Putting cows on the front page since 1885.
Putting cows on the front page since 1885.
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Although I have tagged a number of bucks during my 60-plus years of hunting, I have failed to take some of the ones that presented good shots. These bucks would have been downed by nearly every other deer hunter I know. The most recent of the bucks that got by me was one that ambled by me on a crossing that my friend Brady had advised me to watch. It was about 10:00 on a sunny opening morning of deer season. I heard crunching in the leaves and saw a buck with a big rack easing toward some laurel behind me. I swiveled around as the buck...
Last year’s autumn turkey season began with a thud for me. Bob, my son, and I were to hook up and hunt together on the opening day. However, he did not show up at daybreak, and I couldn’t reach him on the cellphone he and my wife “advise” me to carry. I guessed I didn’t have service. Anyhow, after speaking with another hunter about where each of us would hunt that morning, I progressed out a Jeep trail then entered the woods where I had seen turkeys a couple days before. I hunted all morning but had no luck. I decided to go home for lunch. On...
We’re now at the cusp of the busiest time for deer in Pennsylvania. It is the beginning of the deer breeding season known as the rut. Female deer will become fertile, and the male deer, the bucks, will be out seeking them. This activity peaks in early November, though it extends well into the month and on into December as not all does (female deer) are ready to breed on the same day. This keeps mature bucks on the prowl, though researchers have found that immature bucks get in on the action, too, as their big brothers cannot keep up with all t...
“Rich, are you going Saturday?” asked my friend. “It’s supposed to be a nice day, and the squirrels ought to be out and about.” “I am,” I replied. “I targeted my .22 the other day, and it is right on. If I get good shots at squirrels, I ought to be able to hit them.” “I’m going to be using a 16-gauge shotgun,” my friend replied. “I am going out to the ridge and am going to set up along a cornfield. The squirrels I see will probably be moving pretty quickly, so the shotgun will be better for me. Are you going to hunt on the mountain?” “Yes. We f...
I think we endured more ninety-degree days this summer than I can ever remember. During these heat waves, I spent the bulk of my time in the air-conditioned “great indoors,” reading current thrillers or re-reading favorite fly-fishing books. Donna was hooked on the Olympics, but I watched very little of the televised coverage. Truth be told, I was just putting in my time till the weather finally moderated. When it did, I was able to resume trout fishing. However, I was extremely careful that I did not fish in streams where the water tem...
Many years ago when I was young, I ran into a couple of men who spent a great deal of time outdoors. They especially enjoyed rifle deer season, spending as much time in pursuit of whitetails as they could throughout the season. They would have been heroes to today’s deer managers, who advocate the slaughter of deer. However, at that time, hunters could legally kill only one deer per year. Another of their favorite activities involved questionable fishing. They told tales of catching huge trout from large reservoirs. They did this fishing at n...
In previous columns I have noted that Aiden Dively, 14, of East Freedom, has placed highly in national turkey calling championships. He recently struck gold in his first US Open Turkey Calling Championship in Louisiana. Dively participated in several competitions. On Friday, the first day of the event, Aiden and his father, Jake, made the finals in the friction-calling championship. They were a part of making history by being one of the only two father-son duos to make the finals on Friday. On Saturday, Aiden participated in three events: the...
With bowhunting and crossbow-hunting for deer not getting underway for a couple of months, most archers are sitting back as they deal with the heat of summer. However, this is not true of all of them. Some dedicated archers are making sure their bows and crossbows are tuned up and are ready to go. Not only are they flinging a few arrows and bolts at backyard targets; some are traveling to 3-D shooting ranges so that they can refine their ability to judge shooting distances in the woods. These are the archers who want to be certain that they mak...
I recently re-read the late Jim Bashline’s “Night Fishing for Trout,” a fly-fishing book published in 1973. Bashline’s book was unique since it was a departure from the usual treatises about matching fly hatches during daylight hours. I probably should not have re-read the book since it reminded me that I have not fly-fished for trout after dark for a number of years. Bashline’s tales of landing huge trout after dark, mostly from the Goodsell Pool near Coudersport (now a concrete ditch), made me think about rigging up some wet flies and sally...
With hunters now purchasing their hunting licenses and their antlerless deer tags, it might be a good time to take a look at last year’s Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) harvest estimates. Based on a total of 134,000 harvest reports from Pennsylvania hunters, the PGC deer biologists have come up with a total harvest of 430,010 animals for the 2023-2024 deer-hunting seasons. This includes an estimated 171,600 bucks and 258,410 antlerless deer for the year. As you can see, the PGC biologists have essentially tripled the reported harvest. Their...
