We live in Balcones wildlife preserve N.W. of Austin. We have tons of rattlers, deer, foxes, coyote, boars, etc. Also centipedes with nasty stingers on their feet. Have killed several scorpions IN our house.
I love Texas and more so, Texans! However, that is the reason I will never live there.
Do you mean the large Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge north of Lago Vista, or one of the tracts of wild, undeveloped land belonging to the unrelated Balcones Canyonlands Preserve system in Travis County? We live next to one of the latter. We hear coyotes and occasional turkeys at night, have found a rattlesnake in our garage, a copperhead in our yard, coral snakes in neighbors' swimming pools, and neighborhood dogs bitten by rattlesnakes. Like you, we've had scorpions in our house (I once found one in the hair on my head).