Ever wonder what it's like to come face to face with some of Kentucky's wildest residents?

At The Woodlands Nature Station, visitors can get an up close look while learning about wildlife and conservation.

Our Emily Prince takes us back to land between the lakes.

Which can be kind of scary, especially if you're a little guy, a little girl.

So the Woodlands Nature Station that land between the lakes wants to make that first introduction a little less scary, hopefully even fun, for kids and their families.

The Nature Station is an environmental education center.

They have more than 20 different types of species to view on the property.

Our main goal here at The Woodlands negotiations to get people out into the woods, whether there's hiking on a trail, fishing on on one of our lakes or kayaking, but also just kind of introducing people back into the woods.

And so we do a number of different family of programing.

We could close to 50,000 visitors per year.

Most of them are children.

So a lot of our programing is geared towards kids, especially small children.

John Paul Peter is the lead naturalist at Woodlands Nature Station.

He said A favorite among kids is this blind possum, violet.

And there are also rare breeds too, like American red wolves.

Only two red red wolves that you'll find here in the state of Kentucky are here at the Woodlands Nature Station, part of our captive breeding program, which we've had about 14 puppies born here and then placed in other breeding facilities all throughout the country.

So how did the animals wind up at the land Between the Lakes site?

We do a lot of adoption of animals and give them forever homes, the animals that cannot be released in a while.

They might have an injury that no longer allows them to fly.

Maybe they have lost their eyesight due to cars or some other accident, and or they've been orphaned and then become imprinted and no longer have the capability of surviving on the wild.

This here is Ferris.

This is our red tailed hawk.

I'll show off his beautiful red tail here.

Now, Ferris came to live with us for a much different reason than a lot of our other animals.

Ferris kind of imprinted on people like a duckling would.

So what happened to Ferris is, as a chick, he fell out of his nest.

And a couple that had very good intentions, they took him in.

They did a pretty good job because they kept him alive, which is pretty hard for a wild bird.

Now, what they did that didn't help him very much was maybe let him sleep in their bed.

They walked around with mice in their pockets for him, and that doesn't really work out well for a wild animal.

Whenever they're growing up, they're trying to figure out how to survive.

Paul Peter said through animals like Ferris or this bobcat named Barkley, they can teach children about conservation efforts, restoring habitats and appreciating wildlife.

And those lessons don't stop when the summer months are over.

The nature station remains open through November, but the naturalist said visitors can see plenty of animals at Lane between the lakes and the winter season.

Second best time to go.

Wildlife viewing is the symbol of January and February.

Now, that's not always great for us.

You know, we don't like to be cold.

But for the wildlife, many of the wildlife is migrated from northern regions, has come into the area.

And of the many animals cared for at Woodlands Nature Station, which ones captured the lead naturalists fancy?

You would never want any of your guests at Thanksgiving to eat like a possum.

I'm always been a mammal person, but it's hard when you care for these animals.

You care for them for the rest of your life.

If you talk to Berkeley or you talk to the coyotes of the wolves, I think you'll find that they like me very much.

That's great.

Intrigue County for Kentucky edition.

I'm Emily Prince.

Woodlands Nature Station is open seven days a week during October.

Admission is free for kids 15 and younger.