NAIL CREEK SANCTUARY is 151 +/- acres located in the Sabine River Basin. A duck hunter’s paradise with wetland habitats including bottomland hardwoods, emergent wetlands, stock tanks, sloughs, beaver ponds and over 1,500+/- feet of Nail Creek frontage. The waterfowl habitat has been further enhanced through the construction of duck marshes and moist soil units which allow for the manipulation of water levels in some units. A majority of the wetland improvements were conducted through the USDA Wetlands Reserve Program in cooperation with Ducks Unlimited. This tract presents just about every hunting scenario that a waterfowler desires from flooded timber and sloughs to prairie style blinds. The diversity of wetland habitats result in a local environment that attracts puddle ducks as well as diving ducks with Mallards, Wood-Ducks, Gadwalls, Teal, Widgeon, Shovelers, Scaup, Pintail and Canvasbacks, among others being present.

In addition to waterfowl, an array of opportunities is present for the active sportsman. The property is located in an area abundant and managed for quality white-tailed. There is also no shortage of year-round big-game hunting options with wild hogs with plenty of shooting lanes. The current management strategies combined with the topographic relief and plant communities also attract a diverse spectrum of wildlife species that includes migrating bald eagles, river otters, and most of the animal and bird life indigenous to East Texas.

The property also includes about 18 acres of 8-year old improved pine plantation which further enhances the investment potential and ecological diversity of the property. Annual Conservation Reserve Program payments of $39.00 per acre are present with a possible extension available. An internal road system greatly enhances the owner’s ability to easily utilize the property during the all important winter months. Additionally, a future piney woods cabin site sits on the hilltop.

The physical location of this amazing waterfowl enhancement project is not a random act. The site occurs approximately 5 miles west of the intersection of Murvaul Creek and the Sabine River, which places the property 18 miles northwest of the 180,000 acre Toledo Bend Reservoir and 7 miles due east of Lake Murvaul. Accordingly, the property is situated 22 miles from the associated 3600-acre North Toledo Bend Wildlife Management Area and 4 miles west of the 7000-acre Upper Toledo Bend Wildlife Management Area. Retired regional waterfowl biologist Carl Frentress states, “This County likely contains one of the highest wintering populations of ducks, particularly mallards, in the Piney Woods region.” This statement is further validated by Texas Parks & Wildlife harvest data which indicates that Panola County sustained the third highest duck harvest for the entire state during the 2004/2005 season.