I recently decided to fly down the Sulphur River Basin from an area east of Cooper Lake (in Texas) to northeast of Mt Pleasant, Tx to take pictures of the fall foliage and investigate the conditions of the river which eventually feeds into Mercer Bayou -- the location of Boggy Creek. The basin is filled almost entirely with hardwood trees as you will see. The area is an ideal habitat for wild animals.
Click to view attachmentThis stretch of bottom land that I few over had well over 60,000 acres of contiguous hardwood timber. It was beautiful. Over this particular area, dirt roads were the most prominant. And due to the excessive rainfall, I noticed that one would probably need a 4-wheel drive to navigate. Some were underwater. These "dirt sidewalks" would be perfect for capturing footprints of any type.
I composed a Youtube slideshow of my trip here ....
Proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir in Suphur River BasinAnd I uploaded to Youtube a few minutes of bumpy video, but you should be able to get a good grasp of the environment.
Suphur River Basin VideoAs you can see, this area provides a prime habitat for our target species. But here's the trick -- the Texas Legislature is proposing that a 70,000 acre lake be built so that DFW residents (which includes me) can have more water -- period.
Here's a link to maps of the reservoir ...
Proposed Marvin Nichols MapHere's a link to an interesting website that has some additional information and photos of the area.
Sulphur River Basin Website about Marvin NicholsI did see some logging of hardwoods and areas where they have been re-planted a few years back. The trick with the proposed reservoir is that it can cost ~$200 an acrea to properly prepare and re-plant seedlings, so farmers have to make a difficult decision on whether they should make that investment that will take them over 30 years to harvest. To be honest, if I were in their shoes, I doubt I would do it because I would fear the reservoir would be built before the trees were ready to harvest.
If this reservoir concerns you, I encourage you to contact the your senator or house member of the Texas Legislature.

If the reservoir is built, all of the hardwood bottom-land that you saw in my photos will be gone.
Hope you find the videos educational.
Foukeflyer