King Ranch

As the largest working cattle ranch today, the King Ranch boasts over 60,000 cattle and 300 quarter horses and offers fabulous opportunities for nature lovers and birders. 

The King Ranch has a long history of wildlife management.  As early as 1947, famed conservationist Aldo Leopold called the King Ranch "one of the best jobs of wildlife restoration on the continent".  Today,  the ranch is a vital part of an incredibly diverse landscape in South Texas dubbed "The Last Great Habitat". 

Besides the rich populations of game species such as northern bobwhite quail, white-tailed deer and wild turkey, the King Ranch is also home to an incredible number of mammals, reptiles, birds and insects.  The ranch has been honored as an Internationally Important Bird Area:  350 species of birds have been recorded here, including the largest known population of ferruginous pygmy-owls in the United States.  In 2003, a species of damselfly, never seen before in the US, the cream-tipped swamp-damsel was discover on the ranch. 

So whether your interested in big deer, beautiful and rare birds, or the wonders of nature and the days of real cowboys, the King Ranch is the place to visit.