One of the most horrifying statistics I have run into during the past couple of years is that there are three billion (yes, billion) fewer birds in America than there were fifty years ago. I do not know exactly how researchers have arrived at this figure, but I do know that I encounter fewer birds afield than I once did. There are many reasons for the decline of bird numbers. Various chemicals and pesticides that have been introduced into the environment have taken their toll, either directly or through the plants and bugs that birds ingest....
Many years ago, sportswriter Phil Musik penned columns where he told us, “Here’s what I think, I think.” Anyhow, here’s my version of Musik’s idea. The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) has control of the state’s deer herd and other game animals. In fact, I have occasionally read that the state owns the deer herd. Well, if that’s the case, what’s to prevent landowners from charging the PGC rent for the deer that inhabit their properties? This only makes sense, since the landowners, who are often farmers, essentially feed the deer and provide s...
Next Monday, June 24, at 8:00 a.m., the first resident Pennsylvania antlerless deer hunting licenses go on sale in WMUs 1B, 2G, and 3A. There will probably be a rush for them, since antlerless licenses sell quickly in these WMUs. However, antlerless licenses will not go on sale in the other 19 Wildlife Management Units until Thursday, June 27, at 8:00 a.m., a week from now. According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, resident hunters in these 19 WMUs will be guaranteed an antlerless license if they purchase it before July 8. This seems to...
Two of Williamsburg High School’s greatest basketball players from the “Golden Age” of boys’ basketball during the 1960s recently reminded me that we are now in the fourth quarter of our lives. The first of these had just had a stent installed to help with his blood flow. He said, “We do what we have to do so that we can do what we want to do. After all, we’re in the fourth quarter now.” The man has exercised religiously his entire life and has eaten healthy foods. He has never abused himself with tobacco or alcohol, yet he needed the st...
When Donna and I moved into our home many years ago, Charles Hauser, our next-door-neighbor, wondered why I left my lovely wife at home for a couple hours nearly every evening from early May until early June. “She’s alone at that house,” he scolded. “You need to be more attentive.” I tried to explain to Charles that I was traveling to one of the local creeks to fly-fish for trout during what fly-fishermen call the evening hatch. “That’s the best time for dry-fly fishing to rising trout,” I said. However, he did not really understand what...
One recent weekend, Channel 10 News ran a story detailing that two Texas hunters had died from eating CWD-tainted venison. Since the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) has told us that one of every three deer in our area is infected with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) from the tests that the commission runs on samples of deer taken during hunting seasons and that are taken from road-killed deer, the possible transfer of CWD to humans is chilling. Being frightened by this possibility myself, I went to the Internet to locate the whole story. Two...
Recently I described the debacle that occurred during the opening day of the 2023 spring gobbler season when another hunter shot at gobblers that Bob, my son, had running our way. I also told you that Bob killed one in a difficult position the following Saturday. Unfortunately, my opening week of gobbler season had gone about as usual. As the “worst turkey hunter in the Cove,” I had a variety of excuses for not tagging a gobbler that week, including bad weather and several medical app...
Morels, commonly called “mushrooms” in our area, are considered a delicacy. The sportsmen who seek these spongy fungi are more secretive about the location of the mushrooms than big-trout specialists and turkey hunters are about their favorite spots. I have run into numerous mushroom hunters over the years while I have been fishing or scouting for turkeys. Generally most of them give me a grunt and ease out of sight. Some probably think I am spying on them. I have been fortunate over time. Donna enjoys morels, and often several mushroom hun...
On April 30, 2023, the Pennsylvania Game Commission announced that it had a new executive director. Stephen Smith, who had served as Deputy Executive Director since February 17, was selected to replace Bryan Burhans by the Board of Commissioners who met in executive session. Burhans had resigned his position the day before the selection of the new executive director was made. Commissioner Scott Foradora explained the decision and tried to put a good light on the change. He said that Burhans had a hand in many decisions that affected...
Last spring’s opening day of spring gobbler season did not go well. My son, Bob, and I had decided to spend the morning hunting a ridge where several gobblers had been regularly hollering prior to the season. It is a ridge Bob is familiar with. I had hunted there with him several times in other years. We were set up before daybreak; and when a tom began gobbling not far above us, I thought we were in business. A couple more began gobbling shortly afterwards, and they approached us quickly. Bob called each time these birds gobbled, and he s...
