Putting cows on the front page since 1885.
Putting cows on the front page since 1885.
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One cloudy May afternoon 30 years ago, I had arrived home early from work and had zoomed out to the creek, hoping for a "Sulphur Day." A Sulphur Day is one when yellow-colored mayflies hatch during cool, often drizzly afternoons for several hours when it takes them longer than usual to fly off the surface of the stream from which they are hatching. This makes them easy pickings for hungry trout. That is just what happened that afternoon. In fact, there were more flies hatching than I had ever...
Wednesday, May 1, was the fourth day of this year’s gobbler season. I had accompanied my son, Bob, on the windy opening morning and had helped turn around a 21-pound gobbler with a 10-inch beard that he shot. On Tuesday morning, I had been bested by a couple of gobblers that wouldn’t cross a deep hollow to investigate my calling. However, I figured I’d set up across the hollow on Wednesday, coming in to it from a different direction. I’d risen long before dawn and had hiked to the spot in the dark. I had just settled in under a large tree wh...
Spring gobbler hunters are reluctant to give up spots where they hunt. After all, it's tough enough to tag a tom without having large numbers of other hunters trying to call to a gobbler you are working. Old-school trout fishermen often have a couple of secret spots tucked away where they can consistently land some nice fish without interference from other anglers. It would take a medieval torture chamber to make these anglers reveal where these hot spots are located. However, turkey hunters'...
Like this year's spring weather, last spring's was generally not proper for effective fly-fishing for trout. However, when weather and water conditions were appropriate, I hit the water with mixed results. In addition, the spring turkeys were effectively humiliating me; and by May 10 I was pretty much becoming a zombie from a lack of sleep, hunting during the mornings and fly-fishing later in the day when I could. Weather gurus kept telling us that the next several days were going to drop...
By May 12 last spring, the score with spring turkeys was gobblers – 12, me – 0. That Saturday I had my son, Bob, with me. We set up on a knob where I’d been hearing a gobbler. I hoped that Bob could turn the tables on him. However, the woods were silent. By 9:00 I’d had enough and told Bob that I was heading for home and a nap. I had gotten very little sleep since the beginning of the gobbler season. (Trout fishing had been inconsistent, and I’d been trying to squeeze in a little of that, too.) “I’m going to stop at a couple of spots on my w...
For several years on the opening day of gobbler season, my son, Bob, killed toms in the same woodlot. During my early scouting excursions last spring, it appeared that Bob might be able to repeat his previous seasons' successes; but about two weeks prior to the season the turkeys vanished from there and did not return. We had to hunt one of the other locations where I had been hearing gobblers. Opening day found us set up in an oak grove where I had heard a gobbler just the day before. I had tol...
Trout season opens in the Cove this Saturday (April 13). Many thousands of anglers will hit the water in the Cove and elsewhere, and they will employ many different strategies as they try to catch a few trout. Take Jake and Max, for instance. Last year they drove to a stocked trout stream together but then separated a little before the 8:00 starting time. “I’m going downstream from the bridge where they stocked lots of trout,” said Jake, a grizzled veteran. “Some trout should have eased down the creek in the high water. I’m going to use a thr...
This Saturday (April 6) is the local one-day mentored youth trout fishing day. I am not generally a fan of mentored youth days because unscrupulous adults have been known to take advantage of these in unsportsmanlike ways. However, I am enthusiastic about the mentored youth trout fishing day. Every year that I have driven around trout streams where adults are mentoring young fishermen, I have observed the mentors trying to help their young anglers enjoy their fishing experiences. This fishing...
I have kept a journal of my fishing and hunting adventures since I was 17 years old. Some evenings I review these notes, hoping they'll provide some good hints about where I should fish or hunt during the next day or two. March 28's entry from last year is an example. Here, corrected for clarity, is what I wrote last year. "It was 31 degrees this morning when I drove out the 'back road.' It was a little windy, so I thought I might not hear any birds even if they were gobbling. There is not much...
By the end of the first week of March, I had a terrible case of the "shack nasties." The miserable weather had marooned me for weeks. Any little thing set me off into a paroxysm of screaming. I was slyly plotting a way to sneak off to Punxsutawney where I would get rid of Phil, that lying groundhog. However, the weather began to moderate a little, and I've begun to get out of the house to do some things I enjoy. If the weather continues to improve, Donna won't have to put up with me hanging...
I have not always been a "dinosaur." At one time, I actually kept up with modern trends, except perhaps for items of clothing, which I used until they wore out or until Donna slyly discarded them. I always knew when she'd done that because she'd approach me and say, "You need a new (the item of clothing)." Otherwise, I was not more than 20 years behind the trends of the day. As modern fly rods were developed from Space Age materials, I successfully stashed away "mad money" and procured a number...
