[Tomme]

Mesquitecountry where I disagree with you is your apparent belief that more youth rifle weekends in October is necessary for youth recruitment. With 10-15 weekends already available for kids to rifle hunt deer, this will, (in my view) have little impact in terms of youth recruitment. It is not time to hunt that is restricting kids from hunting it's affordable leases and places to go.

In addition if you are interested in continuing hunting as a tradition in Texas you need to broaden your view to include not just new hunter recruitment, but also hunter retention as well.

I would not be a hunter today if it were not for the special archery season and bowhunting. On the small acreage leases I could afford in Central Texas the deer disappeared after opening weekend of rifle season. A 30 day season where I could at least see deer in October kept me going. If you "ruined" the opportunity to hunt on those small acreages in October, I and many like me would not be around and you'd have a net loss in hunter numbers.

In addition, you can bowhunt many more people on an archery lease than you can one that is primarily for rifles. This includes kids. With the decision to do away with the minimim poundage draw weight, practically any kid can bowhunt. A good example was at the recent LSBA deer hunt at the Palmer ranch where a 9 year old harvested an 8 pt.

Instead of trying to encourage all kids to become rifle hunters during archery season, why not encourage them to pick up a bow. My youngest son (who is now 29) remarked on one of his first bow hunts that "This (bowhunting) is a lot harder than hunting with a rifle, and a lot more fun."

Let's don't degrade an existing season, but rather encourage kids to bowhunt. Those that do, will be much more likely to become lifetime hunters which is really the desired goal. What about a "youth only" archery weekend the weekend before archery season starts. Now that might work toward hunter recruitment indeed.