In late March I was looking at a Swap Forum on an Internet site when I came across an offer of a gobbler. I looked at the photo of the bird. He was an admirable long-bearded, full-fan tom. I posted a comment about the offer and said that I would be interested in a similar offer for four gobblers I knew about. Several weeks later another respondent to the topic posted that he could offer me the four big toms about which I had posted. It took us several emails to settle on a price, and we arranged for April 10 for me to claim the big turkeys....
With spring gobbler season set to begin on May 4, many of us are looking for a little expert information that might help us tag a tom. I have recently been in contact with Tony Hudak of Noxen, PA, who is an expert gobbler hunter. He has killed toms in the 49 states that have spring seasons. Just before leaving for a recent gobbler hunt in Mexico, where he completed the Mexican, World, and Slam of Slams of gobbler hunting, he shared some hints about spring turkey hunting. Hudak is a true turkey hunter. He does not use baits (aka food plots),...
“I hope I am not bothering you, Rich, but I need you to pick up a loaf of bread on your way home. It is no big rush,” Donna told me over the phone. Unfortunately she had contacted me on the cell phone she and Bob, my son, had bought for me a couple of years ago. And, she was “bothering” me. I was standing in the middle of a stream, casting to trout that were rising to eat floating mayflies. It was one of the few times I had run into rising trout before the big flood, and I had to scramble to extract the phone from the left breast pocket...
“Helen, it’s time to get up,” said Ted, her dad. “We should eat our breakfast and then get out to the creek. I think I know a good spot for us to fish.” Ten-year-old Helen was excited. This was going to be her first trout-fishing experience. Ted had taken her fishing in ponds for sunfish, and she knew how to operate her small spincast fishing outfit. In addition, he had bought her a voluntary youth fishing license, and he had placed his own required license and trout stamp in a license holder. Making sure they had packed all their gear in the b...
Dively wins again. Claysburg is the home of a good many serious sportsmen. Among these is ninth-grade student Aiden Dively. He is the most recent of a line of champion turkey callers hailing from the Claysburg area, continuing the success enjoyed by the Chamberlain family and others. During the weekend of February 16-17, Dively competed in the Junior Grand National Turkey Calling Contest at the convention of the National Wild Turkey Federation held in Nashville, Tenn. His grandfather, Ralph Baker of Roaring Spring, emailed a video of...
On Jan. 27, 2024, the Board of Commissioners of the Pennsylvania Game Commission held its meeting to set preliminary upcoming hunting seasons and bag limits. In a recent email, sportsmen’s advocate Greg Levengood shared some of the meeting’s highlights. One of main interest to sportsmen concerned the reintroduction of the American marten, a small predator, to the Pennsylvania woods. Sportsmen are concerned about the potential damage this small weasel could do to the ruffed grouse population and to other wildlife populations as well. Lev...
As some sportsmen had predicted, the Pennsylvania bear harvest continued its downward slide this past season – or should I say seasons. The preliminary figures show that Pennsylvania hunters killed 2,919 bears, the first time the harvest has shrunk under 3,000 since 2007. Hunters killed about 1,243 bears during the archery, muzzleloader, and special firearms seasons. Only 1,083 were downed during the traditional four-day firearms season and 593 were tagged during the extended season. This is down from 4,653 bears killed in 2019. S...
On Jan. 6, 2024, Dr. Gary Alt received the “John C. Oliver Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Board of Commissioners at the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s headquarters. The award ceremony was open to only a select group of agency employees; retirees, past and present; current board members; NGO and agency partners; and members of the House and Senate Game and Fisheries Committees. Only invited guests could attend. I was first alerted to this event by sportsmen’s advocate Greg Levengood of Boyertown, who found some irony in the bestowi...
I have three friends who have earned the nickname “The A Team” for their handyman-type activities, especially work involving the First Methodist Church of Williamsburg. Occasionally they include me on a project, one that does not involve any mechanical or technical skills, of course. After all, as Bruce Houck, my brother-in-law, once remarked about me when I was offered some tools and refused to take any of them, “He wouldn’t know how to use them anyhow.” However, there are other A Teams, a couple to which I aspire. I would like to become an...
Sportsmen are now enduring the dreadful midwinter with few things to do. Most hunting seasons are over; and except for a few hardy ice fishermen, anglers are dreaming of warmer weather and water for their adventures. However, they can maintain contact with the outdoors by attending one or more outdoor shows that are on tap throughout the state. Three might be of interest to Cove sportsmen. The first is the Great American Outdoor Show that runs from Feb. 3rd through the 11th at the Farm Show Complex near Harrisburg. This is the largest outdoor...
