Hunting stories around the U.S.

50 PERCENT GROWTH OF YOUNG FEMALE HUNTERS . . . The National Hunting Survey of Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife Associated Recreation, released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, shows growth in female hunter participation since 1991 and reveals a boom in the number of girls 6-15 who hunt. The survey shows a 50 percent increase from 2001-2006 over a similar five-year period from 1991-1996, reports USA Today.

LEGISLATIVE THREATS QUELLED IN CONNECTICUT . . . Connecticut legislation that would have forced manufacturers to adopt flawed, patented, sole-sourced technologies to microstamp firearms and to put a unique serial number on every bullet manufactured failed to pass out of the Judiciary Committee. The committee's failure to pass the bills followed testimony from senior executives from several of America's leading firearms and ammunition manufacturers, a successful press conference hosted by NSSF and strong support from the Connecticut Association of Firearms Retailers and gun owners.

HEALTH OFFICIALS' 'OVERREACTION' . . . Health officials in North Dakota have issued a warning to food pantries that they should throw away donated venison after a local dermatologist said he conducted tests on venison using a CT scanner and allegedly found lead fragments in the meat. Minnesota health officials issued a similar alert. In a statement, NSSF called the decisions an overreaction. Officials in other states, like Montana, were not concerned. As a public health service, a Billings hospital agreed to X-ray a local hunter's game meat and found no evidence of lead contamination, the Billings Gazette reports.

ILLINOIS WITHHOLDS LICENSES FROM 'DEADBEAT' PARENTS . . . In the first six months of a program to withhold the issuing of hunting and fishing licenses to parents who owe money for child support, the state has collected nearly $130,000 from 90 parents. One such father wrote a check for $14,000 so that he could hunt white-tailed deer, reports the Belleville News-Democrat.

SOUTH CAROLINA BILL WOULD LOWER HANDGUN BUYING AGE TO 18 . . . A bill passed by the state legislature in South Carolina would lower the minimum age to buy a handgun from 21 to 18. The legislation would allow a national gun wholesaler in Lexington County to continue to employ people under 21 to fill gun orders over the phone, something the state attorney general says is currently illegal. The state Supreme Court is also deliberating on the constitutionality of using 21 as the age limit.

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