their especially soulful faces and incredible voices has always touched me deeply, perhaps the result of some fifteen or so generations of Southern heritage...
• Hot Rabbit Sets the Woods on Fire by N. Ray Maxie
  Ark-La-Tex area sportsmen often enjoy hunting wild brush rabbits. Some even make a specialty of it. Often folk are so ‘into it’ they get themselves a couple of Beagle hounds...
• Pet Loss, or, Have Ashes, Will Travel by Maggie Van Ostrand
  Markus, my beloved canine companion who had been with me for over 14 adventure filled years, had passed away two weeks ago. It was the worst time of my life, and I was so busy suffering that I wouldn't answer the phone or the doorbell to allow kind friends to comfort me...
• Bull Dogs and Strays by N. Ray Maxie
  I recall one warm summer afternoon very near the end of WW-II; my family and I were visiting with the Stewert family...
• Coalie and the Speeding School Teacher by N. Ray Maxie
  My Dad always kept pets for us and for a few short years, I had a big black dog named "Coalie"...
• Encountering an East Texas Mad Dog by N. Ray Maxie
  "Get in the house, quick", dad shouted loudly as he drove up in the yard and jumped out of his old 1939 Chevrolet pickup...
• True to Breed by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal
  "On Wednesdays when I am driving home from work I like to listen to a program on the radio (KROU) called "Calling All Pets." It is hosted by Trisha McConnell who is a zoologist and animal behavior specialist. People call her from all over the country for advice on training their animals."
  
• "Shadow's In the Moonlight" by N. Ray Maxie
  "Living in a city with strictly enforced animal control laws is really hard on some of our "best friends", our pets...
• My Night at Bessy and Bud's House by N. Ray Maxie
  An East Texas Tale of Puppies and Mosquitoes
• Sadie’s Christmas Angel by Kathleene S. Baker
  Sadie of Corpus Christi, sometimes it takes a dog to bring out the best in humans.
• Jesus by Mike Cox
  When old “Hay-sus” died that winter afternoon, just about everyone in Eagle Pass mourned.
• Greenies by Peary Perry
  My source is late; he’s never been late before. ... I can’t leave without the package. My dog will never forgive me if I come home empty handed....
• Ninotchka by Maggie Van Ostrand
  She was a blue-eyed creature of enormous beauty, so beautiful that she was named after a Greta Garbo film heroine. You'd be proud to take her anywhere, as she was always perfectly attired. She was a magnificent Siberian Husky.
  
• Dogs figure in life's fondest memories by Delbert Trew
• Meant for Each Other by Maggie Van Ostrand
  Certain living things are meant for each other, whether it be a caballo and a canine, or a lady and a lake.
• Tuffy the East Texas Chow by John Troesser
  The "Junk Yard Dog" as Teddy-Bear
• Dogs in Church by Murray Montgomery
  Vintage Wit from Gonzales County
• Rusty, The Panhandle Chihuahua
• Sugar, The Friendliest Dog on the Red River
• "Please Don't Kill Brownie." Excerpted from The Kountze News
  Like they say in East Texas, this might just make your eyes sour up a little.

• One Time a Kitten Named Elijah Came to the Passover Seder Table to Bring Wisdom by Bill Cherry
  The most important holy day to Jews is the 14th day of Nisan. It marks Passover. Passover's purpose is to celebrate God's deliverance of His people from the bondage of sin. This historical event is contemplated by Jews at an evening family meal known as the Seder... An irony of Christianity is that Jesus' last supper was a Passover Seder...
• Remembering Alexander and the "Fattest Kitten" in Erath County
  by Duby Joe Moore
• A Cat Named Lazarus by Dorothy Hamm
• Lion Hunt by Mike Cox
  Two days after Christmas in 1899, several score Austin “sportsmen” saddled their horses and called up their dogs for a Texas-style fox hunt, only the quarry would be a mountain lion, not a fox.

• Hog Drives of Frio Canyon Texas - Part I:
  “Git Along Little Piggy” Late 1890’s - Early 1900’s by Linda-Kirkpatrick 12-8-07
  ... Like the cattle drives of old but just not as classy or as romantic or as written about were the hog drives of the Frio Canyon.
• Grin and Bear It by Milton Babb
  "There's nothing worse than a drunken bear in a department store..."
• The Big Thicket Bear Hunters Club of Kountze by W. T. Block Jr.
  "The old bear hunters of Hardin County had two things in common - they hunted bears until their youth gave way to old age, and they became windy raconteurs, talking each other to death about the big bear that got away... And now the Big Thicket bear hunters are as extinct as the Big Thicket bears they once hunted."
• Razorback Hogs by Bob Bowman
• Boys will be boys - and also troublemakers by Delbert Trew
  A gentle sow
• Beaumont, the Wild Boar of Doan's Crossing
• Ralph, the Swimming Pig
• Bear Attack in Sabine County

• The Day the Elephant died in Flatonia
  Told to the Editor by Flatonia Historian George Koudelka
  "Sometime way back when the 20th Century was spanking new, a circus stopped in Flatonia..."
  
