by Scott Bestul

As a rule, deer biologists tend to hate baiting. But in a likely unprecedented move by a state game agency, the Wyoming Game & Fish Department is asking the state legislature to help them legalize baiting in the state. According to this AP story, biologists are struggling so mightily to control whitetail populations that they’re looking to add another strategy to their toolbox.

It’s important to note that in this case, officials intend to limit the use of bait to urban areas or other deer-control hotspots. Their hope is to be able to lure deer to spots where the animals would be more vulnerable to harvest, and to areas where shooting is safer. No plans seem to be in the works to legalize baiting on a broad basis at this time.

Rut Reporter Eric Bruce has been writing about hunting and fishing for newspapers and magazines for 25 years and hunts deer all over the South, including near his Georgia home. States covered: AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL.

Another season has come and gone. I was able to get out and hunt about 70 times this fall. Some were successful, some finished without ever seeing a deer. A few hunts were only an hour long; others included public land hunts, an island hunt and an out-of-state hunt. Here are some of the things I learned along the way.

by Dave Hurteau

We all have our embarrassing secrets. I’ll spare you mine, for the most part. But for the purposes of this blog, I will admit to one: As much as I would like to trace my interest in archery to the likes of Hill, Bear, Pope, or Young, the truth is that the real greats were all before my time. No, being a product of the television generation (an embarrassing admission itself), my initial fascination with archery was sparked by the exploding arrows of—cringe—Bo and Luke Duke.

--Chad Love

In an age of reduced funding sources, declining hunter participation, and increases in the average age of hunters, can cash-strapped state wildlife agencies afford to continue offering exemptions to hunting and fishing licenses? That's the issue facing Kansas as its wildlife department prepares to ask the state legislature to eliminate the state's senior citizen exemption for hunting and fishing licenses.

From this story in the Wichita Eagle:
Kansas senior citizens could be required to buy hunting and fishing licenses after this year. For decades, residents 65 and over have been exempt from the annual permits that currently sell for about $18 each. Chris Tymeson of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Commission said Thursday that the agency will ask the Legislature to remove the exemption.