In West Texas, Wagons Circle Around Perry

NYTimes
By MANNY FERNANDEZ
Published: October 3, 2011

PAINT CREEK, Tex. — Millions of large rocks litter the hills and the country roads surrounding a hunting and fishing lodge on a sprawling ranch 17 miles outside this tiny West Texas town. But only one of them required a kind of protective custody on Monday.

The rock in question is the one associated with Gov. Rick Perry.

The day after The Washington Post reported that Mr. Perry had once hunted at and taken guests to a hunting camp that had the name ******head painted on a rock at the entrance, cars and trucks traveled the dusty road leading to the area on Monday afternoon. The vehicles belonged to reporters with various newspapers and television news outlets, but their visits were short-lived, and it remained unclear if the rock was even still there.

At a hunting lodge called Krooked River Ranch Outfitters, the main access point to the pasture where the rock is thought to be, the reporters were escorted from the property. “I’ve got the law on the phone right now,â€