Wildlife & Wild Land

The ecological seam that produces the Lost Pines also produces an unusual amount of wildlife and habitat diversity inside the county boundary. Whitetail deer in numbers approaching nuisance density. Axis deer expanding from old game-ranch escapes. Alligator gar in the deeper river holes. Migratory neotropical songbirds passing through in spring. The night sky over Bastrop County, on a moonless night south of town, is darker than anywhere else within an hour of Austin.

The Mammals

Whitetail Deer

The county is full of them. Suburban yards, rural ranches, state parks — whitetails are everywhere, in numbers that move into nuisance territory in some neighborhoods. The state park has habituated populations that will eat from picnic tables. Hunting season is November-January and is a real economic and cultural element of the county. Locked deer fences are a normal element of new construction in the rural subdivisions.

Axis Deer

Introduced from India in the early 20th century to private game ranches, axis have escaped repeatedly over the decades and now have established free-ranging populations in parts of Central Texas, including Bastrop County. They are larger than whitetails, spotted year-round, and active during daylight hours. Sightings on the back roads of southern Bastrop County are not unusual.

Other

Coyote, raccoon, opossum, ringtail, gray fox, bobcat, and the occasional mountain lion (rarely seen, occasionally reported, unconfirmed in most years). Wild hogs are a real and growing problem on rural property and have become a substantial nuisance for ranches and small farms.

The Birds

Bastrop County is on the Central Flyway and gets substantial migratory bird traffic in spring and fall. The Lost Pines are unusual habitat for the region and produce unusual bird species — pine warblers, brown-headed nuthatches, and a small breeding population of bird species that are otherwise found only in the East Texas pineywoods. The county's checklist runs to several hundred species across the year.

The Hornsby Bend treatment ponds (in Travis County, just upstream) and Lake Bastrop are both notable for waterfowl in the cooler months. McKinney Roughs has an active environmental-learning program with regular bird walks.

The River

The Colorado in Bastrop County supports largemouth and Guadalupe bass, channel and blue catfish, alligator gar in the deeper holes, sunfish, freshwater drum, and a surprising range of native minnow species. The catfishing below Bastrop has a substantial local following. Alligator gar — a prehistoric species that can grow to 100+ pounds — are present and occasionally landed by people who specifically target them.

The Pine Recovery

The 2011 fire was a huge ecological event, and the post-fire recovery has been a master class in fire ecology. Pine seedlings — both replanted and naturally regenerating — have grown into a 10-to-15-year-old young forest that is now showing the first signs of canopy closure. Wildflower diversity in the post-fire landscape has been higher than pre-fire, with several rare species making sustained appearances. Whitetail and turkey populations recovered within a few years; songbird diversity has been climbing steadily.

The Night Sky

Bastrop County is dark by Austin-metro standards. South of Highway 71, away from the towns, the night sky on a moonless night is genuinely dark — Milky Way visible, multiple meteor showers visible to the naked eye, occasional aurora visible during major geomagnetic events. The county has been informally protective of its night sky and has not been overrun with rural-residential lighting the way some of the Hill Country counties have. Several local astronomy groups host occasional public viewing events.