Several comments have appeared recently in Texas outdoor publications about the ever growing numbers of wild hogs in our state. Reading between the lines, you'll notice that the writers' attitudes toward the pigs seem somewhat conflicted.

The story is told in East Texas about the notorious noodler who showed up one Saturday afternoon on the Crockett town square, very excited. "Noodling is sort of like arm-wrestling a big fish barehanded."

Most of us tend to take our sense of hearing for granted, at least until we miss hearing a beloved or meaningful sound ... the voice of a grandchild, the evening song of a mockingbird, or perhaps a musical composition that "takes us back."

The campfire is the heart of any hunting camp … and a camp isn’t a camp without one. Folks who hunt out of luxurious air-conditioned lodges or, worse yet, motels, are only to be pitied. The fire is common ground where all gather to share and comment on the day’s observations and adventures.

That's what certain Indian tribes called the annual rutting period of the local whitetails. It's not a bad description, actually, of the three or four week peak mating season of our most plentiful native deer.

Last week we mentioned a few mysteries about whitetails' reproductive rituals. Now we'll examine some things we do know. We know that the timing of the rut varies with latitude. For example, the annual mating festivities in the South Texas Brush Country begin about one month later than in the Hill Country.

In my library are more than 100 books on hunting whitetail deer, including all the most significant volumes back to the very first one in 1881, the classic "The Still Hunter" by Van Dyke. Many of these are good reading, if only to observe how American hunters' understanding of deer behavior has evolved during these 125 years.

Last week we spoke of aging whitetail deer on the hoof. This week we find out how to tell whether we were right last week.

Most of my hunting friends and I regard any old buck as a trophy buck, regardless of antler size. The reason is that any buck that has survived four or more hunting seasons has obviously developed all the hunter-evasion skills and is just as hard to get a shot at as one with a Boone & Crockett rack. Taking him in fair chase, then, is just as challenging and worthy of pride and admiration as collecting 200-point head.

I can hear somebody out there mumbling, “Why do I have to look for deer? I’ll just put up a feeder and let the deer look for me!”