Environment

OVERTON — Many landowners hate the thought of having feral hogs on their property because of the potential for damage to crops, ranch facilities, livestock, and wildlife. But others view feral hogs as an emerging popular game species for Texas hunters. Since feral hogs are not considered wildlife by legal definition, no season or bag…

OVERTON — Many landowners and hunters supplement their deer herd’s diet with corn, prepared rations, minerals and/or forages. Although the jury is still out on the impact of supplemental feeding, it is a common practice wherever deer are found in Texas, said Dr. Billy Higginbotham, Extension wildlife specialist. “Once the decision to supplement has been…

COLLEGE STATION — Deer hunting provides many hours of outdoor recreation for Texans each year. Besides providing recreation, deer harvested also yield a huge resource in terms of table fare — venison. The potential yield runs in the neighborhood of 11 million pounds of boneless deer meat annually in the United States, said Dr. Don…

COLLEGE STATION — The pocket instamatic camera may not be a good choice for traditional wildlife photography, but they’re great for “capturing the moments” of the hunt, according to San Angelo-based Extension wildlife specialist Dr. Dale Rollins. “The small 35mm instamatics don’t have the zoom capabilities necessary to take a picture of a buck at…

COLLEGE STATION — A national love of outdoor cooking has met with a boundless supply of unwanted mesquite trees to produce a $20 million-a-year Texas industry. Chips and chunks of mesquite and other woods such as hickory from several Texas processing companies have found a sizzling market for this commodity that often has a dubious…

WACO — McLennan County was added today to the state quarantine restricting the movement of commercial bee operations following the detection of Africanized honey bees there. Texas now has 84 counties quarantined for Africanized honey bees. A hive of bees was found at 401 E. Ross St. in Mart attached to a house, according to…

COLLEGE STATION — A national love of outdoor cooking has met with a boundless supply of unwanted mesquite trees to produce a $20 million-a-year Texas industry. Chips and chunks of mesquite and other woods such as hickory from several Texas processing companies have found a sizzling market for this commodity that often has a dubious…

COLLEGE STATION — Most of Earth’s worst insects could be controlled if agricultural and environmental leadership would provide the resources, according to noted scientist Dr. Edward F. Knipling. “I don’t see any biological or technical barriers to accomplish control of most of the major pests,” said Knipling, in a telephone interview from his Arlington, Va.,…

COLLEGE STATION — Human disease prevention research may yield some major breakthroughs this year due to technology that uses insect viruses to quickly reproduce vaccines. Several experiments using bugs to ward off the “bugs” of human illnesses are nearing completion in the United States, Canada and Europe. The largest ever therapeutic AIDS vaccines trials will…