By SHANNON TOMPKINS
Hunters from other states can be excused if they regularly express shock at some of Texas' deer regulations.
Texas allows hunting deer over bait, something considered wholly unethical and highly illegal in many states.
Texas allows hunters to shoot deer from moving or stationary motor vehicles, so long as the vehicle is on private property (Texas may be the only state that allows this).
Here, any centerfire firearm is legal for deer hunting, even something as utterly inadequate as a .32-caliber handgun with a 2-inch barrel. And there is no minimum age requirement for hunting deer with a firearm -- a 5-year-old can legally use a rifle to shoot a deer in Texas.
This state allows enclosing "wild" deer inside game-proof fences, something expressly forbidden in some states.
Texas also is a place where outfitters, guides or landowners regularly charge their hunting customers a price determined by the Boone and Crockett Club score of the antlers of the animal the hunter takes -- this despite a state law prohibiting sale of deer.
While it's hard to justify or explain some of Texas deer hunting regulations to someone unfamiliar with the social and political status the animals hold in this state, it's somewhat comforting to know Texas doesn't have a corner on the market of weird laws governing deer hunting -- or at least laws that probably seem bizarre to Texans.
Take examples of regulations in Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania, three states that draw even more hunters afield than in Texas.
Until this past year, it was illegal in Michigan for hunters using firearms to hunt deer from an elevated stand. The law stated a hunter had to have at least one foot on the ground.
Michigan, like many states, has a minimum age requirement for its deer hunters. But the requirements might seem a bit backward. The state sets a minimum age of 12 for a person to purchase an archery deer license. But a hunter has to be 14 before being allowed to purchase a firearms deer license.
It would seem more logical to have the minimums switched; not many 12-year-olds have the strength or skill level required to be proficient with a bow.
Minnesota, where almost all hunters are limited to taking no more than one buck per season, allows "party" or "group limit" hunting.
Under those regulations, anyone in a group of hunters can kill a deer so long as someone has a legal deer tag.
Friends in the Gopher State say party hunting is a longtime tradition and is as accepted there as baiting is in Texas. With such a brief deer season (16 days, at most), the pressure is on to get a deer quickly or not at all. So it isn't unusual for a Minnesotan to shoot his deer and fill his tag, then down a couple more for buddies who aren't having much luck.
Those big Minnesota bucks can be taken from elevated stands, but state regulations say free-standing deer stands can't be more than 16 feet tall.
Why? No one seems to know, and the law seems particularly capricious since bolt-on or self-climbing stands attached to trees face no such restriction.
Other unusual, illogical or seemingly unethical deer hunting regulations remain on the books in some states despite efforts to change them.
Perhaps the best example of that is a Pennsylvania regulation prohibiting hunting deer on Sundays, a rule dating back 126 years.
Pennsylvania is one of 10 states, most in the Northeast, that ban Sunday hunting. Reasons for the law aren't exactly clear, but they almost certainly center on religious grounds -- Sunday being considered a day of worship, which is the basis for any number of laws prohibiting certain activities on the Sabbath.
While Pennsylvania has over the years shed itself of "Blue Laws" that prohibited shopping, showing movies and holding sporting events on Sunday, the ban on Sunday deer hunting remains in effect.
The Sunday deer hunt ban is particularly grating on many of Pennsylvania's nearly 1 million deer hunters because it means the average hunter who works Monday through Friday gets only two days to hunt during the buck season.
This year, Pennsylvania's buck season began Nov. 29, (a Monday), and continues through Dec. 11. That's an 11-day season (compared to a four-month deer season for some Texas tracts), and includes only two Saturdays.
Some Pennsylvania hunters have pushed the state's legislature to remove the Sunday hunt ban. This year, they got a bill introduced that wouldn't have mandated Sunday buck hunting, but would have allowed the state's Game Commission to make a decision on the issue.
The legislation proved incredibly controversial.
Bill proponents said the ban is hypocritical, seeing as how fishing is allowed on Sunday as is hunting for some other animals.
Opponents countered, pointing to a 1991 survey that found 80 percent of the state's hunters opposed Sunday buck hunting. Also, they said allowing buck hunting on Sunday would among, other things, erode the state's religious heritage and even cause marital discord.
The chairman of the legislative committee hearing the bill agreed.
"I think the divorce rate will go up if this happens," committee chairman Rep. Bruce Smith said following his decision this past week not to allow the Sunday hunting bill to move forward.
All things considered, he's probably right.