Basic Info about the Refuge
The Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana is nearly 80,000 acres.
The Tensas River NWR in Louisiana is the largest national wildlife refuge in North Louisiana and has the largest variety of animals of any other place we’ve been. The refuge is home to over 400 species of animals, including black bears, alligators, cottonmouths, pileated, red-headed, hairy, downy, and red-bellied woodpeckers, red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks, barred owls, leopard frogs, bronze frogs, white-tailed kites, harriers, kestrels, armadillos, rabbits, turkeys, egrets, herons, bobcats, deer, skunks, ribbon snakes, towhees, anoles, vultures, warblers, flycatchers, skinks, coyotes, otters –I’d keep going, but you get the picture. This is the best place to visit if you’re looking for anything except osprey, swallows, or nutria.
Our favorite things to do are all on the main road into the refuge. The visitor center, Wildlife Drive, and Rainey Lake are all accessible from Quebec Road. We suggest that you enter through that path if it’s your first time at the refuge. We also enjoy heading in on 577 and taking Sharkey Road the rest of the way in. There is a lot of good habitat for hawks, owls, doves, coyotes, bobcats, turkeys, deer, and wild pigs in that area. We’ve even seen a really young, maybe two-foot long, alligator in a ditch along the road before the Indian Lake area.