• Elephant by Mike Cox
  A wild cowboy tale.
• Elephant by Mike Cox
  "Someday, perhaps, a work crew laying cable or pipe will unearth a large set of bones near a busy Wichita Falls intersection..."
• Elephant Stampede by Murray Montgomery
  In Gonzales, Texas
  
• "Little Butch" Comes to Gonzales by Murray Montgomery
  The adventures of “Butch,” the smallest elephant ever seen in the United States

• Oil Field Humor by Fred B. McKinley
  Who says that oil, wool—and sheep manure don’t mix?
• Running of the Sheep by Audrey A. Herbrich
  On the last Saturday in September, San Angeloans showcase their idea of “fun” by releasing a herd of sheep in the downtown streets.
• My Mean Old Grandfather by Louise George
  "I could hear them talking about shearing the sheep and then dipping them before they shipped them...."
• Amos, the Goat Protector from Dripping Springs
• The Weimar Goatherd by Norman Conquest
  Goats, charming as they are, weren't given a huge cranial capacity. They don't know that blood weed is inedible. To their ample palettes and unample brains; they're eating snow peas or Belgian endive.
• The Grandfalls Goat Parade
  Kids raising Kids. In this case we encourage it.

• Egrets 10-21-07
  From Aliens Amongst Us by C.F. Eckhardt
  
• South Llano River State Park by Clay Coppedge
• Wills Point - Bluebird Capital of Texas
  by Ken Rudine. Photos courtesy Melanie Eastep
  Bentsen Rio Grande State Park's colorful Green Jay has real competition 565 miles NNE near the south shores of Lake Tawakoni. That bird is the Bluebird which has a sky blue head and back and the breast color of a Robin.
• Image from High Island Texas
  I live in Webster TX. I am a Wildlife/Nature photographer . I took these Twin Snowy Egret's (approx. 5 weeks old) at Smith Oaks Rookery, High Island TX. It's a Wonderful place to share Nature/Wildlife. - Rodger Whatley
• Sandhill Cranes in La Ward by Ken Rudine
• Hatching Green Head Mallard Eggs by N. Ray Maxie
  "Every day my dad frequented the area and daily, kept noticing a wild Greenhead Mallard go in and out of that tree hole. It was a Mallard hen."
• Turkeys Gone Wild by Peary Perry
• Boys will be boys - and also troublemakers by Delbert Trew
  An old Leghorn rooster
• Killer Vultures by Clay Coppedge
  "Their patience having worn thin, the vultures have decided to go out and kill something - calves. These vultures don't wait until their victim is dead - they have taken to attacking calves as soon as they're born."
  
• Duck Fight by Mike Cox
• Rooster by Mike Cox
  Word spread of Houston’s April 21 defeat of Santa Anna at San Jacinto. Slowly, those who still wanted to give life in Texas a chance turned to the west and went back to what was left of their homes. And that’s when a nameless hero gave his all for Texas...
• Lechuza by Mike Cox
• Paisano Sue, Toyahvale Hall Of Roadrunner Fame
• Collision in Downtown Mentone! or
  The Loneliness of the Long Distance Roadrunner
  by John Troesser
• The Caracara - Vulture of the Millennium
  For some reason Caracaras have chosen Gonzales as the center of their greatest concentration in the U.S.

• The 700-pound shark in Galveston Bay From Mike Cox's "Texas Tales"

• Swimming With Water Moccasins N. Ray Maxie
  Please allow me if you will, to tell a short snake story! Not that the snakes were short, but this story is...
• Snakes or Having a Hissing Fit by John Gosselink
  “We have nothing to fear except fear itself, and snakes..."
• Boys will be boys - and also troublemakers by Delbert Trew
  A pet bull snake
• Adventures in Egg Gathering by Neal Crausbay
  McAdoo, Texas, 1948
• Neta's Snake Tale from a Desert Oasis
  "Wanted Live Rattlesnakes"...

• "I Ain't Lying Officer" by N. Ray Maxie
  A long time friend of mine and once a mainline East Texas Baptist preacher, now retired to the picturesque Texas Hill Country, recently told me this little story. He told it as the total gospel truth and this is one man I have never known to lie. I believe it.
• Is Your Mule for Sale? by N. Ray Maxie
• "Mules" by N. Ray Maxie
  Snaking Logs in East Texas
• A Gonzales County Rite of Passage by Dawson Minear
  Taming the mules
• Piddlin' Acres by N. Ray Maxie
• First Mules by Delbert Trew

• The Plight of the Pleurocoeleus by Clay Coppedge 3-17-08
  We don't usually think of dinosaurs when we think of Texas. We might think about the state's officially designated large mammal, the Longhorn, or the state small mammal, the armadillo... Seldom is heard a word, discouraging or otherwise, about the state dinosaur, the Pleurocoeleus...

