Dave, you and I and others know that we have prolific deer hunting in Texas because of deer hunters. If not for licence fees paid by hunters and income generated by purchases from every thing from guns and ammo to feed feed and seed purchases and all the other stuff bought from by big box stores, we wouldn't have any deer to hunt.
We had no deer in East Texas after WWII, as well as other areas until TP&W stocked Hill Country deer.
As you know, deer hunting generates lots of benefits to our Texas economy. George
My grandfather talks about how the deer, sunfish, SMB, river otters, mink, bobcats, etc. etc. were all scarce in the 40's because he and thousands like him had to harvest them all to eat or sell for fur in the 30's. No one really paid much attention to limits or tags and revenuers were run off by feisty locals.
The Missouri Department of Conservation has done amazing things since then. We now have world-class SMB fisheries, (too many) deer, and our neighbor's kid traps otters every winter. We have seen mink tracks on the muskrat runs. There's a bobcat that lives down by the creek. Hunting and fishing licenses (and their enforcement) help support all of this.
