First day and we're stuck.  Mike Hill, Regional Director and Ray Field spend the entire day, all day in this one spot. No Burros here.

I took off walking, and where Mr. Hill states there are no other entrances to Smith station I find 4-wheelers tracks, makes a person think!

Old building at Smith Station, old stage coach relay

Mr. Hill tells me we have to take off walking to see these Burros in hidden places and trails so off we go to the hidden valleys, opps, NO BURROS!

Well, on the left is Mexico, and the right is Texas , where's the  Border patrol for Burro's!

Did find plenty of Aoudad's

Found some beautiful deer out here for the Big Game hunter's!

Whoop's we found One Burro after driving around for 2 days, well , saw some tracks of about 2- 3 where they came and went. Then we came up on the lonely Jenny.

I went out there with intention to put out salt licks to start getting Burros to stay in a trap area.  Mr. Hill did not have that on his agenda for me, so when I left out on Sunday, I made many stops in my car, where he thought only his truck would go and achieved this goal.  I grew up knowing its not what you drive but how you drive it that gets you where you need to go. 4 wheel drive gets you stuck that much deeper.  I was there.   Never drive a tank in the mountains!

This is a trap left by another rescue group, loaded with no food or water so that if any animal gets in it there dead and no way out.  While Mr. Hill and I were there he made a note to have his Park crew come and disengage this since the other non-profit was not monitoring it.  It was still a live trap when I left. Danegerous.

Pen trap door still working, as any animal walks in the door falls back closes, preventing them from leaving, no food or water in this trap.

This was the old alfalfa left in the trap, rotten, full of mud.

Do you really think Burros are coming across the Rio Grande River?

Swift water Burros is what I would call these and if they make it let them stay!

As I made visit with Mr. Hill and Staff of Big Bend Ranch State Park all were extremely polite.  They were all concern with readying the Park for the Open House set for the October 18, 2008 for Press and Public to ensure that BBRSP was Open and ready to serve the Public.

From my observation not enough burros tracks existed at this time to make any determination on the number that needed to be removed.  Neither Mr. Hill or I saw any Burros but this ONE! We went to every spot he claimed there were sighting and that in the past they were located, NONE were sited.  

It is my recommendation that at this time another appointment be set up so that when the BBRSP is NOT green with vegetation and so plentiful with water we can make a better determination of exactly the Burro population.

Mr. Hill has been handed a State Park that is extremely under funded .  They will be purchasing another 7,000 acres for 2.5 million dollars to enclosed the entire border area.

You can drive 26 miles into this Park and drop any unwanted livestock you wish anywhere and not be seen doing this.  There are no range fences for 3 counties, wild cows are as common as mountain cats, pigs, rabbits..

Mr. Hill indicated to me that they do round up the Long Horn cattle and sell that at the sell barn periodically.  They also use the longhorns for the spring cattle drive fund raiser for the park.  You can pay to round up cattle and drive these little doggies for a 3-5 day horse back ordeal.

It's taken the State 20 years to get a direction and I think we should continue to allow the State to follow this but should encourage the State to use a oversight panel and not the Commission currently set up.      

Mr. Hill will continue to have my support on the Burro issue as long as he continues to works with the non-profits as he has.

more pics soon!