About this time every year, a few sportsmen decide they are going to learn to tie flies. They may have enjoyed a few experiences with fly-fishing, and they now might think it could be nice to learn to tie their own flies. I am not sure I would recommend going out and buying a bunch of fly tying equipment and materials without having first seen what you might be getting into. Fly tying can be a fascinating, life-long hobby. However, it can also be a frustrating, short-term disaster. The John Kennedy Chapter of Trout Unlimited (Blair County) is...
The recent rifle deer season was a frustrating one for a number of sportsmen. Some hunters failed to see many – if any -- deer, while others were put off by inclement weather. Still others were disgusted by the behavior of game hogs. One sportsman was marooned with illnesses in his family. Just prior to the deer season, his wife was hospitalized with a lung problem called pneumonitis. This is much like pneumonia, except it is not accompanied by the fluids of pneumonia, nor is it caused by a bacteria or a virus. However, it is treated much as p...
Older hunters remember the notorious CBS hit job on hunting, “The Guns of Autumn,” that was broadcast in 1975. The program’s obvious goal of silencing the guns of autumn has begun, at least in Pennsylvania. You can often hunt all day without hearing a shot. The broadcast had little to do with it. Land practices, Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) policies, and young people’s indifference to the outdoors in favor of social media have dramatically quieted the guns of autumn, except for a burst of activity on the rifle deer season opening day and...
After World War II had ended, American veterans who had headed off to war came home to resume their lives. Unfortunately, many members of the armed services were killed during the war, including my uncle Blaine Reigh. All of these brave men made it possible for us to experience the freedoms we now enjoy. Following the war, Dad and many other veterans became interested in deer hunting. As the deer herd increased and Dad learned the habits of the animals, he discovered a nice spot on a local mountain where he, my uncle Bill Rhodes, and later seve...
A couple days ago, my neighbor, Dr. Archie O. Logist, professor of Phenomenology at the Ganister Technical Institute, posed a question to me that I had posed to some of my friends this fall. “Are you going to hunt deer this season?” he wondered. “With the game commission telling us that 33 percent of the deer they tested from our area were infected with CWD, you might be taking a chance of killing one that has it.” “But, the commission tells us that there has been no definite risk of people contracting CWD from eating meat from an infected...
The four-day rifle season for bear hunting begins on Saturday (Nov. 18). Although the PGC has de-emphasized the importance of this traditional hunting season by establishing various other bear-hunting seasons, the four-day hunt is still anticipated by numerous groups of enthusiastic bear hunters. Last year only 1,051 of the total harvest of 3,170 bears were killed during the four-day hunt. Archery and muzzleloader/special rifle seasons prior to the regular season accounted for 1,451 bruins. The extended rifle season during deer season...
Shortly before autumn turkey season, I was fishing on a local stream. I had taken two rods along: one to fish a section of riffled water while using a favorite nymph imitation; the other, a lighter rod, was equipped with a dry-fly to fish smoother sections of the creek. I did not carry both rods at once. I left one in my locked Ranger while using the other. This was a pretty good plan. I was catching some elusive wild brown trout at each of my stops. One – if I might brag – was 20 inches long. It’s pretty hard to have things “go south...
Last week I related how my son, Bob, and our friend “Scout” tagged turkeys on last autumn’s opening Saturday. I, on the other hand, had to try to do as much hunting during the one-week season as I could if I were not to “eat crow” for Thanksgiving. Monday found me back at the location where Bob and Scout had downed their birds. There was no activity. Just about the time I had decided to start to cover some ground, it began to rain. I hustled out of the woods and was home by 9:00, drying my soaked clothes -- and the new shotgun Bob had bought fo...
Prior to last year’s one-week fall turkey season, I had scouted several locations, hoping to line up a flock for opening day. Though I failed to put any birds “to bed” the evening prior to the opener, I knew where a couple flocks were hanging out. Bob, my son, whose job prevents him from doing much scouting, agreed that a flock frequenting a section of game lands was probably our best bet for opening day. We were set up at dawn on a ridge where grapevines were loaded with fruit and where there had been good turkey scratching (places where...
My email inbox was recently bombarded with emails regarding a raid by the state legislature on the PGC’s Game Fund. An amendment to House Bill 1300 was approved by the State Senate that would transfer $150 million from the Game Fund to the state’s Clean Stream Fund. Proponents of this move said the money would come from the PGC’s pool of $525 million in unspent oil and gas reserve money. After the Senate had approved this move, it went back to the House for concurrence. At first this sounded like a reasonable move to assist in cleaning the C...
