Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples is pleased to announce the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is committing $4.9 million in emergency funds to help control a growing fever tick infestation in South Texas.

State officials are reminding hunters and meat processors in South Texas that additional precautions are required when handling deer carcasses due to concerns about spread of fever ticks in the region. The general deer hunting season opens Nov. 1.

While Texas is No. 1 in the nation for the largest deer population, the Lone Star State didn’t come close to leading the country in deer-vehicle collisions. For the second year in a row the vehicles most likely to collide with a deer are in West Virginia.

Higher fuel and feed prices have worried some ‘experts’ on the continued growth of the deer industry, but there was only excitement and frenzy at the state’s largest-ever deer sale at the 10th Annual Texas Deer Association’s Convention & Trade Show. From attendance to deer sales to grand auction, the 2008 TDA convention set new records across the board and was, by all accounts, the most successful convention in the association’s history.

The Texas Deer Association (TDA) is proud to announce it has partnered with the American Deer & Wildlife Alliance (ADWA) and is supporting the organization’s efforts to help educate the public on deer and wildlife issues. ADWA is a new non-profit organization established to better represent deer and wildlife associations, service providers and equipment manufacturers on a national level.

Seeking instruction on how to produce 200-inch whitetail bucks, more than 150 ranch owners and whitetail deer enthusiasts from across Texas gathered at the scenic Mustang Creek Ranch in Salado, Texas, for the Third Annual Whitetail Workshop.

The No. 1 resource for premium whitetail sales in Texas, the Texas Deer Association (TDA), recently hosted its all-new TDA Premier Producers Invitational Deer Auction and the February Superior Genetics Whitetail Deer Auction at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. The combined events attracted nearly 1,000 TDA members, ranch owners and deer breeders and earned more than $1.2 million.