January 14, 2011 - Lone Star Outdoor News - Fishing & Hunting

Don't shoot hens Conservation group asks hunters to focus on drakes.

Texas’ Premier Outdoor Newspaper

January 14, 2011

Volume 7, Issue 10

Page 5

Inside

❘❚ FISHING

New Record Guide sets new Falcon Lake record with 15.63-pound bass. Page 8

Survivor Hypothermia nearly claims Arlington biology teacher. Page 21

❘❚ HUNTING

Snows in the forecast More snow geese are mixing with Canadas over Texas. Page 4

Free of disease Tests show Hunt County deer killed last month by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department had no Chronic Wasting Disease. Page 4

❘❚ CONTENTS Classifieds . . . . . . . . Crossword . . . . . . . . Fishing Report . . . . . . For the Table. . . . . . . Game Warden Blotter . . . Heroes. . . . . . . . . . Outdoor Datebook . . . . Outfitters and Businesses . Products . . . . . . . . . Sun, Moon and Tide data .

Time Sensitive Material • Deliver ASAP

PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID PLANO, TX PERMIT 210

❘❚ LSONews.com

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SEASON FINALE: Excellent range conditions made for healthy deer in the 2010-2011 deer season, and a good secondary rut added lots of late-season action from the Panhandle to the border with Mexico. This Webb County buck was photographed chasing does on a sendero Dec. 31. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.

Post-rut bucks highlight season After slow start, second half of season picks up for many hunters By Conor Harrison LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS Christmas came early for Bibi Flores. The 2010 season produced her biggest buck ever — a 16-point, 184-inch buck taken from her ranch in Webb County. She and her family had watched the deer grow for years, and the opportunity to harvest the animal finally presented itself in mid-December. “I’d been chasing him for three weeks,” she said. “He was chasing does. I would sit at one stand and my son would call me and say he saw

him at another stand.” The buck, nicknamed “Homie,” finally appeared in front of Flores. “My husband said, ‘There he is,’” she said. “I grabbed my binoculars and he said, ‘No, grab your gun.’ “I was in shock after I shot him. This was my Christmas gift. He’s my once-in-a-lifetime buck.” Many hunters connected on big bucks well into the post-rut, although

Location, location, location Quail numbers picking up in some regions, hunters say By Bill Miller LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS

BACK TO BOB BASICS: Some hunters in North and West Texas still report scant coveys of bobwhite quail, but the opposite was true the first week of January in southern and southeastern parts of the state. Photo by David J. Sams, LSON.

The business mantra “location, location, location” applies well to Texas quail hunting midway through the 2010-11 upland game season. Many hunters in North and West Texas reported scant coveys, unless

they were fortunate to hunt ranches that are actively managing for quail. “It has been few and far between, as far as good coveys,” said Emily Berg of Dalhart in the northwest corner of the Panhandle. See LOCATION Page 14

See POST-RUT BUCKS, Page 14

La Niña back

DRY AGAIN: Don Stiles, a South Texas cattleman, inspects an empty tank on a ranch in DeWitt County. Hunters and anglers closed 2010 with plenty of food and cover for wildlife, but by early January, most of Texas was sliding back into drought. Photo by Bill Miller, LSON.

By Bill Miller LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS Parched is how most of Texas began 2011, a complete reversal of the previous year when wet conditions spurred explosive growth of wildlife habitat.

Hunters and anglers closed 2010 with plenty of food and cover for deer, turkey and small game in Texas. But the massive downpours shed by Tropical Storm See DROUGHT Page 24