DSC 2009 Show Breaks All Records, 2010 Venue Change
from the Dallas Safari Club
The just-completed Dallas Safari Club (DSC) annual convention "Drumbeats" has broken every record in the book. With over 900 exhibitor booths, overflowing traffic during all four days of the show, and record crowds at the evening banquets and auctions, organizers of this annual event declare it a "total success." More

Outfitter Says African Nations Still Safe For Safaris
from the Tyler Morning Telegraph
With prices of a safari running roughly the same as a premium elk or even some white-tailed deer hunts, Africa has legitimately found its way onto every hunter's wish list. Even in an era of a limping world-wide economy, bookings remain high. However, some American hunters are cautious about pulling the trigger on a trip because of concerns of political instability across the continent. More

Rifle Hunting Proposal Shot Down in Grayson County
from KXII-TV
In Austin last week, commissioners took aim at the question of whether or not to have a rifle season for deer in Grayson county. After a huge outcry from bow hunters at a meeting a few weeks ago, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department decided to go with the will of the people. So for now Grayson County will stay a haven for the bowhunter. More

Antler-restriction Rules Aim to Add Counties
from the Houston Chronicle
Under a proposal announced this past week, deer hunters in 52 counties in eastern and north-central Texas would join those in 61 other counties currently under the state's antler-restriction regulation. In counties under antler restrictions, only bucks with at least one unbranched antler (or "spike" antler) or with main antler beams having an inside spread of at least 13 inches are legal. More

Commentary: Deer Season Could See Some Big Changes
from the Houston Chronicle
With a handful of changes from the drafts outlined this past November, a major package of proposed changes in the state’s deer hunting rules was officially forwarded this past week. And it’s certainly not nickel-and-dime stuff; the changes proposed would impact almost every deer hunter in Texas. Some of the recommended changes — expanding antler restrictions on deer hunters in dozens of counties — are more restrictive than current rules. But the majority of the proposals — increasing deer bag limits; expanding antlerless deer harvest opportunities; adding counties to those having a muzzleloader-only season for bucks and antlerless deer; and increasing the number of days of the youth-only deer season — are much more liberal and add opportunity for hunters. More

Hunting in Mongolia is Grueling Adventure
from the Des Moines Register
It was early in 2007 when Don Emde and I booked this hunt with Global Sportsman of San Antonio, Texas. The hunt was to be in two segments that September — four days in the Gobi Desert and five in the northern forest region — and, with travel and touring Beijing, we would be out of country for a total of 18 days. Don and I found out that the hunts were much more demanding than the Jeep rides. More

Fowl Conditions Hamper Hunting
from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Though the forecast for duck and goose seasons seemed on par with those of the past few years, time spent in the field likely tested the positive thinking of a great deal of waterfowlers as a number of things stacked the odds against hunters to the south. Dave Morrison, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department waterfowl program leader, said Mother Nature certainly didn't do hunters any favors. More

Legislative Season Always Has An Impact On Hunting And Fishing
from the Tyler Morning Telegraph
It is a different type of season for hunters and fishermen in Texas, one that fortunately only arrives every other year. During this four-month season, hunting and fishing leaves the fields and lakes and moves below the Capitol dome in Austin. More

Giant Pig Shot by Hunter Identified
from The Post-Standard
The mystery surrounding the 690-pound pig that hunter Russ Bossard shot Nov. 16 in the backwoods of southern Cayuga County has been solved. It wasn't a wild boar. It was a domestic pig running loose. The remaining question is what the pig's owner, Bill Booth, of Locke, is going to do about it - if anything. More

Wolves and the Balance of Nature in the Rockies
from Smithsonian Magazine
Wolves are flourishing again in the northern rockies. Yet even as they're helping restore the balance of nature, they're also killing livestock—and reigniting a fierce controversy. More