Idea for EARLY Morning Shoot Sat August 5th in Dallas Area

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Found out that there is a Saw Palmetto Forest in the southern part of the city in what is part of the Great Trinity Forest. There are supposed to be loads of these large Palm type plants down there but the area also has snakes and gators and it is not developed at all so probably all sorts of wildlife. It's kinda up in the air as to if the land is posted or not since it is City/State property along part of the Trinity but not developed. This shoot would require at least 3 people to be there and more would be better. If people would be interested I can do a bit more investigation into the general area and come up with a get together spot to proceed from.

This is in the South Eastern part of Dallas County.

If anyone else knows anything more about the location please add that information.

[Dokk]

I don't know anything about this location but I'd be up for checking it out if I don't have to work that weekend. Just an FYI though. By state law, the public is guaranteed reasonable access to rivers in this state. It's called Riparian rights. Now, they don't have to grant you access through this forest area but, if you get on the river and canoe down to the area in question and decide to stop and have lunch in this area, no one can say much of anything. You are limited to 50 feet from the edge of the river though, if I remember correctly. Find out who owns the property through tax records/maps and get permission to shoot there or maybe even ask for a Game Warden escort. I'd like to know if it's city or state owned. Is it actually in Dallas County? Send me some coordinates or something I can look up on a map and I'll see what I can find out.

[xseption]

I would be interested in checking this out as well.

[lscottpht]

Ooh, sounds kinda dangerous...I'm in...LOL!

[Dokk]

How did I know that you two would be the first to jump into this? I just bought a new can of Deep Woods Off, too! Says it's good for critter bites. Ya think that'd work?

[Dokk]

Ok! I have determined that there is a place called Palmetto Alligator Slough Preserve in SE Dallas County that is part of the Great Trinity Forest. I found several maps showing preserves in Dallas and Tarrant Counties but none of them show this preserve as it's accessible by permit only. There are plans to construct an elevated walk for accessibility and safety of visitors but there's no hard timeline on this improvement. When I find out more, I'll let you know.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Maybe if you shove the can down the gators throat and tossed in a match and if it is only palm trees around there then there ain't nothing to climb to get away from that semicooked gator who is now hellamad.

This drought may make the area passable if it is usually swampy and that is the only reason that I picked August to do this.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

But Permit from WHO? TP+W? DC? City of Dallas? Texas Game Warden? (we ain't shooten nothin but pics) and how the heck does the permit process work?

[Dokk]

How the process works, I'm not sure but it's either City of Dallas or Dallas County. The land (282 protected acres) was to the county in 1993. Last count, there were 27 breeding pairs of alligators with most in the 3-4 foot range and at least one estimated to be 10-12 feet long. It's footprint was measured at 8 inches. Water moccasins, rattlesnakes, poinson ivy and fire ants are very common throughout and discourage unsupervised visits. Cougars or Pumas, Bob cats, 18 species of turtles, 3 species of mussels, beavers, mink, and Alligator gar are some of the other denizens. Most of the palm groves are on the forested ridges but what I'm reading indicates that a jon boat, waders and snake boots are in order for a trip there.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Walk in the park, how recent is that info?

[lscottpht]

Cool...I have waders left over from covering hurricanes!

[Dokk]

Seems pretty recent as it's a link from the current Dallas County Government website.

Leslie, you probably still have a jon boat and the keys to a helicopter left over too. Or at least access to them, huh?

[bburton]

Those planning on embarking on this exciting junket need to read this advisory notice:

http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...ad.php?t=26961

[Dokk]

LOL...I was wondering how long it'd take you to get that over here, Bruce.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Well drove all over the area and really have no firm idea as to where it is but have a good idea as to where it might be. Wherever it is it won't be even a half way easy thing to get to-either thick woods with posion ivy/oak or random swampy areas that look totally unapealing.

This may be a bit to strenious of a thing to do in the high heat and even now the Trinity River Bottoms have plenty of water in them to keep things wet.

So we need to put this on the back burner until things cool off a bit because this won't be an easy hike but one where we pretty much have to work our way through thick woods once we even have an idea as to exactly where the place is it.
I started off up at the water treatment plant and worked my way south all the way to Hutchins Tx on both sides of the river and it looks like the most likely area for this place is in the southern end of where I was looking and no where near the treatment plant.

Well it was a thought and we can still investigate further but do this in the fall once the heat breaks.