Whitetail Deer Season Preview
from the Dallas Morning News
The autumn tradition called deer season begins Saturday for most Texas hunters. More than 500,000 sportsmen will briefly trade creature comforts for a walk on the wild side in pursuit of America's most popular game animal. When the campfire smoke has cleared from the 2008-09 season, deer hunters will have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on everything from gasoline to deer lease payments to sporting goods equipment and camp groceries. More

Be Safe and Help the Fight Against Poachers
from the Killeen Daily Herald
More often than not, if you talk to a rural property owner about deer hunting, eventually the "P" word will be mentioned. I'm talking about poaching. Most folks would argue that the wild deer herds in our state belong to all Texans. Hunting laws attempt to ensure that there will be a healthy, sustainable population for the future. More

Reflections on Deer Hunting: Confessions of a Convert
from The Monitor
The general white-tailed deer hunting season opens Nov. 1, and for those gung-ho few to whom this means something, it is one of the most anticipated days of the year. According to a Texas Parks & Wildlife Department-commissioned survey, there are currently over one million Texans who would like to go hunting but have never really had the chance or the opportunity present itself. More

Quail Hunting May Be Better Than Expected Across North Texas, Still Tough In the South
from the Tyler Morning Telegraph
Now you see them. Now you don't. That pretty well describes last year's vanishing quail season in northern Texas. Hunters who thought they had huntable numbers of bobwhite's going into the season were wondering where they had gone by the time cold weather made an appearance. More

Ike Makes Finding Ducks a Guessing Game
from the Houston Chronicle
With huge swaths of coastal marsh and prairie along the upper Texas coast suffering catastrophic collapse of their ability to support wintering waterfowl thanks to damage done by Hurricane Ike, the majority of birds that typically target those spots will be forced to relocate somewhere else. Many of those ducks could end up bouncing back north a bit and wintering in East Texas. And if conditions come together, a whole lot of those ducks could end up in East Texas. More

Although Cost of Hunting Deer Rises, Hunters are Still Paying
from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The white-tailed buck in Texas may be free-ranging meat on the hoof, but the cost of guns, gear, gas and grub are ever increasing. Costs can vary widely among hunters, but then consider the annual expense of a deer lease — about $1,500 to $3,000 per gun and a lot more for a trophy high-fence ranch. More

Disease Doesn't Stop Big Game Hunter
from the Connecticut Post
When Dr. Donald Butler was afflicted with Parkinson's disease six years ago, he faced a real choice: Fold his tent and stay home in Easton or continue a life of adventure. Aside from challenging work as a radiologist at Bridgeport Hospital, Butler liked to hunt big game in Alaska, enjoyed mountaineering and ice climbing, as well as other high-risk pursuits that the average person would never contemplate. When the tremors, hesitations, anxiety and other aspects of Parkinson's began to pose serious problems for Butler in 2004, he still wanted to go on a big-game safari in Africa but wondered if he were up to the task. More

Gun Sales Thriving In Uncertain Times
from the Washington Post
Americans have cut back on buying cars, furniture and clothes in a tough economy, but there's one consumer item that's still enjoying healthy sales: guns. Purchases of firearms and ammunition have risen 8 to 10 percent this year, according to state and federal data. More

Sick Child Gets Wish with Moose Hunt
from the Nashua Telegraph
Keith Locke has discovered the first pitfall of celebrity: losing recess. The 9-year-old boy bagged an 850-pound moose earlier this month in northern New Hampshire, an adventure that was especially fulfilling because Locke – who suffers from a rare and incurable health condition – donated most of the meat to the New Hampshire Food Bank. Last week, Keith's fourth-grade classmates had so many questions about the moose trip that Keith couldn't get his schoolwork done. He had to stay inside to finish. More