The Dixie Dude Ranch: a trueTexas treasure

Clay Conoly, the fourth-generation owner of Dixie Dude Ranch, said there’s a certain kind ofmagic that comes with a visit to the 725-acre Bandera ranch.

For more than 75 years, the Dixie

Dude Ranch has been a Hill Country tradition, drawing visitors from across the globe.

“[You get] lodging, three meals a day – people are primarily coming for the horseback riding so they get a morning ride and an afternoon ride,” Conoly said. “And then we have fishing and hiking and swimming, andWestern entertainment in the evenings. That’s the overall thing that we do.”

Visitors can also enjoy hiking, hayrides, campfire sing-alongs, dancing, and outdoor activities like basketball, horseshoes, ping-pong, tetherball and volleyball. Kids and adults alike will enjoy hunting for arrowheads and fossils or visiting the century-old barn and RangeWar Cemetery.

Massages from licensed massage therapists are also available.

But, Conoly said, there’s “a whole lot more” to a stay at theDixieDude Ranch, which was recognized in 2017 with a Texas Treasure Business Award fromthe Texas Historical Commission, given by Sen. Dawn Buckingham (R-Lakeway) and Rep. AndrewMurr (R-Junction).

“It’s the stuff that you don’t see, the intangible things – that’s the magic here,” he said. “And people are especially right now coming out because they want to get away from everything. Being outdoors, you know, they can kind of forget about COVID for a while, while you’re out here.”

And, he said, visitors enjoy the fresh air and the opportunity to see an abundance of animals in the wild.

“Of course we have our horses and our longhorn cattle,” Conoly said. “We have a herd of goats and a pen of pigs and we have lots of wildlife, so people get to see deer and wild hogs and turkeys and all kinds of things.”

While the ranch remains a working ranch, its main focus is tourism, and visitors are accommodated in cabins and duplex cabins.

“So we’re hosting people from all over the world and our focus is to give to them Texas hospitality, a little bit of our culture, and a feeling of home,” Conoly said.

He added that the ranch generally sees a big crowd after Christmas and through New Year’s, with groups of about 50 people.

“We get a lot of families with kids, girls’ trips, bachelor parties, bachelorette parties, lots of singles, so we get a variety of different visitors and we do some corporate events as well,” Conoly noted.

The beautiful Bandera ranch has been in Conoly’s family since 1901, passed down from generation to generation. Conoly’s own son currently works at the ranch as well, he said, so it remains a family tradition.

“We consider ourselves the real deal because I’m a seventh-generation Texan and we had family at both the Alamo and San Jacinto battles,” Conoly said.

And, he added, theDixie Dude Ranch has a unique connection to San Antonio.

“Our tie to San Antonio is that in the beginning, when our ranch opened as a dude ranch in 1937, our first guests were Air Force cadet pilots coming from San Antonio,” he said. “They paid like 50 cents a day for meals and their horse. So it was the San Antonio military that first kicked off the dude ranch business in Bandera.”

Conoly said it’s a “combination” of many different reasons that keeps people coming back each year to visit the Dixie Dude Ranch.

“If it’s a family with children, they return each time because it allows their children much more freedom than they normally have,” he said. “Kids feel free to explore and really expand their minds with nature and animals.”

And, he added, couples often visit to celebrate anniversaries or just for a romantic getaway.

“They enjoy meeting other people that are here and getting to know our other guests,” Conoly said. “There’s a lot of conversation around our meals, and people are just nuts about our food!”

He said they serve threemeals a day, and each and every one is delicious.

“It’s sort of like coming back to grandma’s house, that kind of comfort food, so we make sure our food is really good,” Conoly said.

Rates range from $160-$180 per day per adult. The rate for children 2 to 5 years old is $60 per day, for children 6 through 12 $80 a day, and for children 13 to 16, $120 a day. Special weekly rates are available as well as special group rates.

For more information about the Dixie Dude Ranch or to learnmore about booking a trip to this delightful getaway, visit www.dixieduderanch.com.