NASHVILLE — Tennessee sportsmen can expect a sleek new look to the annual Tennessee Hunting & Trapping Guide when they pick up this year's at license agents later this summer.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency announced Thursday that it is undertaking a full redesign of the hunting and trapping guide, as well as the fishing and waterfowl guides for 2007-2008.

The publications have traditionally been printed on newsprint. This year, however, they will be printed in full color on a high-quality magazine stock paper. The improvement, the agency says, will make Tennessee one of few wildlife resource agencies in the country working to deliver a higher quality publication to its sportsmen.

"The new improved regulation approach is actually saving the TWRA money because the effort is being supported by advertising revenue and we felt that our sportsmen deserved something more user friendly than our existing guides," TWRA Chief of Information and Education Don King said. "I'll admit that over time, our regulations have become pretty complicated. One of our goals with this effort is to make the information easier to understand. We are excited about the opportunity to provide a higher quality, more valuable publication while at the same time saving the agency money."

The TWRA has introduced improvements to the hunting and fishing regulation guides in recent years, including editorial sections in areas such as statewide deer harvests and deer outlooks. The new approach will be a complete overhaul, however, and will include more articles of interest to state anglers and hunters. The design will be intended to provide an easier format for finding necessary rules and regulations, as well as information to help sportsmen be more successful during the fishing and hunting seasons.

The publisher of the guides will be J.F. Griffin Publishing, LLC. The company specializes in conservation, and has won national awards for its work with fish and wildlife agencies. The company will be accepting advertising reservations for the Hunting & Trapping Guide until June 19. Reservations for the Waterfowl Hunting Guide will be accepted through July 6, and reservations for the Fishing Guide through December 2. Advertising information can be obtained by contacting J.F. Griffin Publishing at 1-413-884-1001.

The guide is expected to be available by late July.