Outdoors

• Bucking the economy
The impacts of a sour economy do not appear to have entered southwest Alabama's deer woods, according to the conservation enforcement officers who talk to hunters in the field, but what happens once the season opens is still up for debate.

• Muzzleloader season set to open Monday
Alabama's muzzleloader season opens statewide Monday and runs through Friday on private and leased land.

• Local gun sales mirror national trend
A couple of outdoors equipment retailers in Mobile and Baldwin counties say sales of assault guns and ammunition at their stores have increased dramatically in the last month with the ascension of Democrat Barack Obama to the presidency.