Perhaps just as true as the adage, “Never take a knife to a gunfight,” would be, “Never steal guns at a gun show.”

Austin Sechler, one of many vendors at the RK Gun Show in Wichita, Kansas, said the young man stopped at his booth and began acting strangely, picking up guns and putting them in his pocket like he wanted to see how they fit.

When the man returned to Sechler’s booth later in the show, he grabbed four Smith and Wesson handguns and headed for the door.

But he didn’t get far.

According to a report in The Wichita Eagle newspaper, Sechler jumped over a table and grabbed the man. Soon, two or three others at the show helped hold the man down, Sechler said.

“He finally gave up when there was four guys laying on him,” Sechler said.

The alleged thief was subdued and cuffed with plastic zip ties until Sedgwick County Sheriff’s deputies arrived within minutes to take him into custody.

Later, Sechler made a profound observation, correctly identifying the venue as “the very wrong place to do this.”

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approved a number of new regulations late last year, including the state’s first measure aimed at protecting alligator gar, the prehistoric-looking predator that can live as long as 75 years and the largest freshwater fish in the state.

The statewide regulation on alligator gar will change from no length or daily bag limit to a one fish per day bag limit. The new regulation applies to both recreational and commercial fishing.

While research on the fish, which can grow to more than 250 pounds, is still in its early stages in Texas, biologists know that alligator gar are very long-lived animals and take a long time to reach sexual maturity, with females attaining an age of 12 years and a length of about 60 inches before spawning for the first time.

Alligator gars also apparently require very specific spawning conditions, including flooded terrestrial vegetation or seasonally flooded backwaters.

The commission also implemented a recommended slot and bag limit on blue catfish in selected state waters.

On the hunting end of things, the commission adopted a series of regulations that expand special buck antler restrictions and liberalize antlerless harvest opportunities in dozens of counties.

Citing strong support for the changes during the public comment period, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department staff said the new rules reflect a shift toward biologically-based communities for managing deer populations.

One of the biggest changes involves further expansion of the department’s successful antler restriction regulations into 52 additional counties where biologists have identified a need to provide greater protection of younger buck deer.

An Internet-savvy U.S. Coast Guardsman’s use of the online social-networking site Facebook helped locate a fisherman thought to be missing and prevented the launch of a search mission that could have cost taxpayers as much as $30,000. 

An angler was presumed overdue after a ranger at Cobscook Park in Eastport, Maine reported a lone vehicle with an empty trailer parked at a launch-site parking lot. Using the vehicle’s license plate, the Coast Guard’s Northern New England sector office located a name, address and phone number but attempts to contact the tardy owner were unsuccessful.

Before ordering a full-fledged search involving Coast Guard aircraft and cutter vessels, Paul Conner, the officer in charge of the case, opted to do some online searching via the popular networking site, Facebook. He was able to locate an e-mail address belonging to a relative of the missing man, and subsequently discovered the boater/angler had simply opted to moor overnight at a different location than where his vehicle and trailer were parked.

“Sometimes we have to be very creative in our information gathering,” Connor said later. “A simple Internet search can often help us locate a missing person before a boat or aircraft is even on scene.”

A newly released addendum report from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, “Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis,” reveals that 48 million Americans bird watch, a number that has remained at a steady 20 percent of the U.S. population since 1996.

The report indicates the one in five Americans who watch birds contributed $36 billion to the U.S. economy in 2006, the most recent year for which economic data are available.

Participation rates vary, but are generally greater in the northern half of the U.S. The five top states with the greatest birding participation rates include Montana (40 percent), Maine (39 percent), Vermont (38 percent), Minnesota (33 percent) and Iowa (33 percent).

Have you tried everything from soap shavings to coyote urine to keep hungry deer out of your vegetable garden and flowerbeds? A Maryland gardener claims that pesky whitetail deer have not bothered his vegetable garden for the past two years—ever since he strung bright yellow crime scene tape around it!

Oxon Hill, Md. gardener Chris Erwin, says he came up with the concept after drinking “a couple of beers,” and that deer haven’t bothered his expansive vegetable plot since he surrounded it with the neon-colored tape used by cops to mark police crime scenes.

Ervin says he had grown weary of his annual battle with an estimated 50 whitetail deer that commonly visited his property on a nightly basis, gobbling his flowers, ornamental shrubs and vegetables.

Then, one afternoon while mowing the lawn and admittedly inspired “by a couple of beers,” Ervin says solution to his deer problem just came to him.

Ever since he first encircled his plot of corn, beans, melons, collard greens and squash with the bright tape two years ago, the deer have respected the marked boundary like gawkers at an urban crime scene.

“I wish I had patented it because you can see how pretty the garden is,” Ervin told a Washington, DC TV station recently. “They don’t touch it. They’ll eat everything else around here but they don’t touch it.”

The brewski-loving gardener speculated that the motion of the iridescent tape in the breeze is enough to keep the wary deer from crossing the boundary.

