Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has acquired 2,850 acres in Stephens County, land that will become the new Robbie Davis Wildlife Management Area and open to public hunters in 2027. The property sits west of Fort Worth in the Western Cross Timbers ecoregion, within driving distance of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and near Possum Kingdom State Park, in a stretch of North Central Texas bisected by U.S. Highway 67. Once open, the WMA will offer walk-in style dove hunting along with drawn hunts for deer, turkey and possibly waterfowl.
In a news release today, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said the new management area will be run as part of the Cross Timbers and Prairies Ecosystem Management Project within the agency's Wildlife Division. The land includes post oak and live oak forests, rocky sandstone hillsides and bluffs, and several ponds and seasonal wet-weather drainages. Officials said the acquisition will ensure long-term conservation of those habitats and the wildlife that depends on them.
More public land!
— Texas Parks & Wildlife (@TPWDnews) August 5, 2026
The new 2,850-acre Robbie Davis Wildlife Management Area in Stephens County will open up public hunting opportunities in 2027 while protecting wildlife and habitat for the long term.
👉 DETAILS at https://t.co/pcSDl8zXsl@TPWFoundation pic.twitter.com/I8sOAWsXUH
A Rancher's Bequest Becomes Public Land
The property's path to public ownership began with Robbie Davis, who inherited the more than 2,800-acre family ranch from her parents and eventually left it to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, which received the property in 2015. Davis arranged the bequest with SouthWest Bank trust officers specifically so the ranch would be preserved for conservation rather than sold off for development, and she hoped it would one day benefit the people of Texas.
The foundation, a nonprofit partner of TPWD for more than a decade, secured philanthropic support for the ranch and invested in habitat restoration alongside the department and the Natural Resources Conservation Service before selling the property to the state at 75 percent of its appraised value. The remaining value counted as a 25 percent charitable contribution, and proceeds from the sale will help establish an endowment for habitat work at the new WMA and other wildlife management areas statewide. In the department's release, foundation Executive Director Anne Brown said Davis's vision was fulfilled through the partnership between the foundation, TPWD and its supporters.
Commissioners Approve The Deal Amid Some Public Confusion
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission formally approved the acquisition during its meeting on March 26. Of the 52 public comments submitted on the purchase, 49 supported it, while three opposed it, apparently confused about the land transaction between TPWD and its nonprofit foundation partner.
That approval cleared the way for the state to finalize the purchase and begin preparing the ranch for public hunting ahead of the 2027 opening.
Filling A Gap In A State Short On Public Land
Texas ranks among the lowest states in the country for public land availability, with only about 4% of its total land area held publicly and more than 83% managed as private working lands, according to MeatEater. TPWD already manages 50 Wildlife Management Areas covering nearly 750,000 acres statewide to conserve ecosystems and support wildlife research, according to Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine, and the Robbie Davis WMA will join that network.
The purchase was made possible in part by the $1 billion Centennial Parks Conservation Fund, which Texas voters created by approving Proposition 14 in November 2023 to give TPWD a dedicated revenue stream for buying land — the same fund behind the state's plan for a new Matagorda Bay state park. A May 2023 survey of more than 5,000 Texas landowners by the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute found that wildlife, family and hunting were the top three reasons respondents owned rural property.
Getting A Permit Before The 2027 Opening
Hunters will need an Annual Public Hunting Permit from TPWD to access the new WMA, the same permit that provides walk-in and drawn-hunt entry to more than 1 million acres of public land statewide, according to onX Hunt. Demand for that kind of access is high: during the 2024-2025 season, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department reported that 763,152 white-tailed deer hunters took to the field, with a 66.7% success rate.
Long-term management plans call for restoring post oak savannah and native grasslands to support Northern Bobwhite quail, a species in long-term decline across North America, along with other grassland species. The WMA will include the Dan Craine Unit, named for a former Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation board member after his friends and the Cross Timbers Quail Coalition contributed toward the naming. TPWD Wildlife Division Director Alan Cain said the new Robbie Davis WMA will increase public hunting opportunities and support Texas's hunting heritage.
