Texas boasts a native white-tailed deer herd somewhere around four million animals, yet for many trophy hunters that is not nearly enough. With extended deer hunting seasons across the state and an abundance of white-tailed deer, it’s hard to imagine that the smuggling deer into Texas would be an issue. One would think. However, this growing and cash-loaded illegal trade is challenging federal and state wildlife officers across the country. There are whitetail deer for sale throughout the country, but the threat of chronic wasting disease, a devastating disease to whitetail, has forced Texas to close the border to all movement of deer into or out of the state.
Hunting in the U.S. is a $20 billion industry, with about 80 percent of all expenditures related to whitetail hunting. Deer breeders, by trying to provide bucks with superior antlers, are trying to cash in on that huge pot of gold, offering whitetail deer for sale and hunting. Deer hunting was once about putting food on the table, but a once cultural tradition has undergone major changes in the past 20 years. It seems it’s all about big antlered bucks, and the “Benjamins.” A study by Texas A&M University a few years ago reported that white-tailed deer breeding is the fastest-growing industry in rural America. Continue reading Whitetail Deer for Sale: Deer Breeders in Texas