Welcome to Tequesquite Ranch and Bar JP Safaris - Exotic Game Hunting in South Texas
Texas oil man, hunter and animal conservationist Jack L. Philips purchased his sprawling 8,200 acre south Texas ranch in 1992, but his dream of the Tequesquite began decades earlier on the majestic plains of the Serengeti and the spectacular deserts of the Kalahari. Mr. Phillips fell in love with Africa in the 1960s while traveling with his teenage daughters on hunting safaris to Mozambique, Kenya, and Ethiopia. On a 1969 Kenyan safari, Mr. Phillips and his daughter Nancy listened by campfire via short wave radio to the broadcast of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon.
Mr. Phillips treasured these sacred family moments on safari in Africa and longed to recreate the experience in his native Texas. He and his wife Barbara began by purchasing 8,200 acres of land in Maverick and Kinney counties complete with a traditional hacienda style family ranch house. His first project was to encircle the entire property, including the rambling Tequesquite creek, with a state-of-the-art game proof fence. Mr. Phillips then stocked the ranch with his favorite species of exotic animals from Africa and India. He soon added a meat processing building and expanded the original ranch house to include additional bedrooms and a stunning two-story great room with floor to ceiling windows overlooking his “Africa in Texas.”
Today the Tequesquite boasts fourteen species of exotic animals including Kudu, Addax, Lechwe, Bloesbok, Impala, Eland. Grant’s Gazelle, Gemsbok, Wildebeest, Zebra, Fallow, Axis and Blackbuck. The ranch is also home to over six hundred Scimitar-horned Oryx, one of the largest herds anywhere in the world. These elegant antelopes are all but extinct in their native country of Chad. Recognizing the dire situation of the Scimitar in Africa, Mr. Phillips donated members of his herd to the government of Chad in hopes of boosting their native population.
Established in 2018, Bar JP Safaris is excited to share the Tequesquite’s 26-year tradition of world class hunting and legendary Texas hospitality with the next generation of hunters and wildlife conservationists.
Bar JP Safaris is the realization of Mr. Phillips’ life-long dream to create a hunting ranch where the bonds of family and friendship are preserved and strengthened among the most
exotic wildlife in the world - right here in Texas.
"Exotic Hunt in Texas" - Article and Photos by Craig Moore 2017 - Click here to read the story
