With all the recent talk of pork bill spending in Washington, nearly two dozen young boys and girls with their fathers enjoyed the thrill of the hunt and the taste of pork without deficit spending. The American Deer & Wildlife Alliance recently hosted its 1st Annual Pigapalooza Youth Hog Hunt at DB Hunting Ranch in Bertram, Texas, and sponsored hog hunting opportunities for 20 children, ages eight to 15.

A $486,000 donation by natural gas producer EnCana Corporation to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation will fund a new grant program to get high school students out into natural settings for service-oriented learning projects, control of giant salvinia and other invasive plants choking Toledo Bend reservoir in East Texas, and much-needed facilities for the new Texas Game Warden Training Center.

Gov. Rick Perry has appointed three members to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission for terms to expire Feb. 1, 2015.  The commission oversees the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The American Deer & Wildlife Foundation, in conjunction with DB Hunting Ranch and the American Deer & Wildlife Alliance, is helping kids pig out this month. Youth ages eight to 15 are invited to attend the 1st Annual Pig-apalooza Youth Hog Hunt. The event will be held on Saturday, February 28, 2009 and March 1, 2008, at DB Hunting Ranch in Bertram, Texas, and will provide a morning and evening hunt as well as a pork sandwich lunch and some other fun, educational activities during the day.

Addressing a problem already persistent nationwide, this week’s Keith Warren’s Deer & Wildlife Stories takes a closer look at how a small community is dealing with deer overpopulation in its own backyard.