Basic Info about the Refuge
The Red River National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana is 50,000 acres of trails, forests, and waterways across 5 parishes.
The Red River NWR is composed of five units across five parishes: the Headquarters Unit in Bossier, Bayou Pierre in DeSoto and Red River, C. Bickham Dickson in Caddo, and the Lower Cane River and Spanish Lakes Lowland Units, both in Natchitoches.
The Headquarters Unit stays busy, and the birds found throughout it will come pretty close to people. The trick is finding a quiet spot to animal watch. Our favorite places at the refuge are looking out at Lake Caroline and hiking the Lake Bluff, Orchard, and River Trails at the Headquarters Unit.
Small birds and squirrels are active all along the trails, especially on cool mornings, and turtles, gulls, pelicans, and cormorants fly over and hang out in Lake Caroline during much of the year.
During the late spring and summer, you can find skinks along the trails.
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Gulf Fritillary Butterfly
Headquarters Unit
Broadhead Skink
Headquarters Unit
White-Throated Sparrow
Headquarters Unit
Northern Mockingbird
Headquarters Unit
Red Admiral Butterfly
Headquarters Unit
Fox Squirrel
Headquarters Unit
Mourning Dove
Headquarters Unit
Ring-Billed Gull
Headquarters Unit
Carolina Wren
Headquarters Unit
American Pelicans
Headquarters Unit
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Headquarters Unit
Hairy Woodpecker
Headquarters Unit
Rusty Blackbird
Headquarters Unit
Red-Winged Blackbirds
Headquarters Unit
Turkey Vulture
Headquarters Unit
Featured Animal
While we love all our wild friends, the rusty blackbird is our favorite Red River NWR inhabitant. Red River is the first place we met this friend in the wild, and no matter how many other awesome neighbors we meet there, is still our fav from the refuge.
More about How You Can Enjoy the Refuge
General Info
Birding and Wildlife Watching
Fishing
Hunting
General Info
The refuge is open from sunrise to sunset all year and is free to the public. Find more details about what you need to legally hunt and fish at the refuge in the tabs below.
Restrooms
The headquarters building has interactive displays and restrooms. Call ahead to find out whether the building is open.
Trail Accessibility
The Red River NWR trails are very accessible for Headquarters Unit visitors with vision and mobility problems. The trails are well kept and marked, and it is easy to use a cane on them.
Learn More
Learn more about the Red River NWR at the refuge’s official website.
Birding and Wildlife Watching
The Red River NWR is home to hundreds of species of animals, many of which are birds. You might see owls, sparrows, wrens, gulls, pelicans, gnatcatchers, woodpeckers, doves, cormorants, skinks, squirrels, foxes, or butterflies at the refuge. You can find lists of birds sighted at the refuge with eBird’s Trail Tracker “Headquarters Unit,” “Bayou Pierre Yates Tract,” and “Bayou Pierre Dill Tract” sighting list and iNaturalist’s “Red River National Wildlife Refuge Check List” for other animals reported at the refuge. For more info about the refuge, check out the Red River NWR page.
Fishing
The Red River NWR’s Lake Caroline, Red River provide anglers with several places to fish off the shore and boat launches to get into the open water. You can find information on getting and maintaining your fishing license and what species you can keep, check out the Wildlife and Fisheries “Recreational Freshwater Finfish and Crawfish” page. You can also learn about the crawfishing licenses there
Hunting
Hunting is allowed on 12,000 acres across three of the Red River units: Bayou Pierre, Spanish Lake Lowlands, and Lower Cane River. To legally hunt at the Red River NWR, you’ll need a valid Louisiana hunting license and a Migratory Bird Stamp for hunting waterfowl. Learn more about federal hunting laws enforced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Red River NWR “Hunting” page and the Louisiana Wildlife Management “WMA/Refuge/Conservation Area Licenses and Permits pages.”
Visit Other Areas
The Red River NWR is one of many places you can enjoy our local wildlife.
Explore North Louisiana’s Outdoors.
Learn about national wildlife refuges, Kisatchie National Forest ranger districts, state wildlife management areas, and state parks found throughout North Louisiana.
