Wayne Pacele, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States recently gave this quote to The Bozeman Daily Chronicle:

“If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would. Our goal is to get sport hunting in the same category as cock fighting and dog fighting. Our opponents say that hunting is a tradition. We say this tradition must change.”

It’s hard to believe such ignorance actually exists in the world.

As you may have read in the Aug. 16 edition of The Commercial Appeal, whitetail deer in Tennessee and many other states are experiencing widespread outbreaks of an ailment known as epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD).

Several dead deer have been found at Ames Plantation in Grand Junction - and not surprisingly, the members of the hunting club at Ames are really nervous.

To calm their fears, hunting club president and wildlife biologist Dr. Allan Houston included the following statement in the club’s most recent newsletter.

It’s good advice for all hunters right now:

Don’t panic and conjure up an infarction - and don’t assume that every dead deer in a roadside ditch has EHD.

Most of the deer in ditches have something far, far worse: 18-wheeler-itis - or - perhaps SUV-fever.

From Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium . . .

* Tiger coach Tommy West may have to make reading the newspaper off-limits to his players.

He blamed a lackluster performance by his offensive line in Wednesday’s scrimmage on an article that appeared in Wednesday’s paper on the group’s gains in strength and experience.

“Offensive line read the paper this morning about how big and bad they are,” West said. “They kind of looked like when they got here (to scrimmage), like they were pretty big and bad. They’re not. They’re just trying to be good.”

West was particularly incensed during one holding penalty, turning to the sideline, spotting O-line coach Rick Mallory, and shouting: “He (left tackle) Abraham Holloway tackled the guy,” West said. “He tackled the guy.”

As is often the case this time of year, I’m getting a lot of calls and e-mails from people who are wondering when our annual tri-state hunting calendars will be available.

It won’t be long. I’m working on them every day, but I’m still waiting on a couple of states to set their waterfowl seasons.

Tennessee will announce its dates at the TWRC meeting Aug. 29-30. I haven’t heard anything from Mississippi, but they’re usually not too far behind Tennessee with things like that.

I’ll keep you posted.

Around the SEC

THE BIG STORY
Tennessee sustained its first huge loss of the preseason when senior tight end Brad Cottam of Germantown underwent surgery on Tuesday night for a left wrist injury. He will be out two to three months until late October or early November. Cottam injured his left wrist in a scrimmage Tuesday, apparently on a play in which he was hit in the end zone and a potential touchdown pass was broken up.
Cottam had 14 receptions as a junior. Younger brother Jeff Cottam now moves up on the depth chart to join Chris Brown when the Vols use a two-tight end set. Redshirt freshman Luke Stocker is the third tight end. Cottam’s surgery was performed at UT Medical Center by Dr. Robert Ivy of the Knoxville Orthopedic Clinic. UT expects Cottam to be sidelined until late October or early November.

Now to the training camps: Read the rest of this entry »