Numerous hunting seasons open this Saturday (Oct. 14). At one time only small game seasons would come in on Saturday; but the PGC has expanded deer seasons, and one of them begins on Saturday. This is the statewide muzzleloader season. Only antlerless deer are legal during the one-week hunt that ends on Oct. 21. A special firearms season for antlerless deer begins in midweek, on Oct. 19. It also ends on the 21. This firearms season is for junior and senior license holders, mentored license holders, active-duty military members, and persons...
“You’re just a spoiled 73-year-old. You can go fishing any time you like. Donna never says anything to you about overdoing it,” various people have told me. “It wasn’t always like that,” I counter. “When we first got married, she’d often ask ‘Are you going fishing again?’ Now when I’m in her way around the house, she asks ‘Why don’t you go fishing?’” During a recent week, however, things did not work out well for me. The weather was nearly perfect for late-summer fishing. There was a rainy day that raised stream levels slightly, and several...
Saturday (Sept. 30) is the big day for crossbow and bow hunters, the day they have been dreaming about all summer. It is the opening day of the archery deer season. Bowhunters have been practicing with their equipment for months so that they can make competent, humane shots on deer. Members of the crossbow community have sighted in their crossbows, making sure their sighting systems are in working order and that their equipment is properly tuned. Many of these archers have erected stands in locations where they believe deer will be traveling....
This past spring I wanted to take a photo of a special trout I had caught. After some maneuvering, the trout was in a perfect position for a photo, and I touched the camera button to get the photo. Unfortunately while maneuvering to get into position to snap the picture, I stepped onto the butt section of what is my favorite large-stream fly rod, crushing it. I had broken the tip section the year before; so when I finally received the replacement butt section this summer, the rod was essentially a new one. I had bought the rod “used”; but wit...
I recently became aware of what I believed was a group of young, informally organized sportsmen called The Wallhangers. I am always impressed when young people become enthusiastic about fishing and hunting, and I wanted to know more about them. It turns out that The Wallhangers is not an informal group of young sportsmen. It is a new Williamsburg-based business and has been established by its 20-year-old CEO/President Caymen Hughes as an LLC. Presently the staff consists of Hughes and three other young people: Coltyn Wagner, 18; Caydence...
Squirrel season’s Saturday start (Sept. 9) stirs up some interesting memories. The earliest of these are ones with my dad. When rabbit hunting went downhill and he closed his kennel of beagles, Dad decided to introduce me to hunting by chasing squirrels locally. We generally took two sporting arms: a .22 rifle for shots at stationary squirrels and a 20-gauge shotgun for shots at moving targets. Dad was essentially my “gunbearer,” as he tried to set me up to do all of the shooting. The first squirrel I ever shot was with the .22. I was prett...
Hunting for doves and resident Canada geese begins tomorrow (Sept. 1) in Pennsylvania. The dove season, consisting of a Sept. 1 through Nov. 24 segment and a later one from Dec. 19 through Jan, 6, 2024, allows hunters to kill 15 doves per day, with a possession limit of 45. It would take a lot better shooter than I am to collect these numbers of birds. The daily hunt lasts from a half-hour before sunrise until sunset. In addition to a regular hunting license, a dove hunter must possess a Pennsylvania migratory bird license that may be...
August is not at the top of the list of sportsmen’s favorite months. Eager bass fishermen are out making some good catches, and the few groundhog hunters who are still active are pursuing the “pasture grizzlies.” However, most sportsmen are in “sleep mode.” While in sleep mode, many sportsmen anticipate easing out of their torpor and into some active outdoor adventures. Probably the sportsmen who are most eagerly anticipating autumn are deer hunters, especially bow and crossbow hunters. Having acquired their special licenses, they are ready...
When in the outdoors, sportsmen observe various things. Let's start with some good things I have seen this year. Most sportsmen know ruffed grouse are having a rough time because of the devastating effects of West Nile Virus. Previous to this year, I had seen only one grouse in the past 10 years. I doubled that this year, which is not especially encouraging but is a slight improvement. The first of these grouse was one of the "tame" type the game commission wants people to report seeing so that...
My neighbor, Dr. Archie O. Logist, constantly evaluates my column. One recent afternoon he interrupted my lawn mowing to accost me. “Rich, you’re constantly criticizing the game commission. Don’t you have anything good to say about it?” “No. I once had great respect for the commission. But, it and its board members have pretty much thumbed their collective noses at sportsmen to satisfy non-sportsmen’s agendas. The list is extensive. “I have written about their disdain for sportsmen while catering to game hogs with their brown-and-dow...
