A Few Items of Interest

We sportsmen need to be interested in items of environmental concern. Locally, one of these is that Rutter’s wants to build an unnecessary convenience stop at Pinecroft near the headwaters of the Little Juniata River, arguably the best trout stream in central Pennsylvania. The oily runoff from the stop would add pollutants to some of the river’s most important nursery waters. In addition, rain runoff from the asphalt of the convenience stop could overheat the water during late spring and summer storms. To help prevent it, you can contact Rutter’s CEO Scott Hartman at shartman@rutters.com and DEP representative Scott Williamson at scwilliams@pa.gov, voicing your opposition to the project — though DEP has already issued Permit No. PAD070014 for this Rutter’s project.

Rutter’s also wants to build another seven-acre convenience stop adjacent to the Old Crow Wetlands outside of Huntingdon. So far, Rutter’s has not obtained the local or state permits needed to proceed, nor has it leased or purchased the land where it hopes to build. You can help protect this valuable wetland by contacting the same two people you might email concerning the Pinecroft project.

You can make a difference. Citizen opposition helped stop the establishment of what would have become the disastrous Pebble Mine in Alaska’s greatest salmon fishery.

Many sportsmen don’t believe the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s yearly deer harvest figures. Most sportsmen realize PGC biologists essentially triple reported harvest totals to arrive at their estimated harvest figures. Many sportsmen want to see mandatory reporting of deer harvests in Pennsylvania. According to Editor Jeff Muhollem, writing in the Feb. 17, 2023, issue of “Pennsylvania Outdoor News,” last year Michigan instituted the mandatory reporting of deer harvested. Mulhollem reports that hunters are “generally accepting the new system, and the state has been overestimating its harvest for years. No surprise there.”

Mulhollem reports that the only snag so far is that the hunters are supposed to pinpoint the exact location of their kills on a digital map. I know many hunters want to keep their favorite crossing a secret: Mulhollem indicates that some Michigan hunters must feel the same way. Mulhollem writes, “Big bucks have supposedly been killed in the middle of Lake Superior and in downtown Detroit. More than 10 percent of the hunters reportedly never moved the location pin on the website’s reporting page.

Despite this problem, Michigan’s program appears to provide more accurate figures than Pennsylvania now estimates and should be given a chance here. However, I wouldn’t hold my breath about the PGC’s allowing it to come to pass.