By Chad Love

 From this story in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune:
It was not too long ago that Florida was desperate to save the black bear. The species lost so much habitat and became so heavily hunted in the 1950s the animals were almost never seen. Decades later, it looks like the state may have done too good a job. The black bear population has exploded, forcing the animals out of the wilderness and increasingly into contact with humans.

By Chad Love

From this AP story:
The Environmental Protection Agency has denied a petition by five environmental groups to ban lead in hunting ammunition, saying the issue is not within the agency's jurisdiction. The EPA said Friday it did not have the authority to enact the ban, aimed at protecting wildlife, under the Toxic Substances Control Act, as the groups had requested.

By Chad Love

The explosion in the popularity of trail cameras over the past decade or so has led to an entirely new genre of photography and Internet speculation. Mountain lions, wolves, Bigfoot, chupacabras, giant snakes, leprechauns, Jimmy Hoffa, if it inhabits the world of cryptozoology, it's been "captured" on a trail cam. You knew it was just a matter of time before someone caught a UFO on their Bushnell...

From this story on KTSM TV in Dallas, Texas:
A motion-activated camera at a Fort Worth family's favorite hunting spot is capturing shots of mysterious objects. Lisa Brock-Piekarski's game camera is supposed to take pictures of the deer on her Archer City hunting lease, but the pictures show something she can't explain. "What I see looks almost like a Frisbee," she said. "You see a several lights going around, and they're all symmetrical and lit up, and it just looks like an object in the sky." Brock-Piekarski's is hesitant to call the string of lights in the sky UFOs, although she can't identify the flying objects.

By Chad Love

For well over a half-century now, outdoorsmen and women have been slathering on DEET-based insect repellants to keep the skeeters at bay. We've (and scientists) always known that it works, but we've never really known why it works. But science never rests, and now researchers think they've discovered why mosquitoes dislike DEET so much: it makes us taste awful.

From this story on ScienceDaily.com:
Fire up the citronella-scented tiki torches, and slather on the DEET: Everybody knows these simple precautions repel insects, notably mosquitoes, whose bites not only itch and irritate, but also transmit diseases such as West Nile virus, malaria and dengue. Now, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered what it is in the bugs' molecular makeup that enables citronellal (the aromatic liquid used in lotions, sprays and candles) and DEET, to deter insects from landing and feeding on you. A better understanding of these molecular-behavioral links already is aiding the team's search for more effective repellents.