There are several rodeos in Bandera that go on throughout the year at arenas in the area. The BR Lightning Ranch Rodeo comes to Pipe Creek, which is located about nine miles away from Bandera, in the summer months every Friday evening. This rodeo offers the world's only high-diving "aqua mules." It also offers open bull riding, steer riding, calf roping, barrel racing and mutton busting.
The Cowboy Capital Rodeo Association Professional Rodeo comes to Bandera during the Memorial Day weekend every year. The rodeo, according to its website, has been voted the nation's best smalltown rodeo three times. It offers calf scramble, mutton busting and barrel racing, as well as a barbecue cook-off.
The area of and surrounding Bandera is popular for hunting and is home to axis deer, Russian boar, ferrel hogs and wild turkeys. You can hunt here with rifle or bow or just come to take pictures; hunting season regulations must be adhered to. Bandera has five facilities that offer hunting year-round: the 7 Canyons Ranch, Flying A Ranch, Pipe Creek Ranch, Record Buck Ranch and Shadow Dance Ranch.
Self-guided historical walking tours are a popular activity for tourists in Bandera and can be aided by the "Historical Walking Tour" guide, available at the Bandera County Visitors Center. The guide features a list of 32 historical sites, including the Old Jail, which was built in 1881; the Carmichael and Hay Store, which was built in 1868 and claims to have the oldest elevator west of San Antonio; and a Catholic cemetery from the 1850s.
