Favorable weather and an abundance of four-legged targets could generate a record-setting start to the firearm deer season this weekend in Illinois. The seven-day hunt legally starts at 6:12 a.m. Friday and closes at 5:14 p.m Sunday. The firearm season resumes Nov. 29 and runs through Dec. 2. 'Hunters should have a pretty good weekend,' said Tom Micetich, deer project manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. 'Weather-wise, it's looking quite favorable. There may be a few showers on Sunday, but 26 for a low on Friday will get you off to a crispy start. It'll be sunny and in the 50s for Friday and Saturday, and you can't ask for much better than that for firearm deer hunting. 'The other good news is most of the crops have been harvested. Statewide, I think it's like 99 percent of the corn crop is harvested. That's the one the deer tend to hide out in when it's available.' More on this story... Join discussion...

Five tips for shopping at Cabela’s Here comes Cabela’s The basics JEFFREY P. MAYOR; The News Tribune Published: November 15th, 2007 01:00 AM The Company known for the fishing, hunting, camping crowd, this just might be a 185,000-square-foot version of Disneyland. Ever since the announcement was made a year ago that Cabela’s was going to build a large store in Lacey, sportsmen and women have been counting the days. The wait ends Friday morning. Last week, the media had the chance to survey the new store. Here are my impressions. INSIDE THE STORE It’s big: At 185,000 square feet, the Lacey store represents Cabela’s third-largest floor plan. The only stores larger are in Hamburg, Pa., (250,000 square feet) and Dundee, Mich. (225,000 square feet). In comparison, Sportco in Fife is 70,000 square feet. The employees: There are 350 people working at the Lacey store, 95 percent from the Puget Sound region. The others have been brought in from other Cabela’s stores. Read More on this story... Join discussion...

(November 4, 2007) — Dale Statt of Honeoye Falls, a 35-year-old mother of two boys, married into a family of hunters. When she took to the field for the first time with her husband, Leigh, eight years ago, she loved it. Last year Statt bagged a 9-point buck, and she's looking forward to the start of shotgun season for whitetails in New York state's Southern Zone in two weeks. "It's a wonderful sport. My husband has taught me so much about it, and we look forward to teaching our kids," said Statt, who is an executive administrative assistant for Fibertech Networks. "We have a separate freezer for our venison. We eat more venison than beef." While the Statts eagerly look forward to another hunting season, surveys and license sales continue to show that the American hunter is an endangered species. Fewer younger people are taking up the sport and more adults are leaving it. "It's a wonderful sport. My husband has taught me so much about it, and we look forward to teaching our kids," said Statt, who is an executive administrative assistant for Fibertech Networks. "We have a separate freezer for our venison. We eat more venison than beef." While the Statts eagerly look forward to another hunting season, surveys and license sales continue to show that the American hunter is an endangered species. Fewer younger people are taking up the sport and more adults are leaving it. Concerns rise More than 87 million U.S. citizens age 16 or older fished, hunted or watched wildlife in 2006, spending more than $120 billion, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service survey of wildlife-associated recreation conducted every five years. The figures are from a preliminary report. The final report will be issued this month. While these figures represent a still robust hunting industry making a profound impact on the economy, the total number of hunters nationwide has slid from a peak of 19.1 million in 1975 to 12.5 million. Join discussion...

TUSKEEGEE, Ala. — Mary and Emily Woulfe arrived late from the Atlanta airport, pulling into the parking area at White Oak Plantation after a day's travel from their home in Wisconsin. First came the airline flight and everything that goes with that, including concerns that their hunting gear and archery equipment would not make it. Then came a drive of about two hours, with familiar landmarks on Interstate 85 passing by in the headlights. Relief washed over them by the time they pulled through the gated entrance to White Oak, where for the last 13 years the annual Bows & Does women's archery deer hunt has been held. It's become a tradition of sorts to kick off the Alabama hunting season at the 23-year old hunting lodge, with about 20 women, a few outdoors writers and the White Oak staff getting into the flow of things for the 110-day deer season. Join discussion...

VANDERBILT -- The happiest guy in Michigan won't shoot a deer on today's opener of the 15-day firearms season. Rod Clute won't even be in the woods. Instead, the DNR's big game specialist will be in his office in Lansing, waiting for the phone to ring. So why is this man smiling? "Nobody's complaining," said Clute, who in recent years has taken heat from hunters as the architect of the Department of Natural Resources plan that reduced the state's deer herd from about two million to about 1.6 million over a decade. "Everybody says they are seeing deer, and seeing more bucks. Even in the traditional low-numbers areas of the western Upper Peninsula. Even people in the traditional 'there-aren't-any-deer' areas of Lake and Wexford counties. I'm just not getting any complaints," Clute said. "I'm taking that as a positive sign." Positive signs are what Frank Barger of Jackson was seeing around his Camp Barger compound in the Pigeon River Country State Forest the day before the opener. Returning from a long walk to set up his blind, the 56-year-old hunter said, "There's a lot of signs in the woods. I'm finding scrapes and a lot of rubs (where bucks mark the ground and trees). This is the best I've seen for years." Between 700,000 and 750,000 people will buy licenses for the firearms season, and Clute expects they will kill between 325,000 and 350,000 deer. (Archery and muzzleloader hunters will kill another 125,000 in their seasons.) While that equates to a statistical success rate of roughly 50%, the number of hunters who bring home the venison is probably about 30%. Join discussion...

BY WADE ROBERTSON Special to the Era In today’s fast-paced world, it is all too easy to become blinded by the need for instant gratification. The many things you think you have to have now, but really can’t afford. For untold years prophets, poets and philosophers have warned us that true happiness is not found through those things we own, but by how well we conduct ourselves and how we treat those around us. We have also been told that the goals we have labored long for and endured many trials and tribulations over, are the accomplishments that bring us the greatest joy and satisfaction when we finally reach them. More... Join discussion...

COLUMBUS - For the fourth straight year, Ohio bow hunters set a record harvest during the first six weeks of the state’s deer-archery season, taking 53,982 whitetails. According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife, this year’s early archery season harvest is 18 percent higher than last year’s record of 45,733 deer. Bow hunting for deer is popular in Ohio. The season started in September and will continue through February 3. Join discussion...