--Chad Love

Dallas-area hunters may soon be able to bowhunt in their home county if a Texas Parks and Wildlife proposal gets the nod. And another proposal would make it legal for Texas hunters to use suppressors for most firearms when hunting.
 
From this story on pegasusnews.com:
 
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is considering opening deer hunting in three North Texas counties and another on the upper coast this fall as part of recommended changes to the 2012-13 Statewide Hunting Proclamation. TPWD staff recommended an open season for deer in Dallas, Collin, Rockwall, and Galveston counties during a presentation Wednesday to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission’s Regulations Committee....

--Chad Love

Here's one from the "Next Time, Let's Just Stick To Kittens In Trees" files. Firefighters in Truro, Mass. spent most of Sunday figuring out how to rescue a deer that had fallen down an abandoned well.

From this story on whdh.com:

Crews rescued a deer stuck in a well on Sunday. Authorities say the deer may have been caught in the Truro well for days. The deer was 12 feet down the dry well, and kicking wildly. “I've gone to many animal complaints; I’ve never seen a wild animal this upset. She tried several times to jump out of the hole and she was just not able to clear the 12 to 14 foot hole,” said Officer Jeremiah Valli of the Truro Police Department. They couldn't shoot the deer with a tranquilizer because he’s a game animal.

--Chad Love

Here's a story about a ten-year-old Louisiana boy who tagged a massive, 18-point buck earlier this month. On the face of it, it seems to be one of the typical "boy kills monster buck" stories we see every season.

You know, the kind of story that causes you to wail and gnash your teeth as the black bile of envy rises up in your throat. But this one has an unusual twist in that this ten-year-old boy did it all by himself.

From this story on thetowntalk.com:

Ten-year-old Jack Dekeyzer is an accomplished deer hunter, not to mention being mature for his age. Therefore, his father Peter Dekeyzer was OK with letting his son make his first solo hunt on family property in early January. "Jack has been hunting with me for several years now and has already killed four does and little bitty 'hill' deer that had 9 points with a 10-inch spread. So, when he asked if he could hunt by himself, I really didn't give it a second thought," the elder Dekeyzer said.

--Chad Love

The final numbers are in, and it looks like Minnesota's 2011 deer season will fall about seven percent from last season's totals.

From this story in the Albert Lea Tribune:

Smaller deer populations and a windy first weekend of the firearms season resulted in Minnesota’s deer harvest dropping 7 percent in 2011, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Minnesota hunters killed 192,300 deer during the 2011 season, a drop of 15,000 from the 207,000 in 2010. In 2011, firearms hunters harvested 164,800 deer, while archery and muzzleloader hunters harvested 20,200 and 7,300 deer, respectively.