'I think people are stressed out about the economy and just want to go out and shoot something."

So said Lee Lightsey of Outwest Farms in Okeechobee, Fla., who pretty much summed up the sentiments at this year's Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show, one of the biggest -- and best -- hunting and fishing expos in the U.S.

If there's a sharp downturn in the U.S. economy, it wasn't evident here when the show opened (it ran Feb. 7-15). Traffic was backed up and long lines snaked around the 25-acre, eight-building State Farm Show Complex. According to show organizer Ed Several of Reed Exhibitions, advance ticket sales were about equal to last year, while they were down 4% at his PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando.

This was Tuesday night, and the Twin Cities park in which I was hiding was closed.

Peering through a night-vision scope, I shouldered a 12-gauge shotgun with a 7-foot-long barrel.

In the scope, amid the darkness, I saw a pile of corn about 20 paces distant. The corn was bait I hoped would lure deer close enough to shoot.

A swirling, bone-chilling wind wound through the thick stand of trees surrounding me.

If a deer did appear, I would target him -- or her -- just behind a shoulder, hoping to drop the animal in its tracks.

No one would be the wiser. Not neighbors nearby. Not interloping park visitors, if there were any.

The reason?

When triggered, the gun I used was virtually silent.

• • •

Welcome to Twin Cities deer culling, circa 2009.

Little known to Minneapolis and St. Paul residents, and those of surrounding suburbs, when the sun goes down, the guns in many communities come out.

Not all belong to gangs. Or police.

Some are wielded by sharpshooters employed by cities, park districts and various regulatory authorities, such as the Metropolitan Airports Commission.

Professional contract deer killers also are sometimes hired.

The intent is to reduce the metro's overpopulation of whitetails.

Two University of Toledo students who illegally killed a trophy white-tailed deer have been ordered to pay $13,278 in restitution to the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

Justin Angles, 20, of Fostoria, and Dave Mahoney, 20, of Akron killed the deer on Oct. 9, 2008, in a park in the Toledo area. Visitors to Side Cut Metro Park in Maumee were so familiar with the 15-point buck that they had named it "Big Boy" and "Stickers."

The deer was estimated to be about 9 years old, a senior citizen of any Ohio deer herd.

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No injuries were reported when a passenger jet hit a deer Wednesday evening while taxiing at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.

An airport official described the incident as a "freak incident."

It happened shortly after 7:30 p.m., when US Airways Flight 3215 arrived from Nashville and was taxiing on Runway 36C, according to the FAA. The pilot was directing the craft to a gate when it hit the deer.

The plane, an Embraer 175, was carrying 53 passengers and a crew of three.

The only casualty was to the deer, which did not survive.