Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge - Animals

Obviously, the purpose of the wildlife refuge is to be a refuge for the animals. The animals aren’t enclosed like a zoo, so sometimes they are hard to find. We found prairie dogs (saw quite a few along the road in two different prairie dog towns), 

turkey (saw 2 or 3 rafters walk through the campground area), coyote (neighbors saw one in the campground), deer (4), 




longhorn cattle (saw a herd at a distance), red ants (2 major hills along with long paths into the grass), herons (2), ducks, geese, and turtles (in the lakes), 

and bison (several). What we didn’t see was elk, but we saw evidence of them (yes, picture us looking at footprints and scat). The animals are more at a distance, so it is difficult to get clear pictures other than the prairie dogs who seemed blasé about the photo shoot. One seemed even happy about it and scampered after us to be better positioned for pictures.