Don't Worry about Eating Feral Hog
from the Abilene Reporter-News
With so much being written, spoken, worried about and rumored concerning swine flu and its effects on humans, there is one thing about this seemingly deadly virus that we here in the Big Country do not have to worry about. There is no known threat of contracting swine flu from feral hogs. More

Namibia Puts Black Rhino Under the Block
from the Afrique en Ligne
The Namibian government has auctioned hunting concessions for the world's most protected mammal, the black rhino and nearly a dozen elephants to private buyers to raise funds for wildlife and environment protection. More

Wolves No Longer Protected in Northern Rockies
from The Associated Press via that Daily Record
Wolves in parts of the northern Rockies and the Great Lakes region come off the endangered species list on Monday, opening them to public hunts in some states for the first time in decades. Federal officials say the population of gray wolves in those areas has recovered and is large enough to survive on its own. More

Bears Bounce Back
from ESPN
Are black bears the new whitetail deer? They definitely have come back the way deer did in the latter half of the 20th century. Though they're far from as numerous as whitetails, their repopulation to the point where they now can be hunted in 30 states is remarkable. This year, tightly controlled bear-hunting seasons have been added in Oklahoma and Kentucky, and will involve the harvest of a couple of dozen animals. More

Panhandle Turkey Hunting Success Difficult
from the Tyler Morning Telegraph
The Texas Panhandle is not the place most hunters think of when thinking of spring turkey hunting. Better known for its pheasant, waterfowl and quail hunting, Panhandle turkey hunting is an underutilized commodity. More

FBI Doing More Background Checks while More Seek Texas Permits
from the Houston Chronicle
Mendie Elliott bought her first handgun this month, a 9mm semiautomatic that fits into her purse. The Houston wife and mother’s motives are twofold: She’s afraid of a gun ban and a hike in crime related to the recession. She’s not alone. In Texas, the number of applications for concealed handguns swelled to 12,587 in February, up from 7,626 in the same month last year, according to the state’s Department of Public Safety. More

Heavy Demand for Guns, Ammo Puts Strain on Supply Chain
from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
What started late last year — about the time President Barack Obama took office — as a nationwide surge in gun buying has evolved into something much larger. Good luck finding ammo for all those guns. Or the components and tools to make your own. More

Western Republicans Mull Options for Concealed Gun Bill
from The New York Times
A group of Western Republicans are searching high and low for an opportunity to push ahead with legislation to allow citizens to bring concealed weapons into national parks. House and Senate bills would codify a Bush-era rule to allow visitors to carry concealed firearms into national parks and wildlife refuges in states with concealed carry laws. More

Public Takes Conservative Turn on Gun Control
from the Pew Research Center
Public attitudes on a pair of contentious national issues - gun control and abortion - have moved in a more conservative direction over the past year. For the first time in a Pew Research survey, nearly as many people believe it is more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns (45 percent) than to control gun ownership (49 percent). As recently as a year ago, 58 percent said it was more important to control gun ownership while 37 percent said it was more important to protect the right to own guns. More