As it has consistently done for at least 20 years, the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) continues to ignore the wishes of its stakeholders, Pennsylvania's hunters. In our area, the recent sneaky attempt to cull thousands of deer demonstrated that the PGC is willing to continue to act against the wishes of hunters. Luckily, local sportsmen united to protest the action and involved Rep. Jim Gregory, who provided a major assist in stopping the slaughter – at least for now. Public-land hunters h...
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the research Dr. Frank Bastian of Louisiana State University (LSU) is doing regarding Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). In the column I included an address where you can send money to help fund his research. Even though I, along with the Unified Sportsmen of PA (USP), believe Dr. Bastian offers the brightest ray of hope in combatting CWD, I must offer up a word of caution. Dr. Bastian believes he can develop a kit that hunters can use in the field to test their deer...
One late night during the recent "polar vortex," I was ensconced in my fly tying room, supposedly reading. Actually, I was probably spending more time daydreaming (although it was nighttime). I was pretty much staring at the large stash of "valuable" stuff I've managed to squeeze into this glorified closet over time. As I gazed at a print of a gobbler on one wall, I wondered how the turkeys were faring during this frigid night. I couldn't imagine they were comfortable on their roosts. When I...
A little more than a week ago, the big news for Cove-area sportsmen was that a scheduled cull of deer was staved off with the help of newly elected State Rep. Jim Gregory. Area sportsmen had applied significant pressure to stop this slaughter of deer by sharpshooters hired by the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) in the guise of trying to stop the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD). This plan was based on what has been done in Illinois and Wisconsin, where sharpshooters were brought in to...
Not long ago, I wrote that the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania (USP), the only statewide sportsmen's organization that has battled against the Pennsylvania Game Commission's fatally flawed deer mismanagement program, was supporting research on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) by Dr. Frank Bastian of Louisiana State University. Shortly after my column appeared, I received an email and then a letter from Phil Wagner, the President of the USP. Though he appreciated what I had written in the column,...
I like to attend high-school athletic events. During the winter, I manage to get out to a few basketball games. Occasionally at these games, I run into someone who has something to say about "The Sportsman's Corner." Not all of what they say is good. Recently I ran into a pair of guys who chastised me for ignoring a major problem with hunting. The first of these said, "You know, Rich, you are a real coward. You write about lots of stuff in your column, but you don't ever mention one of the...
Here in the middle of winter we are once again entering the season for outdoor sports shows. Though there are numerous shows throughout the state beginning in January, there are three shows that are probably most convenient for sportsmen in and around the Cove. The first of these is the gigantic Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg that runs from Feb. 2 through Feb. 10. This show is held annually at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. This year there will be over 1,100 exhibitors and over 400 outfitters hosting booths. Some booths present...
A retired teacher, I occasionally run into former students. Sometimes one of them might say to me, “Well, Tate, you look the same. You don’t look any older.” I often reply, “Thank you, but that probably means I looked pretty bad when I had you in class,” which might be closer to the truth. Recently, the editor of an outdoor publication I sometimes write for told me that he thought I was “aging gracefully.” I took this as a compliment, but it caused me to reflect about myself. I’m going to turn 70 this year, and I would like to think that I am a...
For several years now, we have been bombarded with information about Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and how it is negatively influencing Pennsylvania's deer. The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) has told us that CWD is spread by small non-living particles called prions. Most scientists agree with this. However, Dr. Frank Bastian (MD) at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Department of Agriculture, School of Animal Sciences, has advanced an alternate theory about what causes CWD. His research...
More than 70 inches of rain – officially. For months, it seemed as though we could not get more than two or three consecutive days of sunshine before things clouded up and the heavens let loose with heavy rains. At times, I actually thought Noah might come floating by in his ark. The bad weather began early and continued for the entire year. It negatively affected every outdoor activity I enjoy. Fly-fishing for trout is my favorite outdoor pastime. However, with all the rain we endured from t...
Now that the dead of winter is about to set in, most sportsmen are looking for ways to put in their time. Some will do a little trapping, rabbit hunting, or cross-country skiing; but most will hole up near their woodburners while hoping for nice spring weather to replace winter’s cold. One group of sportsmen who have something meaningful to do over the winter are fly-fishermen who tie their own flies. I am one of these. When I was a young fly-fisherman and had not accumulated a large stash of f...
This year’s deer season began with miserable weather. The rainy opening day kept many hunters out of the woods and sent many others home early. In addition, the fierce winds of the next several days, which knocked branches from trees, made hunters fear for their safety and also prevented many from entering the woods. There was more lousy weather as the season progressed. I was one of the hunters whom the weather adversely affected. I have no love of hunting in the rain, and I had enough close ca...
