Free Republic

REFUGIO — Joe Braman’s life changed forever last February as he stood in front of a large, gray and magnificent creature in South Africa. The rhino, with its two horns at the front of its head and large sturdy body, almost looks like a creature from the distant past. But what Braman saw in front of him was an animal on the brink of becoming a part of history. The rhino he saw no longer had its trademark horns and was left barely breathing in the wild. “Since then, there’s not a day that I don’t wake up thinking about...

<p>UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Two western Pennsylvania men are in trouble for allegedly serving poached food at their Super Bowl party — and that doesn’t mean eggs or salmon.</p> <p>Instead, a state wildlife conservation officer has charged 21-year-old Christopher Layman, of Uniontown, and 35-year-old James Donaldson, of Lemont Furnace, with killing two deer out of season on Feb. 5 so they could serve fresh venison at their Super Bowl party the next day.</p>

Edwin Grant and Wade Burge hunkered lower behind their camouflaged hunting blinds as a line of slow moving pick-ups crept down the desolate Crawford Creek Road sweeping their headlights through the woods. The game wardens’ grip tightened on the levers that operated the decoys — mechanical deer meant to trick the shooters. The approaching poachers were one of two teams on the rampage that night, competing to see who could bag the most deer from the Nantahala National Forest in Macon County. The teams traveled in a convoy, communicating through walkie-talkies. The first truck spotlighted for the deer, trying to...