• Ol' Rip, The Entombed Horned Toad of Eastland County
  The story of Ol' Rip, the horned toad entombed in the Eastland County Courthouse for 31 years.
• Horny Toad Hypnosis by Clay Coppedge
  "Regardless of what you call them - horned lizard, horny toad or horned frog - you probably don't see many of them these days. Once an almost ubiquitous part of the Texas landscape and psyche...:

• Billy the mail carrier of Weimar Mike Cox's "Texas Tales"

• Gator by Mike Cox
  By the time Robert L. Phillips settled in Hays County, a person would be hard-pressed to find an alligator anywhere in the area. Not that Phillips would have wanted one. After all, an alligator had nearly turned him into a murderer...
• Alligators by Peary Perry
  "...I do know enough to stay out of the way of alligators, which is a lesson some folks might have missed. In case you might have forgotten here is the definition of an alligator:..."
  
• Phantom Alligators by Clay Coppedge
  "It's easy to forget how thick with wildlife the prairie around here was when the first settlers arrived. Deer, wild turkeys, wolves, bear, buffalo, antelope, wild horses, ducks, geese and wild hogs were plentiful. So were alligators."
• Dances with Alligators by George Lester

• Tick trouble takes 30 years to terminate by Delbert Trew 3-13-08
  Texas Tick Fever, aka Spanish Fever, Texas Fever and Poisonous Halitosis was first noticed in 1814 in South Carolina. Little attention was paid to the disease until Texas trail drivers began driving herds of Longhorns from south Texas to Kansas railheads for marketing...
• The Boll Weevil by Archie P. McDonald
  Tex Ritter sang this lament decades ago:
  “Oh, the boll weevil is a little black bug, come from Mexico they say, come all the way to Texas, just looking for a place to stay, just looking for a home, just looking for a home.” And the weevil, actually a beetle, found it, much to the chagrin of East Texas cotton growers.
• Bugs provided hours of entertainment by Delbert Trew
• Bug Huntin' by Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal
• Mosquito Hawk (Photo only)
• Centipede (Photo only)

• The Little Engine That Couldn't: The Fredericksburg & Northern Railroad by C. F. Eckhardt
  "...The tunnel is still there, all 920 feet of it inhabited, in the fall, winter, and spring, by millions of bats. The bat flight from the tunnel at dusk resembles rising smoke...."

• Skunk Oil, Jackrabbits, and Red Roosters by Lois Zook Wauson
• Pederson Creek offered unique privileges by Delbert Trew
  "Down through time, almost every family living in the country sooner or later experienced a skunk settling under their house..."

• Prairie dogs and their "towns."

• Hot Rabbit Sets the Woods on Fire by N. Ray Maxie
  Ark-La-Tex area sportsmen often enjoy hunting wild brush rabbits. Some even make a specialty of it. Often folk are so ‘into it’ they get themselves a couple of Beagle hounds...

• Uncle Lee's Got the 'coon and Gone On. Gone On! by N. Ray Maxie 10-1-07
  "A pack or family of 'coons could come in the field nightly and destroy a field of corn in two or three nights. And that is exactly what would happen if it were left unattended too long and not watched closely until harvest time..."

• The Truth About Rudolph by Maggie Van Ostrand

• Chupacabra by Mike Cox 10-24-07
  Does a zoologically unknown, blood-sucking creature prowl the South Texas mesquite?

Pictures of Texas Animals

• Cows & Longhorn in Farmersville
• Penitas 2-25-08
• Mare & Offspring in Dacus 12-29-07
• Rattlesnake in Sweetwater 12-1-07
• White Tail Deer 11-27-07
• Armadillo hole 10-27-07
• Cows Grazing
• Green Parrots
• Brahma Cows
• Calf in Pollock
• Bull in High Hill
• Dog in Kinney
• Horse in Waelder
• Mule Deer in Flomot
• Sheep and sheep dog near Flomot
• Common egret in Flomot
• Sandhill cranes in South Plains
• Turtle
• Migrating Geese
• The Kyle Creamery Cat
• Bandit of Burkburnett
• Longhorns in Camp Springs
• Residents of Hilda
• Miniature mule in Marquez
• Mules in Jeddo
• Riding in McDade
• Citizens of Morris Ranch
• Pastoral Scene near Wheelock
• Cattle in Collegeport
• A Resident in Cross
• A Roadrunner in Pecos
• Schwertner - A Feline Residence
• A Snake over the doorway
• Possums in Bandera, old post card
• Hog Waddle, Cabbage Day, San Benito, Texas
• Wasp nest in La Grange
• Pelicans in Rockport