Citing the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling clarifying that individuals have the right to possess firearms to defend themselves, a Tennessee judge advised the victim of an aggravated robbery recently that she should learn how to use a gun for personal protection.

Chattanooga, Tenn. General Sessions Court Judge Bob Moon told the woman--who had been pulled from her car and beaten in the head--that she or her mother needed to “purchase a weapon, obtain a gun permit and learn to protect yourself.”

According to a report in The Chattanoogan, Judge Moon said, “The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that all citizens have a right to purchase a weapon to defend themselves, their families and their homes--unless there is some disqualification that prevents them from owning a weapon.”

The Tennessee judge was of course referring to the June 26 U.S. Supreme Court decision that found the District of Columbia’s 32-year ban on handgun possession unconstitutional, effectively ruling that individual citizens have the right to firearms ownership.

In referring the victim’s alleged assailant over to the Grand Jury, the outspoken judge noted that citizens should not simply rely on law enforcement to protect them under all circumstances.

Moon said that crime in Chattanooga “has become so rampant that it is no longer possible for the police department to protect our citizens.”

You can forget about a Browning Buckmark tattoo or a 3-foot wide pickup widow decal of the famous deerhead logo. The News Hound has discovered the ultimate abode for the unapologetic gun nut and devotee of all things Browning.

It’s John Moses Browning’s 6,912-square-foot, 8-bedroom mansion in Ogden, Utah. How’s that for a gun-loving statement?

Built in 1900, most of the house is original, including a hardwood banister stretching from the entry all the way to the third-floor attic, beveled windows, hardwood floors and fireplaces throughout.

Widely considered a genius and inarguably the most famous gun maker in the world, perhaps Browning’s most enduring legacy is the short recoil design behind the 1911 handgun, which remains the pre-eminent operating system in today’s semi-auto handguns, nearly a century after it was first introduced.

Not a handgun fan? OK, there’s his other creations, like the Winchester Model 1886 lever action rifle, Model 1887 lever action repeating shotgun, Model 1897 pump action shotgun and Models 1894 and 1895 lever action repeating rifles.

For good measure throw in the Colt Model 1895 “Peacemaker” machine gun and Model 1817 .30 cal. water-cooled machine gun.

The “ultimate gun-lover’s dream house” is located at 505 27th St. in historic Ogden. While much of the interior is original, your wife will be pleased to know the kitchen has been updated since 1900.

Asking price is $374,900.

Following the lead of other municipalities using controlled archery hunts to safely and humanely manage growing urban deer populations, the Cooperstown, N. Dakota City Council approved a proposal to hold its first bowhunt specifically geared toward younger hunters.

In 2009, bowhunters aged 18 years and younger were permitted to hunt on the Cooperstown Country Club Golf Course, where officials estimate up to 80 whitetail deer have been spending the winter months.

Country club president Brad McCullough said the hunting area was designated no closer than 300 feet from the edge of the course.

Reacting to a spate of recent burglaries of firearms retailers, the trade association representing the firearms industry has announced that it will now match any reward offered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of those responsible for breaking into a federally licensed firearms retailer store and stealing firearms.

With its announcement, the National Shooting Sports Foundation said it hoped to demonstrate the firearms industry’s continuing commitment to work cooperatively with ATF and law enforcement in assisting them in their efforts to combat the criminal acquisition and misuse of firearms. Earlier, ATF offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information in connection to a burglary of a Jasper, Georgia gun shop, Bargain Barn, where thieves smashed display cases and stole 40 firearms.

“From supporting the joint industry-ATF Don’t Lie for the Other Guy anti-straw purchasing campaign and working with ATF and dealers on enhancing and improving store security, to working cooperatively with law enforcement agencies nationwide, members of the firearms industry have always taken seriously the criminal acquisition and misuse of our products,” said NSSF President Stephen L. Sanetti. “NSSF’s reward program is merely the most recent industry effort to assist law enforcement.”

The NSSF reward payment will be issued only when and if ATF pays a reward.

“Our reward offer will assist ATF and local law enforcement in solving these ‘smash and grab’ burglaries against firearms retailers and lead to the recovery of stolen firearms before they can enter the illegal underground black market,” said NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane.

The final results of a two-year Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources study indicate the state’s black bear population is more than twice as large as previously thought. As a result, the agency says the number of bear tags will be increased 50 percent for the 2009 hunting season.

The study, funded and assisted by the DNR and Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, was conducted by Dave MacFarland, a University of Wisconsin graduate student, under the tutelage of Timothy Van Deelen, a professor of wildlife at UW.

“This is a great example of the benefits of working with our partners to complete a large and important project,” said Keith Warnke, Department of Natural Resources deer and bear ecologist.

The DNR’s Bear Committee, comprised DNR wildlife biologists and representatives from various groups such as USDA-APHIS, the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association and the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, met this week to establish recommended harvest permit levels for the 2009 bear season.

“With this new information we can confidently make more bear permits available,” Warnke said.