LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Turkey Coverage

Thank you very much for your continuing coverage of the wild turkey. No one else is really covering all of the angles you are with these birds. I have been impressed to see work on Eastern turkeys, Merriam’s and even talk about Gould’s. Thank you for your dedication to an important conservation topic.

James Burton

The Editor with a nice turkey. photo by Chester Moore

It was great meeting TF&G Editor-In-Chief Chester Moore at the NWTF banquet in Nacogdoches. I appreciate his stories about wild turkeys and turkey hunting and even appreciated his spending several minutes talking with me about these birds. He had a lot of people coming up to him and I thought it was great he took time with everyone, especially me.

Kevin Samuelson

Editor: Text

Marlin in Texas Waters

I caught some of the stories you have published about marlins in the Gulf of Mexico. I appreciate it because I have always wanted to catch a billfish. It would even be better to do it in the Gulf instead of way out in the Pacific somewhere.

I have a question—do we have striped marlin in the Gulf? I can find no records of them.

Editor: No, striped marlin are a Pacific fish. We have blue marlin and white marlin in Texas Gulf waters. Thanks for your support!

Hog Poisoning

I’m dead set against plans to poison hogs using sodium nitrite, warfarin or whatever they come up with. It’s just a bad idea. Do you think we will see some poisoning of hogs here in Texas in the future?

Editor: Yes, I do. Wealthy landowners have a huge influence on anything to do with wildlife in Texas due to the state being 97 percent privately owned and many of them are dealing with huge hog problems just like small landowners and leaseholders. There is an outcry from this sector for some kind of hog poison. In my opinion, we will see this come to fruition in the next couple of years. It’s a complex issue and there will be much debate.