Today, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) -- the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry -- applauded Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, for introducing legislation to rectify a longstanding inequity in the frequency with which firearms and ammunition manufacturers pay a federal excise tax on the products they sell.

Try to imagine life in Texas without cattle, farm-to-market roads, trout and redfish.   It’s an odd combination of omissions to ponder, but there is a connection that leads to former Gov. Dolph Briscoe, this year’s Rotary Club of Corpus Christi Harvey Weil Sportsman Conservationist of the year, a distinction that labels him a man for all seasons.

Okay, okay, before you peg me as a purist who thinks all baiters are slobs, hear me out. If you watch a spin feeder or camp near a pile of sugar beets, I’m not going to attack your character or question your allegiance to the flag. But I do think that if you gave up the bait, we’d all be better off.

The Louisiana/Texas Division of the $8 million Walmart Bass Fishing League® will visit the Toledo Bend in Many, Louisiana, March 28 for the second of five regular-season events. As many as 200 boaters and 200 co-anglers are expected to compete in the tournament, which will award as much as $45,000 in cash, including a top award of $6,000 in the Boater Division.

Jeromy Francis of Magnolia, Texas, won the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League Cowboy Division tournament on the Sam Rayburn Reservoir Saturday with a five-bass catch weighing 15 pounds, 10 ounces.

Texas-Conservationists from California, New Mexico, North Carolina and Texas have been named to new positions on the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation board of directors.

GunBroker.com® (www.gunbroker.com), the world's largest online auction site for firearms and hunting/shooting accessories, observed its 10th Anniversary on March 15.

On March 10, by a margin of 62 to 35, the U.S. Senate passed an omnibus appropriations bill, providing fiscal year 2009 (FY09) funding for the majority of federal government agencies.  The House passed the bill on February 25 and President Obama signed it into law on March 11.